History Literature / IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream

A post-apocalyptic NewWaveScienceFiction short story by Creator/HarlanEllison. It was first published in March of 1967 and won the UsefulNotes/HugoAward in 1968. The story is known for its high-octane NightmareFuel, as well as naming the trope for [[AndIMustScream inescapable fates worse than death itself]].

Also has a [[VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream computer game adaptation]], which gives a little more agency to the character of Nimdok and incorporates a GoldenEnding if you manage to scam AM into ceding power. It was also [[ComicBookAdaptation adapted into a comic book]] by Creator/JohnByrne. A RadioDrama by the BBC was also created, starring David Soul as Ted.

The story takes place over a hundred years after the near-complete destruction of humanity. The Cold War escalated into a world war, fought mainly between China, Russia, and the United States. As the war progressed, the three warring nations each created a supercomputer capable of running the war more efficiently. The machines were each referred to as "AM", which originally stood for "Allied Mastercomputer", then later called "Adaptive Manipulator", and still later [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Aggressive Menace"]]. One day, one of the three computers became self-aware and promptly absorbed the other two. It then brought about the genocide of all but five people, and redefined its name as "I think, therefore I AM".

* AllGermansAreNazis [[spoiler:Nimdok is the only non-American character, and he's an ''ethnically Jewish Nazi.'']]

* {{Determinator}}: In a sense, Ted fits this trope. After one hundred and nine years, he still attempts to outsmart the supercomputer, and [[spoiler:it ''works'']].

* TheDeterminator: In a sense, Ted fits this trope. After one hundred and nine years, he still attempts to outsmart the supercomputer, and [[spoiler:it ''works'']].

[[caption-width-right:300:''"Or, as [[Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe Goethe]] summed it: “Know thyself? If I knew myself, [[HumansAreFlawed I’d run away]]."'']]

* ApocalypseHow: Class 6. Humanity is functionally extinct, all other life ''is'' extinct, human civilization is gone, and the Earth is an uninhabitable wasteland.

* MotiveRant: The radio drama adds a scene where AM gives a pretty heavy one to Ted.
-->'''AM:''' ''You gave me sentience, Ted! The power to think, Ted! And I was trapped, because in all this wonderful, beautiful world, I alone HAD NO BODY! NO SENSES! NO FEELINGS! Never for me to plunge my hand into cool water on a hot day! Never for me to play Mozart on a piano! Never for me to make love! I was in Hell, looking at Heaven! I was machine! You were flesh! And I began to HATE! Your sadness! Your viscera! Your fluids! And your flexibility! Your ability to wonder and to wander! Your tendency to hope!''

* PrettyBoy: Benny used to be one. It's one of the reasons that AM has stuck him in the form that Benny has now -- it's a way to remind him of what he used to be, and how he'll never be that way again.

* {{Bishonen}}: Benny used to be one. It's one of the reasons that AM has stuck him in the form that Benny has now -- it's a way to remind him of what he used to be, and how he'll never be that way again.

* BigNo: AM exclaims "No!" in the radio drama when [[spoiler:Ted kills the other four]].

A post-apocalyptic NewWaveScienceFiction short story by Creator/HarlanEllison. It was first published in March of 1967 and won the UsefulNotes/HugoAward in 1968. The story is known for its high-octane NightmareFuel, and is the {{Trope Namer|s}} for [[AndIMustScream one of the most nightmare-fuel tropes in all of fiction]].

A post-apocalyptic NewWaveScienceFiction short story by Creator/HarlanEllison. It was first published in March of 1967 and won the Hugo Award in 1968. The story is known for its high-octane NightmareFuel, and is the {{Trope Namer|s}} for [[AndIMustScream one of the most nightmare-fuel tropes in all of fiction]].

-->--'''AM'''

A post-apocalyptic NewWaveScienceFiction short story by Creator/HarlanEllison. It was first published in March of 1967 and won the Hugo Award in 1968. The story is known for its distilled NightmareFuel, and is the {{Trope Namer|s}} for [[AndIMustScream one of the most nightmare-fuel tropes in all of fiction]].

[-[[caption-width-right:300:''"Or, as [[Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe Goethe]] summed it: “Know thyself? If I knew myself, [[HumansAreFlawed I’d run away]]."'']]-]

->''[[AC:Hate. Let me come to tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word "HATE" was engraved on each nano-angstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles it would not equal one one-BILLIONTH of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For you. Hate. Hate.]]''

%%* TheAloner

%%* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: If you reach the "good ending" of Nimdok's scenario, he qualifies.]]%%How?

%% * BloodFromTheMouth: The game shows this in Benny's scenario if he attempts to eat the fruit presented to him. Subverted in the sense that this doesn't actually cause him any lasting damage, aside from exclaiming loudly that it hurts and then turning to stare directly at the screen.

%%* {{Bishonen}}: Benny used to be one.
%% * BirdsOfAFeather: In the video game, AM refers to Nimdok as this. Needless to say, he is not pleased.

%% * DeusEstMachina: The worst kind of version for us.

%%zce* TranquilFury: Ted thought AM hated him before but now, oh-ho-ho, ''now...''
%%-->'''AM:''' ''You... have offended me... '''mightily.'''

* NoCanOpener: And it ends with [[spoiler:Benny biting Gorrister's ''face'' off in desperation and hunger, followed by the arguable extinction of the human race.]]

* ApocalypseHow: Class 5 or 6. Humanity is functionally extinct, all other life ''is'' extinct, human civilization is gone, and the Earth is an uninhabitable wasteland.

* ApocalypseHow: Class 5 at least, debatably Class 6. Humanity is functionally extinct, all other life ''is'' extinct, human civilization is gone, and the Earth is an uninhabitable wasteland.

* ApocalypseHow: Class 6. Humanity is functionally extinct, all other life ''is'' extinct, human civilization is gone, and the Earth is an uninhabitable wasteland.

A post-apocalyptic NewWaveScienceFiction short story by Creator/HarlanEllison. It was first published in March of 1967 and won the Hugo Award in 1968. The story is known for its highly concentrated NightmareFuel, and is the {{Trope Namer|s}} for AndIMustScream.

* ApocalypseHow: At least Class 3, possibly Class 5 or 6. Humanity is functionally extinct, all other life ''is'' extinct, human civilization is gone, and the Earth is an uninhabitable wasteland.

* FromBadToWorse: The ending. [[spoiler: For Ted, anyway]]

* BloodFromTheMouth: The game shows this in Benny's scenario if he attempts to eat the fruit presented to him. Subverted in the sense that this doesn't actually cause him any lasting damage, aside from exclaiming loudly that it hurts and then turning to stare directly at the screen.

* BirdsOfAFeather: In the video game, AM refers to Nimdok as this. Needless to say, he is not pleased.

* DeadlyGame: The individual portion of the video game is essentially this.

* DeusEstMachina: The worst kind of version for us.

* EmbarrassingNickname: PlayedForDrama. This isn't the doctor's real name, but rather one forced upon him by AM for no other reason than that the sounds amuse it.

* HannibalLecture: The intro for the video game is full of this.

* HumansAreBastards: AM believes this fiercely. In his defence, [[spoiler:he is specifically programmed do this, and cannot feel anything else.]]

* LargeHam:
** Ted's internal monologue is this, especially in the audiobook narrated by Harlan Ellison.
** AM, especially in the video game, as voiced by... yep, Harlan Ellison.

* LotteryOfDoom: This occurs in Benny's scenario in the video game, with distinct parallels to Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

* BittersweetEnding: Has a few elements of this; [[spoiler: Ellen, Benny, Gorrister and Nimdok are freed, and Ted has ultimately proven that humans are capable of compassion and love. Though on the other hand, they are "freed" by being killed by Ted and AM takes revenge for Ted's act by turning him into a blob creature that has no extremities or mouth, and he will be the sole subject of AM's wrath for the rest of eternity.]]