History KickTheDog / Literature

* Much of the first chapter of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is dedicated to setting up protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge as a cruel and bitter old miser, but one of his worst moments is when he tells a solicitor for the poor, who has just told him that the poor can't go to prison or a workhouse and that many would rather die than go there, "If they would rather die, then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." Needless to say, it's one of the things that gets thrown back in his face during his encounters with the Spirits.

* Several instances with Eric in ''Literature/{{Divergent}}'' -- putting Christina in the chasm for 5 minutes, preparing to throw knives at Al's head and trying to shoot a mindless, defenceless Four to state his jealousy come to mind.

* Another famous Dickens example has Ebenezer Scrooge from ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', in response to being told that the poor cannot afford to go to the union workhouses and that many would rather die than go there, saying, "If they'd rather die then they'd better do it! And decrease the surplus population!" It does wonders in cementing early Scrooge as a heartless asshole, and it's one of the things that gets thrown back in his face during his encounters with the Spirits.

%%* Another famous Dickens example: "If they'd rather die then they'd better do it! And decrease the surplus population!" (''Literature/AChristmasCarol'')

** Though that's ''very'' debatable for anyone who's read ''Literature/{{Hannibal}}''. Mason Verger is much worse than Lecter himself, and this is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment established in quite an early scene]] where he [[spoiler: calls an adopted orphan into his private room and [[TraumaCongaLine not only brings up all the insecurities the child would already have, but then tells him that his beloved pet cat is going to be taken away and suffer a terrifying death, and that the boy should feed her rat poison to save her. This incident is mentioned later, when it turns out that the boy is in hospital after taking the rat poison himself.]] Mason calmly orders the family to be paid off, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday with the sort of tone that suggests this sort of thing is not unusual for him]].]] [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment This incident is not tied in any way to his revenge on Lecter]], and serves no purpose beyond making you wish the bastard suffers a truly hideous death. [[spoiler: [[KickTheSonOfABitch Much to the pleasure of the readers]], [[CruelAndUnusualDeath he does]].]]

** In the ''Literature/XWingSeries'', Flirry Vorru gets a moment that is simultaneously this and KickTheSonOfABitch. He was an Imperial Moff who got sent to Kessel for massive corruption; typically he's urbane and civilized, but when he "disciplines" an unlikeable lesser criminal who had recently been gut-shot, the Rebels he's working with make a note on how quickly his mood changes.

--> "What a stupid thing to do. It would serve you right if it came to life and bit your head off."* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' has Saruman consistently abusing Wormtongue, until finally, it all [[TheDogBitesBack backfires magnificently]].

* KickTheDog: Between Lucy first discovering Narnia and Edmund discovering it himself, he mockingly asks her if she's found any other countries in other wardrobes in the house.

* ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'': The Witch turning the merry party to stone, when she learns that Father Christmas gave them their banquet. This moment is significant, because Edmund sees the evil he has sided with, and for the first time in the story, feels sorry for someone besides himself.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' has Saruman consistently abusing Wormtongue, until finally, it all [[TheDogBitesBack backfires magnificently]].

* Gretel's bullying of Jacques during the first Tournament in ''RolePlay/YuGiOhEastAcademy''. This act is so cruel it actually [[BerserkButton prompts]] [[TheStoic Marcus]] to try and ''MindRape'' her.
** David firting with Crystal. Seems harmless enough, untill you consider that [[spoiler: Crystal had just lost her only remaining family member]] and that David was only doing it to amuse himself, rather than being genuinely interested in her... dick move, mate. ''Dick. Move.''
** Haine's [[spoiler: ColdBloodedTorture of Marcus and Sylvestre (which included outright ''murdering'' the latter.)]] Easily twisted enough to catapult Haine over the MoralEventHorizon.

* The original novel of ''Literarure/{{Jaws}}'' has a subplot involving the town mayor being in hock to the Mafia over a real estate deal. After Chief Brody orders the beaches closed following another shark attack, one of the Mob mooks tries to intimidate him by twisting his pet cat's neck right in front of one of Brody's kids.

-->''Mum was really upset. She tried to get Dad to calm down, but he wouldn't listen. He just kept shouting. He just got more and more angry. It was horrible.''

-->''Mum got really upset. She tried to get Dad to calm down, but he wouldn't listen. He just kept shouting. He just got more and more angry. It was horrible.''

* Edith Wharton's terrible story [[http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Kerf.shtml "Kerfol"]] tells of a man who suspected his wife of infidelity because she'd given her little dog's collar (a present from him) to a friend. He proceeds to kill the dog, and to kill any dogs she adopts or even shows the slightest kindness to. She begs her friend to take her away, or help her some way, as she fears for her own life. When hubby is found dead later, the friend is put on trial for murder, and the wife testifies that on that night she'd heard barking and howling she would recognize anywhere.

-->''And then, Dad just... ''lost it''. He just shouted and shouted and didn't stop. I've never, ever heard him shout so much. I was really frightened. He told everyone to {{get out}} of his house.''

->''Buster was howling, Lily and Barney were screaming, and Louise started to cry...''

-->''[[PapaWolf Jason]] [[WhatTheHellHero told Dad he was right out of order]] and pushed Dad. Then Dad pushed him back. Grandpa Fred told Jason to just calm down and Jason told him to keep out of it. Buster was howling, Lily and Barney were screaming, and Louise started to cry...''

* Committed almost literally in ''Literature/TheRedVixenAdventures'' when SpacePirate Bloody Margo kicks Lady Sallivera, a [[UsefulNotes/{{Furry}} fox-like alien]], when she's already bound to a chair.

* In ''Literature/MermaidMoon'', Baroness Thyrla coughs a [[FierySalamander fire-breathing lizard]] out of her mouth to demonstrate her magic. A few minutes later, she kills it with her shoe]].

* In ''Literature/LostVoices'', the mermaid Anais tortures larvae [[note]]girls transformed into mermaids as infants or toddlers, who will [[TheAgeless never grow older]] and are usually left to be eaten by orcas, since protecting them is too much trouble[[/note]] to death by holding them out of the water or sometimes even throwing them onto a beach until their tails dry out, resulting in a slow, incredibly painful death. No one cares much about larvae, but Luce is still horrified by the cruelty, and by the other mermaids' acceptance of it.

* Pierre Brossard, the VillainProtagonist in ''The Statement'' by Brian Moore, kicks the dog he bought his ex-wife years before in order to force his way back into her affections. By that time though he's already established as a sociopathic ManipulativeBastard.

* Creator/WalterJonWilliams' ''The Fourth Wall'' is narrated by Sean Makin, a down on his luck d-list FormerChildStar whose friends are mostly other child stars -- one of whom had a literal KickTheDog moment that Sean witnessed. He has no illusions about such moments:

** Rita Skeeter does this so much in the first book she appears in (''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'') that she is probably one of the most hated characters in the series. She embellishes a story about how Harry feels about being in the Triwizard Tournament (it's established from the start that she puts words in peoples' mouths and has nothing nice to say about anyone but herself) and once called ''Albus. Freaking. Dumbledore.'' an "obsolete dingbat". She also wrote a scathing article about Hermione being a ''gold digger'' because Hermione had the guts to criticize her, then wrote an article about Harry apparently going crazy or just being an AttentionWhore due to his scar hurting more and more lately. She also revealed Hagrid's half-giant heritage to all of the UK, using people like the ''Malfoys'' as quote sources. She gets hers at the end, though, with Hermione holding the information that she's an unregistered Animagus (being unregistered is illegal and violators are subject to a few years in Azkaban) over her head, making her quit the ''Daily Prophet'' and stop writing nasty stories. In book 5 she actually does some good, though, getting the truth out about Voldemort through ''The Quibbler'' since the ''Prophet'' can't be trusted due to the Ministry attempting to discredit Harry and Dumbledore at every turn.

-->''[[PapaWolf Jason]] [[WhatTheHellHero told Dad he was right out of order]] and pushed Dad. Then Dad pushed him back. Grandpa Fred told Jason to calm down and Jason told him to keep out of it. Buster was howling, Lily and Barney were screaming, and Louise started to cry...''

-->''He started shouting and shouting. He shouted at Louise, saying really mean things -- that the baby would cry and ruin our holiday, just like how Barney had ruined last year's holiday. He said that Louise was ''stupid'' for having another baby, when she couldn't manage the ones she had already...''

-->''Everyone was ''really'' happy about the baby... but not Dad.''