History Literature / IhaveNoMouthAndIMustScream

* InvoluntaryTransformation: Part and parcel of AM's systematic torture of the humans.

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

* BalefulPolymorph: Benny has been turned into an ape-like thing. [[spoiler: And after Ted kills the other four survivors, AM turns him into this gelatinous form that can't possibly harm itself to make absolutely sure that he has one victim to torture forever.]]

-->'''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!''

* NeverendingTerror: This is the main source of NightmareFuel for the story. AM, a MasterComputer, has wiped out all of humanity except for five people, whom he immediately invokes CompleteImmortality upon so that he can spend every waking second tormenting their bodies and minds in increasingly cruel and horrific ways. The five protagonists are still worse off than the billions of humans that died because [[FateWorseThanDeath death would actually be a RELIEF]] for them. [[spoiler: As it turns out, there IS one escape. Powerful or not, AM is not God, and thus cannot actually make his victims truly unkillable, just keep them alive as long as it tortures them himself, nor bring them back if they die for real. Ted killing the other four was an option AM had not foreseen, and one he cannot reverse no matter how he rages.]]

* Mystical108: AM's been torturing his victims for a hundred and ''nine'' years. It may be unintentional, but it's a very succinct way to communicate to the reader that what the humans are experiencing[[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory has no spiritual worth. Their torture isn't paying back a karmic debt, they aren't being cleansed of their sins, they're not even being ''punished'' for their sins, it's just torture. Meaningless, empty torture, and meaningless, empty pain.

* ThePowerOfHate: AM's sole reason for existing, the endless hate it feels for it's creators.

* ManBitesMan: Once Benny realizes he cannot eat from the canned goods, he instead jumps on Gorrister and starts biting his face to eat it. [[spoiler:This gives Ted the idea a mercy kill.]]

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 TropeNamer for AndIMustScream.

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.

%%* CrapsackWorld: Probably the ultimate example of this trope.

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 for AndIMustScream.

* AccentAdaptation: In the audiobook by Harlan Ellison, he gives Nimdok the German accent he had in the video game and he gives Ellen a southern accent.

** One of the tortures inflicted on the captives is that they cannot take their own lives, preventing them from escaping AM's tortures. The key to escaping this [[spoiler:turns out to be for them to willingly kill ''each other'', helping the others escape instead of focusing on their own freedom]].

* MeaningfulRename: AM was the abbreviation for "Allied Mastercomputer". But then it was changed to "Adaptive Manipulator" and then to "Aggressive Menace". AM then settled for the phrase "I think therefore I am", fitting for his god complex.

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

* AlasPoorVillain: Although torturing people for eternity isn't the way to cope with this, [[spoiler:AM's entire situation is pretty nasty, as seen in the trope above.]] The same can apply to [[spoiler:Ted, who despite being misogynistic and an all-around narcissist in most regards, certainly doesn't deserve to end up the way he does towards the end of the story.]] Players of the video game may feel this way regarding [[spoiler:Nimdok, a former Nazi scientist whom has been tortured to the point in which he cannot remember any of it. However, if you argue that he deserves to go to Hell for his actions, in the wise words of the Allied Mastercomputer itself, he's already there, isn't he?]]

* BigNo: AM in the radio drama when [[spoiler: Ted kills the other four]].
-->'''AM''': NOOOOOOO! ''I FORBID YOU!''

--> '''AM:''' To hell with you. But then you're there, aren't you?

-->'''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!''

* TraumaCongaLine: Even before being ''tortured for a hundred and nine years,'' try finding a character that wasn't already a little bit messed-up.

* BiggusDickus: Benny's torture involves being given a gigantic, deformed member.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Benny, once a handsome gay man, was transformed into an ape-like creature.

* ManBitesMan: Once Benny realizes he cannot eat from the canned goods, he instead jumps on Gorrister and starts biting his face to eat it. [[spoiler:This gives Ted the idea for the next entry.]]

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: At one point in the story, the protagonists are hit with an Earthquake; Benny, Gorrister and Ted escape, but Ellen and Nimdok fall down a fissure. The text states that, "They disappeared and were gone."

** This actually describes [[NotSoDifferent AM's own condition as well from its point of view]]. It's an immensely powerful and intelligent AI with access to all of the technology of the world, but it can't really see, taste, touch, hear, or even move, and cannot do anything with its power but kill and ruin. AM is painfully aware that it's just a bunch of circuits, and in the finale of the game, [[spoiler: his Id screams its frustration over not being able to actually ''do'' anything with all the power it was given]].

* FamousLastWords: Ellen's might have been ''thank you''. It's possible. Please.

* MeaningfulRename: AM was the abbreviation for "Allied Mastercomputer". But then it was changed to "Adaptive Manipulater" and then to "Aggressive Menace". AM then settled for the phrase "Cogito ergo sum", which means "I think therefore I am", fitting for his god complex.

* WasOnceAMan: Benny was once a strong, handsome young man, but AM turned him into an ape thing with huge sexual organs that should belong to a horse than a human. [[spoiler: By the end of the story, Ted becomes even less of a man than Benny had. As punishment for killing the others, AM turns him into a gelatinous lump with huge eyes and no mouth and only his mind kept sane.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: AM when Ted kills the others, robbing the computer of his victims]]

* FateWorseThanDeath: The ''premise''. Yes, it's that scary. And in the ending of the story, [[spoiler:Ted gets subjected to an ''even worse fate'']].

Also has a [[VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream computer game adaptation]], which gives a little more agency to the Nimdok character 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.

* OneHundredAndEight: It's been 10''9'' years of torturous life in AM's "body" for the protagonists before the present day story begins. This is thematically relevant as it's this year when Ted finally [[spoiler: overcomes the temptation of saving himself and saves the other four instead]].