Fond Memories That Could Have Been: Difference between revisions

 

In desperation to hold onto what could have been, the parent will plead for departing offspring to stay so that they may spend the quality time together that he was too proud and aloof to make, often accompanied by imagined images of happy memories that could have been. This will be made all the more painful by the child ''forgiving'' the parent for their mistakes as they [[Go Out with a Smile]].

{{examples}}

 

* A compressed version of this shows up in one of the chapter covers of ''[[One Piece]]''. It shows Luffy with {{spoiler|his dead older brothers, Sabo and Ace respectively, having adventures in the present day.}}

* ''[[Naruto]]'' features a variation on the cover of the chapter finishing the {{spoiler|Naruto's birth arc, in which Minato and Kushina sacrifice themselves to save their son and Konoha.}} What's particularly gut-wrenching is that it shows a typical family breakfast for Naruto's family—showing the ''huge'' contrast between his [[What Could Have Been]] childhood and his ''very'' [[Dark and Troubled Past]] one.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Scarface]]'', Tony Montana {{spoiler|finds his best friend and his sister together, and in a rage, shoots and kills his friend, only to learn that he and his sister had just gotten married.}}

* In the films ''Jean de Florette'' and its second part ''Manon of the Spring'', a greedy, conniving farmer, César, engineers the downfall and death of his newly-arrived neighbor, Jean, in order to get hold of his property. Years later, César discovers, to his infinite horror, that the man he destroyed was {{spoiler|the son that César had always wished he'd had. Heartbroken and devastated, César loses the will to live and dies soon after.}}

 

== Literature ==

* Classic example: ''East Lynne'', which played the death of the tragic heroine's son for all it was worth.

* [[Charles Dickens|Ralph Nickleby]] hangs himself after learning that {{spoiler|Smike was his son}} because he wasted his life making money and believes that raising a child might have made him a better person.

 

== Western Animation ==

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Tear Jerker Tropes]]