Writing a character who is going through a civilizing process without overdoing it?How to highlight a main...

Why is Agricola named as such?

How does Leonard in "Memento" remember reading and writing?

Why did Luke use his left hand to shoot?

What are "industrial chops"?

What is causing the chain skip after chain replacement?

LuaTex and em dashes

Hybrid flat to drop conversion advice

How can animals be objects of ethics without being subjects as well?

Spring Boot request header return null value

Why was Lupin comfortable with saying Voldemort's name?

Can you tell from a blurry photo if focus was too close or too far?

Graph with overlapping labels

Transpose a matrix and parenthesis

Use two 8s and two 3s to make the number 24

Can we harness gravitational potential energy?

IGBT transistor with auxiliary emitter

Can a Pact of the Blade warlock use the correct existing pact magic weapon so it functions as a "Returning" weapon?

Is boss over stepping boundary/micromanaging?

How can I display a custom maintenance message on Magento 2.2.4

What is a good reason for every spaceship to carry a weapon on board?

I will be going to Sweden on business purpose .Can I visit London from Sweden and how much UK visa will cost?

How can I get my players to come to the game session after agreeing to a date?

Writing a character who is going through a civilizing process without overdoing it?

speculum - A simple, straightforward Arch Linux mirror list optimizer



Writing a character who is going through a civilizing process without overdoing it?


How to highlight a main character among several points of view?Writing the same character in two different perspectives?Pitfalls for writing a talkative character?When to start a story?How to get a character that knows he's the main character to follow the authors agenda?Would it be cheating to change the main character's “name” partway through the story?How to write a character who recently gained emotionsWriting a Likable Character Who is Mentally UnsoundAre chapters with a single character inherently more difficult for an average reader to connect with? (And do you have any tips.)How to make clear what a part-humanoid character looks like when they're quite common in their world?













2















In my planned novel the main character is essentially a barbarian and is learning about the "civilized world" beyond their village. He has above average intelligence, but everything is going to be 'new' to him. It is an entirely fictional world so the reader will also have no familiarity with the world.



I thought this could have pros and cons. The reader is also new to the world, but it is a cardinal rule in writing not to get too verbose in worldbuilding detail to the detriment of the story. The drawback is that it may become tedious to the reader to always describe the main character as "amazed" at the architecture or in awe at this or that about the civilized settings of the world compared to their remote village.



My answer so far is to timeskip the acculturation process where the main character learns the standard language and customs while living with a family that is closer to the civilized world. I still planned to write about them being in awe at cities, and certain major sights though as even civilized characters would be. The problem with this may be I also have another possible timeskip where the character is an apprentice in their homeland after a rite of passage.



I still want to properly contrast the settings the main character is passing through with where the main character came from. I just do not want to overdo it. "He was in awe at x." "He had never seen x." "He wondered at the exotic x." Perhaps such usage is fine though.










share|improve this question























  • Just thought I'd point out, 'barbarians' was what the Romans called everybody else, because their language sounded like "bar bar bar". They were in no way "less cultured" than the Romans, except that the Romans considered theirs to be the only "culture", and everything else "lack of culture". I take it your character is getting acquainted with a society that's more technologically advanced than his own, and has a different culture?

    – Galastel
    3 hours ago











  • I see 3 separate issues: 1) The character is a prop used to describe worldbuilding. 2) The situation is too repetitive. 3) The character is 1-note…. The way your question is framed, I agree with Galastel, it sounds like he is a "stooge" to tell everyone how magnificent your worldbuilding is….

    – wetcircuit
    2 hours ago


















2















In my planned novel the main character is essentially a barbarian and is learning about the "civilized world" beyond their village. He has above average intelligence, but everything is going to be 'new' to him. It is an entirely fictional world so the reader will also have no familiarity with the world.



I thought this could have pros and cons. The reader is also new to the world, but it is a cardinal rule in writing not to get too verbose in worldbuilding detail to the detriment of the story. The drawback is that it may become tedious to the reader to always describe the main character as "amazed" at the architecture or in awe at this or that about the civilized settings of the world compared to their remote village.



My answer so far is to timeskip the acculturation process where the main character learns the standard language and customs while living with a family that is closer to the civilized world. I still planned to write about them being in awe at cities, and certain major sights though as even civilized characters would be. The problem with this may be I also have another possible timeskip where the character is an apprentice in their homeland after a rite of passage.



I still want to properly contrast the settings the main character is passing through with where the main character came from. I just do not want to overdo it. "He was in awe at x." "He had never seen x." "He wondered at the exotic x." Perhaps such usage is fine though.










share|improve this question























  • Just thought I'd point out, 'barbarians' was what the Romans called everybody else, because their language sounded like "bar bar bar". They were in no way "less cultured" than the Romans, except that the Romans considered theirs to be the only "culture", and everything else "lack of culture". I take it your character is getting acquainted with a society that's more technologically advanced than his own, and has a different culture?

    – Galastel
    3 hours ago











  • I see 3 separate issues: 1) The character is a prop used to describe worldbuilding. 2) The situation is too repetitive. 3) The character is 1-note…. The way your question is framed, I agree with Galastel, it sounds like he is a "stooge" to tell everyone how magnificent your worldbuilding is….

    – wetcircuit
    2 hours ago
















2












2








2


1






In my planned novel the main character is essentially a barbarian and is learning about the "civilized world" beyond their village. He has above average intelligence, but everything is going to be 'new' to him. It is an entirely fictional world so the reader will also have no familiarity with the world.



I thought this could have pros and cons. The reader is also new to the world, but it is a cardinal rule in writing not to get too verbose in worldbuilding detail to the detriment of the story. The drawback is that it may become tedious to the reader to always describe the main character as "amazed" at the architecture or in awe at this or that about the civilized settings of the world compared to their remote village.



My answer so far is to timeskip the acculturation process where the main character learns the standard language and customs while living with a family that is closer to the civilized world. I still planned to write about them being in awe at cities, and certain major sights though as even civilized characters would be. The problem with this may be I also have another possible timeskip where the character is an apprentice in their homeland after a rite of passage.



I still want to properly contrast the settings the main character is passing through with where the main character came from. I just do not want to overdo it. "He was in awe at x." "He had never seen x." "He wondered at the exotic x." Perhaps such usage is fine though.










share|improve this question














In my planned novel the main character is essentially a barbarian and is learning about the "civilized world" beyond their village. He has above average intelligence, but everything is going to be 'new' to him. It is an entirely fictional world so the reader will also have no familiarity with the world.



I thought this could have pros and cons. The reader is also new to the world, but it is a cardinal rule in writing not to get too verbose in worldbuilding detail to the detriment of the story. The drawback is that it may become tedious to the reader to always describe the main character as "amazed" at the architecture or in awe at this or that about the civilized settings of the world compared to their remote village.



My answer so far is to timeskip the acculturation process where the main character learns the standard language and customs while living with a family that is closer to the civilized world. I still planned to write about them being in awe at cities, and certain major sights though as even civilized characters would be. The problem with this may be I also have another possible timeskip where the character is an apprentice in their homeland after a rite of passage.



I still want to properly contrast the settings the main character is passing through with where the main character came from. I just do not want to overdo it. "He was in awe at x." "He had never seen x." "He wondered at the exotic x." Perhaps such usage is fine though.







characters character-development child-characters






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked 7 hours ago









SeanchaíSeanchaí

29636




29636













  • Just thought I'd point out, 'barbarians' was what the Romans called everybody else, because their language sounded like "bar bar bar". They were in no way "less cultured" than the Romans, except that the Romans considered theirs to be the only "culture", and everything else "lack of culture". I take it your character is getting acquainted with a society that's more technologically advanced than his own, and has a different culture?

    – Galastel
    3 hours ago











  • I see 3 separate issues: 1) The character is a prop used to describe worldbuilding. 2) The situation is too repetitive. 3) The character is 1-note…. The way your question is framed, I agree with Galastel, it sounds like he is a "stooge" to tell everyone how magnificent your worldbuilding is….

    – wetcircuit
    2 hours ago





















  • Just thought I'd point out, 'barbarians' was what the Romans called everybody else, because their language sounded like "bar bar bar". They were in no way "less cultured" than the Romans, except that the Romans considered theirs to be the only "culture", and everything else "lack of culture". I take it your character is getting acquainted with a society that's more technologically advanced than his own, and has a different culture?

    – Galastel
    3 hours ago











  • I see 3 separate issues: 1) The character is a prop used to describe worldbuilding. 2) The situation is too repetitive. 3) The character is 1-note…. The way your question is framed, I agree with Galastel, it sounds like he is a "stooge" to tell everyone how magnificent your worldbuilding is….

    – wetcircuit
    2 hours ago



















Just thought I'd point out, 'barbarians' was what the Romans called everybody else, because their language sounded like "bar bar bar". They were in no way "less cultured" than the Romans, except that the Romans considered theirs to be the only "culture", and everything else "lack of culture". I take it your character is getting acquainted with a society that's more technologically advanced than his own, and has a different culture?

– Galastel
3 hours ago





Just thought I'd point out, 'barbarians' was what the Romans called everybody else, because their language sounded like "bar bar bar". They were in no way "less cultured" than the Romans, except that the Romans considered theirs to be the only "culture", and everything else "lack of culture". I take it your character is getting acquainted with a society that's more technologically advanced than his own, and has a different culture?

– Galastel
3 hours ago













I see 3 separate issues: 1) The character is a prop used to describe worldbuilding. 2) The situation is too repetitive. 3) The character is 1-note…. The way your question is framed, I agree with Galastel, it sounds like he is a "stooge" to tell everyone how magnificent your worldbuilding is….

– wetcircuit
2 hours ago







I see 3 separate issues: 1) The character is a prop used to describe worldbuilding. 2) The situation is too repetitive. 3) The character is 1-note…. The way your question is framed, I agree with Galastel, it sounds like he is a "stooge" to tell everyone how magnificent your worldbuilding is….

– wetcircuit
2 hours ago












2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















4














There is a surviving account of the first meeting between Portuguese sailors and Japanese locals. What's interesting about it is that accounts of the meeting survived from both sides. The accounts go something like this:




Japanese account: Those barbarians! They eat with their hands!



Portuguese account: Those barbarians! They don't have chairs!




You are looking down at your character. You are implying that he is a blank slate, and has to learn everything. Consider instead what his culture is. How do his values conflict with his new society's? What looks like barbarism to him? What does he have that they don't?



A very fine example of this is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. There, John, "the Savage", who has been raised on values imparted by Shalespeare's works, is confronted with a technologically advanced utopia, where the only value is consumerism.






share|improve this answer































    3














    +1 Galastel; your "barabarian" might find those towering buildings just foolish, he doesn't automatically see any advantage in them at all, they isolate people, they are hard to climb, you are trapped in them if attacked, and on and on. The same for other technology, you need to understand that he doesn't understand the problem these "amazing" things actually solved in our past, and without understanding what they DO, they may seem to him a frivolous waste of time and effort.



    Primitive tribes tend to be relentlessly social people, other people are their whole life, their entertainment, absolutely necessary for their survival. The tribe is their partnership and they spend their day doing their part, whatever that is. They wouldn't like this modern world. Some of the conveniences might be fun (moving fast, flying, food on demand), but they would probably tire of the amusement park aspect and want some company and normality.



    Also you have to deal with human psychology: Amazement doesn't continue; after about 90 minutes, an intelligent person will just accept they don't know how things work, but also will recognize these new people aren't creating these new things with any effort, they take everything for granted, and so should they. An intelligent person will switch from amazement to "exploration and experimentation" very quickly, and learn the basics very quickly. They will be riding the subway within days.



    That is the basics of acclimatization; your primitive's amazement will be fairly rapidly replaced by the thoughts, "what useful purpose does this serve, how do I control it, how does it communicate to me?"



    Simple things like an elevator will be learned quickly. If he can't read numbers, then remember primitive people that don't rely much on a written language rely on their memory; they have a phenomenal positional memory and navigational sense. So he might not know "27" means the 27th floor, but he will accurately memorize the symbol and the position of the button and the sequence of buttons to push on first exposure.



    It is fine to write about amazement and wonder upon first exposure, but it isn't realistic for that to persist for more than a day or two. Then your primitive will likely settle into an analytic problem-solving mode of thought for dealing with his new environment. He will be inured to all new amazements and see them all for what they are -- tools.



    And finally, he will likely be pining for his old and more familiar environment, for two reasons. First, because to him, that required far less mental work to get through the day. Second, due to a lifetime of training, he felt emotionally rewarded by the daily accomplishments of his old life, like hunting and killing dinner, connecting and playing or joking with people, the constant physical exercise of walking and working, the mutual admiration society of his tribal peers that produces a tangible sense of familial belonging. All those things have been taken away from him, especially people that understand him well enough to be actual friends.






    share|improve this answer























      Your Answer








      StackExchange.ready(function() {
      var channelOptions = {
      tags: "".split(" "),
      id: "166"
      };
      initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

      StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
      // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
      if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
      StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
      createEditor();
      });
      }
      else {
      createEditor();
      }
      });

      function createEditor() {
      StackExchange.prepareEditor({
      heartbeatType: 'answer',
      autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
      convertImagesToLinks: false,
      noModals: true,
      showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
      reputationToPostImages: null,
      bindNavPrevention: true,
      postfix: "",
      imageUploader: {
      brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
      contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
      allowUrls: true
      },
      noCode: true, onDemand: true,
      discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
      ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
      });


      }
      });














      draft saved

      draft discarded


















      StackExchange.ready(
      function () {
      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fwriting.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f42739%2fwriting-a-character-who-is-going-through-a-civilizing-process-without-overdoing%23new-answer', 'question_page');
      }
      );

      Post as a guest















      Required, but never shown

























      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes








      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes









      4














      There is a surviving account of the first meeting between Portuguese sailors and Japanese locals. What's interesting about it is that accounts of the meeting survived from both sides. The accounts go something like this:




      Japanese account: Those barbarians! They eat with their hands!



      Portuguese account: Those barbarians! They don't have chairs!




      You are looking down at your character. You are implying that he is a blank slate, and has to learn everything. Consider instead what his culture is. How do his values conflict with his new society's? What looks like barbarism to him? What does he have that they don't?



      A very fine example of this is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. There, John, "the Savage", who has been raised on values imparted by Shalespeare's works, is confronted with a technologically advanced utopia, where the only value is consumerism.






      share|improve this answer




























        4














        There is a surviving account of the first meeting between Portuguese sailors and Japanese locals. What's interesting about it is that accounts of the meeting survived from both sides. The accounts go something like this:




        Japanese account: Those barbarians! They eat with their hands!



        Portuguese account: Those barbarians! They don't have chairs!




        You are looking down at your character. You are implying that he is a blank slate, and has to learn everything. Consider instead what his culture is. How do his values conflict with his new society's? What looks like barbarism to him? What does he have that they don't?



        A very fine example of this is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. There, John, "the Savage", who has been raised on values imparted by Shalespeare's works, is confronted with a technologically advanced utopia, where the only value is consumerism.






        share|improve this answer


























          4












          4








          4







          There is a surviving account of the first meeting between Portuguese sailors and Japanese locals. What's interesting about it is that accounts of the meeting survived from both sides. The accounts go something like this:




          Japanese account: Those barbarians! They eat with their hands!



          Portuguese account: Those barbarians! They don't have chairs!




          You are looking down at your character. You are implying that he is a blank slate, and has to learn everything. Consider instead what his culture is. How do his values conflict with his new society's? What looks like barbarism to him? What does he have that they don't?



          A very fine example of this is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. There, John, "the Savage", who has been raised on values imparted by Shalespeare's works, is confronted with a technologically advanced utopia, where the only value is consumerism.






          share|improve this answer













          There is a surviving account of the first meeting between Portuguese sailors and Japanese locals. What's interesting about it is that accounts of the meeting survived from both sides. The accounts go something like this:




          Japanese account: Those barbarians! They eat with their hands!



          Portuguese account: Those barbarians! They don't have chairs!




          You are looking down at your character. You are implying that he is a blank slate, and has to learn everything. Consider instead what his culture is. How do his values conflict with his new society's? What looks like barbarism to him? What does he have that they don't?



          A very fine example of this is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. There, John, "the Savage", who has been raised on values imparted by Shalespeare's works, is confronted with a technologically advanced utopia, where the only value is consumerism.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 2 hours ago









          GalastelGalastel

          33.3k594174




          33.3k594174























              3














              +1 Galastel; your "barabarian" might find those towering buildings just foolish, he doesn't automatically see any advantage in them at all, they isolate people, they are hard to climb, you are trapped in them if attacked, and on and on. The same for other technology, you need to understand that he doesn't understand the problem these "amazing" things actually solved in our past, and without understanding what they DO, they may seem to him a frivolous waste of time and effort.



              Primitive tribes tend to be relentlessly social people, other people are their whole life, their entertainment, absolutely necessary for their survival. The tribe is their partnership and they spend their day doing their part, whatever that is. They wouldn't like this modern world. Some of the conveniences might be fun (moving fast, flying, food on demand), but they would probably tire of the amusement park aspect and want some company and normality.



              Also you have to deal with human psychology: Amazement doesn't continue; after about 90 minutes, an intelligent person will just accept they don't know how things work, but also will recognize these new people aren't creating these new things with any effort, they take everything for granted, and so should they. An intelligent person will switch from amazement to "exploration and experimentation" very quickly, and learn the basics very quickly. They will be riding the subway within days.



              That is the basics of acclimatization; your primitive's amazement will be fairly rapidly replaced by the thoughts, "what useful purpose does this serve, how do I control it, how does it communicate to me?"



              Simple things like an elevator will be learned quickly. If he can't read numbers, then remember primitive people that don't rely much on a written language rely on their memory; they have a phenomenal positional memory and navigational sense. So he might not know "27" means the 27th floor, but he will accurately memorize the symbol and the position of the button and the sequence of buttons to push on first exposure.



              It is fine to write about amazement and wonder upon first exposure, but it isn't realistic for that to persist for more than a day or two. Then your primitive will likely settle into an analytic problem-solving mode of thought for dealing with his new environment. He will be inured to all new amazements and see them all for what they are -- tools.



              And finally, he will likely be pining for his old and more familiar environment, for two reasons. First, because to him, that required far less mental work to get through the day. Second, due to a lifetime of training, he felt emotionally rewarded by the daily accomplishments of his old life, like hunting and killing dinner, connecting and playing or joking with people, the constant physical exercise of walking and working, the mutual admiration society of his tribal peers that produces a tangible sense of familial belonging. All those things have been taken away from him, especially people that understand him well enough to be actual friends.






              share|improve this answer




























                3














                +1 Galastel; your "barabarian" might find those towering buildings just foolish, he doesn't automatically see any advantage in them at all, they isolate people, they are hard to climb, you are trapped in them if attacked, and on and on. The same for other technology, you need to understand that he doesn't understand the problem these "amazing" things actually solved in our past, and without understanding what they DO, they may seem to him a frivolous waste of time and effort.



                Primitive tribes tend to be relentlessly social people, other people are their whole life, their entertainment, absolutely necessary for their survival. The tribe is their partnership and they spend their day doing their part, whatever that is. They wouldn't like this modern world. Some of the conveniences might be fun (moving fast, flying, food on demand), but they would probably tire of the amusement park aspect and want some company and normality.



                Also you have to deal with human psychology: Amazement doesn't continue; after about 90 minutes, an intelligent person will just accept they don't know how things work, but also will recognize these new people aren't creating these new things with any effort, they take everything for granted, and so should they. An intelligent person will switch from amazement to "exploration and experimentation" very quickly, and learn the basics very quickly. They will be riding the subway within days.



                That is the basics of acclimatization; your primitive's amazement will be fairly rapidly replaced by the thoughts, "what useful purpose does this serve, how do I control it, how does it communicate to me?"



                Simple things like an elevator will be learned quickly. If he can't read numbers, then remember primitive people that don't rely much on a written language rely on their memory; they have a phenomenal positional memory and navigational sense. So he might not know "27" means the 27th floor, but he will accurately memorize the symbol and the position of the button and the sequence of buttons to push on first exposure.



                It is fine to write about amazement and wonder upon first exposure, but it isn't realistic for that to persist for more than a day or two. Then your primitive will likely settle into an analytic problem-solving mode of thought for dealing with his new environment. He will be inured to all new amazements and see them all for what they are -- tools.



                And finally, he will likely be pining for his old and more familiar environment, for two reasons. First, because to him, that required far less mental work to get through the day. Second, due to a lifetime of training, he felt emotionally rewarded by the daily accomplishments of his old life, like hunting and killing dinner, connecting and playing or joking with people, the constant physical exercise of walking and working, the mutual admiration society of his tribal peers that produces a tangible sense of familial belonging. All those things have been taken away from him, especially people that understand him well enough to be actual friends.






                share|improve this answer


























                  3












                  3








                  3







                  +1 Galastel; your "barabarian" might find those towering buildings just foolish, he doesn't automatically see any advantage in them at all, they isolate people, they are hard to climb, you are trapped in them if attacked, and on and on. The same for other technology, you need to understand that he doesn't understand the problem these "amazing" things actually solved in our past, and without understanding what they DO, they may seem to him a frivolous waste of time and effort.



                  Primitive tribes tend to be relentlessly social people, other people are their whole life, their entertainment, absolutely necessary for their survival. The tribe is their partnership and they spend their day doing their part, whatever that is. They wouldn't like this modern world. Some of the conveniences might be fun (moving fast, flying, food on demand), but they would probably tire of the amusement park aspect and want some company and normality.



                  Also you have to deal with human psychology: Amazement doesn't continue; after about 90 minutes, an intelligent person will just accept they don't know how things work, but also will recognize these new people aren't creating these new things with any effort, they take everything for granted, and so should they. An intelligent person will switch from amazement to "exploration and experimentation" very quickly, and learn the basics very quickly. They will be riding the subway within days.



                  That is the basics of acclimatization; your primitive's amazement will be fairly rapidly replaced by the thoughts, "what useful purpose does this serve, how do I control it, how does it communicate to me?"



                  Simple things like an elevator will be learned quickly. If he can't read numbers, then remember primitive people that don't rely much on a written language rely on their memory; they have a phenomenal positional memory and navigational sense. So he might not know "27" means the 27th floor, but he will accurately memorize the symbol and the position of the button and the sequence of buttons to push on first exposure.



                  It is fine to write about amazement and wonder upon first exposure, but it isn't realistic for that to persist for more than a day or two. Then your primitive will likely settle into an analytic problem-solving mode of thought for dealing with his new environment. He will be inured to all new amazements and see them all for what they are -- tools.



                  And finally, he will likely be pining for his old and more familiar environment, for two reasons. First, because to him, that required far less mental work to get through the day. Second, due to a lifetime of training, he felt emotionally rewarded by the daily accomplishments of his old life, like hunting and killing dinner, connecting and playing or joking with people, the constant physical exercise of walking and working, the mutual admiration society of his tribal peers that produces a tangible sense of familial belonging. All those things have been taken away from him, especially people that understand him well enough to be actual friends.






                  share|improve this answer













                  +1 Galastel; your "barabarian" might find those towering buildings just foolish, he doesn't automatically see any advantage in them at all, they isolate people, they are hard to climb, you are trapped in them if attacked, and on and on. The same for other technology, you need to understand that he doesn't understand the problem these "amazing" things actually solved in our past, and without understanding what they DO, they may seem to him a frivolous waste of time and effort.



                  Primitive tribes tend to be relentlessly social people, other people are their whole life, their entertainment, absolutely necessary for their survival. The tribe is their partnership and they spend their day doing their part, whatever that is. They wouldn't like this modern world. Some of the conveniences might be fun (moving fast, flying, food on demand), but they would probably tire of the amusement park aspect and want some company and normality.



                  Also you have to deal with human psychology: Amazement doesn't continue; after about 90 minutes, an intelligent person will just accept they don't know how things work, but also will recognize these new people aren't creating these new things with any effort, they take everything for granted, and so should they. An intelligent person will switch from amazement to "exploration and experimentation" very quickly, and learn the basics very quickly. They will be riding the subway within days.



                  That is the basics of acclimatization; your primitive's amazement will be fairly rapidly replaced by the thoughts, "what useful purpose does this serve, how do I control it, how does it communicate to me?"



                  Simple things like an elevator will be learned quickly. If he can't read numbers, then remember primitive people that don't rely much on a written language rely on their memory; they have a phenomenal positional memory and navigational sense. So he might not know "27" means the 27th floor, but he will accurately memorize the symbol and the position of the button and the sequence of buttons to push on first exposure.



                  It is fine to write about amazement and wonder upon first exposure, but it isn't realistic for that to persist for more than a day or two. Then your primitive will likely settle into an analytic problem-solving mode of thought for dealing with his new environment. He will be inured to all new amazements and see them all for what they are -- tools.



                  And finally, he will likely be pining for his old and more familiar environment, for two reasons. First, because to him, that required far less mental work to get through the day. Second, due to a lifetime of training, he felt emotionally rewarded by the daily accomplishments of his old life, like hunting and killing dinner, connecting and playing or joking with people, the constant physical exercise of walking and working, the mutual admiration society of his tribal peers that produces a tangible sense of familial belonging. All those things have been taken away from him, especially people that understand him well enough to be actual friends.







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered 1 hour ago









                  AmadeusAmadeus

                  52k467167




                  52k467167






























                      draft saved

                      draft discarded




















































                      Thanks for contributing an answer to Writing Stack Exchange!


                      • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                      But avoid



                      • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                      • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                      To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                      draft saved


                      draft discarded














                      StackExchange.ready(
                      function () {
                      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fwriting.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f42739%2fwriting-a-character-who-is-going-through-a-civilizing-process-without-overdoing%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                      }
                      );

                      Post as a guest















                      Required, but never shown





















































                      Required, but never shown














                      Required, but never shown












                      Required, but never shown







                      Required, but never shown

































                      Required, but never shown














                      Required, but never shown












                      Required, but never shown







                      Required, but never shown







                      Popular posts from this blog

                      Why not use the yoke to control yaw, as well as pitch and roll? Announcing the arrival of...

                      Couldn't open a raw socket. Error: Permission denied (13) (nmap)Is it possible to run networking commands...

                      VNC viewer RFB protocol error: bad desktop size 0x0I Cannot Type the Key 'd' (lowercase) in VNC Viewer...