History Literature / ItsAGoodLife

* BerserkButton: For Anthony, it's singing. Any kind of singing, whether ''a capella'' or with music, seems to make him extremely angry.

* NothingIsScarier: The fates of Anthony's victims are alluded to but rarely described in any detail.

* CreepyChild: Anthony.

* SpoiledBrat: Most of Anthony's reality warping power is used trying to help people, often in ways that are destructive to them or others. When he gets annoyed, however, he's quick to punish in horrible ways.

It's good that we have a page for this work, [[MadnessMantra it's]] ''[[MadnessMantra real]]'' [[MadnessMantra good]]...

For ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode and other adaptations, see ''Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E73ItsAGoodLife''.

* HumanoidAbomination: Anthony. There are hints that he does not look human, though there are no details about what he does look like. He is described as having a "wet, purple gaze", that he has an "odd shadow", and he goes "smoothly" over a fence. He is weird-looking enough that when he was born the doctor screamed, dropped him and tried to kill him, and he is at one point referred to as a "goblin".

* EldritchLocation: The Fremont cornfield. It's full of corpses and malformed monsters that Anthony has created, so no one goes out there. They don't even use it for corn anymore as the whole area's started to weed. The Nothing outside of town is a lesser version of this, we don't get much of a description of what it is but the villagers use it as a place to dump excess grain.
* GooGooGodlike: Anthony is a three year old with reality warping powers, and he's had them since he was born.
* HappinessIsMandatory: Everyone in Peaksville represses negative thoughts and emotions for fear that if Anthony senses unhappiness he will either lash out in anger at the thinker for being dissatisfied with the world he has made or make a misguided attempt to help.

* {{Telportation}}: One of Anthony's creepier powers. He likes to just ''appear'' in places when he doesn't feel like walking. While he mostly just does this in relation to his own house, he can almost certainly use this to visit all of the people in town.

* KidsAreCruel: The thing is, Anthony isn't any different from regular little children, as far as his mental and emotional states. The problem is that he has complete omnipotence over his environment and everyone in it, and that does not go well with the mood swings and lack of empathy common to every preschooler. Especially since nobody dares to try to discipline him.

* NoodleIncident: "What happened to the whole Terrace family" after someone had the bright idea that Anthony might be persuaded to [[ReedRichardsIsUseless create useful supplies]].

* ObliviouslyEvil: Anthony wants everybody to be happy. Many of the horrible things he does stem from misguided attempts to help.

* AmbiguousInnocence: Anthony is not a malelovent person, but his young age means he has a very hazy understanding of right and wrong and lacks the ability to understand other people's feelings.

* PsychicStatic: The residents of Peaksville try very hard to fill their heads with nothing in particular whenever they're tempted to think a negative thought, because there's always a chance that Anthony will choose that moment to listen in.

* GooGooGodlike: Anthony is a three year old with reality warping powers.

* YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood: An incidence of this in the past is alluded to, but it didn't go well. Suggesting that Anthony do anything other than what he wants to do is usually a bad idea.

!!The original story provides examples of:

A 1953 short story -- I mean -- [[SelfDemonstratingArticle a very]] ''[[ArcWords good]]'' short story by Jerome Bixby, set in the small town of Peaksville. The town used to be in Ohio, but it has since been completely cut off from the outside world (assuming the outside world still exists) by the first manifestation of Anthony Fremont's powers.

[[SelfDemonstratingArticle ...wait, no! I meant to say it's good! It's a]] ''[[SelfDemonstratingArticle very good life!]]''

Compare and contrast with ''Webcomic/{{minus}}''. Definitely not to be confused with ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife''.

* PurpleEyes: Anthony apparently has purple eyes, one hint that he doesn't look human.

* HumanoidAbomination: Anthony. There are hints that he does not look human, though there are no details about what he does look like. He is described as having a "wet, purple gaze", that he has an "odd shadow", and he goes "smoothly" over a fence. He is weird-looking enough that when he was born the doctor screamed, dropped him and tried to kill him, and he is at one point referred to as a "goblin"..

* EvilDetectingDog: In the ''Twilight Zone'' adaptation, Anthony has [[KickTheDog killed off most of the dogs]] because "they don't like me. I hate anyone who doesn't like me."

* HumanoidAbomination: Anthony. There are hints that he does not look human though there are no details about what he does look like. He is described as having a "wet, purple gaze", that he has an "odd shadow", and he goes "smoothly" over a fence... he is weird-looking enough that when he was born the doctor screamed, dropped him and tried to kill him. Also, he is at one point referred to as a "goblin", suggesting he most likely doesn't look human.

* * AndIMustScream: Anthony's mother briefly considers at the end that while Anthony could "wish away" any of them one day, he also may not let them ''die'', and they'll have to be with him forever. It's not a good thought and dangerous, so she mumbles until it goes away.