History Main / ClosetPunishment

* ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'': The "Chokey," a closet lined with spikes and shards of glass, thus like an IronMaiden, in which there is just barely enough room to stand. Putting children in there for even the slightest misdemeanor is a favorite torture technique of the cruel headmistress of Matilda's school.

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': In "Stop, Look, and Ed", Rolf is reluctant in joining the other kids in their rule breaking, fearing he might be "banished to the cupboard" if his chores aren't done on time.

* In ''Film/{{Annie}}'', Daddy Warbucks claims that Miss Hannigan locks the orphans in the closet at her OrphanageOfFear.

* ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'' takes this UpToEleven with the "Chokey," a closet lined with spikes and shards of glass, thus like an IronMaiden, in which there is just barely enough room to stand. Putting children in there for even the slightest misdemeanor is a favorite torture technique of the cruel headmistress of Matilda's school.

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--> '''Medium Dave''': "Our mum used to wallop us if we tried to go in the cellar. She'd got her still down there."
--> '''Catseye''': "Yeah? Well, ''our'' dad used to wallop us if we tried to get ''out''."

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* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': In "Stop, Look, and Ed", Rolf is reluctant in joining the other kids in their rule breaking, fearing he might be "banished to the cupboard" if his chores aren't done on time.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_05_14_121041_pm.png]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350: After all I've done for you, this is how you view me? You think I'm a monster, Isaac? [[ThenLetMeBeEvil I'll show you a monster!]]]]

* The image for this page, ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac,'' has this happen in one of the newer endings that came out in its 3rd DLC, Repentance. After Isaac draws his Mom as a monster-ish version, she finds out. Outraged, she throws him in a closet and leaves to cry.

* In ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiers of Victory'', Sally Sonic was shut away in a cupboard during her stay in the OrphanageOfFear.

* The Image for this page, ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac,'' has this happen in one of the newer endings that came out in its 3rd DLC, Repentance. After Issac draws his Mom as a monster-ish version, she finds out. Outraged, she throws him in a closet and leaves to cry.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2021_05_14_121041_pm.png]]

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Oe of the many things Garak's father did to him as a child. Garak developed a near crippling case of claustrophobia as a result. [[spoiler:His father was Enabran Tain, head of the Obsidian Order]].

DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff, GoToYourRoom, TimeOut, and DunceCap are other childhood punishments. Compare LockedInARoom, where two or more characters are locked in a confined space and must spend the episode/chapter/etc. together, and PunishmentBox, for when people (usually prisoners) are put in a small enclosure. See also LockedInAFreezer, IronMaiden, and TenMinutesInTheCloset.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Blankets}}'', after complaining about sharing a bed with his older brother, Phil gets locked in the "cubby hole", a small unlit room hidden in the playroom that is covered in dust and filled with pests.

* In ''Film/ATaleOfTwoSisters'', the EvilStepmother finds out that her pet bird has been killed. So she cruelly locks Su-yeon in the closet and refuses to free her [[OrderedApology until she apologises]].

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'': For his first ten years living with his abhorrent relatives the Dursleys, Harry was forced to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. Sometimes he was locked in there during the day too as punishment for accidental magic.
* In ''Literature/GoodnightMrTom'', Will's mother strips him to his underwear and locks him in the cupboard under the stairs after finding out that his friend, Zach, is Jewish, saying he has "been poisoned by the Devil". Will protests that "Zach says Jesus was a Jew", but this only makes her angrier. Some time later, she throws her baby daughter, Trudy, in the cupboard as well; she then abandons both children to their fate. "Mr Tom" eventually comes to the rescue, but by then Trudy has died from starvation and Will is deeply traumatised.

* In the first season of ''Series/JessicaJones2015'', [[CompellingVoice Kilgrave]] sends the children of a family whose house he is inhabiting into a closet not for having done anything wrong, but just because them being there annoys Kilgrave. This despite the fact that the girl remarks she has to use the bathroom. We don't hear of the poor children again.

* In ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'', Touko explains that [[AbusiveParents her parents]] used to lock her in a closet for several days straight as punishment. Because of this, she's very afraid of the dark.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': Stephanie Brown's abusive father would lock her in the closet when she was younger.

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* In ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'', Touko explains that [[AbusiveParents her parents]] used to lock her in a closet for several days straight as punishment. Because of this, she's very afraid of the dark.

* ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': Carrie's religious mother locks her in a closet and forces her to pray in it as punishment for starting her period, and thus in her eyes sinning.