Line #87 DeconstructedTrope/Literature


1	!!!By Author
2	* Creator/AgathaChristie stories [[spoiler: ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'', ''Literature/TriangleAtRhodes'' and ''Literature/FiveLittlePigs'']] deconstructs TheVamp role in a BettyAndVeronica relationship: the evil and sexy RichBitch beauty is only a JerkAss that believes ItsAllAboutMe. She ReallyGetsAround with a lot of admirers, because once a man knows her well, he KnowWhenToFoldEm and leaves her. So, one man who is bored with TheVamp either will leave her or [[spoiler: conspire with his true love, the Betty, to MurderTheHypotenuse and get her money]]
3	* Creator/AynRand deconstructs several tropes in her works. For instance...
4	** ''Literature/TheFountainhead'' deconstructs ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem as well as [[StrawNihilist Nietzsche Wannabe]] with the character of Gail Wynand. Wynand embodies what is arguably TheThemeParkVersion of Nietzsche's philosophy and believes he can rule the masses and shape popular opinion with his newspaper. Things [[spoiler:don't exactly go according to plan]].
5	** ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'' deconstructs DontThinkFeel with the villain's justifications for their [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics economic policies]], as well as BettyAndVeronica via an actress who joined the strike because she was always typecast as Veronica but lost the man to less interesting characters.
6	** ''Atlas Shrugged'' also deconstructs IJustWantToBeLoved with James Taggart's relationship with Cheryl. Instead of being loved for owning a company, for being skilled or for even being a nice person, he wants to be loved for what he is, and that's pretty much nothing.
7	** ''Literature/TheFountainhead'' is the story of an everyman refusing to submit to an evil corporation. ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'' is the story of a corporate head refusing to submit to the people. Which is supposed to be the correct version, we may never know.
8	* Creator/NealShusterman:
9	** The novel ''Speeding Bullet'' takes a knife to the idea of JumpedAtTheCall. Nick saves a girl from a subway train, then a man from a burning building, then gains the attention of a rich, hot girl, and keeps running across situations for him to intervene in. [[spoiler:Except his girlfriend has been paying people to set up situations to feed his Adrenaline Junkie habits. And when he really needs it, he can't find his courage anymore.]]
10	** "The Shadow Club" involves a group of teenagers getting back at others by playing pranks on them. Naturally, someone takes the "harmless" pranks too far; because that's what happens when you give people power over their foes.
11
12	!!!By Work
13	* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'':
14	** BrilliantButLazy: Benjamin is the smartest animal in the farm but refuses to become a leader not so much because he's lazy but out of fear. He still wouldn't say anything even after [[spoiler:Boxer got sold to the knackers]].
15	** DumbIsGood: The animals' FatalFlaw.
16	** HumansAreBastards: The animals' refusal to adopt human ways allows the pigs to screw them over.
17	* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' deconstructs several tropes involving young heroes, or optimistic tropes in general:
18	** RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude by combining it with WarIsHell; the five (later six) main characters struggle mentally and physically through the whole war, and [[spoiler:they don't all make it out alive]].
19	** WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld, as the five (later six) heroes discover that War Is Hell and how badly it's messed them up.
20	** KidHero: It's obvious from the get-go that the kids, having no sort of military knowledge or practical connections whatsoever, are pretty much just making it up as they go and doing the best they can with what they have, and they're closer to ChildSoldiers than anything else. They're kid heroes in that they're working to save the world and they're pretty much the Earth's last line of defence, but the blunt approach the series takes to WarIsHell makes it clear that it is the furthest thing from a good thing there is.
21	* Creator/AndrewVachss's Burke books deconstruct TranquilFury by showing it for what it is: a sign of mental illness. Wesley never lost his temper or spoke above a whisper, and he was the most vicious killer in a setting full of hardened career criminals.
22	* ''Literature/ACanticleForLeibowitz'' takes a look at the idea common in more secularly-oriented science fiction that technological progress necessarily implies social progress. ''Canticle'' makes the point that no matter how advanced the technology gets, the human heart is inclined to a certain moral laziness that needs to be carefully and consciously guarded against if people aspire to be anything more than [[LowCultureHighTech barbarians with fancy toys]].
23	* ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'' has a comedic deconstruction of the MissingStepsPlan. Milo Minderbender buys up the entire crop of Egyptian cotton (step 1), thinking it will make him a profit (step 3). He then spends pretty much the rest of the book trying to figure out step 2. He is at one point desperate enough to attempt dipping the cotton in chocolate and selling it as emergency rations.
24	* ''Chosen Ones'' by Veronica Roth does this with MundaneUtility. In Genetrix, an AlternateUniverse version of Earth where [[TheMagicComesBack The Magic Came Back]] in 1969, this is one of the main controversies surrounding the increasing use of magic by society, as it is feared that people will become unable to perform simple tasks without magic as they come to rely on it for everything -- and that if the source of magic turns out to be a finite resource, losing access to it could cause [[PostPeakOil the collapse of civilization should society grow too dependent on it]]. Some cities have even declared themselves "haven cities" and banned all magic within their borders. It's noted that the presence of magic created an AlternateTechline where research into computers stalled out sometime in the '70s or '80s, with cars still having analog dials on the dashboard and this world's version of the internet being described by Esther as a "glorified card catalog", because {{magitek}} could do everything that a primitive computer could and more, far more effectively. The protagonist Sloane, a woman from our Earth who wound up in Genetrix and struggles to control her own innate magical abilities, has trouble navigating the building she's staying in because even the elevators and door locks are controlled by magic.
25	* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' is yet another deconstruction of TheChosenOne. After seemingly getting knocked out after getting hit by a car, he wakes up in a magical land, and spends the rest of the series refusing to accept any of it is real because he thinks it's all in his head and he's going insane. And to top it off he's a JerkAss, highly cynical loner who really is only a hero because the villain is someone that gives most others nightmares. The first series also uses [[spoiler:Lena]] to deconstruct Loving Force.
26	* ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist'', a book talking about the making of ''Film/TheRoom2003'' and the author's time with Creator/TommyWiseau, deconstructs three things:
27	** The first is the mythos of the movie itself. A movie as hilariously bad as this just doesn't happen without ripping or pissing off people in the process.
28	** The second is the {{Determinator}} trope. The book talks about actresses Juliette Danielle and Carolyn Minnott, who played Lisa and Claudette respectively, and the sheer hell these two women went through just for the sake of their dreams. There's also Tommy Wiseau himself, who thought himself perfect…
29	** Finally, Tommy Wiseau himself is arguably deconstructed. Having gained the reputation as an infamous CloudCuckoolander, it's hard not to laugh at him in interviews, not just because the things he says are so bizarre, but because of his total sincerity in saying them. In the book, Wiseau is presented as a near-recluse with very few friends, little to no social skills, and is likely suffering from severe mental illness (or, as theorized in the book, the aftermath of a terrible accident).
30	* ''Literature/DonQuixote'' is a DeconstructorFleet, but even more than a deconstruction of ChivalricRomance, (a genre now forgotten due to ParodyDisplacement), he is a DeconstructiveParody of the overzealous fans (hence an immortal novel).
31	** Before ''Don Quixote'', there was Ariosto's ''Literature/OrlandoFurioso'', whose intense [[LoveMakesYouEvil love]] for Angelica basically turned him into the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] after he finds out that she's a normal, human woman who's had a fling with a shepherd, and not a virginal PrincessClassic.
32	*** This scene was homaged/parodied in ''Don Quixote'' when the titular character ([[MisaimedFandom who doesn't realize]] that ''Orlando'' is a satire) decides to recreate it. The only thing more ridiculously unheroic than a man going violently insane over a woman who doesn't want him is a man ''trying'' to go violently insane over a woman who doesn't want him.
33	* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' deconstructs the IndyPloy methods so much favored by Harry and other heroes flying by the seat of their pants. But Harry's 'throw plans together within a seconds notice' and 'survive now and deal later' mindset screw him over multiple times, such as when he goes to Bianca's party in the third book and starts the Vampire War, or in ''Changes'' when he [[spoiler: wiped out the entire Red Court of Vampires, winning the war - and opening up a massive power vacuum that is throwing the world into such chaos that even the mortals are beginning to take notice]]. The series also subtly deconstructs the HoYay trope - it's all fine and funny if two guys are suspiciously close while insisting [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday they are]] ''[[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday not]]'' [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday gay]]. But when there are two guys who are suspiciously close and one of them is an incubus who can enslave people to their will through sex and the other is a [[ParanoiaFuel close friend of yours]]... it's caused Harry no end of trouble placating worried allies that he is ''not'' mind-controlled.
34	* ''Literature/TheElderScrolls'' novels - Pretty heavy on this:
35	** WarriorPrince: Does this with Prince Attrebus. [[spoiler:Instead of going out and winning glorious battles for TheEmpire, he is tricked into believing he has done so, and subsequently gets all his men killed, realizes that just being a prince doesn't make a person a great fighter, and is forced to face his own failings before he can try to be a real hero.]]
36	** ActionHero: Annaig. She reads a lot of adventure books, and has an extreme desire to be an adventurer herself. When she finally does get to go on a "real" adventure, [[spoiler:most people she cares about are killed, she is constantly forced to keep her morals in check or else she is worried she will become just as bad as the people she's fighting, she realizes that destroying Umbriel will likely kill hundreds of decent people along with the not-so-decent ones, and spends most of her time just trying desperately not to die]].
37	* The ''Emerald City'' series deconstructs, among other things, BlackAndWhiteMorality. Said morality is, from book 4 on, enforced by the ability of BigBad to magically force any morally grey character into his service. The result is that, since most of those are actually [[AntiVillain Anti-Villains]], one often feels more for them than for actual heroes (especially since heroes can get BackFromTheDead in most cases). Book ten deconstructs BecomeARealBoy. Tom, a living teddy bear, magically becomes a human and a great warrior... and dies per HeroicSacrifice in the very first battle, whereas killing him as teddy bear would be all but impossible.
38	* ''Literature/EndersGame'' deconstructs the GroinAttack. Yes, really. And yes, it really is as bad as it sounds... possibly worse.
39	** The book also deconstructs the BugWar. You see, [[spoiler: the buggers only killed humans because they had assumed our individuals were drones like theirs, when they realize we possess sentience on an individual level, they accept humanity's retaliatory invasion with a resigned, "oh… the humans didn't forgive us…" They actually turn out to be [[HumansAreBastards a fair bit nicer than humans]] at least as far as respecting other sentient life]].
40	** It shows the incredible physical and emotional strain of [[KidHero being a child burdened with saving the world]].
41	* The title character of Creator/AlexanderPushkin's ''Literature/EugeneOnegin'' is a deconstruction of a ByronicHero.
42	* ''Literature/TheFamiliars'' deconstructs the {{Familiar}}. If the humans' animal companions were on an equal level of intelligence and had powers of their own, why would they consent to be second-class citizens? They didn't- [[spoiler: Vastia used to be ruled by animals before the humans invaded, rewriting history so that they were always the leaders]]. One familiar decides to start a rebellion to take Vastia back from the humans.
43	* [[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings The Farseer Trilogy]] deconstructs the ChildhoodFriendRomance, as Fitz grows up in the company of a number of beggar children, including Molly Nosebleed. Over the course of the books Fitz claims that he loves Molly and obsesses over being able to see her, [[StrangledByTheRedString even though neither he or the reader know all that much about her.]] When King Shrewd brings up the possibility of a political marriage between Fitz and Celerity, a Lord's daughter, Fitz refuses on the grounds that he loves Molly and Shrewd sternly rebukes him by telling him that a loyal servant to the Crown doesn't get to just choose his wife on a whim and risk offending an important ally by rejecting his daughter [[LikeFatherLikeSon and tells him he's acting just like his father.]] Fitz continuing to see Molly despite Patience, Chade and Burrich warning him not to gets him attacked by men working for Prince Regal and [[ItsAllAboutMe Molly gets increasingly angry that Fitz has loyalties outside of her]] and eventually leaves him when he tells her he can't run away with her. In the third novel of the trilogy, Kettle points out to Fitz that he and Molly don't necessarily love each other for who they are, but rather for who they used to ''be'' and seek to keep reliving their more carefree childhood days by clinging to each other, and advises Fitz to let the relationship stay in the past before it's soured completely. Fitz doesn't listen to her until [[spoiler: he accidentally witnesses via Skill that Molly and Burrich have fallen for each other and intend to get married. Fitz then decides he wants both Molly and Burrich to be happy and it'd only bring them pain to know he was alive all this time, so decides to leave Buck and allow Molly and Burrich to raise his daughter together]].
44	** In the ''Liveship Traders'' trilogy, the TomboyAndGirlyGirl trope is deconstructed with Althea and Keffria - instead of it just being treated as a personality quirk of each sister, it's a huge factor in why the sisters don't see eye to eye for a large portion of the trilogy. Althea is the [[ParentalFavoritism favorite]] of her father Ephron, who indulged her free spirit and treated her like the son he never had, leading Althea to grow up as quite spoiled and stubborn as an adult and when she doesn't get ''Vivacia'' as promised, she responds by throwing a tantrum and running away from home. Keffria, meanwhile, is the submissive and mild Girly Girl who resented her younger sister for being treated with indulgence despite being a tearaway while she was largely ignored by her parents despite being the obedient daughter who conformed to society's expectations. When Keffria's husband Kyle goes missing, Keffria is suddenly left in charge and has no idea how to make decisions on her own after being dominated by her husband for so long. It takes Althea [[BreakTheHaughty learning some humility]] and [[GrewASpine Keffria growing a spine]] for them to finally learn to get along.
45	* ''{{Literature/Fatherland}}'' deconstructs AlternateHistoryNaziVictory in an interesting way, by portraying the Nazi regime as more of an analogue to the late Soviet Union, and crumbling under its own bureaucracy, corruption and insane policies less that 20 years after the War. Rather than conquering the world, Germany only controls central and eastern Europe. Western Europe consists of nominally independent puppet states, that are far more independent than the government in Berlin likes. The conquered territories in the east are poor, underdeveloped and teeming with guerillas, and described as "a 'living space' no-one wants to live in". On top of it all, the German government is obsessed with "proving" how wealthy and powerful it is by building large, useless and not all that impressive monuments, while even Xavier March, who is the equivalent of a police Captain, lives in a small and somewhat run-down pre-war apartment.
46	* ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a TieInNovel to Creator/{{Disney}}'s ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen\|2013}}'', deconstructs several things:
47	** The PrinceCharmless [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype archetype]] through Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, showing [[FreudianExcuse how growing up in an abusive family]] slowly turned the man from a child who once hated his family's abuses into [[TheCynic a cynical]], [[AmbitionIsEvil power-hungry]], and [[TheUnfettered ruthless]] man hellbent on seeking fame and personal glory at all costs. This [[EvilCannotComprehendGood leaves him incapable]] of understanding or even properly expressing love, as he thinks LoveIsAWeakness.
48	** The DysfunctionalFamily through the Westergaards (the royal family of the Southern Isles), portraying them as a RoyallyScrewedUp household of misogynistic and arrogant royals with an EvilOverlord who encourages his 13 sons to violently torment each other as part of his [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinist]] philosophy, and women who drink a lot to cope with their abusive husbands. The Westergaards end up being miserable, as most of the sons constantly torment each other for the sake of it, while Hans ends up in major trouble in what was supposed to be a diplomatic trip to Arendelle. Also, due to the king's toxic influence, his sons [[WellDoneSonGuy even develop]] [[LackOfEmpathy serious mental]] [[ManChild health issues]], aiming to please him no matter the cost.
49	** HappyMarriageCharade, again through the Westergaards. The royals have an AwfulWeddedLife, being that they [[AltarDiplomacy married for politics]], but they fake being HappilyMarried for appearances' sake. Aware of how most of his sisters-in-law are ill-treated by their spouses, Hans notes that his own family is absolutely miserable with each other. It not only teaches him that it's okay to suffer for the sake of appearances, but it also leaves him clueless as to what a happy relationship would be, be it familial or romantic.
50	** Hans's father, the king of the Southern Isles, is a walking DeconstructedCharacterArchetype, as he shows the flaws of the ParentalNeglect, ParentalFavoritism, DotingParent, EvilPatriarch, and AbusiveParents tropes. Encouraging Social Darwinism in his large family, he demands his sons to be ruthless so they'll become mirror images of himself. He also neglectfully spoils them, particularly first-born Caleb, into becoming his sycophantic henchmen. However, the family ends up miserable from tormenting each other, and Caleb [[InadequateInheritor is left woefully unprepared]] for his job as heir.
51	* ConservationOfNinjutsu is deconstructed in the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000: Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Ghostmaker'', where the victory of Gaunt and a small group of troopers (exalted by some Eldar sorcery) over a thousands-strong Chaos force without taking casualties is found to simply not make sense given the tactical data, which should have had them killed to the last man, and is written off by analysts as a phantom engagement.
52	* ''Literature/GrandmasterOfDemonicCultivationMoDaoZuShi'':
53	** EvilIsEasy - Demonic cultivation is the ''xianxia'' equivalent of TheDarkArts. After Wei Wuxian discovers it, several people follow his footsteps because demonic cultivation makes use of resentful energy which is readily available and doesn't require a golden core to use (which requires plenty of time and effort to develop). Where some people use demonic cultivation for sinister purposes, demonic cultivation on its own is not necessarily evil and while dangerous, can still be used for good. In the ''donghua'', Lan Wangji puts it best: like a weapon, whether a power is good or evil depends entirely on the intent of its wielder.
54	** TheBeautifulElite - All cultivators tend to be seen as attractive as they are long-lived and able to maintain their youth and have abilities to fight monsters. However majority of these cultivators tend to be isolated and sheltered which affects their ability to emphasize with and understand the common folk, the very people they were supposed to protect.
55	** GoodVictimsBadVictims - Everyone shows sympathy to [[spoiler: the Lan and Jiang clans]] when they were massacred but when it's [[spoiler: the Wen clan]], everyone acts as if it is justified to torture and brutally kill them, even if the latter were innocent and included non-combatants such as doctors, the elderly and children. Wei Wuxian calls them out on this hypocrisy and pondered what would happen if he turned the tables on them, leading everyone to panic.
56	---> '''Wei Wuxian''': Then if I kill you today, is that still moral and just?
57	** HonorBeforeReason - The novel examines the notions of honor, righteousness and selflessness. Honor without wisdom becomes recklessness and naivety which only brings more suffering and people can become manipulated and taken advantage of or not understand the consequences of their actions. Just because it is the honorable thing to do, it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. But at the same time, doing nothing is not the right thing ''either''.
58	* ''Literature/GravityFallsJournal3'' deconstructs both {{Determinator}} and IWorkAlone with Ford: His plans to discover the Grand Unified Theory of Weirdness with the Portal in his youth and destroy Bill Cipher on his own in the present day both blind him to anything else and damage his relationships with family and friends. Dipper, Mabel and Stan break him out of this mentality by helping him out and bonding with him. Ford acknowledges in the ending of the book how unhealthy his former mindset was and he hopes that Dipper will be better than him.
59	* ''Film/TheGodfather'', one of the most famous Mafia sagas in fiction, made a big deal out of the NothingPersonal trope. But in the novel that inspired the films, Michael Corleone himself deconstructs the trope in this speech to Tom:
60	-->'''Michael:''' Tom, don't let anybody kid you. It's all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of shit every man has to eat every day of his life is personal. They call it business. OK. But it's personal as hell. You know where I learned that from? The Don. My old man. The Godfather. If a bolt of lightning hit a friend of his the old man would take it personal. He took my going into the Marines personal. That's what makes him great. The Great Don. He takes everything personal. Like God. He knows every feather that falls from the tail of a sparrow or however the hell it goes. Right? And you know something? [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult]].
61	* ''Film/GoneGirl'' deconstructs the ManicPixieDreamGirl with the "Cool Girl" speech. The Cool Girl, as Amy describes it, is a male fantasy of a gorgeous woman who's into all the same stuff that he is and lets him get away with anything instead of calling him out when he causes problems -- in short, a modern-day, HotterAndSexier update of the {{housewife}} for the {{fratbro}} set. [[spoiler:The pressure of changing herself to be this for her husband Nick, only to watch him cheat on her anyway, caused Amy to snap, [[FakingTheDead fake her death]], and frame Nick for her murder.]]
62	-->'''Amy:''' Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who [[TheLadette adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping]], who [[GamerChick plays video games]], drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never [[WetBlanketWife get angry]]; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.
63	* ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'' deconstructs the SouthernBelle and SouthernGentleman archetypes in the winning form of Scarlett O'Hara and Ashley Wilkes. Scarlett is more or less trained not to care about people, and merely become a pretty doll devoid of personal wishes or emotion that is supposed to attract husbands. Ashley has nothing of the vices of his trope, but also has no practical virtues. After the war, Scarlett will adapt and Ashley will become useless.
64	* In ''Literature/HandleWithCare'', Charlotte shows how destructive it is to be a KnightTemplarParent. Her intentions to secure Willow's future were noble but the way she does it essentially ruined the lives of everyone else around her, especially her best friend who she was suing. And in the end, [[spoiler: Charlotte is left with the consequences of her actions. She is friendless with no social life, having betrayed her best friend through the lawsuit and lost Willow in a freak accident]].
65	* The ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series deconstructs TheChosenOne trope. Harry's status as the chosen one wasn't decided by fate, but happened because [[BigBad Voldemort]] ''[[TheChooserOfTheOne thought]]'' it was fate and [[SelfFulfillingProphecy leaped into action with an impulsive decision]]. Moreover, while he's competent with magic (better at some things than his peers), he's not a genius or exceptionally gifted in magic like his adversary (who is described as one of the most powerful wizards in wizarding history). His heroic actions save lives but, until the end, do not bring him glory - on the contrary, they end up being used to label him as "reckless" and "unstable" for a long time. He [[spoiler: ultimately triumphs over Voldemort not because of his superior talent, but because Voldemort makes a major mistake and is arguably brought down by his own blindness and arrogance]].
66	** A deconstruction of a lighter shade comes with Luna Lovegood's CloudCuckoolander tendencies, which have left her an easy target of teasing and ridicule amongst the other students. (In example, she tells Harry that the Ravenclaw kids prank her by hiding her stuff and forcing her to search for it all alone). Consequently, Ginny Weasley had been pretty much ''her OnlyFriend'' at Hogwarts until her [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix 4th year]] at the school... However, neither of these facts bothered her significantly, and she does what she can to live her life at the fullest.
67	*** It is also heavily implied that behavior (and that of her father's) is [[StepfordSmiler a coping mechanism for her mother's death.]]
68	** Also deconstructs ThePowerOfFriendship; there isn't any magical reason Harry's friends are an advantage (indeed, Ron, like Harry, isn't really someone special) but Harry's willingness to ''make'' friends means that he has people by his side fighting for his cause because they believe in him, whereas Voldemort tries to command loyalty through fear and power. People think nothing of betraying him (one doing this in particular very important in the process of his undoing) or at the very least not giving him their all if they've come to find that it's no longer to their advantage.
69	*** Voldemort's side truly deconstructs the BadBoss and YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness. He is so obsessed with punishing his underlings who he considers weak that the first time he fell from power, most of them immediately disowned any association with him. During the final battle in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', his Death Eaters started to outright ''abandon'' him while those loyal to Harry continued to fight on despite several major characters dying. [[spoiler: The death of Bellatrix, his only remaining loyal underling, caused Voldemort to lose his collective shit.]]
70	** Hagrid is a deconstruction of NightmareFetishist, FluffyTamer and BunnyEarsLawyer. He's a FriendToAllLivingThings with a particular liking for dangerous creatures, and has a kind-hearted but somewhat simple-minded persona. He's also a school drop-out with very limited educational training. Unsurprisingly, a decision to let him teach Care for Magical Creatures turns into a disaster. He honestly wants to entertain his students as well as educate them, and he does it by introducing them to things that he personally adores, that is large, vicious animals, without preparing the kids in theory beforehand or arranging for any safety protocols. The fact that he is a half-giant, and most of his students are regular human wizards, he is unaware how dangerous the creatures he tends are for the students. This grates on the children's nerves more and more, until the less scrupulous of them start blackmouthing him to the media and eventually even the main trio, who are his friends otherwise, abandon his classes.
71	** In the backstory of the Marauders, it deconstructs OvershadowedByAwesome. Harry's father James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were all brilliant, intelligent and popular wizards, with Peter Pettigrew being regarded as the TagalongKid and tends to behave as the group's cheerleader and ExtremeDoormat despite being rather talented and skilled himself. It's been noted that Peter was only loyal to "the biggest bullies in the playground" and tragically after Hogwarts, this made Peter turn to Voldemort in his desire to gain more power and the spotlight, leading him to betray Harry's parents.
72	* The ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series deconstructs TheFederation, in the form of the People's Republic of Haven (or, arguably, the Solarians). Much more on the trope page.
73	* The novel ''Literature/HurtingDistance'' deconstructs OperationJealousy to hell and back - Charlie panics when she hears Simon mention Alice Fancourt and begins obsessing over whether Simon wants Alice back. So she tries to make Simon jealous by pretending she's seeing someone called Graham. Simon being, well, [[TheWonka Simon]] [[NoSocialSkills Waterhouse]] means it doesn't work and when Charlie actually meets a man called Graham when she's on holiday with her sister, she jumps at the chance to make her lie a reality. Olivia calls her out on ruining their holiday and they spend much of the novel in a bitter feud and it turns out Graham is already married. [[spoiler: And he's actually the very same SerialRapist the police are looking for and his hotel, Silver Brae Chalets, is where the abducted women are brought to be raped ''in front of a paying audience''. Not only does Graham showing up unexpectedly at Charlie's address end up leaving Naomi alone with the man who already raped her once (she gets rescued before he can do it again), but the press find out that Charlie was romantically involved with Graham and the ensuing scandal forces her to leave her job on the force and haunts her quite a bit into the series.]]
74	* In Dostoevsky's classic ''Literature/TheIdiot'', he ruthlessly deconstructs the PuritySue. Myshkin is basically Jesus reincarnated, being possibly the most pure representation of what the Church expects that people should try to be like. The problem? Everyone who ''doesn't'' want to be like this (that is to say, everyone except Myshkin himself) takes advantage of his personality for all it's worth because HumansAreBastards.
75	* Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheInstitute'' does this to the GovernmentConspiracy, specifically of the "secret government research project that commits atrocities ForScience" variety (in the manner of ''Series/StrangerThings'', King's own ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}'', or real-life conspiracy theories about Project [=MKUltra=] and the Montauk Project), showing just how difficult it would be to run it and keep it secret. The titular Institute has a small staff, with a counter-productive proportion of unbalanced sadists, because it is difficult to recruit people who would [[WouldHurtAChild go along with the torture of children]]. Its physical and digital infrastructure are also outdated and falling apart, because finding contractors with the necessary skills to renovate and upgrade the place means revealing to them that it exists and having to keep them from telling anyone else.
76	* ''Literature/TheKingdomKeepers'' deconstructs ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve. Enough people believing in Creator/{{Disney}} allows those characters to come to life. However, it's those like [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]] that take advantage of it.
77	* ''Literature/LegacyOfTheDragokin'' does this to KidHero: Benji is a ten year old boy who wants to be a warrior hero and this story shows precisely why such a person would be a TagalongKid. Without training, experience or, indeed, ''maturity'', he's TheLoad at best and TheMillstone at worst.
78	* ''Literature/LesMiserables'' deconstructed the typical "mysterious benefactor" character common in 19th century novels with Jean Valjean. He rescues Cossette from hardship the same way The Bishop of Digny did for him. He becomes obsessed with being her ParentalSubstitute because he's eaten up by guilt over not being able to save her mother Fantine.
79	* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' has Frodo deconstruct TheHerosJourney while Aragorn plays it straight - the toll the Ring takes on Frodo is ''massive'', [[spoiler:he ''fails'' at the last moment because the stress finally breaks him, and rather than attaining enlightenment, is left shellshocked. He ''never'' gets better from this, and ends up leaving with the elves to head west in the hope of finding someone who can heal him]].
80	* ''Lof der Zotheid 2001'' from Arnon Grunberg has as its premise to deconstruct HumansAreTheRealMonsters, because in here humanity, the most abominable being ever created is on court for its criminal behaviour. What you read throughout the book is the speech as to why humanity is not that criminal.
81	* ''Literature/TheMagicians'' and ''The Magician King'' are brilliant deconstructions (and subsequent reconstructions) of hero, utopian, and magic tropes, among others. The main character is an extremely genre-savvy person, but finds that none of these things are what he thought they'd be.
82	* ''Literature/TheManWhoCameEarly'' deconstructs TrappedInThePast. All of Gerald's attempts to change history fall flat on their face. When he tries to show the Vikings how to make compasses, he has no idea where to find or mine magnetic ores. When he tries to show them how to build more modern sailing vessels, the Vikings point out that such vessels are too cumbersome to dock anywhere where there is not a ready built harbor, an obvious rarity in that time period. The Vikings find the matches he brought with him impressive, but he has no idea how to make more. The only knowledge he has of any use is modern martial arts. In the end, [[spoiler:the soldier runs afoul of his ignorance of Viking legal customs and is killed]]. The story's main point is that time-travellers don't really have much chance of introducing future inventions because most advances are useless without an advanced societal and technological infrastructure to support them, while the characters in question don't have sufficient skills, tools and resources to introduce new technology.
83	* The ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' books
84	** Deconstructs the EvilOverlord in the character of the Lord Ruler- he's introduced in the first book and pretty much played straight as an inhuman/superhuman force of evil [[spoiler: though we do get a bit of his backstory]]; subsequent books delve deeply into his personality, history, and motivations, ultimately making him as a ShadowArchetype of the heroes.
85	** It also deconstructs many, many tropes of rebelling against an EvilOverlord like him. For example, killing him doesn't bring easy succession-it drives the land into chaos! And now the heroes, who killed him off, are in government, and it shows the hardships of that.
86	** The second book deconstructs TheProphecy. [[spoiler:What if the prophecy was actually a ploy by the BigBad with RealityWarper powers to get someone to free them from their captivity, and they subtly shift the prophecy to match the person believed to be the hero to fit him perfectly?]]
87	* Even optimistic adventure stories, while free from overall deconstruction, aren't necessarily free from having individual tropes deconstructed. Case in point, ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'' by Creator/JulesVerne, which blatantly falls on the Ideal side of the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism scale]]. Thus, the trope of {{Robinsonade}} is played straight by the main protagonists, but is deconstructed by SixthRanger Ayrton who goes mad from being isolated for so many years and probably would have died an agonizing death [[spoiler:were it not for Nemo telling the castaways about his island]].
88	* ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'' provides a particularly satisfying deconstruction of the CanonSue. Bastian gets the power to remake an entire world as he sees fit, but with each wish that gets granted he loses one of his memories and becomes more and more of a moron and a jerk. Finally it's up to the story's real hero to save his ungrateful ass, and when he finally realizes what's been going on it's a thing of beauty.
89	** The various 'stories' also serve as deconstructions of various tropes, especially in the second half where Bastian's attempts to help don't go as intended. For instance:
90	*** AlwaysSaveTheGirl and StandardHeroReward are both deconstructed with the character of the Hero (actually his title) who is madly in love with a princess who won't give him the time of the day. Bastian uses his powers to create a situation wherein a dragon kidnaps the princess and the Hero can rescue her to make her fall in love with him. It's briefly described that the Hero endures a number of dangers and saves her, and she ''does'' fall for him... except he's no longer interested in her after going through so much for her. So there's only so far TheDulcineaEffect will take you.
91	*** Said Hero's three companions (of the same class) deconstruct KnightInShiningArmor and UndyingLoyalty - after Bastian earns their respect, they swear to serve him forever... This unfortunately includes trying to do amoral things against their benevolent nature, and also when Bastian disappears they dedicate their lives to finding him, ultimately BreakingTheFellowship and going their separate ways.
92	*** MagicAIsMagicA and AppliedPhlebotinum are deconstructed when Bastian - in a very special city with an acidic lake, full of inhabitants who wish to know their own origins - creates a story for them which becomes fact. That would be fine... except that said origin involves the acidic 'water' of the lake coming from a group of grotesque, ever-weeping creatures, whose acidic tears created the lake but also unearthed the one metal which it withstands (the city's main source of profit as well). Bastian's attempt to make them happy (by changing their forms into butterfly-like beings) comes back to bite him much later when they reveal to him that without their tears, the lake has dried up and there is no way to mine for the special metal anymore. He is threatened and almost ''killed'' by them to try and change them back into their sorry prior forms, before [[BigDamnHeroes Atreyu and Falkor save him]].
93	* The novel ''Literature/NuklearAge'' by Brian Clevinger subverts and deconstructs almost every aspect of TheCape and rebuilds it in his own image. The book begins as a DeconstructiveParody, but toward the end [[WhamEpisode it does a complete about face]] and begins deconstructing its own premise.
94	* ''Literature/OutOfTheDark'':
95	** Deconstructs HumansAreWarriors and HumansAdvanceSwiftly. The [[AliensAreBastards Bastard Aliens]] witnessed the English slaughtering the French at Agincourt and see how fast human tech is progressing compared to "civilised" races and are scared to hell. So they tell their enforcer race that everyone will turn a blind eye if an accident were to happen to us...
96	** Weber also takes time goes out of his way to briefly deconstruct GunsAkimbo and [[OnlyAFleshWound shoulder flesh wounds]].
97	** MamaBear and PapaWolf also get deconstructed when Buchevsky argues that winter will bring the need to defend against good people with starving children.
98	* ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' is a deconstruction of DracoInLeatherPants in its portrayal of {{Satan}}. He starts out looking like a charismatic badass, but as we get to know him more and more, he see that he's a whiny, self-pitying bully who bows to peer pressure from the other demons, [[ParentalIncest bangs his own daughter]], and arguably isn't even all that badass when compared to, say, [[TheCape Michael]] or KungFuJesus. The intention was to make the reader acknowledge that they felt the allure of sin but also that it leads nowhere good. However, he is for the most part still portrayed sympathetically enough, to the point that actually seeing him as living up to those traits isn't that far off, if he wasn't immersed in a sea of {{Wangst}}. It doesn't help that in the process of deconstructing Satan, the story [[RonTheDeathEater deconstructs God]] and YouCantFightFate by having God know every single thing Satan is going to do... [[JerkassGods and chooses to do almost nothing to stop it.]] As a result, it manages to slightly reconstruct Satan: both gods are jerks, but at least Satan is proactive and likable.
99	* ''Literature/ThePower'' deconstructs WomenAreWiser. The author's thesis is that this trope exists at the intersection of sexual dimorphism making the average woman smaller than the average man and [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership combat prowess determining who was in charge]] for most of human history, leading most women to seek out moral and intellectual authority as opposed to the path of military glory that men historically dominated. Gender egalitarianism, therefore, didn't ''create'' more peaceful societies but was rather a ''consequence'' of such, as the declining importance of physical strength as a source of authority, especially in the world's developed and industrialized nations, gave women more room to showcase their talents and emerge as leaders. When a biological mutation gives women the power to [[ShockAndAwe shoot electricity from their hands]] and thus makes them the more physically powerful gender, they start flexing their power, especially (though not exclusively) in developing countries where modernity had not yet fully advanced and traditional gender roles were still widespread. The characters who believe in this trope turn out to be some of its biggest monsters as they set out to oppress men, driven by a belief that they are more barbaric and violent than women and need to be controlled for the good of society. [[spoiler:And when WorldWarIII sends humanity back to the Stone Age, {{matriarchy}} emerges as the basic governing principle of post-apocalyptic society for the same reason patriarchy did in humanity's prehistory. The FramingDevice is set in a distant future that has rebuilt into something resembling modern society with the genders reversed, with the AuthorAvatar's female colleague fully believing in a gender-flipped version of this trope and coming up with all manner of (obviously false) evo-psych explanations for why it is.]]
100	* The entirety of ''{{Literature/Redshirts}}'' is a deconstruction of the RedShirt, and what would happen if the universe's CannonFodder ever learned about or tried to do something about their high mortality rate.
101	* The Literature/{{Redwall}} book ''The Outcast of Redwall'' does this to AlwaysChaoticEvil. Veil Sixclaw is a ferret, classified as "vermin" in the setting. He's taken off a battlefield and raised by Redwallers. However, anything that goes wrong during his stay is immediately blamed on him, and he eventually decides [[ThenLetMeBeEvil to be what they expect.]] Only his foster mother believes in him. In short, the Redwallers, sans Bryony, never gave him a chance to NOT be evil.
102	* ''Literature/RWBYAfterTheFall'': Coco deconstructs JerkWithAHeartOfGold. She has a ''very'' large and fragile ego, constantly trying to prove herself just as good as other well known huntresses like Glynda and Rumpole. While her heart is in the right place, and she desperately wants to help people, her drive to avoid past failures that led to her being unable to save lives means that holds onto the reins of leadership too tightly, bossing her team and making decisions on what's best for them without considering what they want, and dismissing advice and feedback. When an emotion-amplifying Semblances brings Velvet and Fox's resentment to the surface about how they feel jerked and bossed around, she begins working on self-improvement to become a better leader. In ''Literature/RWBYBeforeTheDawn'', she is so judgemental of Sun's failings as a leader, that her team has to point out to her that there's a difference between good critique and unreasonable criticism, and that she won't become a better leader herself unless she works on her own jerkassery; this is feedback that she accepts.
103	* ''Literature/RWBYBeforeTheDawn'': Sun deconstructs TheDulcineaEffect. He is a kind-hearted individual who rushes to help anyone who is need (usually women), even if they're complete strangers. He will drop his team to do this, staying by the side of the individual until the problem is resolved, whether or not the individual wants and without any consideration for his team. His team-mates therefore feel abandoned, like they don't matter to Sun, and that he can see everyone else's problems except theirs. The resentment in the team makes them dysfunctional during the novel, as Sun doesn't realise just how deeply hurt they are and they want him to realise that without them telling him, and become increasingly angry the longer Sun's ignorance continues. Velvet ends up taking on the responsibility of guiding Sun through the pitfalls he's creating for himself and his team by constantly abandoning them for others, until he and his team learn to talk to each other about their issues, which helps Sun begin to understand that he needs to be there for his team, and take their feelings, advice and opinions on board when making decisions and plans.
104	* ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan'' deconstructs the VampireVannabe by showing what kind of person wants to willingly become a vampire and why. A [[TheSociopath sociopath]] who wants to kill people he doesn't like, and be free to do what ever he wants.
105	* ''Seven Sorcerers'' by Caro King deconstructs PlotArmor. The heroine Nin Redstone, a young girl, has it, and therefore survives many dangerous situations unscathed - physically that is. However, the PlotArmor, as usual, does nothing to ''prevent'' her from getting into such situations. In fact often she get into bad situations precisely because somebody wanted to exploit her luck, [[spoiler: in fact, this is the whole reason she got dragged into the whole mess in the first place]], and Nin has to deal herself with the psychological scars of her dangers. Also she develops huge SurvivorsGuilt, when other people die around her - partially because her PlotArmor doesn't seem to care about collateral damage.
106	* NearVillainVictory gets deconstructed in the later books of ''Literature/{{Shannara}}''. In contrast to other fantasy works like ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Film/{{Willow}}'' where some measure of normalcy returns after the BigBad is defeated, the Warlock Lord coming close to victory in ''The Sword of Shannara'' has far-reaching consequences on the whole series. The next book ''The Elfstones of Shannara'' explains that the Southlands panic when they learn the Warlock Lord nearly captured the city of Tyrsis and could have easily invaded their territories. The various cities of the Southlands then form a mutual defense alliance which quickly grows into [[TheEmpire the Federation]]. By ''Literature/TheHeritageOfShannara'', the Federation becomes a major antagonist by conquering the other lands and waging war on the remaining free peoples. Even in later Shannara books, the Federation remains a threat to the protagonists.
107	* The Creator/TanithLee story "Sold" is a deconstruction of the DealWithTheDevil plot, and one of the few cases of a LighterAndSofter deconstruction: If you can sell your immortal soul to the devil, [[spoiler:you obviously ''have'' an immortal soul, and the devil can't easily take it from you]]. So you might as well endure your circumstances, since [[spoiler:you know you are going to heaven]].
108	* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has so many of this [[DeconstructedTrope/ASongOfIceAndFire it got its own page]].
109	* ''Literature/SpiceAndWolf'': The ninth entry deconstructs SpannerInTheWorks with Lawrence struggling to pull himself out of the machinations of his very powerful boss and their mutual opponent, Eve.
110	* ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'' makes the deconstruction of the EngagementChallenge a plot point, by showing and openly talking about how stupid an idea it is, and how if someone makes a joke about an impossible task to evade your flirtations, this doesn't mean that they actually want you to do it. Victoria spends the entire duration of the Hero's quest torn between being guilt-ridden and terrified that she's probably sent an old childhood playmate to his death, and terrified that he'll come back, because she's in love with someone else. The book also covers the unpleasant end of a [[spoiler:MayflyDecemberRomance]], although the movie version offers a way out.
111	* The Literature/XWingSeries novel ''Starfighters of Adumar'' deconstructs the concept of the {{Proud Warrior Race\|Guy}}. The military of the Adumari nation of Cartann is made up of these types, but their GloryHound tendencies mean they make poor tactical decisions, and their insistence on live-fire dueling means that they end up killing off competent pilots (with only certain protocols keeping them in check, and these only do so much), meaning that the New Republic and Imperial pilots who take them on are easily able to defeat them in combat. Wedge himself disparages the concept of fighting for honor in a single speech:
112	-->'''Wedge''': [[CircularReasoning Circular thinking. I'm honorable because I kill the enemy, and I kill the enemy for the honor.]] There's nothing there, Cheriss. Here's the truth: I kill the enemy so someone, somewhere - probably someone I've never met and never will meet - will be happy. [...] I told you how I lost my parents. Nothing I ever do can make up for that loss. But if I put myself in the way of people just as bad as the ones who killed my family, if I burn them down, then someone else they would have hurt gets to stay happy. That's the only honorable thing about my profession. It's not the killing. It's making the galaxy a little better.
113	** Another part of the series, the Wraith Squadron novels, deconstruct the RagtagBunchOfMisfits. The Wraiths are a last-chance squadron of people who are for whatever reason on the verge of being washed out, leading to a variety of quirky personalities and funny scenes...and also higher-than-average casualties, which Wes accurately points out that Wedge should really have expected.
114	* ''Literature/TomorrowWhenTheWarBegan'' takes the RagtagBunchOfMisfits and LaResistance tropes to their logical conclusions via WarIsHell. The kids have to stop being kids and start being soldiers - those of them that can't quickly get captured or killed, while those of them that can never really recover from some of the traumas.
115	* ''Literature/TreasureIsland'': deconstructs the KidHero. Jim Hawkins is a young boy whisked away on a grand adventure fit to make him financially independent for his entire life... and comes home severely traumatized, and suffers from recurring nightmares for the rest of his life.
116	* Another book deconstructing the chosen one, ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' does this in the form of [[CrystalDragonJesus Rand Al'Thor]] who is nearly driven insane by the pressure of having the entire world resting on his shoulders and begins to use much darker methods to make sure everything stays together. Eventually [[spoiler: he realizes what he's doing wrong and gets better]].
117	* ''When the Windman Comes'' by Antonia Michaelis deconstructs MrImagination. The girl Paredoile and her mother live in a world filled with their imagination, and some of things they imagine are very wonderful and exciting - but most are ''evil and threatening'' - like [[spoiler: the titular Windman]]. They live in constant fear of imaginary phantoms, which leads to both of them having no friends (which is especially hard for the girl), brings further hardships, and even creates some very real dangers (like when [[spoiler: Paredoile's mother refuses to let her be treated in a hospital for fear of Windman]]). Ultimately, it takes an intervention of the hero, a Down-To-Earth kid, to break them free of that.
118	* ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' deconstructs AllGirlsWantBadBoys, by showing exactly what happens when girls fall in love with troubled, angry men. Heathcliff is a 'bad boy', and Bronte shows exactly what this means; he's unstable, vindictive, violent, selfish and vicious. The relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine is depicted as being intensely passionate, but also intensely unhealthy (not least because they may or [[NotBloodSiblings may not]] actually be [[BrotherSisterIncest brother and sister]]), and Heathcliff's response to being spurned for another man is to embark on a single-minded crusade of vengeance that ultimately results in the ruination of both lovers and their immediate families for absolutely no point whatsoever. As if this wasn't enough to illustrate the point, Edgar Linton's foolish sister Isabella elopes with Heathcliff because she's attracted to his bad-boy image. She gets what she wants, but not in the way she expects; an abusive husband who is openly contemptuous and violent towards her, and makes no secret of the fact that he only married her to get at her brother. This hasn't stopped a MisaimedFandom growing around Heathcliff, however, who even to this day is considered a model of a romantic hero despite the fact that he's pretty much a sociopath - something that Bronte intended to make absolutely clear.
119	** It also shows that what happens when good boys fall in love with troubled, angry women who are in love with said troubled, angry men...
120	** Romance, as a genre, is one of the easiest to deconstruct, simply because by its very nature it is fantasy-driven. There are eerie parallels between the 'romance' and 'porn story' genres (aside from the fact that a story can be both at once), in that both exist to embody fantasy satisfaction of impulses that in real life ''must'' be restrained by the necessities of duty, common sense, and sanity. Drama is good as entertainment but rapidly becomes exhausting and draining when you have to live it.

Context DeconstructedTrope / Literature