Abusive Parents/Literature: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* [[Evil Matriarch|Mama Elena]] from [[Like Water for Chocolate]]. She is constantly controlling to her youngest daughter, Tita, and forbids Tita to marry the man she loves so Tita can care for Elena when she's old just because it's tradition.

* [[Darkness Visible|William Marsh's]] father is a brute, though how much of one is only gradually made [[Scars Are Forever|clear]]. Lewis is so shocked about it that the abuse is never, ever played for [[Dude, Not Funny|laughs]].

* In [[Tanith Lee]]'s ''The Silver Metal Lover'', Jane, the heroine, discovers that her mother {{spoiler|futzed with her phenotype to make Jane plainer than she should have been because she didn't want the competition}}. The reader sees all along how her mother passively-aggressively manipulates and undermines Jane at every opportunity. She also {{spoiler|arranges for the destruction of Jane's android sweetie}} because Jane was growing up: growing *away* from her.

** Samwell Tarly's father takes [[Why Couldn't You Be Different?]] to extreme levels, openly despising his son for his bookishness and lack of badassitude. After years of trying to make him shape up through means such as forcing him to constantly wear chainmail and slaughtering a bull and making him [[Blood Bath|bathe in its blood]], he fathered a second son who he liked more. So he threatened Sam with a "hunting accident" if he didn't join the Night's Watch, thus giving up his inheritance to his younger brother.

** Cersei Lannister has shades of this, too. She loves her children, but clearly favors Joffrey, the eldest and a [[Complete Monster]]. After {{spoiler|he dies and his kinder, gentler brother Tommen takes over the throne, Cersei constantly compares him to Joffrey, and uses him as a puppet so that she can act as queen. She goes as far as to ''force him to beat his whipping boy'' when Tommen refuses to obey her out of love for his new wife, whom Cersei hates. Tommen is ''8.''}}

* Jaqueline Wilson's ''Lola Rose'' has Jayni talk about how her dad beats up her mum whenever he gets angry or suspicious, and constantly threatens her, and how he inevitably hits Jayni hard at the start of the book for the first time. Jayni repeatedly talks about how scared she is of her dad, even when he's miles away.

** He treats her little brother Kenny 'okay', but his behaviour is slowly convincing him that it's okay to beat women, and it seems only a matter of time before either he starts hitting Kenny or Kenny starts hitting his mum and sister.

* Jess' father in ''[[Bridge to Terabithia]]'' [[The Movie]] was a borderline case. He was abjectly disrespectful of his son's creativity and constantly making sneering remarks about his son's kind heart and artistic ability. However, he'd started a [[Heel Face Turn]] by the end of the movie, brought on by {{spoiler|Leslie's death}}. Jess retained his kindness and creativity, though.

** Janice Avery from the same movie also had an abusive father. For her, it was a [[Freudian Excuse]], in that she was the school bully.

** Whether his father's actions constitute abuse is questionable, since he only seems to act in that manner at times when his temper might get the better of him, such as when Jess neglects his chores on the farm in favor of his art (and at one point loses the keys to the greenhouse, which would be deducted from his father's salary to replace). The fact that they live close to the poverty line might make his desire for his son to do something that he would see as more practical understandable, if not justified.

* [[Terry Pratchett]] examples:

* Fanny Price of ''[[Mansfield Park]]'' suffers from neglect when she's adopted by her Aunt and Uncle Bertram and cruel emotional abuse from her Aunt Norris.

* Justina from the ''[[Night Huntress]]'' books tells her daughter Cat about her rapist vampire father with the words "You have a monster inside of you". She convinces Cat that her rape and her ostracism for being a single mother is all Cat's fault. When Cat starts hunting vampires in high school, it's the first time that Justina ever shows pride or love for her daughter, not caring that her sixteen-year-old is risking her life to earn her mother's affection.

* ''North Of Beautiful'': [[Complete Monster|The father.]] Exhibit A: One of his sons self harms. Exhibit B: Terra, the Main character, is almost anorexic, hates herself, is germophobic, and is in a mostly sexual relationship that she knows is unhealthy at the start of the story. Exhibit C: Her mother, a Binge eater, has nonexistent self esteem. Exhibit D: His eldest son has no healthy relationships at all. This book has a very realistic portrayal of abuse.

* In Stephen King's ''IT'', Eddie's mother takes him to the emergency room at least twice a month for imagined ills, bullies her doctor into prescribing unnecessary placebos for the psychosomatic asthma she caused, pressures his teachers into keeping him out of gym class, and tries to drive off the rest of the Loser's Club after Henry Bowers broke his arm, all because of her fears of him abandoning her.

* Korit, father of Seregil from Lynn Flewelling's ''Nightrunners'' - his mother died at childbirth and he could not expect much more than coldness from his father - Seregil believed that his father blamed him for the death of his mother, but it is later reveiled that Korit never got over losing his wife. That Seregil is the very image of his mother didn't help. Not that this would excuse him being a distant, cold bastard who imparted a major inferior complex on his son...

* Alanna's father from [[Tortall Universe|Song of the Lioness]] neglects his two children, spending more time in his study reading books than raising them. And during the time Alanna was at the palace, all he did was send one letter and nothing more. Even other characters such as Jonathan and Duke Gareth knew it and were both happy that Alanna had found a [[Parental Substitute]] in her teacher Myles.

* ''The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase'' sequence: Dido's parents are neglectful of her to the point of cruelty and her father, in particular, does not hesitate to imprison and endanger his daughter in the name of Hanovarian conspiracies. Worse off still, her half-sister, Is, is used by her mother as a drudge and treated with nothing but casual violence and verbal abuse by both her mother and father. It's never acknowledged outright by the pair that she is their child, probably since she is the product of an extramarital affair, a fact which might explain their disregard. An example of an abusive guardian is Miss. Slighcarp, to Bonnie and Sylvia in 'The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase', and to Dido and Dutiful Penitence in 'Nightbirds On Nantucket'.

* Michael's father, in the ''[[Knight and Rogue Series]]'', comes off as just a strict man with his sons. One who also told Michael that being honest was the only thing he could do right, and who was willing to let him go off as a man with no legal rights to try and take down a murder suspect to win favor with a higher authority figure, and who pernamently stripped away those legal rights to try and force a life on Michael that he knew his son didn't want.

* Succubus, one of the characters from the ''[[Wild Cards]]'' series, was used as a sexual toy by her parents.

* Harper and her stepbrother from the ''Grave Sight'' series by Charlaine Harris were nearly sold into prostitution as children by their drug-addicted parents.

* [[Stephen King]]'s ''Dolores Claiborne'' had a husband who, in addition to physically abusing the title character, had a decidedly unwholesome interest in their teenage daughter Selena, who suffered sexual abuse at his hands in addition to [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulation]] into being afraid of her mother in order to keep her from talking about it. It is this, along with the stealing of their children's college money in order to spite her, that would ultimately lead to Dolores's decision to murder him.

* In another King novel, ''Gerald's Game'', Jessie (the protagonist) was sexually molested by her father once. This was especially traumatizing to her because until then, they had [[Daddy's Girl|a very close, loving relationship]].

* In Russell Banks's ''The Sweet Hereafter'' (and the critically acclaimed film adaptation by Atom Egoyan), 15-year-old Nicole Burnell is molested regularly by her father. Following the accident around which the plot of the book revolves, which leaves her paralysed, she even expresses some relief that he won't find her attractive any more.

* Stormy Llewellyn from ''[[Odd Thomas]]'' lost both of her parents when she was little and was put in an orphanage. She was adopted by a couple who lived in Beverly Hills and didn't go three weeks before her adopted dad came into her room at night and molested her. She took it for three weeks before telling a visiting social worker what was happening and lived in the orphanage until she was 18, claiming she didn't want any parents except her biological ones.

* Margo Lanagan's ''Tender Morsels'' features the teenaged Liga who is used as a replacement for her mother after her death when Liga was only a child. Because of this, Liga becomes pregnant by her father not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES. She later becomes pregnant a fourth time after she is {{spoiler|assulted by some boys from the village.}}

* This is central to the plot of Sapphire's novel ''Push'', which was made into the film ''[[Precious]]''. Precious is raped by her father from age seven. When she has her first baby at twelve, her father leaves, but later returns and impregnates her again at sixteen. Her mother fondles her and forces her into oral copulation, reasoning that since Precious was responsible for her husband's disappearance, she should provide sexual services in his place. Much of the plot revolves around Precious' love for her children and her determination to give them a better life.

* Mackie Messer from ''[[Wild Cards]]'' was physically abused by his mother. Possibly sexually as well.

** In fact, Davy's learning to deal with the emotional effects of the abuse he and his estranged mother suffered is a major subplot of the novel.

* Count Olaf from ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' was the Baudelaires' legal guardian, and, really, he covered all the abuses. He hit Klaus, called Sunny names, and was going to force Violet to marry him, all to get the family fortune. It was mainly played for dark comedy, but in [[The Movie]], Olaf's abuse was a bit less comedic and a bit more shocking. The Baudelaires also managed to avoid the [[Freudian Excuse]] and grew up fairly well because they had each other to lean on despite the horrors plaguing them.

* Beverly Marsh from [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[IT]]'', whose father took the [[Overprotective Dad]] archetype into abusive levels, and it was also implied that [[Parental Incest|he held sexual feelings for his daughter]]. The man that she married, Tom Rogan, was just as abusive as her father.

** It's hard to tell if Henry's bat-shit craziness was a result of heredity or environment. There's also a whole chapter on the disappearance of a boy who turns out to be one of It's victims. Newspaper clippings chronicle an investigation revealing that the boy's stepfather killed another stepson with a hammer.

** In the book, it's unclear whether it was rape or just the twisted mind of [[The Fundamentalist|Carrie's]] [[Knight Templar Parent|mother]]. She and her husband were devoutly religious and she actually didn't know that she was pregnant; she referred to her growing stomach as "a cancer of the womanly parts". Carrie's grandmother was not like this at all; this suggests that Margaret has some severe mental health issues.

* In one of the most harrowing treatments of the subject in a children's book, Willie in ''Goodnight, Mister Tom'' is regularly beaten and starved by his religious maniac mother. {{spoiler|He is eventually found locked in a cupboard after a week's incarceration, cradling his dead baby sister}}.

*** Most of the working-class, smalltime criminals in ''Hogfather'' turn out to have been abused, physically and/or emotionally, as children, although they're still sane... compared to the main villain, the psychotic, boyishly handsome assassin Mr. Jonathan Teatime, who is implied to have killed [[Self-Made Orphan|his own parents]] when he was still a child.

* This is [[The Reveal]] in ''[[The Thread That Binds the Bones]]''.

* In ''Sunny Ella'', a dark retelling of Cinderella, Ella's stepmother slaps her across the face twice the day they meet. Later she uses her cane as a weapon and at one point removes Ella's voicebox as punishment for talking back.

* This is part of [[Darth Bane|Darth Bane's]] [[Freudian Excuse]]. His father was a grade-A asshole who physically and emotionally abused his son. Said son went on to become one of the most [[Badass]] and [[Complete Monster|evil]] Sith Lords to have ever lived.

* Sensei in the Japanese novel ''Kokoro'', albeit through his uncle. It's one of the reasons why he crossed the [[Despair Event Horizon]].

* ''[[Wild Cards]]'': The Amazing Bubbles was supposed to have had money from her modeling career put into trust for her until she was of legal age. But her parents instead funded their own decadent lifestyle. When she found out and sought legal help against her parents, they took the money and ran, leaving her with what they couldn't carry. And in a nasty parting shot, they also slashed open her beloved stuffed toys.

** In Harry's case, the Dursleys were physically, emotionally and mentally abusive to Harry. Forcing him to live in the little room under the stairs of their house, hiding the letters from Hogwarts, telling people that he was a delinquent, lying to him about his deceased parents, boarding up/making doggy doors for Harry's new bedroom...

** In Dudley's case, the Dursleys were an odd sort of mentally abusive because they raised Dudley to be a bully with an entitlement complex, and Petunia spoils him so much that he was morbidly obese up until ''Order of the Phoenix''. This is made more obvious in the last book, where Dudley finally thanks Harry for saving his life in the fifth book and wishes him luck. His parents are horrified.

* The novel ''The Nature of the Daughters'' by [[Awesome McCoolname|Elizadeth Hetherington]] features a female protagonist, Renata Savannah, that suffers all but sexual abuse at the hands of her mother, a woman who has repeatedly tried to kill her. Her mother even enlists her [[Evil Twin|twin sister]] to aid in the murder. Given that this is a coming-of-age novel about [[Daddy's Little Villain|a teenage serial killer,]] the horrid abuse Renata suffers is the least disturbing thing in it.

* In Mary Downing Hahn's ''Daphne's Book,'' the protagonist Jessica discovers that Daphne and her little sister are orphaned and live with their grandmother. Said grandmother is mentally unstable and unemployed--she feeds all the food in the house to [[Crazy Cat Lady|her many, many cats]] instead of eating it herself or feeding her grand-daughters, she screams and throws tantrums in the grocery store when Daphne tries to buy a particular food item they need, is horribly neglectful, tells Daphne to her face that she "sent her father away" (in reality, he was killed in Vietnam), and terrifies the younger, kindergarten-aged girl by saying the ceiling will fall on them and kill them all. She also forbids the younger girl from going to school, calling it useless, and Daphne herself misses many days of school to take care of Grandma and her sister.

* Odessa, the protagonist of the novel "The Fifth Born" by Zelda Lockhart, was physically abused by her mother while her father emotionally and sexually abused her. It doesn't help that she's the youngest of five kids and was three years at the start of the story.

* Dwight from ''This Boy's Life'' was this. He would force Toby to spend hours shucking extremely spiky horse chestnuts bare-handed as a chore for no apparent reason other than to torment him, spent Toby's money on a dog that Toby himself didn't want, and tried to force Toby into the local boy scouts just to give him some work to do, and joined as the adult leader just to make sure he did. There's also the times where Dwight attacked Toby physically over some pretty minor offenses. In the climax of the film version, Dwight attacks Toby over something involving ''breakfast'' which a now fed-up Toby reacts to by fighting back. The two end up in a huge fight. Finally, Toby's mother helps him and the two decide to leave.

* [[Danielle Steel]] likes this one too. Parents in her books are either perfect or display varying degrees of emotional abuse, although on book in particular does feature a physically abusive mother.

* The French [[Sci Fi]] novel ''[[Malevil]]'' has Wahrwoorde, an [[Evil Poacher]]. He forced this family to live in backwards squalor in a swamp, without electricity or anything they can't produce themselves. He's cruel to his son (and mother-in-law), raped his step-daughters, and is willing to risk the young man's life for his gain.

* In the [[Anne of Green Gables]] series, Anne goes through several homes and orphanages before being taken in by the Cuthberts, many of which were abusive and cold.

* In the short story ''Parting Jane'', a young girl is being harvested for parts to save her sick sister. Her parents don't seem to care about Jane at all, only the sick girl. Unfortunately this can be [[Truth in Television]].

* ''[[The Night Circus]]'' has two prominent examples: Mr. Alexander H--, who isolates the orphan he plucks out of the street for uninterrupted study for about a decade and then, once the child has grown into a man, essentially vanishes from his life. There's also Hector Bowen, who never hesitates to tell [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|his daughter]] how much of a disappointment/weakling/slut/whore she is while slashing her fingers open to teach her healing magic.

* In ''Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs Dunphrey,'' the sixteen-year-old protagonist suffers abuse from both her parents. her father, who left the family years earlier, was emotionally abusive and tried to pass it off as [["Just Joking" Justification|just kidding around]], and physically abusive--one of his last actions before running out on them was shoving his daughter so hard he knocked her out. The mother is neglectful, sitting around and being useless, letting her daughter parent her ten-year-old brother, and then finally just runs away from home without so much of a note, leaving her children to starve and freeze for a few weeks until the protagonist finally decides to tell someone what's happening.

* In [[The 39 Clues]], this is most certainly the case with Ian and Natalie Kabra. {{spoiler|Their mother Isabel is a [[Complete Monster]] who verbally degrades them on a regular basis, and it's left unclear whether their father treats them similarly or whether he simply doesn't notice or care about what Isabel does. Ian and Natalie love and fear Isabel simultaneously, while believing that they lead the perfect lives because of their family's extensive wealth.}} They'd be [[The Woobie|Woobies]] if they weren't so nasty themselves!

** Then Isabel takes it [[Up to Eleven]] in the final book of the first series, ''Into the Gauntlet'', when she {{spoiler|[[Moral Event Horizon|shoots Natalie in the foot.]]}}

* [[Sherlock Holmes]] prefers the city to the countryside because this is more easily revealed.

{{quote| ''There is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or [[[Domestic Abuse]] the thud of a drunkard's blow]], does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser.''}}