History Literature / Beast

%% * CanadaEh: Talley, complete with Maritime accent.

%% * AnyoneCanDie: And they do - up to and including Whip's lifelong friend and first mate Mike.

%% * DeathOfAChild: The Osborne children.

* EatenAlive: The fate of anyone with the extreme misfortune to run into the squid when it's hungry. Thankfully, the book's got quite a few literary [[GoryDiscretionShot Gory Discretion Shots]], once the squid gets its hooks into someone.
* TheEndOrIsIt: The squid is dead, yet as the epilogue shows, more and more of them are being born every year and [[GreenAesop surviving to adulthood due to their predators being overfished.]]

--> "It existed to survive. And to kill. For, peculiarly -- if not uniquely--in the world of living things, it often killed without need, as if Nature, in a fit of perverse malevolence, had programmed it to that end."

%% * GiantSquid

* MythologyGag: Whip mocks ''Jaws'', one of Benchley's other works, as being BS - essentially an AuthorTract, as Benchley himself came to regret the horribly bad rap ''Jaws'' gave Great White Sharks.

* NotEnoughToBury: The only remains of the Manning children that Whip finds are a torn-off wetsuit hood - with a [[EyeScream single human eye in it.]]

%% * {{Revenge}}: Osborn Manning wants it on the squid. [[RevengeBeforeReason: which ultimately gets him killed]].
* ScienceIsBad: Whip chastises himself for putting faith in science, saying "The only thing scientists admit is what they know. What they don't know - what might be, all the stuff in the in the realm of the possible but unproven - they dismiss as myth." On the other hand, Dr. Talley averts this, and is as helpful as he can be.

* SuperPersistentPredator: The squid ends up like this after Manning, Talley, and Whip first trick it into believing there's a mate nearby, and then try to kill it. In general, it's also one of the only sea animals that generally will ''not'' leave you alone if you leave it alone - it's extremely aggressive when hungry, which is almost all of the time.
%% * TentacledTerror: The GiantSquid which has wreaked havoc on the cast.

* ItIsPronouncedTropay: Whip is especially annoyed by Liam St. John pronouncing his last name "sinjin", like a Brit.

* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: The squid is eventually revealed to be over a hundred feet long. This is ''not'' as far-fetched as it sounds.

* BodyHorror: The only remains of the Manning children that Whip finds are a torn-off wetsuit hood - with a [[EyeScream single human eye in it.]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f2f8fa1e_c486_4b66_923e_f23c722161f6.jpeg]]

* ScienceMarchesOn: Some of the traits of giant squid as presented in the book (most notably the hooks inside the suckers) have since been established as traits of the similar (and larger) colossal squid. This is a minor quibble however; after twenty+ years, most of the material Benchley presents holds up quite well.

* AnyoneCanDie: And they do - up to and including Whip's lifelong friend and first mate Mike.

* CanadaEh: Talley, complete with Maritime accent.

* DeathOfAChild: The Osborne children.

* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: The beginning of the novel spends a ''lot'' of time discussing the nearly-20 year marriage of the couple out sailing. Presumably to make the reader really feel the loss when they're killed by the creature.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Osborn Manning certainly does.

* GiantSquid
* IGaveMyWord: Both Whip and Manning operate on this principle.

* ItIsPronouncedTropay: Whip is especially annoyed by Liam St. John pronouncing his last name "sinjin," like a Brit.

* {{Jerkass}}: Osborn Manning, though he does have more principles than one might expect from a CorruptCorporateExecutive. Liam St. John is a straight example, and a moron to boot.

* KrakenAndLeviathan: Referenced frequently, given the squid's size.

* {{Revenge}}: Osborn Manning wants it on the squid. [[RevengeBeforeReason: which ultimately gets him killed]].

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Osborn Manning again.
* SharpDressedMan: Osborn Manning.

* SmugSnake: Liam St. John; Osborn Manning might count too.

* TentacledTerror: The GiantSquid which has wreaked havoc on the cast.
* TooDumbToLive: Dr. Liam St. John, who first tries to kill the squid with dynamite, then rents a submarine...and promptly wastes one of his weapons on killing a shark instead of on the squid, leading to his death and that of his entire crew.

* SpoiledSweet: The Manning twins are the kids of a millionaire and are going on a fairly expensive vacation, but come across as this (or at least NiceToTheWaiter) towards Lucas their diving guide, are fascinated by exploring the ocean depths, and don't inspire any negative comments after their deaths at the squids tentacles.

* * SpoiledSweet: The Manning twins are the kids of a millionaire and are going on a fairly expensive vacation, but seem pretty nice to Lucas their diving guide, are fascinated by exploring the ocean depths, and don't inspire any negative comments after their deaths at the squids tentacles.

* SpoiledSweet: The Manning twins seem pretty nice to Lucas their diving guide.

* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: Indeed.

* {{Revenge}}: Osborn Manning wants it on the squid.
** RevengeBeforeReason: Manning has a bad case of this, and it ultimately gets him killed.

* ItsPronouncedTropay: Whip is especially annoyed by Liam St. John pronouncing his last name "sinjin," like a Brit.

A 1991 novel by Creator/PeterBenchley (author of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''), '''''Beast''''' deals with a series of attacks on Bermudan shipping and swimmers by a hungry (and aggressive) giant squid. It was adapted into a film in 1996 under the slightly changed name of ''Film/TheBeast''.

'''Tropes Appearing In This Book Include:'''

* InfantImmortality: Averted with the Osborn children.