Values Dissonance/Literature: Difference between revisions

* In lines 53-56 of [[Juvenal]]'s fifth ''Satire,'' he describes a black waiter 'you would not want to meet by night among the tombs on the Latin Way.' This is because ghosts were believed to be black instead of [[Bedsheet Ghost|white]] in those days, the afterlife being dark and gloomy in general, not because of the stereotypes now current in some parts of the world.

* In ''[[Lord of the Flies]]'', the heretofore admirable and sensible character Piggy shouts at Jack's tribe "Do you want to be a bunch of painted niggers, or do you want to be sensible like Ralph is?" The phrase was changed in later editions: some replace it with "a bunch of painted Indians" (which may have been a case of [[Acceptable Targets]] at the time of the reprinting, but by today's standards isn't a whole lot better), and some substitute it with "a bunch of painted savages" (which is probably the best and [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|most fitting to the story]]).

** Heinlein walked into his own [[Values Dissonance]] in an earlier work, "'If This Goes On -- '", about a brutal religious dictatorship overthrown by a revolutionary cabal. The original magazine edition, published in 1940, had the revolutionaries literally brainwashing the populace into ''mental independence and skepticism'': "More than a hundred million persons had to be examined to see if they could stand up under quick re-orientation, then re-examined after treatment to see if they had been sufficiently readjusted. Until a man passed the second examination we could not afford to enfranchise him as a free citizen of a democratic state." When Heinlein revised the story for book publication in 1953, he rejected his own idea, instead having a minor character (described as resembling "an angry Mark Twain") shout, "Free men aren't 'conditioned!' Free men are free because they are ornery and cussed and prefer to arrive at their own prejudices in their own way--not have them spoonfed by a self-appointed mind tinkerer!" (And then, as Alexei Panshin likes to point out, the old man proves the point, or proves ''something'' at least, by dropping dead.)

* ''[[The Sheik]]'', a 1919 novel, is practically the epitome of this trope. Young, independent heroine who has no use for traditional feminine values takes a trip into the desert and is kidnapped by a cringeworthy-stereotype of an Arab Sheik. Said Sheik proceeds to rape her more or less daily, giving her what is actually a fairly accurately written case of severe PTSD. The dissonance sets in when, halfway through the novel, she realizes she's [[Rape Is Love|in love]] with him because he's 'mastered' her, made her realize she's a woman and weak and needs a man, and proceeds to give up her personality and do whatever he wants to make him happy. While he eventually falls in love with her, too, he feels so terrible about what he did that he wants to send her away so he ''won't hurt her anymore'', and only agrees to let her stay because she tries to ''shoot herself in the head''. And even today, a lot of [[Fan Dumb|people consider this romantic]]. (The heroine's abrupt change of heart could easily be read as Stockholm Syndrome, but nobody knew what that was in 1919 and that clearly wasn't the author's intent.)