History SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism / Literature

* Creator/MarkTwain's earlier works like ''Tom Sawyer'' and ''Huckleberry Finn'' are more idealistic, his later works make him become an incredibly cynical author.
** In his defense, however, he had good reason. Multiple deaths of loved ones combined with financial disaster tends to do that.
** Contrast with Tom Sawyer- about a boy's rather happy childhood; and with Huckleberry Finn- about the friendship between a white boy and a black man during a time where it was highly unusual.

* The world of Creator/PGWodehouse is eternally sunny, but laced with enough cynicism to keep you laughing.
* Where Creator/JulesVerne goes on this scale depends on whether the book was overseen by his far more idealistic editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel. Most of the works he's still known for were published under Hetzel, with the notable exception of ''Literature/ParisInTheTwentiethCentury'' (a proto-{{Cyberpunk}} book written in the early Hetzel years, but not published until 1994), so he's typically known as an idealist. When Hetzel died, later editors [[ProtectionFromEditors gave him more free rein]], and his works got [[LuddWasRight steadily]] [[HumansAreBastards more cynical]].
* In Creator/DianeDuane's ''Stealing the Elf-King's Roses'', one universe discovers another and quickly realizes that the new universe is ''much'' lower on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism...and now that the bridge is open, ''the cynicism is getting out.'' Here's the interesting part: [[spoiler:The new universe is ours]].



* The self-help book ''Literature/TheSecret'' goes far, far off the deep end of the "Idealism" side of the scale. To the point that it has been subject to mockery.
-->"[[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre You are destined to have an amazing life!]]" Yeah, right.


* Creator/BrandonSanderson deliberately wrote ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' to fall heavily on the idealist side of this scale. Most of the plot arcs are battles between those who [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans do the wrong thing for the right reasons]], and those who don't believe there can be a right reason to do the wrong thing.





* Liu Cixin's ''Literature/TheThreeBodyProblem'' is a very cynical story at an impending alien invasion and humanity being able to set aside its differences to stop it. ''The Dark Forest'' drives it all the way into despair-inducing dog-eat-dog hopelessness on a cosmic scale. ''Death's End'' manages to push it even ''further'' into a full-on CosmicHorrorStory where where nearly all hope in the universe is gone [[spoiler: and godlike alien civilizations slowly destroy the universe in a pointless war.]]

* It is interesting to compare the works of [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Terry Pratchett]] and Creator/TomHolt, two British comic-fantasy authors who are often compared with each other. On the surface both are similarly full of wry, rather cynical deconstructions of Fantasy, but a closer look reveals the differences. Pratchett's novels are quite heavily idealistic under the makeup, full of {{Karmic Death}}s for the villains and [[HappilyEverAfter Happy Endings]] for the heroes. Holt on the other hand seems to delight in [[DownerEnding running his heroes through the wringer]], especially when it comes to [[ShootTheShaggyDog love]].
** What makes it particularly intriguing is that in Pratchett's books, quite often there will be a cynic and an idealist paired together. Who is actually right about the situation also varies: in the first two books, cynic Rincewind is almost always right and idealist Twoflower is almost always wrong. In the City Watch books, Carrot is an idealist while Vimes is a cynic, but Carrot's [[HonorBeforeReason charisma]] tends to make the world around him (a deeply cynical one) essentially become more idealistic, because people [[GoodFeelsGood don't want to disappoint him]]. It also bears noting that Carrot has been getting considerably less idealistic while still not being cynical, whereas Vimes has been growing slightly more hopeful in human nature (although he still thinks everyone's a selfish greedy bastard). In both books he's featured in, Moist von Lipwig is a cynic who is amazed and disturbed at how idealistic those around him can get. Death and Vetinari are both functionally cynics (they do what they do because they have to do it) with highly idealistic beliefs (specifically justice and freedom - two concepts which both also believe do not actually exist except to the degree that they are invented and believed in by people). In general, the Discworld appears to be an idealistic world populated by cynics.
** Below is a very telling exchange from ''Guards! Guards!'' (the first book to prominently feature Vetinari and the Watch):
--->'''Lord Vetinari:''' There are not good and bad people... There are always and only the bad people, ''[[EvilVersusEvil but some of them are on opposite sides]].''\\
'''Captain Vimes:''' Did you really mean all that, sir? [[HumansAreBastards About the darkness in the human soul and everything]]?\\
'''Lord Vetinari:''' Indeed. [[StrawVulcan It is the only logical conclusion]].\\
'''Captain Vimes:''' [[ArmorPiercingQuestion But you]] [[HypocrisyNod get out of bed every morning?]]\\
'''Lord Vetinari:''' Hmm? Yes? What is your point?\\
'''Captain Vimes:''' [[WhatYouAreInTheDark I'd just like to know]] ''[[WhatYouAreInTheDark why]],'' [[WhatYouAreInTheDark sir.]]\\
'''Lord Vetinari:''' [[RiddleForTheAges Oh, do go away, Vimes. There's a good fellow.]]
** Holt started out as comparatively idealistic -- ''{{Flying Dutch|man}}'' ended with a full-on ''literal'' HappilyEverAfter and didn't have anyone more overtly villainous than a jackass boss. They've been sliding down the scale ever since.
* Author Creator/CJCherryh presents an interesting extreme. Her work is a study in the extremes of the Scale; every character either a heartless "burn the village to save it" cynic or a omni-endangering foolish idealist. Or both!
** There are few fanatics so ruthless as the idealist ready to subordinate real people and real things to abstractions.
* Andrzej Sapkowski's novels (''Literature/TheWitcher Saga'' and the Hussite Trilogy) are both set in a quasi-fantasy setting and are both taken far to the Cynical side. It's mostly compensated by (dark) humor, although there are some genuinely bright moments in there as well.
* Creator/JoelRosenberg's ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'' series is set in a "fantasy RPG" world on the far cynical end of the scale. The protagonists - all college-student gamers - share this tendency.
* ''Literature/MortalEngines'' leans very heavily towards the cynical end, which is something in a setting involving undead cyborgs and mobile cities. The very, very few optimistic characters (Tom, Wren, possibly Oenone Zero) are shown again and again to be completely out of their depth, while the pessimists, nihilists, slave-dealers, compulsive liars, juvenile delinquents, mechanical horrors and violently depraved psychopaths are in their element.
* Creator/VictorHugo originally wrote ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' as a very cynical story. [[LighterAndSofter Most adaptations are considerably less so.]]
* Cormac [=McCarthy's=] ''Literature/TheRoad'': A dark, dreary novel set in a post-apocalyptic world where most of humanity has degenerated into cannibalistic monsters. Those who haven't are starving to death or freezing to death under a gray sky, the sun having been long since blotted out by ash. It's idealistic.
* In the world of realistic [[ChildrensLiterature children's lit]], Creator/BeverlyCleary and Creator/JudyBlume are on opposite sides of this spectrum. Cleary's books tend to be about the lighter side of childhood, even while they portray all the ups and downs that go with it. Almost like ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'' in book form, but not as wacky. Blume's books are a much harsher, unflinching look at the unhappy side of childhood, and have been banned in many places. However, in interviews, Blume said that she also wanted to touch on the majesties and joys in life which makes her work more in the middle ground.
* ''Literature/TheSundering'' is difficult to peg on a two-dimensional scale of idealism. It uses WhiteAndGreyMorality, with the "white" side [[spoiler: winning and committing genocide against the grey side]]. That is depicted as a very bad thing that's nonetheless perfectly in character for the [[PureIsNotGood "pure" heroes]]. This sounds cynical, but the funny thing is that it might actually be idealistic, since the bad guys could have been redeemed if anyone had been willing to negotiate.

* Most of Creator/JaneAusten's novels are idealistic and romantic in the fullest sense of the terms. Then there's ''Literature/MansfieldPark''...

* Another interesting comparison is between Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson, two of Australia's greatest poets. They lived around the same time, they were both city-born men who wrote about the country, but whereas Patterson was very idealistic, romanticising the bush and its inhabitants, Lawson frequently wrote about how the bush sends you crazy after a while. They would frequently write responses to each others poems and stories.
* ''Ningen Shikkaku'', or ''No Longer Human'', chronicling the extreme [[TheWoobie woobie]] Osamu Dazai's life of disappointment and hatred toward the society right before his final suicide, lies firmly on the cynical end of the scale.
* The amount of misanthropic and nihilist venom that drips from the pages of Louis-Ferdinand Céline's ''Journey to the End of the Night'' and ''Death on the Installment Plan'' puts them so far on the cynical end of the scale that they fall off of it. That doesn't stop those books from being among the most hilarious novels out there.

* Literature/InDeath series: The series seems to be located roughly in the middle of idealistic and cynical. Eve is definitely cynical, but she will put everything on the line for murder victims anyway. The books make it clear that the world is both wonderful ''and'' terrible at the same time.
* The detective novels of Creator/RaymondChandler are so unrelentingly cynical about their subjects (mostly related to LA and the USA in general) that author Creator/PaulAster said the following:
-->'''Paul Aster:''' Raymond Chandler invented a new way of talking about America, and America has never looked the same to us since.
** In these books, [[CrapsackWorld the world is completely corrupt]], with crime everywhere and most cops either inept or on the take. HardboiledDetective Literature/PhilipMarlowe is implied to be [[KnightInSourArmour an idealistic person under his tough-guy veneer]] but acts like the most cynical person on the planet. He doesn't always get the bad guys, spending a lot of time getting beaten up by the aforementioned crooked cops.

* Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt is notorious for his cynicsm and BlackComedy. More often than not, TheBadGuyWins in a disastrous DownerEnding. Generally there is always a nihilistic component in his works proclaiming that HumansAreBastards, often using characters who appear as {{Straw Nihilist}}s but [[StrawmanHasAPoint no one in his plays or novels can bring a good argument against them]].
** In ''Der Verdacht'' a [[ThoseWackyNazis former Nazi doctor and Josef Mengele Expy]] is set up as a StrawNihilist / NietzscheWannabe against the cancer-ridden [[HandicappedBadass Kommisär Bärlach]] and his Christian faith but delivers a side-long TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, [[HeroicBSOD rendering the hero completely speechless]].
* ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' is very, '''very''' far on the cynical side. Utterly sociopathic protagonist (who exhibits ''zero'' character development throughout the book)? Check. BlackAndGrayMorality? Check. Corrupt doctors, scientists, you name it? Check. Really, you'd be pretty hard pressed to find a more cynical novel than this.
* ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye'' seems like a very cynical novel at first glance, but closer reading reveals that it's actually very firmly in the middle. Main character Holden Caulfield is ''extremely'' cynical, but this cynicism is what often leads him into the perilous situations he finds himself in while trekking through New York City. And, towards the end of the novel, his realization of [[spoiler: how much he loves his sister Phoebe]] makes him a bit more hopeful and optimistic.
* ''Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'' is cynical in its depressing ending and just how hopeless the situation is, but does have a small silver lining of idealism to it. The protagonist ends up making a move of pure altruism and self-sacrifice, driving the computer even further into madness as it is faced with undeniable proof that humans are better than he believed.
* ''[[Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}} Das Nibelungenlied]]'' is about as far to the cynical side as any work ever written. The body count and lack of a "good" protagonist is enough to make George RR Martin blush. If ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' ends as cynically as [[Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}} Das Nibelungenlied]] does, fans will likely riot in the street. It's considered the [[GermanicDepressives German national epic]].
* ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'' is quite cynical, as befitting for a book about a girl's lost innocence from the [[UnreliableNarrator decidedly unreliable perspective]] of a pedophile.
* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' is surprisingly cynical for a popular book series aimed at kids. The main character, Greg, is a lazy, selfish, self-absorbed {{Jerkass}} [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist with almost no redeeming qualities]]. [[KidsAreCruel Almost all the other child characters]] are {{Jerkass}}es & bullies as well. All authority figures are incompetent, and the school itself is a SuckySchool. The only truly nice character in the main cast, Rowley, is coddled by his parents and abused by Greg (who doesn't seem to like him despite calling him his best friend). Greg's family is quite [[DysfunctionalFamily dysfunctional]], and his father and older brother seem to actively ''hate'' him. Almost everyone who does something bad is a KarmaHoudini.
** A good example of the cynical attitude in the books is the Hero Points story in ''Hard Luck''. The teachers start giving Hero Points to kids whenever they catch them going good deeds, and the points can be exchanged for rewards like extra recess time. Not even this manages to make them nicer: most decide to fake good deeds when teachers are around, or just buy counterfeit Hero Points. After the program is shut down due to the rampant counterfeiting, Greg remarks that "now that extra recess is off the table nobody's willing to do anything nice".
* ''Literature/TheKillingStar'' is full-on cynical. First contact with aliens involves them shooting rockets travelling at 92% the speed of light at every inhabited planet in the solar system and then proceeding to hunt down the last remnants of mankind...[[DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs because they were afraid mankind would one day do the same to them.]] It later goes on to compare the Universe to Central Park at night. When all the criminals come out, it's hard to distinguish them from good people and you can't read minds. You might want to find a policeman, but the last thing you'd want to do is draw attention to yourself by moving. Your best bet would be to hunker down and wait for daylight, then safely walk out.
-->[[CosmicHorrorStory There are, of course, obvious differences between Central Park and the universe. There is no policeman. There is no way out. And the night never ends.]]
* The works of the Creator/MarquisDeSade are some of the most viciously cynical works in all of Western literature. They are set in a cold and brutal world where good is actively punished and/or made out to be a hypocritical lie, fundamental human decency does not seem to exist at all, and the only way to get ahead is to be some flavor of libertine amoral bastard. The biggest example of this worldview comes from ''Justine'', where its title character recounts how, at the age of twelve, she asked for shelter in a man's house and was told that she could only stay if she had sex with the guy. The person she's recounting this to [[NoSympathy screams at her]] for being a "parasite" who wanted something for nothing, never mind that she would most likely have done most anything else this guy could have asked of her and simply did not want to subject herself to that. And this is the ''high'' point of the story in general -- it does not get better for her.
* The ''Literature/DearAmerica'' series varies a bit from book to book, since each of them is from the point of view of a different protagonist, but generally tends to come down on the side of idealism; while there may be (sometimes many) moments of despair along the way, and some of them are living through truly horrific times (up to and including slavery and the Holocaust), most of the stories end with the writer in a relatively good place and/or looking towards the future with optimism, and all [[DownerEnding but one]] (''So Far From Home'') indicate that the protagonists go on to lead generally happy and fulfilling lives, often based on the dreams and passions they'd expressed in their diaries.
* Despite being two books revolving around SpeculativeBiology with pretty horrific content, ''Literature/AllTomorrows'' and ''Literature/ManAfterManAnAnthropologyOfTheFuture'' end up on different ends of the spectrum. The former is idealistic and takes an [[TheAntiNihilist anti-nihilistic]] approach, emphasizing that the lesson that should be taken away from all the book's disturbing content is that blind pursuit of nonexistent ideals and dogmas leads to destruction of both the self and other species, as was the case with both humanity and the Qu, and that the important, immortal evidence of these species' existences are ultimately the individual daily lives of each of its members. The latter is much more cynical in contrast, depicting humanity as devolving into simple creatures or [[spoiler:a HordeOfAlienLocusts]] and lacking any of the emphasis on the importance of human accomplishments or lives, making it feel much closer to a CosmicHorrorStory. This is in spite of the fact that [[spoiler:humanity is gone by the end of ''All Tomorrows'' and still (barely) exists at the end of ''Man After Man'', albeit in a form utterly unrecognizable to us]].

* Keeping up the theme of DarkFantasy serving as deconstruction of HighFantasy, Glen Cook's ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'' opens on the very cynical conceit that the BlackAndWhiteMorality so common to HighFantasy is the result of history being written by the winners.
* Katherine Kurtz's Literature/{{Deryni}} novels are an example of literature that falls in the middle of the scale. The good guys do win in the end, and evil is punished, but 'in the end' can operate on a scale of centuries. "King Javan's Year" appears to be as cynical as anything in "A Song of Ice and Fire" [[spoiler: what with the protagonist and all his friends being killed messily at the end of the novel]], [[BittersweetEnding but it sets up the good guys to win in the next book]]. This makes it cynical by the standards of high fantasy series, which tend, as a genre, to be idealistic.
** The later books are even more cynical, with protagonists employing everything from mind control to adultery to accomplish their goals.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** Good and Evil, in fairly pure forms, are at war in the Dresdenverse, in many forms, and also in Harry Dresden's own soul. When Harry is good, he's ''very'' Good, but sometimes he's very dark, to the point of [[spoiler: murdering an (admittedly nasty) person to gain power to save his daughter from being killed, and pondering worse]]. His heart is with the Light, though, to a degree he himself fails to recognize.
** On the other hand, he's becoming uncomfortably aware, from painful experience, that some of the harder-boiled cynics around him that he disdained when he was younger are actually ''right'' in their views. He managed to restore some faith and hope in the deeply embittered Warden Donald Morgan, but he's also finding out the hard way that Morgan was tired and bitter for a reason.
** Ultimately, it varies per book, with the entries featuring one of the Knights of the Cross typically leaning more towards the idealistic end than their compatriots due to the literal presence of God helping support the protagonists' actions in the story. However, the series overall falls more or less in the middle, with it taking place in a bitter and miserable CrapsackWorld that's increasingly becoming a CosmicHorrorStory of nightmarish proportions, but there's also still a clear focus on celebrating what victories one can manage (no matter how small) and continuing to find & shelter [[HopeSpringsEternal the light in the darkness whenever one finds it]]. Yes, [[WorldHalfEmpty the world may be full of monsters and villains]], but it's also [[WorldHalfFull full of heroes]] and [[DarkIsNotEvil not all the monsters are as bad or even as genuinely evil as they may first seem]]. Or, in other words, ''The Dresden Files'' says that even if evil does and will always exist, good people will still always be there to fight against it and progress the world forward through sufficient hard work (even if that entails [[HeroicSacrifice performing the ultimate sacrifice]]).
* In contrast to ''The Dresden Files'' above, ''Literature/CodexAlera'' - which is also penned by [[Creator/JimButcher the same author]] - is closer to the idealistic end of the spectrum, [[DamnedByFaintPraise but only relatively]]. While the main characters all go through a hideous TraumaCongaLine over the course of the series, [[EarnYourHappyEnding it ends on a rather hopeful]] BittersweetEnding emphasizing that for all of their sacrifices, they ''can'' make a positive difference on the world and leave it better than they found it.
* ''Literature/TheAgeOfMisrule'' plays around at both ends of the scale. On the one hand, the re-emergence of magic renders tech useless, leading to widespread famine when food deliveries stop to the cities, and the government are conniving bastards, ''and'' the Higher Beings have their fair share of KickTheDog moments - but on the other hand, the heroes, who fall squarely on the idealist end of the scale, manage to overcome the baddies at every turn (and the heroes who don't count as "idealist" get their faith restored by the end of the arc). It's probably magic, [[WriterOnBoard or something]].

* Creator/FyodorDostoevsky's ''Literature/TheBrothersKaramazov'' seems to be a study of the Sliding Scale, as it is at heart a book about faith versus faithlessness in the face of the rampant cruelties of the modern age. Moreover, in personal outlook, the cast varies on the scale: Alyosha is the youngest brother and the idealistic [[MessianicArchetype messiah]], Ivan is the middle brother and TheSpock, falling on the cynical side, and Dmitri the oldest brother is caught inside the spectrum at an unstable equilibrium.

* Creator/JackCampbell's ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' seems to be dedicated to the proposition that the total war mindset makes you stupid. His hero, who is Always Right, runs rings around more ruthless military commanders with no concern for collateral damage, proper prisoner treatment and casualties on their own side.
** More accurately, the stupidity and the atrocities both spring from the fact that both sides have peopled their fleets with {{Blood Knight}}s, causing battles to degenerate into both sides charging head-on at each other and bludgeoning each other to bits. The hero is the only living person to have received a proper education in advanced starship tactics and military ethics.

* ''Literature/CrimeAndPunishment'' is about the growth of [[TheUnfettered Raskolnikov]] from a cynical to idealistic person, in what's essentially a {{deconstruction}} of the NietzscheWannabe mindset (and reconstruction of the Christian one).

* PlayedWith in Creator/StevenErikson's ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen''. For most of the series it is quite far to the cynical side, even though {{Karma Houdini}}s are usually avoided. However, the ninth book, ''Literature/DustOfDreams'', reveals many of the motivations of the major plot movers and a not insubstantial portion of those turn out to be quite idealistic. Adjunct Tavore Paran, for example, marches an army across several continents to achieve the [[DeathIsTheOnlyOption likely fatal for all involved]] task of [[spoiler:freeing the Crippled God]] because she considers his suffering and imprisonment unjust.
* ''Literature/HarshGeneration'' is firmly lodged in the farthest end of the cynical side, with no looking back.

* Sinclair Lewis's ''Arrowsmith'', despite following a highly cynical protagonist who is treated horribly by everyone he meets and openly states that he thinks the world would be better off if half of mankind was killed in a plague, ends on an idealistic note. This is starkly contrasted with Lewis's previous novel ''Babbitt'', which follows an optimistic lead character, but is ultimately cynical in tone.

* Many people consider the works of Creator/ChuckPalahniuk to be overly cynical and nihilistic, but Palahniuk strongly disagrees with that statement and considers himself a Romantic.

* Creator/AndrewVachss' Burke books are definitely cynical. Beneath the veneer of civilization that "citizens" see is a festering underworld with all kinds of scum. The government is at best ineffectual, at worst either willfully looking away or abetting evil. While Burke does do heroic things like saving people and bringing down criminals, he himself skims the edge of the law and is unafraid to be brutal or work with people who use violence.

* ''Literature/{{Dinotopia}}'' falls firmly on the idealist side, showing that humans on the island (except for Lee Crabb) have been taught to dump their warlike ways by peaceful and wise dinosaurs.
* Peter Watts' ''Literature/{{Blindsight}}'' is highly cynical. [[spoiler:Even the protagonists are bizarre and inhuman, to say nothing about the [[StarfishAliens aliens]]]].
* ''Orphan of Asia'', a novel that details a lone protagonist's failing struggle against the colonial Japanese regime in Taiwan before and during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII before [[HeroicBSOD going completely insane]], lies firmly on the cynical end of the scale.
** The reason for this cyncism is like Creator/GeorgeOrwell, the author grew up in colonial Taiwan which helped him create this cynical piece of work. Similar to Orwell and the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar. The book was a semi-autobiography after all.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' Trilogy is heavily cynical. The Capitol is only brought down through the killing of thousands of innocents and the series ends with implications that the peace the world has achieved will not last forever. Each of the books just barely manages a BittersweetEnding.
* ''Literature/TheBeyonders'' is an interesting case: Although it takes place in a CrapsackWorld and features many, ''many'' [[AnyoneCanDie character deaths]] and seemingly hopeless situations, it is actually strongly ''idealist,'' in a traditional sense. It isn't about the world being a perfect place, or even a fair one, but that good things only come about because people ''try'' to bring them about, and that a chance to make things better is ''always'' worth striving for, no matter how difficult the road there is.
* {{Literature/Idlewild}} is extremely cynical.
** While idealists are working on a cure for Black Ep, Gedaechtnis is assuming everyone's going to die and preparing accordingly.
** [[spoiler:Dr. Hyoguchi loves Malachi as the son he never had and allows him to continue to live in IVR. Malachi's resentment of the students (the reason for his torturous labor testing all the other programs) bleeds into Maestro and Mercutio.]]
** [[spoiler:When confronted with their future and responsibilities, Fantasia decides she's better off working completely alone and Halloween completely eschews the mission.]]
* Creator/TomKratman's ''Literature/{{Countdown}}'' series is incredibly cynical, with [[CrapsackWorld civilization falling apart around the protagonist's ears and barbarism running rampant.]]

* ''Literature/AwakeInTheNightLand'' has stories in the extremes of the scale. In "Silence of the Night" things get FromBadToWorse with the hero only being able to delay the inevitable end of mankind, while "The Last of all Suns" has the evil powers defeated once for all. The other stories fall somewhere between.

* The works of Creator/IraTabankin, focusing as they do on the [[ApocalypseHow end of the world]] or a [[DividedStatesOfAmerica US civil war]] from a survivalist perspective, tend to be ''very'' bleak. Some standouts:
** ''Literature/ThirtySevenMiles'' features a man walking the titular distance to rescue his wife after a nuclear strike. Though he encounters several friendly and helpful people, it is clear that social order is breaking down inside of two days.
** ''Literature/TheShelter'' has mobs of law-breakers, immigrants and terrorists roaming the countryside and killing people for their last bites of food, and an unrestricted civil war with assassination and perfidy as the norm.
** ''Literature/AmericaOnFire'' has the US crippled by raging firestorms.
** ''Literature/ByTheLightOfTheMoon'' has the moon rain debris over the world, an authoritarian government that is only mildly better than the Satanists who begin practicing human sacrifice.
* ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' features an autocratic federal government that bans smoking and barter during a hyperinflation crisis, sides with criminal gangs over its own citizens and such. Along with rampant opportunism by various domestic interest groups, and foreign forces. It would be entirely, blackly cynical [[HopeSpot except]]... there are still heroes willing to fight for "Western Civilization" by [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans any means necessary.]] Whether this is a [[ValuesDissonance ''good'']] thing may come down to the reader.

* The works of ''Creator/JohnSteinbeck'' has a realistic RousseauWasRight portrayal of human characters but unfortunately are set during the Great Depression. The DownerEnding in his stories are like seeing a car crash about to happen. You don't want it to happen to these characters but its coming until it finally happens at the very end.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'' seems to be a mix of the two, leaning towards cynicism. Most things are accomplished through war, murder, or force. Most characters who start out idealistic eventually turn cynical. However, most of the characters dislike violence, but believe it is for the greater good. One cynical character even turns idealistic. Either way, this series just about sums up GreyAndGrayMorality.
* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' is largely toward the "cynical" end of the scale; many characters seem like they would prefer to be idealistic but have had the optimism crushed out of them, and those who are consistently optimistic come across as foolish.

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' are all the way on the idealistic side... yet, like the ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' example below, the series [[EarnYourHappyEnding puts the characters through a lot of trouble first.]]

* Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium:
** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is overall a fairly idealistic series, despite its ability to [[EarnYourHappyEnding put its characters through Hell first.]] Tolkien's Roman Catholic Christian beliefs inform the series very strongly; making it highly idealistic despite the turns that the story takes. In his view, cynicism and despair were inherently self-destructive, self-fulfilling prophesies; and therefore inherently sinful. Characters that fall into cynicism end up dying miserably or otherwise losing everything; while those who retain their idealism and persevere, regardless of how bad things get, are eventually rewarded, even in death. The story sets up a number of clear contrasts to illustrate this: Gandalf vs. Saruman, Frodo vs. Gollum, Théoden vs. Denethor, Faramir vs. Boromir. The most interesting contrast is between Théoden and Denethor. While both die during the Battle of Pelennor Fields, Théoden's death is noble and heroic, and is accepted as the fulfillment of his life and purpose. By contrast, Denethor's despair-driven suicide is ultimately empty and meaningless; and, without Gandalf and Pippin's intervention, would have resulted in the death of Faramir and the complete destruction of Gondor.
** In contrast, ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' is far on the cynical end of the scale. The Noldor know they can't win against the GodOfEvil Melkor Morgoth,[[note]]Maybe. It's entirely possible that they've deluded themselves otherwise.[[/note]] but they fight anyway and are picked off one city at a time. Most of the endings are extremely depressing, and the handful of stories that aren't complete downers are bittersweet. However, it's the characters that continue to hope and believe in the Valar rather than falling to pride or despair that end up getting the happiest endings (See Beren and Lúthien), and in the end it's the against-all-odds journey of one couple (whose births were equally against the odds) that saves Beleriand.
** ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'' doesn't have an idealistic bone in its body. Túrin's attempts to ScrewDestiny and protect his family constantly fail and his attempts to stand up to Melkor only lead to the downfall of pretty much everyone in the story. Even Middle-Earth itself is much grungier and cut throat, as the Edain have stooped to rape and thievery due to the collapse of their kingdoms, the Elves steal the Petty Dwarves' land, leading to their extinction and causing the race's last survivor to stoop to betraying the heroes because of his bitterness.
** Even though ''Literature/TheHobbit'' is more LighterAndSofter in tone than ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', it's more balanced on the scale. While ''Rings'' was a more typical ''good vs evil'' story with the Free Peoples uniting against the GodOfEvil Sauron (Melkor's understudy) trying to conquer everything, ''Hobbit'' has the Dwarves trying to take back their lost kingdom and riches out of greed and revenge after a dragon drove them out, with the titular hobbit as the OnlySaneMan[=/=]UnluckyEverydude being foisted on their quest. When they do take it back, they come into conflict with armies of Elves and Men who want a cut of the fabled Dwarf treasure, and the Men had just gotten their homes destroyed by the dragon because of the Dwarves. What only gets them to unite is the common threat of goblins (Orcs), Sauron and Melkor's {{Mooks}} who ''also'' want the treasure.

* Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is fantasy taken to the extreme cynical end. Backstabbing is common, a world filled with victims, villains, and brutality in an attempt to claim the throne of a VestigialEmpire as everyone suffers throughout the whole story. Within three books, the only two houses that could be considered "good" are taken apart... brutally. It is a world where most of the competing rulers are too focused on their own power to deal with the disaster that is doomed to afflict every side. Pretty much every major character who is idealistic either dies as a result of their naivety or ends up becoming cynical:
** The Stark family is ripped apart and [[PartyScattering separated early in the series]], with its family members suffering as a result. Ned [[spoiler: loses his head for trying to doing the right thing]]. His son [[AChildShallLeadThem Robb]] [[spoiler: marries a girl to save her honour and is killed for it, betrayed by the house Robb had broken his alliance with in order to marry the girl]]. Ned's wife Catelyn [[spoiler:is murdered alongside Robb and becomes Lady Stoneheart, willing to murder unarmed people solely for being a Frey]]. Ned's [[HeroicBastard illegitimate son]] [[YoungAndInCharge Jon]] [[spoiler: is stabbed by a faction in Night's Watch for his efforts to ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight -- such as trying to save everybody at once, including the wildlings, despite many people's prejudice against them, and for his intention to march against [[{{sadist}} monster]] Ramsay Bolton when Jon is required to be neutral to the realm's politics -- even toward heinous rulers such as Ramsay]]. Ned's daughter Arya [[spoiler:must flee for her life at age nine, live on the run, and is now totally obsessed with revenge against those who have killed and harmed her family]]. His young son Bran [[spoiler: wargs into Hodor, possesses Hodor, and unwittingly robs him of his free will]]. Ned's other daughter Sansa [[spoiler: is adopting the methods and worldview of the series' most amoral schemer Littlefinger while having to pose as Littlefinger's daughter in order to survive this series' CrapsackWorld]].

* Likewise, Joe Abercrombie's ''Literature/TheFirstLaw'' series is also deeply, deeply cynical. With magic being somewhat more common (a Gandalf-like character is central to the first three books and a supporting character in the fifth) than in Martin's work, this allows Abercrombie to deconstruct tropes not present in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire.''

* Military sci-fi is not the place to be an idealist, as a diplomat found out in Creator/JohnScalzi's ''Literature/OldMansWar''. The one attempt at diplomacy ended with the diplomat reduced to a fine paste about 30 seconds into his "negotiations". The series stays near the cynical end most of the time, but by the end of the last book, ''The Lost Colony'', things finally seem to be looking up.
** Basically [[spoiler:the dismantling of the (well-intentioned but extremely cynical) Colonial Defense Forces' military junta means humanity can try other approaches in dealing with aliens other than a constantly-paranoid siege mentality.]]

* The ''Literature/ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' vary in tone from "TheCynic in a land of sunshine and fluffy bunnies (threatened by Ultimate Evil)" to "CrapsackWorld". In the first trilogy, the "real world" is heavily on the cynical side while [[AnotherDimension the Land]] is idealistic. However, Thomas Covenant, the DesignatedHero from the "real world", has a habit of making everything he touches slide towards the cynical end of the scale... In these books both TheCynic and the WideEyedIdealist will have to learn to adjust their attitude.
** Most of Stephen R. Donaldson's books peg the scale firmly at the "cynical" end of the scale, mostly because Donaldson [[DeusAngstMachina loves seeing his characters suffer]].
*** And don't forget the whining. His characters don't suffer silently.

* Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli's ''Literature/ThePrince'' is über-cynical, believing that it is safer to be feared than to be loved and advocating [[TheUnfettered stopping at nothing]] to gain or retain power. Then again, from Machiavelli's point of view, [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans the end justifies the means]]: [[OrderVersusChaos a strong ruler means order and peace]] for the common people.
** His ''Discourses'', of course, are on the same side of the scale as ''The Prince''. Even though it's on the republican side, it certainly isn't idealistic by any standard. The longest chapter is about organizing ''coups'', and several chapters of the first book describe how to use religion for political purposes.
* ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' is right smack-dab in the middle. [[CharacterDevelopment Idealistic characters end up cynical, cynical characters end up idealistic]], then some now-cynical characters decide they want to be idealistic again and so on ''ad infinitum''. Depressing situations and settings always have a silver lining, happy occasions always have darkening moments of worry. To say the novel is overly idealistic or cynical is to ignore roughly half of it, [[{{Doorstopper}} which would be a lot]].

* The two extremes are pretty much perfectly contrasted in William Blake's poem cycle ''Literature/SongsOfInnocenceAndOfExperience'', Innocence falling on the idealistic end and Experience on the cynical one.

* Lady Suzette Whitehall of ''Literature/TheGeneralSeries'' is at the cynic end of the scale motivated by wealth and power and the need to protect her beloved husband. She will do 'Anything, anything at all.' for him - including murder, torture, bribery and even adultery. Raj Whitehall on the other hand is intensely idealistic, selflessly dedicated to the cause of Man and civilization on Bellevue - and hates the brutal means he must employ to further it. The other characters are closer to Suzette's end of the scale then Raj's but his influence definitely nudges them closer to idealism.

* ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]''. Quite [[CrapsackWorld cynical]].
-->''If you want a vision of the future, [[NietzscheWannabe imagine a boot stamping on a human face]] -- [[DespairEventHorizon forever]].''
** Orwell's work is generally cynical; ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' is almost as much as ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', and features a similar DownerEnding.
** Though George Orwell's nonfiction ''Homage to Catalonia'' manages to subvert the whole scale by being [[KnightInSourArmor very cynical and idealistic]] at the same time.

* ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' took this concept to the absolute extreme end of cynicism--it was pretty much a rebuttal of a book on the extreme idealist side of the spectrum.
** There are those who believe that the experience of The Great War shaped the mindset here.

* Despite some of the horrific aspects, the Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy bleeds idealism. Raamo is the most powerful psychic in generations, and goes through an entire year of being feted as above and apart. However, he ''never'' believes it. His restraint attracts Neric, the closest thing the Kindar have to a cynic...but even Neric is on the side of angels. He just sees trouble, and wants to solve it. Together, they discover the society's dirty secret[[spoiler: the first Ol-Zhaan exile dissenters beneath the Root and made up the story of the Pash-San to cover for the disappearances. The exiles could have easily succumbed to despair and violence, as the Ol-Zhaan feared...turns out they're healthier, and only marginally less peaceful, than the Kindar.]] Every time one of the "old guard" steps in and tries to stop the Rejoyners from integrating the societies, they're shown up in some spectacular fashion. And in what is possibly the ''first'' canonical video game sequel to a book, [[spoiler: Snyder undoes Raamo's HeroicSacrifice by having one of his friends rescue him]].

* ''Literature/TheExilesViolin'': Square in the middle.
** On one hand, Jacquie's home country is rife with corruption, crooked cops, gangs warfare and extortion, and TheProtagonist herself is a type IV Anti Hero because of the above.
** On the other hand, corruption isn't ''everywhere'', some police are honest, all but one of the authority figures are reasonable, and the BigBad himself is a Well Intentioned Extremist.
* Iain M. Bank's ''The Culture'' books find an odd middle ground on the scale. The Culture is a good place to live and most people are happy, but it's only so powerful thanks to its military force and black ops units who prevent it from coming to harm. And while the Culture is as close to a utopia as it could get, there are still a lot of problems, such as the fact that many people grow bored and depressed because of a life where absolutely everything is handed to them on a silver platter. ''You'' try having good self esteem when pretty much everything in your life has been done for you by beings that claim to know what's best. Furthermore, Banks would sometimes show that whenever an actual scarce resource gets introduced to the Culture (which is able to be a utopia through their general lack of resource scarcity), the members of the Culture can become [[NotSoAboveItAll just as conniving, cruel, and manipulative as any of the lesser advanced societies they run into]].

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' occupies an odd place; on one hand the heroes can be incompetent and or corrupt and harsh actions are needed; on the other hand it's shown that an over reliance on an ends justifies the means mentality is precisely why the world's a complete mess (the evil conspiracy's only accomplishments were during their more benevolent phase, with their actions in the malevolent phase either not accomplishing shit or making the world worse.)
* ''Literature/TheBible'': The ''Literature/BooksOfKings'' are more cynical (they don't hide that otherwise good people like Salomon did mistakes, and they end when Jerusalem is destroyed and most Jews are captives), while ''The Chronicles'' are more idealistic (they just ignore those less flattering stories about David and Salomon, and they end when the Jews are allowed to return to their homeland).

* Despite being 2 books revolving around [[SpeculativeFiction Speculative Evolution]] with pretty horrific content, Literature/AllTomorrows and Literature/ManAfterMan end up on different ends of the spectrum. The former is idealistic and takes an AntiNihilist approach, emphasizing that the lesson that should be taken away from all the book's disturbing content is that blind pursuit of nonexistent ideals and dogmas leads to destruction of both the self and other species, as was the case with both humanity and the Qu, and that the important, immortal evidence of these species' existences are ultimately the individual daily lives of each of its members. The latter is much more cynical in contrast, depicting humanity as devolving into simple creatures or [[spoiler: AHordeOfAlienLocusts]] and lacking any of the emphasis on the importance of human accomplishments or lives, making it feel much closer to a CosmicHorrorStory. This is in spite of the fact that [[spoiler: Humanity is gone by the end of All Tomorrows and still (barely) exists at the end of Man After Man, albeit in a form utterly unrecognizable to us.]]

* The ''Literature/ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' vary in tone from "GrumpyBear in a land of sunshine and fluffy bunnies (threatened by Ultimate Evil)" to "CrapsackWorld". In the first trilogy, the "real world" is heavily on the cynical side while [[AnotherDimension the Land]] is idealistic. However, Thomas Covenant, the DesignatedHero from the "real world", has a habit of making everything he touches slide towards the cynical end of the scale... In these books both the GrumpyBear and the WideEyedIdealist will have to learn to adjust their attitude.

** Creator/ThomasLigotti, writing the same genre, manages to take it [[UpToEleven even further down the scale than]] Lovecraft.

* The works of ''Creator/JohnSteinbeck'' has a realistic ''RousseauWasRight'' portrayal of human characters but unfortunately are set during the Great Depression. The DownerEnding in his stories are like seeing a car crash about to happen. You don't want it to happen to these characters but its coming until it finally happens at the very end.

* Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia are all the way on the idealistic side... yet, like the ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' example below, the series [[EarnYourHappyEnding puts the characters through a lot of trouble first.]]
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' ends up firmly on the idealist side, with ThePowerOfFriendship as its chief overarching theme. The books do go through CerebusSyndrome, though, with [[AnyoneCanDie more and more characters dying]] in the later books.

* Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium
** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is overall a fairly idealistic series, despite its ability to [[EarnYourHappyEnding put its characters through hell first.]] Tolkien's Roman Catholic Christian beliefs inform the series very strongly; making it highly idealistic despite the turns that the story takes. In his view, cynicism and despair were inherently self-destructive, self-fulfilling prophesies; and therefore inherently sinful. Characters that fall into cynicism end up dying miserably or otherwise losing everything; while those who retain their idealism and persevere, regardless of how bad things get, are eventually rewarded, even in death. The story sets up a number of clear contrasts to illustrate this: Gandalf vs. Saruman, Frodo vs. Gollum, Théoden vs. Denethor, Faramir vs. Boromir. The most interesting contrast is between Théoden and Denethor. While both die during the Battle of Pelennor Fields, Théoden's death is noble and heroic, and is accepted as the fulfillment of his life and purpose. By contrast, Denethor's despair-driven suicide is ultimately empty and meaningless; and, without Gandalf and Pippin's intervention, would have resulted in the death of Faramir and the complete destruction of Gondor.

* It is interesting to compare the works of [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Terry Pratchett]] and Creator/TomHolt, two British comic-fantasy authors who are often compared with each other. On the surface both are similarly full of wry, rather cynical deconstructions of Fantasy, but a closer look reveals the differences. Pratchett's novels are quite heavily idealistic under the makeup, full of {{Karmic Death}}s for the villains and [[HappilyEverAfter Happy Endings]] for the heroes. Holt on the other hand seems to delight in [[DownerEnding running his heroes through the wringer]], especially when it comes to [[ShootTheShaggyDog love]].\\\
It is interesting to note that quite often in Pratchett's books, there will be a cynic and an idealist paired together. Who is actually right about the situation also varies: in the first two books, cynic Rincewind is almost always right and idealist Twoflower is almost always wrong. In the City Watch books, Carrot is an idealist while Vimes is a cynic, but Carrot's [[HonorBeforeReason charisma]] tends to make the world around him (a deeply cynical one) essentially become more idealistic, because people [[GoodFeelsGood don't want to disappoint him]]. It also bears noting that Carrot has been getting considerably less idealistic while still not being cynical, whereas Vimes has been growing slightly more hopeful in human nature (although he still thinks everyone's a selfish greedy bastard). In both books he's featured in, Moist von Lipwig is a cynic who is amazed and disturbed at how idealistic those around him can get. Death and Vetinari are both functionally cynics (they do what they do because they have to do it) with highly idealistic beliefs (specifically justice and freedom - two concepts which both also believe do not actually exist except to the degree that they are invented and believed in by people). In general, the Discworld appears to be an idealistic world populated by cynics.\\\
In a telling exchange from ''Guards! Guards!'' (the first book to prominently feature Vetinari and the Watch):
-->'''Lord Vetinari:''' There are not good and bad people... There are always and only the bad people, ''but some of them are on opposite sides.''\\
'''Captain Vimes:''' Did you really mean all that, sir? About the darkness in the human soul and everything?\\
'''Lord Vetinari:''' Indeed. It is the only logical conclusion.\\
'''Captain Vimes:''' But you get out of bed every morning?\\

'''Captain Vimes:''' I'd just like to know ''why,'' sir.\\
'''Lord Vetinari:''' Oh, do go away, Vimes. There's a good fellow.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is definitely a mix, as is the protagonist. Good and Evil, is fairly pure forms, are at war in the Dresden Files world, in many forms, and also in Dresden's own soul. When Harry is good, he's ''very'' Good, but sometimes he's very dark, to the point of [[spoiler: murdering an (admittedly nasty) person to gain power to save his daughter from being killed, and pondering worse]]. His heart is with the Light, though, to a degree he himself fails to recognize.

* Peter Watts' ''Literature/{{Blindsight}}'' is highly cynical. [[spoiler:Even the protagonists are bizarre and inhuman, to say nothing about the [[StarfishAliens aliens]]]]

* Literature/TheHungerGames Trilogy is heavily cynical. The Capitol is only brought down through the killing of thousands of innocents and the series ends with implications that the peace the world has achieved will not last. Each of the books just barely manages a BittersweetEnding.

* Iain M. Bank's ''The Culture'' books find an odd middle ground on the scale. The Culture is a good place to live and most people are happy, but it's only so powerful thanks to it's military force and black ops units who prevent it from coming to harm. And while the Culture is as close to utopia as it could get, there are still a lot of problems, such as the fact that many people grow bored and depressed because of a life where absolutely everything is handed to them on a silver platter. You try having good self esteem when pretty much everything in your life has been done for you by beings that claim to know what's best.

* ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' is very, VERY far on the cynical side. Utterly sociopathic protagonist (who exhibits ''zero'' character development throughout the book)? Check. BlackAndGrayMorality? Check. Corrupt doctors, scientists, you name it? Check. Really, you'd be pretty hard pressed to find a more cynical novel than this.

* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' is surprisingly cynical for a popular book series aimed at kids. The main character, Greg, is a lazy, selfish, self-absorbed {{Jerkass}} with almost no redeeming qualities. Almost all the other child characters are {{Jerkass}}es & bullies as well. All authority figures are incompetent, and the school itself is a SuckySchool. The only truly nice character in the main cast, Rowley, is coddled by his parents and abused by Greg (who doesn't seem to like him despite calling him his best friend). Greg's family is quite [[DysfunctionalFamily dysfunctional]], and his father and older brother seem to actively ''hate'' him. Almost everyone who does something bad is a KarmaHoudini.\\
\\
A good example of the cynical attitude in the books is the Hero Points story in ''Hard Luck''. The teachers start giving Hero Points to kids whenever they catch them going good deeds, and the points can be exchanged for rewards like extra recess time. Not even this manages to make them nicer: most decide to fake good deeds when teachers are around, or just buy counterfeit Hero Points. After the program is shut down due to the rampant counterfeiting, Greg remarks that "now that extra recess is off the table nobody's willing to do anything nice".

--> [[CosmicHorrorStory There are, of course, obvious differences between Central park and the universe. There is no policeman. There is no way out. And the night never ends.]]

* ''Literature/Harsh Generation'' is firmly lodged in the farthest end of the cynical side, with no looking back.

** What makes this example unique is that this is (primarily) aimed at kids.

** Like the example above, this series is very cynical for being a supposed kids' series

* Joel Rosenberg's ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'' series is set in a "fantasy RPG" world on the far cynical end of the scale. The protagonists - all college-student gamers - share this tendency.

** In contrast, ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' is far on the cynical end of the scale. The Noldor know they can't win against the GodOfEvil Melkor Morgoth,[[note]]Maybe. It's entirely possible that they've deluded themselves otherwise.[[/note]] but they fight anyway and are picked off one city at a time. Most of the endings are extremely depressing, and the handful of stories that aren't complete downers are bittersweet.However, it's the characters that continue to hope and believe in the Valar rather than falling to pride or despair that end up getting the happiest endings (See Beren and Lúthien), and in the end it's the against-all-odds journey of one couple (whose births were equally against the odds) that saves Beleriand.

** Yes, [[RealPolitik but taken in the context]] [[AboveGoodAndEvil of the politics of]] [[ItsAllAboutMe Renaissance Europe]], it can be seen as [[WellIntentionedExtremist an attempt to impose rationality and order]] on a chaotic borderline-AxCrazy situation.
*** More precisely, [[BlackAndGrayMorality taken in the context of the politics of Renaissance Italy]], it actually qualifies as idealistic: even though you'll have to [[IDidWhatIHadToDo rely on cynical means to get it]], you ''can'' [[EarnYourHappyEnding succeed in imposing rationality]] and order in the context of a bunch of small city-states which are only kept from being in a state of civil war by the minor technicality of not, in point of fact, being a single country.
** ''The Prince'' is an exception to the rest of Machiavelli's writings, which generally argue for a republican government ([[MoneyDearBoy he was trying to get the De Medicis to hire him as an advisor]]). Arguably, Machiavelli gets called cynical [[BrutalHonesty for just calling things as he saw them]].
*** His ''Discourses'', of course, are on the same side of the scale as ''The Prince''. Even though it's on the republican side, it certainly isn't idealistic by any standard. The longest chapter is about organizing ''coups'', and several chapters of the first book describe how to use religion for political purposes.

--> [[CosmicHorrorStory There are, of course, obvious differences between Central park and the universe. There is no policeman. There is no way out. And the night never ends.]]

* The self-help book ''Literature/TheSecret'' goes far, far off the deep end of the "Idealism" side of the scale. To the point that it has been [[SnarkBait subject to mockery]].

* The works of the Creator/MarquisDeSade are some of the most viciously cynical works in all of Western literature. They are set in a cold and brutal world where good is actively punished and/or made out to be a hypocritical lie, fundamental human decency does not seem to exist at all, and the only way to get ahead is to be some flavor of libertine amoral bastard. The biggest example of this worldview comes from ''Justine'', where its title character recounts how, at the age of twelve, she asked for shelter in a man's house and was told that she could only stay if she had sex with the guy. The person she's recounting this to [[NoSympathy screams at her]] for being a "parasite" who wanted something for nothing, never mind that she would most likely have done most anything else this guy could have asked of her and simply did not want to subject herself to that.

* ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'' is quite cynical, as befitting for a book about a girl's lost innocence.

** Meanwhile, other characters don't fare so well either. Dany [[spoiler: decides to embrace her "fire and blood" heritage at the end of ADanceWithDragons,]] Tyrion [[spoiler:kills two unarmed people out of revenge after a trial leaves him hated by the public]]. However, this is inverted with Tyrion's older brother Jaime who goes on an arc of redemption and goes from major villain to one of the few good men in the seven kingdoms. [[spoiler: And it's implied his trust will allow Brienne to lead him to Lady Stoneheart.]]

* Lady Suzette Whitehall of ''Literature/TheGeneral'' series is at the cynic end of the scale motivated by wealth and power and the need to protect her beloved husband. She will do 'Anything, anything at all.' for him - including murder, torture, bribery and even adultery. Raj Whitehall on the other hand is intensely idealistic, selflessly dedicated to the cause of Man and civilization on Bellevue - and hates the brutal means he must employ to further it. The other characters are closer to Suzette's end of the scale then Raj's but his influence definitely nudges them closer to idealism.

** Even though ''Literature/TheHobbit'' is more LighterAndSofter in tone than ''TheLordOfTheRings'', it's more balanced on the scale. While ''Rings'' was a more typical ''good vs evil'' story with the Free Peoples uniting against the GodOfEvil Sauron (Melkor's understudy) trying to conquer everything, ''Hobbit'' has the Dwarves trying to take back their lost kingdom and riches out of greed and revenge after a dragon drove them out, with the titular hobbit as the OnlySaneMan[=/=]UnluckyEverydude being foisted on their quest. When they do take it back, they come into conflict with armies of Elves and Men who want a cut of the fabled Dwarf treasure, and the Men had just gotten their homes destroyed by the dragon because of the Dwarves. What only gets them to unite is the common threat of goblins (Orcs), Sauron and Melkor's {{Mooks}} who ''also'' want the treasure.

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'' seems to be a mix of the two, leaning towards cynicism. Most things are accomplished through war, murder, or force. Most characters who start out idealistic eventually turn cynical. However, most of the characters dislike violence, but believe it is for the greater good. One cynical character even turns idealistic. Either way, this series just about sums up GrayAndGreyMorality.

* ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' is right smack-dab in the middle. [[CharacterDevelopment Idealistic characters end up cynical, cynical characters end up idealistic]], then some now-cynical characters decide they want to be idealistic again and so on ''ad infinitum''. Depressing situations and settings always have a silver lining, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming happy occasions]] always have darkening moments of worry. To say the novel is overly idealistic or cynical is to ignore roughly half of it, [[{{Doorstopper}} which would be a lot]].

*** There is, of course, the now tossed around theory that "The Prince" was the most sarcastic piece Machiavelli ever wrote. The evidence for this is pretty strong, considering, as was previously stated, all of his other pieces say exactly the opposite of what he says in ''The Prince,'' and, when you look at it, the way the damn book was written makes it sound like it is dripping in sarcasm. Imagine the most famous passages read aloud, by an incredibly sarcastic, angry man who has been flat-out told that his visions of government will not ever happen in his life time, and you are, as close as is possible, to the tone that "The Prince" was actually written in and intended to be read in.

* ''Literature/TheBible'': ''Literature/BooksOfKings'' are more cynical (they don't hide that otherwise good people like Salomon did mistakes, and they end when Jerusalem is destroyed and most Jews are captives), while ''The Chronicles'' are more idealistic (they just ignore those less flattering stories about David and Salomon, and they end when the Jews are allowed to return to their homeland).