Cinderella Circumstances/Playing With

Basic Trope: A child hero is reduced to a lower status in life, usually a servant.
 * Played Straight: Madam Bitchica forces Alice to work as a servant in her own home.
 * Exaggerated: Madam Bitchica beats, humiliates, and starves Alice, but still expects her to complete her chores on time.
 * Downplayed: Madam Bitchica favors her own daughters and gives Alice more chores than them, but still treats her like a member of the family.
 * Justified: Madam Bitchica has a Freudian Excuse.
 * Inverted: Alice forces her stepmother to work as a servant.
 * Subverted: Madam Bitchica is trying to build Alice's character.
 * Double Subverted: She just said that to get away with treating Alice like crap.
 * Deconstructed: Madam Bitchica causes Alice the emotional damage of Abusive Parents in Real Life.
 * Reconstructed: Although it wasn't Madam Bitchica's intention, the experience does build Alice's character.
 * Parodied: Madam Bitchica forces Alice to build her an entire mansion from scratch in one day. Alice does it, singing "It's the Hard-Knock Life" the whole time.
 * Zig Zagged: Madam Bitchica has occasional Pet the Dog moments, but still treats Alice like a servant.
 * Lampshaded: "I'm going to treat you like a servant because I'm the villain of this story."
 * Averted: Alice has a normal upbringing.
 * Enforced: "If Alice had nice parents, it wouldn't be as exciting when she got the letter inviting her to Wizarding School."
 * Invoked: The Eccentric Mentor left Alice with Madam Bitchica because he thought it would build character.
 * Defied: The McCoy didn't leave Alice with Madam Bitchica because he didn't want her to be abused.
 * Discussed: "Clean the whole house or no food for a week.", "Yes, Stepmother."
 * Conversed: "Oh great, it's another version of Cinderella."
 * Played For Laughs: Madam Bitchica gives Alice a Hilariously Abusive Childhood.
 * Played For Drama: Usually is.

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