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I am so bored with the trope of the poor character constantly trying to emulate a rich character, negatively comparing themselves to the rich character, wishing they could be more like them.
Like, where's my poor girl who doesn't care how her secondhand cardigan measures up against the rich girl's Balenciaga sweater? Where's my poor girl who doesn't gush on and on about how graceful the rich girl is while disparaging herself for how she occupies the same space?
Why does the poor girl always have to hate herself and be embarrassed about her background? Why does she have to idolize her wealthy counterpart?
Why can't authors imagine someone coming from poverty who doesn't feel the need to put on the mask of class privilege? Who doesn't wish they could perfectly imitate and perform an extremely limited view of sophistication? Who doesn't automatically see those with more privilege as being automatically better than themselves?
I'm just so freaking bored with this stock Poor Kid Character. I know there are people born in poverty who desperately wish to be accepted by a higher socioeconomic class, but there are plenty of us poor people who don't care about their acceptance of us. And I wish more authors knew that.