The Woobie/Playing With

Basic Trope: A character who invokes sympathy in the audience.

Straight: Alice is viewed as sympathetic while getting abused by her father.
Exaggerated: Alice is popular to the point where the Author gives her a happy ending, and grows up to be a sweet, loving person.
Justified: Alice is a Moe character who is nice.
Inverted: The Chew Toy - Alice is loved FOR her misery.
- Complete Monster - That is, a villain that is utterly unsympathetic, and likely hated by fans; they want something AWFUL to happen to him/her instead.
Deconstructed: Alice is aware that people are only drawn to her because of her suffering, causing her to become depressed.
Reconstructed: Then Alice realizes that they're drawn to her because, after all, nobody should be left to suffer, and helping others is the right thing to do. She accepts their help and overtime becomes a stronger person who can stand on her own two feet.