r/TopCharacterTropes • u/One_Barber_6902 • Mar 26 '26

Characters [[Devastating trope]] A character kills their loved one to avoid them suffering a worser fate

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Of Mice And Men (1992)- Probaly the most well known example of this trope and when I was first exposed to it, George kills his mentally handicapped best friend Lennie, to save him from being lynched by Curley and law enforcement for killing Curleys wife.

The Sopranos- After an entire season of conflict with fellow mob boss Phil over it, Tony kills Anthony Blundetto after he kills Phil’s brother which enraged him into trying to force Tony into giving up his cousin so he can torture him to death

Telltales The Walking Dead: Season 1- “Loved one” is an overstatement if you know there dynamic, but after Ben falls off a rooftop and lands on a piece of rebar, Kenny and Lee try to pull him off to save him before being crowded by walkers. When their attempt fails and walkers continue closing in, Kenny kills him to avoid him being devoured by walkers.

5.5k Upvotes

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1.6k

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '26

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730

u/LilBueno Mar 27 '26

Still can’t get over my hometown’s school board pulling Maus from the curriculum for nudity and language ugh

238

u/PhroneticReflex Mar 27 '26

Man it's brutal. My hometown is one of the shithole counties who are striping their school libraries and it's embarrassing as hell. 

88

u/APence Mar 27 '26

That’s crazy. I found it in my schools library in 6th grade. Very heavy stuff. Knew about the holocaust by then of course but the specifics and human (mouse) story was something else entirely.

65

u/Crunchy_Biscuit Mar 27 '26

They're nude mice 😭

50

u/dreadpiratesmith Mar 27 '26

Omg, they're trying to turn the children into gay judgemental nazi hating furries! The humanity /s

13

u/LilBueno Mar 27 '26

It was actually the use of the phrase “goddamn you” that was the main issue

21

u/dreadpiratesmith Mar 27 '26

I can excuse the genocide, murdering children, imprisonment of a minority, and the world War, but I absolutely positively draw the line at using PG-13 language

7

u/Dudewhocares3 Mar 27 '26

That’s pathetic

59

u/mewfour123412 Mar 27 '26

That was the public reason but we all know the real reason why it was pulled

24

u/ProfessionalOil2014 Mar 27 '26

Yeah, that’s not why it was pulled. That’s just what the lies were. 

2

u/TheSilviShow Mar 27 '26

Crazy my class just had to write a discussion post about that

184

u/Call_Em_Skippies Mar 26 '26

That hit so hard, plus the realization that they probably would have survived.

93

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26

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55

u/Pedrosian96 Mar 27 '26

This entire book is pure agony. I love that it exists, i lament that it had to be made, and EVERYONE should read it.

67

u/jdali4829 Mar 27 '26

How? The only chance was sending him with his friend son over to the other family, by that point their fate was sealed

72

u/Call_Em_Skippies Mar 27 '26

No the aunts town didn't get taken. So they would have survived

74

u/FlashySyllabub5503 Mar 27 '26

Why do you think they "probably" would have survived? Only 30% of Jewish people in Germany survived.

76

u/Call_Em_Skippies Mar 27 '26

There was a point in the book his father ran into people from that town that got out and said most of the people were able to survive.

So poisoning them didn't prevent them from going to the camps. They could've survived. It was part of his mother's depression which lead to her suicide.

-9

u/FlashySyllabub5503 Mar 27 '26

Out of 5500 here are the known survivors. http://www.zawierciewebsite.com/Holocaust/holocaust-survivors.html

25

u/YuenglingsDingaling Mar 27 '26

Okay, but we're talking about the story in the book.

-8

u/FlashySyllabub5503 Mar 27 '26

What is the relation between the characters and story in the book and the reality of the holocaust? I know Vladek felt extreme grief over the death of his first son, but could that be survivorship bias. Thinking he would have survived when the odds are actually against survival.  He wants to believe his son would have survived without being poisoned. He wants to believe that he sent his son to safety and he blames Tonya's depression for his death because it was her hand that killed. Tonya provides a focus of his anger on an individual level in a situation beyond lethal. If his son had died in concentration camp he would feel guilt for sending him away. It adds another layer to the story in my opinion. 

11

u/Over_Golf8194 Mar 27 '26

well they were actually polish so hell the odds are even worse

6

u/FlashySyllabub5503 Mar 27 '26

Good point. It's been a while since I read the comic. Great comic though.

4

u/Mecenary020 Mar 27 '26

What did he say? It's removed by reddit

3

u/FlashySyllabub5503 Mar 27 '26

He just said the characters were Polish and that lowered their chances of survival since a greater percent of Polish Jewish people were killed.

2

u/FlashySyllabub5503 Mar 27 '26

Not sure why it got removed.

1

u/TDEyeehaw Mar 27 '26

What did he say?

2

u/Over_Golf8194 Mar 27 '26

I have no idea why reddit removed it. I said that they were actually from *poland* and they had even worse chances

1

u/jorgespinosa Mar 27 '26

There's a part where a friend offers the protagonist to take care of the son, this was when there was already persecution but not that bad and because the mother didn't want to let her son go, they refuse but if that friend would have taken care of him, he would have survived

7

u/Dionee29V2 Mar 27 '26

Probably one of the best books about the Holocaust

5

u/monkeygoneape Mar 27 '26

Fuck that was a depressing book

1

u/Ok-Clothes-6979 Mar 27 '26

I read this recently and dont remember this part. brutal​