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Values Dissonance/Literature: Difference between revisions
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*** It's mentioned in one book that incompatible human couples with compatible dragons occasionally find someone ''else'' to [[Kissing Under the Influence|mate with under the influence]], and do a kind of 'swap'.
** At least one disability-activist has objected to ''[[The Ship Who Sang]]'', for its premise that those born with severe disabilities might be better off enslaved as cybernetic ships and facilities, rather than accommodated to lead a normal life.
* Pretty much ''anything'' written by [[
** Though he did recant his racist views and admitted that the racial mixing of New York was a good thing.
** Lovecraft's life was subject to this; he married a Jewish author and bookstore owner. When news reached his family, they threatened to disown him for it, leading to him moving to New York. [[Downer Ending|His family eventually pressured him into divorce.]]
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* [[Geoffrey Chaucer (Creator)|Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s ''[[The Canterbury Tales (Literature)|The Canterbury Tales]]'' was a collection of tales, many featuring some incredibly un-PC events and viewpoints. However, because each tale is heavily influenced by the various tellers' prejudices, it's difficult to gauge Chaucer's own opinions on the matter. For example, the Nun tells an incredibly racist blood libel portraying Jews killing a Christian child. However, the Nun herself is shown to be a shallow twit. While Chaucer likely wasn't much friendlier to Jews than his contemporaries, the seriousness of the Nun's Tale is inconclusive.
** This troper remembers his HS English teacher reading a Papal decree from a few years before Chaucer's time that stated that (a) the blood-libel wasn't true and (b) that the clergy were to do all that they could to quash such rumors; and here we have not just a nun, but a Prioress--about as high as a woman can rise in the RC hierarchy--actually PROPAGATING such a rumor.
** Chaucer wrote ''[[The Canterbury Tales (Literature)|The Canterbury Tales]]'' as if he were [[Based
* Popular opinion places this as the reason [[Victor Hugo]] killed off the protagonist of ''[[Les Misérables (Literature)|Les Misérables]]'', Valjean. The book was written about 19th Century France for 19th Century France, and in 19th Century France, [[Redemption Equals Death|a criminal is a criminal until he dies not a criminal]]. Letting Valjean live, which would seem the logical choice today, would seem a [[Karma Houdini]] to 19th Century France. Mind you, with Valjean's sympathetic portrayal throughout, as well as the critique of the class system disguised as a [[Betty and Veronica]], one could form a fairly solid argument that M. Hugo was not very fond of The Rules Of 19th Century France(tm).
** It would be pretty much surprising if he ''was'' fond of the rules of the Second Empire, which pushed him into exile. Not to forget also that during his brief political career in the 1840s, Victor Hugo earned some renown by publicly speaking against the death penalty and social injustice... ''in the Royalist Parliament's Chamber of Peers''. The establishment had plenty of reasons to think of him as a royal pain in the ass.
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** Also, lots of modern readers felt sorry for Eponine, who loved Marius and [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|tried her hardest to please him]], and thus weren't much pleased by how he basically ignored and looked down on her. At the time however, there wasn't really the concept of the "virtuous poor" or the mixing of social status. Marius was a baron and above Eponine and Cosette appeared to be the same as the daughter of a wealthy nobleman. This is also why Marius was so appalled by Valjean's distant past as a convict - despite the fact that modern readers would see Valjean's lifetime of redemption as far overshadowing what he did all those years ago, it would have meant that to Marius, Valjean was just a convict. This is also why Thenardier tried to use Cosette's illegitimacy as blackmail - the fact that she was the bastard daughter of a woman considered to be a whore would have been scandalous.
*** And on the subject of Marius and his treatment of Valijean, many modern readers would probably be rather disgusted by Marius' behavior towards Valijean once he learns that Valijean once committed some vague crime far in the past. The fact that Marius isolated Cosette from the man who worked so hard to raise her all those years (and that Cosette went along with it despite knowing her father figure's kindness) can be rather vexing to modern readers.
* Victor Hugo's ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Literature)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]''. Frollo's obsession with Esmeralda is regarded as twisted and inappropriate because he's a priest, and supposed to be celibate. It's highly questionable because he's of (minor) nobility, and she's a Gypsy, the lowest social class in Paris. But there's no hesitation over the fact that ''[[May
** There's also the portrayal of Gypsies as child thieves. Esmeralda is shown sympathetically {{spoiler|because she turns out to be the daughter of a French woman}}.
** Also, the use of the the word "gypsy." It's a racial slur.
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** In "The Hildebrand Rarity", Bond muses that "the only trouble with beautiful Negresses is that they don't know anything about birth control." Admittedly, he was having a conversation about Nigeria at the time, where contraception is indeed less prevalent, but the line's still jarring.
*** In ''[[Live and Let Die (Literature)|Live and Let Die]]'' Bond is surprised to see a "Negress" driving a car in New York.
** [[Orson Scott Card]], in his novel ''[[Enchantment]]'', quotes an unspecified Fleming story as having the line, "All women love semi-rape." Even if it ''is'' true for some women (which it might be, [[Rule
* Helen Bannerman's children's story ''Little Black Sambo'' has long left a bad taste in people's mouths due to the horrible "darky" caricatures that illustrated most of the early publications. However, apart from this and the name of the title character (which became a racial slur after the fact), the story is rather innocuous and has been retold (''sans'' [[Unfortunate Implications]]) several times in recent years.
** To illustrate (pun not intended), [http://www.johnmariani.com/archive/2008/080106/alephBetBooksStoryOfLittleBlackSambo.jpg here] is an example of some earlier artwork for the story. Contrast that with the cover of [http://www.k-state.edu/wwparent/story/award/r-sambo.htm one of the more recent editions] and, well, you see the difference...
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* What we modern readers consider a [[Mary Sue]] was considered an acceptable type once (see Little Eva in ''[[Uncle Toms Cabin]]''). More [[Idealism vs. Cynicism|idealistic]] characters were accepted in certain eras than now, types like the [[Princess Classic]] and [[Pollyanna]].
** The 18th-century idea of children's literature and poetry was painfully moralistic and didactic. ''Goody Two-Shoes'' was an actual book. This trend was mocked by [[Lewis Carroll]] in his ''[[Alice in Wonderland (Literature)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' books.
** Likewise what we'd call a [[Marty Stu]], especially the [[Jerkass Stu]] kind, was once considered a role model and pinnacle of manliness, and the classical definition of 'hero' was more like an [[Ubermensch]]. Naturally, today these characters come off as an [[Anti
* While it is still regarded as a masterpiece of world literature, ''[[War and Peace]]'' is not known for espousing the feminist philosophy. It never becomes so bad that women are considered inferior in the book, but anyone looking for it (and ignoring the [[An Aesop|actual morals]] of the book) could probably find enough subtext to dismiss it as male chauvinist propaganda.
** There's also the Sonya/Nikolay/Marya love triangle. Sonya is secretly delighted when Andrey and Natasha reunite because Nikolay can't possibly have an 'incestuous' relationship with Marya; this despite the fact that ''Sonya'' is his blood relation (first cousins), while Marya is only his brother-in-law's sister.
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** In the same way, older writing tends to portray rainforests as hellish environments, challenges to be heroically overcome, rather than precious ecosystems.
*** To be fair, if you're stuck hacking your way through a rain forest with nothing more than a machete, compass, and pith helmet, all that malaria and yellow fever can make it into a pretty awful place. This might be a Science Marches On, in that science has made rainforests more tolerable.
*** Likewise, Antarctica isn't exactly the most pleasant place to explore either. It's hard to appreciate great scenery and [[
** Not to be picky, but....how can a "patronizing attitude" toward a "lost tribe of Neanderthals" possibly bring up [[Unfortunate Implications]]? Not only have they been extinct for thousands of years, but even modern-day anthropologists concede that, genetically, they were only ''semi''-human at best. One might as well complain about someone having a patronizing attitude toward woolly mammoths.
** What modern-day anthropologists concede is that they are not our direct ancestors, not that they don't belong to the "Homo" family. They were "humans", but of a different kind. Their cultural development does not put them on woolly mammoth level either.
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** Actually ''Don Quixote'' is notable for having the character of Ricote, a sympathetic Morisco (descendant of Muslims converted to Catholicism after the conquest of Granada), ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|right at the time]]'' the Moriscos were subject to an extensive political bashing that led to their final expulsion by a royal decree in 1609. And when 'real' Muslims do show up as characters in a [[Show Within a Show|Book within the Book]] set in Algeria (based, by the way, off of Cervantes' [[Shown Their Work|own experience]] as a prisoner of war in Algiers), the Arabs do get a fair good portrayal compared to the Turks, who are said to be ruthless imperialists that treat the locals as slaves (and might be a reason for Don Quixote's modern popularity in the Arab world, especially in North Africa). Hell, he even claimed the whole book was a translation from an ''Arabic'' original found in the ''Jewish'' quarter of Toledo, at a time when simple knowledge of Arabic or Hebrew was reason enough to spend some days in company of [[The Spanish Inquisition]].
** Sancho Panza's remark about slavery were made in Part I, chapter 29, and he also makes a derogatory comment about Jews in Part II, chapter VIII. Maybe Sancho is lovable, but in those chapters he also is a naive fool who talks a lot of silly nonsense. His evolution to a wiser character is in the next chapters of Part II, so we can say that those are not Cervantes's point of view. Also, Cervantes has some experiences that most of us lack: he was a war prisoner and was very near to be made a slave, and certainly his views about slavery cannot be the same that someone who never has suffered such things.
** [[Karma Houdini|Don Fernando]], who had consexual sex with Dorotea after promising to marry her, and abducted Lucinda when she didn't want to marry him, choosing Cardenio, certainly is instantly forgiven and counted as a friend by the heroes as soon as he agrees to let go of Lucinda and marry Dorotea, but he is forgiven because he is the [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|very rich]] [[Blue Blood|second son]] of a powerful [[Aristocrats Are Evil|Duke]], and the world of Don Quixote is, sadly, [[Might Makes Right|clearly the same as ours]]... but Don Quixote and Sancho are not aware of his evil deeds, only the curate and the barber, and Don Fernando [[Buy Them Off|pays for all the things Don Quixote broke in the inn]].
** For another example of moral dissonance, let's see the next speech from Ricote at part II, chapter 65, where he praises the Spanish crown and his politic of expelling the Moors who converted to Catholicism from Spain, a place where they lived for centuries. (This politic that was seen as the only thing that can be done against the muslim menace): ''"it will not do to rely upon favour or bribes, because with the great [[Knight Templar|Don Bernardino de Velasco]], [[Aristocrats Are Evil|Conde de Salazar]], to whom his Majesty has entrusted our expulsion, [[Screw the Money, I Have Rules|neither entreaties nor promises, bribes nor appeals to compassion, are of any use; ]] for though it is true he mingles mercy with justice, still, seeing that the whole body of our nation is tainted and corrupt, [[Shoot the Dog|he applies to it the cautery that burns rather than the salve that soothes]]; and thus, [[Reign of Terror|by prudence, sagacity, care and the fear he inspires]], he has borne on his mighty shoulders the weight of this great policy and carried it into effect, [[Determinator|all our schemes and plots, importunities and wiles, being ineffectual to blind his Argus eyes, ever on the watch lest one of us should remain behind in concealment]], and like a hidden root come in course of time to sprout and bear poisonous fruit [[Utopia Justifies the Means|in Spain, now cleansed, and relieved of the fear in which our vast numbers kept it]]. [[Visionary Villain|Heroic resolve]] of the great [[Evil Overlord|Philip the Third]], and [[The Dragon|unparalleled wisdom to have entrusted it to the said Don Bernardino de Velasco! ]]" ''
* ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'' was written and takes place in the 1920's, providing for some in- and out-of-universe Values Dissonance.
** Tom, the novel's resident [[Jerkass]], fancies himself an intellectual by spouting a lot of racist tripe that he's read, which is intended to make him seem like an even bigger tool. He favorite racist screed, "''The Rise of the Colored Empires'' by this man Goddard" is thought by most critics to be a parody of Lothrop Stoddard's ''The Rising Tide of Color'' (1920), and that Fitzgerald is having at laugh at its expense.
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** And in the 1995 adaptation, Lydia's being caught in only a chemise might be cause for a blush akin to one being caught in one's nightgown today, but by the standards of the day, she was practically ''in flagrante delicto''.
** Lydia's situation in general is likely to create [[Values Dissonance]] for modern readers, for whom the best possible resolution for "scoundrel runs off with sixteen-year-old girl and lives alone with her for two weeks, leaving a pile of debt behind" would ''not'' be "he is bribed into marrying her." In that time period, however, living alone with a man for two weeks would leave Lydia [[Defiled Forever]] as far as society was concerned, making it impossible not only for ''her'' to marry, but for any of her sisters to make decent marriages either. And while Mrs. Bennet's fuss about her daughters getting married may also seem shallow and silly to a modern reader, the issue of the entailment on Mr. Bennet's estate helps to clarify that marriage is literally the ''only'' way to make sure that any of the Bennet girls will be provided for after Mr. Bennet's death.
** ''[[Sense and Sensibility (Literature)|Sense and Sensibility]]'' runs into problems concerning the ages of the characters. A modern reader would find it laughable that nineteen-year-old Elinor should legitimately worry about being an old maid, but back in the Regency era, that was really a concern. Furthermore, the "right guy" for sixteen-year-old Marianne is [[May
** ''[[Mansfield Park]]'' has two major plot points that turn on the morality/scandalousness of certain actions. The second is that of a woman who leaves her husband for another man and eventually is divorced (which is still not that all cool in modern Western society, although no longer shocking), but the first is that a group of friends are acting out a "racy" play ''amongst themselves'' -- a total WTF? to modern readers. Although, the latter scandal was also a WTF? for some of the characters, and the man who was especially upset by the play is frequently portrayed as domineering and unreasonable.
** Modern readers tend to judge Anne Elliot of ''[[Persuasion]]'' harshly for breaking off her engagement with Captain Wentworth, but in Austen's day, it would have seemed like the most prudent thing to do. Like most women at the time, Anne would have to rely entirely on her husband for financial stability, and Wentworth was in a dangerous line of work in which promotion was by no means guaranteed. For all anyone knew, he could have died at sea a year later, leaving her penniless and helpless.
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** Also notable is the inclusion of eminent Muslims such as Averroes in Limbo. Even Muhammad, who Dante places in Hell (for being a "schismatic"), still tells Dante to warn a contemporary schismatic of his wrongdoing, so as to spare him from the same fate.
* [[The Brothers Grimm (Creator)|Grimm's]] fairy tales, in , for example, [http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm110.html the Jew in the thorns].
* In an instance of [[What Do You Mean
* In [[Beverly Cleary]]'s ''Beezus And Ramona'', pre-school age Ramona is left to play in a sandbox in a public park with no supervision. Modern parents would be too terrified of her being scooped up by a pedo to do such a thing. Later in the series, Kindergarten Ramona hides all day because she doesn't want a substitute teacher (with no concern over where she is that we see), walks to and from school, crossing a busy street, is left home alone, and is punished by having to sit outside the classroom-when the classroom opens not onto a hallway, but a playground!
* The classic mystery novel ''[[The Woman in White (Literature)|The Woman in White]]'' by [[Wilkie Collins]], first published in 1859, centres on the dire and terrible Secret with a capital S that the evil baronet Sir Percival Glyde is going to great lengths to conceal. The nature of the Secret? {{spoiler|Turns out, [[Bastard Bastard|his parents weren't married when he was born]], so he is not the legitimate heir to the baronetcy or to his father's property.}} Granted, this does mean he's {{spoiler|committed some pretty serious fraud -- he falsified a marriage register to make a claim on a title that wasn't legally his --}} but still, a modern reader is likely to think "really? That's all?" and possibly even be sympathetic to him. This is probably why some recent adaptations add something extra to give the Secret a bit of spice; both the 1997 BBC adaptation and the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical version add the detail that {{spoiler|he raped Anne Catherick when she was a child}}.
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* Jahnna N. Malcom's ''Jewel Princess'' series had a couple of cases that this troper can remember. In the first book, Roxanne, the future princess of the Red Mountains, runs away before the coronation because she doesn't want to be a princess- she'll have to move to a place she either hasn't been to or doesn't know well, she prefers running around and climbing trees to remaining indoors, her future kingdom is a desert mountain range unlike her sisters', which are all much more widely populated and idyllic, and she'll have to rule over her people, despite not wanting to rule and having no real experience at it. After running away, she makes some allies, foils an attempt to put an impostor on her throne, and returns to the coronation willingly. OK, fine. Except that Roxanne is about eleven (though she doesn't act like it), and the idea of giving a pre-teen that kind of responsibility, especially since she wasn't prepared for it, is a ridiculous idea..
** Another example comes from the third book. In it Emily, the princess of Greenwood, is a notorious practical joker who has played tricks on everyone while refusing to see that most other people don't think that they're funny. Eventually, when a prank is played on a subject that seriously harms him, the people of Greenwood believe that Emily played it, and one of them says that he's going to talk to her father (the King) about her, because 'when a princess starts harming her own people, it's time for her to stop being a princess'. Again, fine, but like Roxanne, Emily is eleven, and expecting an eleven year old to be responsible and mature on that level is simply ridiculous- not to mention that there was no proof that it ''was'' Emily, and she had several witnesses that would have given her an alibi and testified to her non-violent nature if it had come to it.
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_Who_Loved_Insects The Lady Who Loved Insects] is a short story from 12th century Japan which describes an eccentric Japanese noblewoman who, as the title suggests, is obsessed with insects. The story seems to spend equal time describing her mania for insects and how dreadful it is that [[What Do You Mean
* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: There certainly is this! In the first book ''Weekend Warriors'', Kathryn Lucas insults Yoko Akia about being wishy-washy just because she's Asian and she's different. Indeed, the series portrays Asians as being different from other people to the point of being virtually alien. That, and books in the series like ''Vendetta'' cheerfully play the [[Yellow Peril]] trope as straight as an arrow!
* The modern reader of [[Margery Allingham]]'s ''Police At The Funeral'' are likely to abruptly realign their sympathies when the secret minor villain George Faraday is using to blackmail his aunt is revealed: {{spoiler|George is the result of a 'messalliance' with a mullatto woman (i.e. a woman who was the product of an interracial marriage) - a fact of which George is not at all ashamed but his aunt would do anything to keep hidden}}. Good on you, George!
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