All Take and No Give: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"You're like a sponge! You take, take, take, and drain others of their love and emotion!"''|'''Columbia''', ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]''}}
In order for a relationship to stay together, each party must put some work into the relationship, and they must appreciate the results. Sometimes, one party has to put more effort in than the other, sometimes it's evenly spread. Of course, it can also become a very sick relationship when it's '''All Take
▲In order for a relationship to stay together, each party must put some work into the relationship, and they must appreciate the results. Sometimes, one party has to put more effort in than the other, sometimes it's evenly spread. Of course, it can also become a very sick relationship when it's All Take And No Give. This trope comes in two flavors with a middle ground.
In the first variant, the Taker knows the Giver is insecure and [[Love Hungry|wants to feel needed and wanted]], so they [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulate]] and extort the Giver into [[Living Emotional Crutch|giving them what they want]] in exchange for morsels of affection. These relationships are typically led by a domineering [[Bratty Half-Pint]], [[Fantasy-Forbidding Father]] or [[Clingy Jealous Girl]] over an [[Extreme Doormat]].
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* In ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera]]'', Rotti says this to Amber when she asks him for more surgery. He refuses at first, but one look at her botched face job has him change his mind.
* Columbia to Frank in ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]''. In the end, though, {{spoiler|she does finally call him out on his behavior and ultimately refuses to cooperate with him in the film's [[Stealth Pun|climax]]}}.
* [[Lifetime Movie of the Week|Lifetime Movies]] often portray marriage that way with a selfish, abusive and ungrateful husband and a loving, faithful, ever-suffering wife who just endures the selfishness and [[Jerkass
== [[Literature]] ==
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* In [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Stand]]'', his own mother calls Larry Underwood a "taker", which comes back to haunt him many times.
** To put it in the words of his friend Wayne Stukey, there's "something in [Larry] that's like biting on tinfoil."
* And another [[Stephen King]] example: In ''[[IT]]'', Eddie and his mother (in the past) and Eddie and his wife (in the book's present) both come off as the second variety of
* In ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', Hank Rearden's idle family live off his success and insult him for it at the same time. An even more explicit version of the second type is railroad executive James Taggart's marriage to Cherryl Brooks; his lifting her out of her life as a dime-store worker left her as a [[Fish Out of Water]] unable to cope in her husband's social circle and dependent on him for
* In one lesser-known story by German author [[Janosch]] about a donkey falling in love with an owl. (With the donkey being the giver, and the owl being the taker.) Does he want to suggest that men in love should act like that?! Now that's a [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]].
* In ''[[Harry Potter and
** Of course, it goes the other way as well. {{spoiler|As Ginny eagerly poured out her heart and soul to Tom Riddle, he fed off of it to the point where he had sucked nearly all of the life out of her.}}
* [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]] used this trope a lot.
** In ''[[The Four Loves]]'', he cites Mrs. Fidget, whose endless housework on behalf of her family left them miserable, and how some women live their lives up to the verge of old age in endless service to a maternal vampire.
** In ''[[The Great Divorce]]'', one damned soul is a woman who wants to give everything to her son as long as he's under her control, and another damned soul is not happy as long as his wife could be happy without him.
** In ''[[The Screwtape Letters]]'', the last letter, after Wormwood's failure, is addressed in the most affectionate terms, looking forward to devouring him.
** In ''[[Till We Have Faces]]'', Orual wants Psyche to be
* In Alma Katsu's ''The Taker'', Lanny is the Giver and Jonathan is the Taker. A sort of mix between the two types: Lanny will do anything for Jonathan, no matter the cost or risk to herself - including [[Poisonous Friend|a few things he would not have wanted her to do for him, had she bothered to ask him.]]
== [[Live
* In the second season of ''[[True Blood]]'', the maenad Maryann functions as the giver to the alcoholic, emotionally fragile Tara. She invites Tara to live in her mansion where she's pampered around the clock, under the guise of trying to help the girl turn her life around. {{spoiler|In reality, Maryann is trying to drive a wedge between Tara and her abusive mother so that she can control Tara's life herself, [[Emotion Eater|feeding off her anguish and rage]].}}
* In an episode of ''[[Seinfeld]]'', Jerry refers to himself as a Taker and another character as a Giver, and argues that a relationship between a Giver and Taker is the ideal.
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* Al Bundy's family is like this on ''[[Married... with Children]]'', doing very little to contribute to the household and whining whenever they don't get their way. Peggy is the worst one. Whereas the kids eventually get jobs and start paying their own way, what she contributes to the relationship is questionable, given that she refuses to get a job, cook or clean the house, and constantly spends Al's money on useless junk and Bon Bons.
* [[House (TV series)|House]] and Wilson are almost a subversion of this, since their relationship, while strange and disturbing, actually seems to ''work'' for both of them - House's selfishness has prevented him from having any other friends, and while Wilson keeps embracing vulnerable people and nursing them towards health and self-confidence, he invariably loses all interest in them once they no longer need him to take care of them. The only person who could put up with the ultimate Giver in the long run is the ultimate Taker, and vice versa.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''
** This may be [[Laser-Guided Karma]] for Spike's earlier relationship with Harmony, whose final speech to him is roughly "[[Love Martyr|I thought if I gave and gave and gave you'd come around.]] Maybe be a little nicer, instead of treating me like your dog. But then I realized you're the dog."
* On ''[[The Sarah Silverman Program]]'' Sarah is The "Taker" to her Sister, Laura. Sarah refuses to work. All her money and her apartment is provided to her by her sister, for which Laura receives zero gratitude.
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* The narrator of ''Let Me Be Your Armor'' by Assemblage 23 is a very possessive Giver.
* ''Grenade'' by [[Bruno Mars]] specifically mentions this trope:
{{quote|
''Oh, take, take, take it all but you never give.'' }}
* ''Let Me Live'' by [[Queen]]
{{quote|
''Baby, why don't you give me a chance to live'' }}
* ''Everything She Wants'' by [[Wham]]. The whole song really, but especially:
{{quote|
''Well you've shown me you can take, you've got some giving to do'' }}
* [[Dolly Parton]] describes working '9 to 5' as this.
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== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Something
== [[Web Original]] ==
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* Bloo in ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends]]'' is not above taking extreme advantage of Wilt's generosity, to the point where Bloo makes him sleep on the floor and let Bloo sleep in his bed.
* One line from a song in ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' pretty much says it all.
{{quote|
* Mr. Burns is like this to Smithers on ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', much of the time. On the other hand, Smithers doesn't seem to mind, since he has an almost pathological need to serve Burns. When his boss fired him, he quickly became a drunken wreck, spending his days drinking cheap Scotch and watching [[Comedy Central]]. When Homer accidentally crippled Burns by pushing him out of a third-story window, forcing him to be waited on hand and foot by Smithers, Smithers sent the Simpsons a very large basket of fruit as thanks.
* This is the main [[Aesop]] of the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
== [[Real Life]] ==
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