The World Mocks Your Loss

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

You are in a relationship with the love of your life! You and said love are happy as can be and nothing can go wrong!

Then it does.

And you hate the world. Especially since the world seems to be mocking you for it. As you walk through the park, EVERYONE is paired up. You see couples on the benches, making out, couples on the lake, making out, couples under trees, making out, even the birds and frogs and PLANTS seem to be paired up with their life-long partner, and you're not. The world is mocking you.

If this is a musical, then this scene usually involved a very sad song. In a romantic comedy, the scene may go to extreme lengths to show the pair ups, and the scene will come after the Second Act Breakup and before the reconciliation.

This trope can be Played for Laughs or Played for Drama. Also, it doesn't have to be about romantic breakups - it can also be used when someone has died or gone missing, or some highly emotional object has been lost through no fault of their own. In these instances, expect the protagonist to mistake other people or objects for the one they lost.

Look for Lonely Piano Piece in visual examples.

Somewhat Truth in Television in that those who have recently lost something will tend to notice these things a LOT more than someone who hasn't suffered such a loss.

Compare Cold Turkeys Everywhere, wherein that trope is for people who willingly gave up something, and the world is tempting them constantly. Compare/Contrast Spontaneous Choreography. Contrast You Are Not Alone, but only in fiction. In Real Life, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Examples of The World Mocks Your Loss include:

Anime and Manga

Comic Books

  • When the eponymous Groo the Wanderer thought his dog Rufferto was dead and that Groo had eaten him he kept seeing objects that reminded him of Rufferto's coloring.

Literature

  • In Lost In a Good Book, Thursday starts seeing infants everywhere en route to her physician's office; she fears she's lost her pregnancy when she realizes Landen has been eradicated.

Film

Video Games

Western Animation

  • In the Lion King: Simba's Pride, the scene after Kovu gets exiled is this, complete with song "Love Will Find a Way".
  • The Simpsons, after Ned lost his wife he sees couples dancing and having fun at the Jellyfish Festival.

Marge: Poor Ned. This is his first Jellyfish Festival alone.
Homer: I know. And it doesn't get any easier from here. There's the Tongue-Kissing Festival, Cinco de Ocho, the Hobo Oscars, days just made for lovers. Not widowers...lovers.

  • Parodied in the Futurama DVD Movie "The Beast with a Billion Backs"; right after Colleen and Fry break up, Fry sees increasingly comically unlikely coupling scenarios.

Real Life

  • People who have often lost someone dear to them, by death or otherwise, will often be reminded of it constantly, if nothing else because of a natural inclination towards nostalgia, and reading into things that remind them of that person. Talking to someone who just lost someone through death can lead to some especially strange metaphors. The truth is, of course, they're constantly thinking about their loss, so it's not that everything reminds them, it's that they insert the lost person into everything else: "My mother bought me this game," "My wife and I saw this movie together," which they may not remember every time they boot up that game or watch that movie. Even going into predictions like "My brother would've loved this song." becomes common for grievers.
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