History Anvilicious / Literature

* The final arc of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' makes its WarIsHell message very clear, to the point where that {{A|nAesop}}esop was the entire point of the final book. When some readers complained that the ending wasn't "cool" enough, Applegate took them to task by saying that the whole point of the series is that war isn't something to venerate or find fun. It's something that tears families apart, kills innocent people, and destroys lives forever. By the end of the final book, [[spoiler:Jake has developed PTSD from his experiences, Rachel is dead, Tobias has shut himself off from the world, and Marco and Cassie aren't particularly happy despite being better off than they were pre-war. What makes this particularly effective is that K.A. Applegate deliberately didn't have a grand, glorious final battle with the Animorphs finally triumphing--Rachel's death takes place very suddenly, the Yeerks surrender and peace is declared through negotiation, and Jake's PTSD results in his choosing to kill nearly eighteen thousand defenseless Yeerks.]]

* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' could be renamed ''Charlie and the Anvil Factory'', since the story generates {{Aesop}}s in industrial quantities. In fact the very first page, which introduces the kids, already presents morals by reducing the description of the bratty kids to their vices. And what morals the book has are hammered in with brute force, including moralising songs by Oompa-Loompas. So remember kids: Chewing gum is bad. Being fat is bad. Being greedy is bad. Watching TV is bad.[[note]]Making for an Unintended Moment of Funny in the film versions![[/note]] Oh, and horribly punishing little children for these vices is A-OK! (This is the basis for a joke in [[Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory the 2013 stage musical adaptation]], which turns up the BlackComedy by applying DeathByAdaptation to a few characters -- as Willy Wonka prepares to end the tour he notes "True, we did lose a few children along the way... but we all ''learned something'' and that's the important thing!")

* The {{Aesop}} from the story of [[{{Atlantis}} Numenor]] told in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' is particularly Anvilicious: death is a fate intended by {{God}} for humans, and you should not try to escape that fate.

* ''Literature/TheSecretGarden'': The book takes several {{Author Tract}}s towards the end to smack the idea of "Go outside and run around in the fresh air, and if you think you're ill it'll make you ill and if you think you're healthy it'll make you healthy, and believe in the Magic!" But then again, who can wholeheartedly argue with that kind of [[AnAesop Aesop?]]

* ''Literature/TheFableOfTheDragonTyrant'': This short story goes out of its way to defy and deconstruct WhoWantsToLiveForever supremely harshly to raise awareness and declares many vastly popular works incorrect. TheGrimReaper represents ThePlague in its deadliest form and an EldritchAbomination of an unprecedented scale that holds humanity in StockholmSyndrome. Bostrom treats promoters of accepting death as conspiracy theorists that skew priorities and hide their errors with hollow rhetoric. In the appendix, Bostrom declares stories promoting accepting death as outdated and dangerous with one sentence, meaning he had to be heavy-handed in his situation to raise awareness.

* ''Literature/MysticAndRider'': The message of these books? Don't discriminate against anyone. Especially not minorities who live as second class citizens in the south-eastern part of your massively powerful country which could kick the ass of all its neighbouring countries, and occasionally does. [[AndThatsTerrible Racism is baaaad, kids.]]

* The ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' books are made of anvils. Don't give into those base desires or you'll die! Sex before marriage will kill you! Blood equals sex equals death equals don't do it! The clearest anvil was when Edward told Bella that her number was up, the moment they meet. Before that Bella hurt herself a lot but she didn't have many close encounters with death. After meeting Edward she gets a series of events that only lead to her death, being saved by Edward most of the time. Till in the last book she dies, she is just reborn as a vampire.
** Considering that ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' is essentially a long AuthorTract on gender roles in relationships (with quite a bit of ValuesDissonance for many people), the original cover for the paperback is a bit {{Anvilicious}} in retrospect. The publisher apparently thought that the "men are moral, women are weak" message was [[SarcasmMode a little too subtle]], so the cover featured an image of [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic a woman's hands offering an apple]], which of course otherwise had absolutely nothing to do with the plot.
** There's also the huge importance Meyer places on finding your soul mate. Almost every good character in the book finds their one true love while the bad characters either don't find one or lose their mate.
** ''Breaking Dawn'' descends for a while into being a diatribe against abortion, with heretofore perfect soul mate Edward abruptly turning into an absurd strawman who insists on aborting ''his own child'' in the most patronizing manner possible, insisting on calling it nothing but "it."

* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'': The book and [[Series/WarOfTheWorlds2019 2019 TV series]] spell out Wells' message that the Martians were actually not that different from the British imperialists, who would come off ''very'' similarly to the less technological advances peoples they conquered in the 19th century. He notes that the British had already caused the extinction of the Native Tasmanians (a few of them in fact survived, although this wasn't known in Wells time-thankfully by now they have made a comeback), much like the Martians seem intent on doing in the TV series. At the time, however, imperialism was greatly popular, and it was shown as such in the TV series (possibly also needed as a reminder for modern people).

* ''Literature/TheJungle'' pulls no punches in its condemnation of capitalism. The protagonist Jurgis goes through nearly every possible disaster a working-class citizen of his time can possibly suffer, with his child even drowning in the muddy streets, and Sinclair's intent becomes quite clear in the final chapters, which attempt to set up the Socialist party as saviors.
** Lewis was annoyed that the aesop most people ''heard'' was 'There might be a guy in your sausage. Ewwww!'.

* The final arc of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' makes its WarIsHell message very clear, to the point where that {{A|nAesop}}esop was the entire point of the final book. When some readers complained that the ending wasn't "cool" enough, Applegate took them to task by saying that the ''whole point of the sweries'' is that war isn't something to venerate or find fun--it's something that tears families apart, kills innocents, and destroys lives forever. By the end of the final book, [[spoiler:Jake has developed PTSD from his experiences, Rachel is dead, Tobias has shut himself off from the world, and Marco and Cassie aren't particularly happy despite being better off than they were pre-war. What makes this particularly effective is that K.A. Applegate deliberately didn't have a grand, glorious final battle with the Animorphs finally triumphing--Rachel's death takes place very suddenly, the Yeerks surrender and peace is declared through negotiation, and Jake's PTSD results in his choosing to kill nearly ''18,000'' defenseless Yeerks.]]

* ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'': "Chase the past all you want, but you'll never get it back." The book is not at all subtle about how pointless trying to recapture your former GloryDays truly is. Gatsby's inability to accept this and let Daisy go leads to his ruination and his death. Even the characters who make it out of the story alive are living in {{Gilded Cage}}s and/or stuck in completely unhappy marriages, all while everyone around them keeps trying to grasp at something they can't have anymore.

* The final arc of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' makes its WarIsHell message very clear, to the point where that {{A|nAesop}}esop was the entire point of the final book. When some readers complained that the ending wasn't "cool" enough, Applegate took them to task by saying that the ''whole point of the books'' was the war isn't something to venerate or find fun--it's something that tears families apart, kills innocents, and destroys lives forever. In it, [[spoiler: Jake had gotten PTSD from his experiences, Rachel was dead, Tobias had shut himself off from the world, and while Marco and Cassie were better off, neither were really happy. What makes this particularly effective is that K.A. Applegate deliberately didn't have a grand, glorious final battle with the Animorphs finally triumphing--Rachel's death was done with a quick blow, the Yeerks surrender and peace is declared through negotiation, and Jake's PTSD results in his choosing to kill nearly ''18,000'' defenseless Yeerks.]]
* The ''Literature/AnitaBlake'' Books 10-13: "It's OK to have sex outside of marriage. In fact, homosexuality, polygamy, one-night-stands, and BDSM are also totally cool, as long as everyone consents. So don't spend hours worrying about sexual ethics when someone's life depends on you having sex in the next half hour." Anita spends three books angsting over this (and a couple more about the first bit), when the intended answer is obvious. It makes sense given her Catholic background, but is extremely irritating.

** And fairies are still using gas engines in the first book, and presumably have been for longer than the humans have, so they would be responsible for most of the pollution in the world, not humans. [[{{Hypocrite}} And fairies are supposed to be way more advanced than humans]], so they have no excuse -- we, at least, are starting to phase fossil fuels out.

** ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'' wants the 2011 reading public to know that colonial-era slavery is really bad. More relevant issues concerning how not understanding another culture can be used as an excuse to demonize them, or how different cultures can co-exist despite different beliefs and ideas, are eschewed in favor of showcasing a species of goblins that is so special, so magically gifted, so [[WoobieSpecies pathetic]], and a collection of villains that are so evil for hurting and enslaving these poor goblins, that they make Commander Vimes, the poster child for LawfulGood, break several laws with a IDidWhatIHadToDo justification, and Lord Vetinari, the poster child for [[TheStoic stoic]] PragmaticVillainy, assassinate someone even though he would gain nothing from it.

* The Star Trek novel "Ship of the Line" by Creator/DianeCarey has a few ''TakeThat''s to the episode "The Neutral Zone". Will Riker argues with Morgan Bateson, who is from 90 years before TNG. When Riker says the Picard line "We strive to better ourselves", Bateson snaps back "Who do you think you're 'better' than?" Bateson points out the arrogance of 24th Century Starfleet members. Picard also gains new appreciation of Jim Kirk through some interactive historical holodeck programs, leading to a CMOA against Gul Madred.

* The Star Trek novel "Ship of the Line" by Diane Carey has a few ''TakeThat''s to the episode "The Neutral Zone". Will Riker argues with Morgan Bateson, who is from 90 years before TNG. When Riker says the Picard line "We strive to better ourselves", Bateson snaps back "Who do you think you're 'better' than?" Bateson points out the arrogance of 24th Century Starfleet members. Picard also gains new appreciation of Jim Kirk through some interactive historical holodeck programs, leading to a CMOA against Gul Madred.

* In Creator/DavidWeber's ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series, Haven goes through a revolution [its first of three in the same few centuries] that sees a man named Rob S. Pierre head of the Committee for Public Safety, which is now running the whole country. "Rob S. Pierre". To top it all off, the capital is called Nouveau Paris. Also, every Liberal, Conservative, or anyone with anything but loyalist or centrist credentials except for one or two {{canon immigrant}}s tends to be textbook [[StrawCharacter Strawman Political]] with the subtlety in delivery of several dozen anvils. Not feeling that the point of StateSec being fascist had been made clearly enough, David Weber attempts to make things crystal clear:

* ''Literature/TheCrucible'''s popular messages about not pointing the finger and the danger of mob justice are obvious and repeated incessantly throughout the script. John Proctor spells out the moral and tells the audience whenever another audience is doing something wrong.

* The ''Literature/AnitaBlake'' Books 10-13: "It's OK to have sex outside of marriage. In fact, homosexuality, polygamy, one-night-stands, and BDSM are also totally cool, as long as everyone consents. So don't spend hours worrying about sexual ethics when someone's life depends on you having sex in the next half hour." Anita spends three books angsting over this (and a couple more about the first bit), when the intended answer is obvious. It makes sense given [[RaisedCatholic her Catholic background]], but is extremely irritating.