Line #20 Literature/CorpusDelicti


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4	''Corpus Delicti'' is a German dystopian novel by Juli Zeh. It was published in 2009.
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6	In the mid-21st century, Germany is a nice place to live. The streets and everything else are clean -- hell, houses that are best at being clean even get awarded with the seal "Guardhouse". The people are perfectly healthy (well, at least physically) and live long lives -- at least usually. Everything overseen by bacteriometers in any regular house, toilets that analyze their users' urine immediately and microchips injected into every person -- and under the guarding eyes of the Method, the system ruling it all.
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8	A nice life -- or not?
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10	34-year-old Mia Holl mourns the death of her younger brother Moritz. Moritz was incarcerated for rape-murder, but she is convinced of his innocence. When TV journalist Heinrich Kramer visits her, she finally seems to get a chance to clear his name -- only to start questioning the Method more and more. No good idea in a system that claims to be infallible and unquestionably for the good of everyone...
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12	!! Santé! Those are the tropes in the book:
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14	* AllegoricalCharacter: Heinrich Kramer, the personified Method the same as the power of the media.
15	* AmoralAttorney: Double Subverted. Lutz Rosentreter is first seen loyally working for the system, but then seems like one of the low percentage of lawyers who are not fully believing in the Method, and later gives a pro-Method confession.
16	* AnAesop: Several. "It is perfectly fine that life is life-threatening. Do not give up your freedom for security.", or "The body is volatile, but the mind can live on forever.", or "Never forget caring for your mental health.", or "Every society system is flawed.", or "Dictatorship is never good, even if it explicitly wants the wellbeing of the people."
17	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: There is nothing known about our immune systems influencing the quality of our relationships. Could be an in-universe example of ScienceMarchesOn.
18	* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Moritz' reasoning behind his suicide, although "being killed" would mean being turned into a Human Popsicle in the setting. For Moritz, this means being kept as a trophy by the regime.
19	* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou: Implied for Mia, who is a biologist, meaning one of the people presumably working to form and hold up the system. Played straight for all characters who work in law or media.
20	* BigBrotherIsWatching: Constant surveillance of any step the citizens take is absolutely crucial for the Method to work. They all wear tracking chips, and every everyday gadget has sensors to control its users' health stats.
21	* BlindDate: Moritz liked to go to them and also went to one in the backstory.
22	* BureaucraticallyArrangedMarriage: Downplayed. There is still a choice for the individual citizen, but everyone can only choose their partners from the people in the "immune groups" deemed fitting to them.
23	* ChasteHero: Mia is single, never acts interested into any form of romantic or sexual relationship and is maybe asexual or even aromantic.
24	* ColdBloodedTorture: Mia gets tortured with electric shocks. She requests Heinrich Kramer to watch in the hopes of a HeelRealization. [[spoiler:He is unimpressed.]]
25	* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: The Holl siblings' parents are only seen in a flashback and seem not to be alive anymore at the time of the main plot. That doesn't mess with their children's lives anyway.
26	* CrapsaccharineWorld: Well, Germany seems to be a nice place to live under the Method -- clean cities, renewable energy, vibrant culture, eradicated poverty and perfectly healthy people. The truth is that everything comes with a price -- society is terribly unfree, surveillance is everywhere, people snitch on each other frequently and even small trespasses against the Method like drinking alcohol once are treated like something close to terrorism.
27	* ClearMyName: Mia views herself on this kind of quest regarding her brother.
28	* CruelMercy: [[spoiler:The ending, courtesy of Heinrich Kramer. Mia isn't turned into a HumanPopsicle, but instead scheduled to be properly reindoctrinated - what will most likely succeed due to her bad mental state at that point.]]
29	* DatingServiceDisaster: Moritz goes on a blind date. The woman is not at all like he expects her to be [[spoiler:-- she isn't even alive anymore]].
30	* DespairEventHorizon: Moritz crosses it after having to go to prison for a terrible crime [[spoiler:he did not commit]]. Hence his suicide.
31	* DirtyCoward: Lutz Rosentreter. He first seems to be an ally to Mia because ItsPersonal, but after his separation from his immunologically incompatible girlfriend, he shows himself as a Method loyalist.
32	* DrugsAreBad: The Method's view, which is the reason why alcohol, cigarettes and even candy are illegal.
33	* DystopianEdict: No disease! That means nothing that could ever damage your body in any way!
34	* ForcedToWatch: Mia tries to invoke this trope [[spoiler:on Kramer when she gets tortured]].
35	* FutureFoodIsArtificial: Real food is a scarcity and seen as {{Squick]] by most people. You usually eat artificial protein or vitamin from tubes. Moritz Holl was one of the few people who still like natural food, like self-caught fish.
36	* FutureSlang: Heinrich Kramer greets people with "Santé!" instead of any normal greeting.
37	* GenreSavvy: The Method never kills its opponents for the sake of not seeming like a murderous regime in case it fails in the future, despite its claims to be infallible.
38	* GoneHorriblyRight: The Method. Everyone is healthy and everything is clean -- but there is a "too clean" for human health, and it is implied that nobody's immune system is fully intact anymore, so the Method has to stay in place forever to ensure that no epidemic breaks out.
39	* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: Inverted. Any type of drug is strictly illegal under the Method, and there are even legal punishments for minor trespasses like drinking alcohol or smoking.
40	* HollywoodAtheist: Heinrich Kramer is atheist, views religion founders and religious people as crazy and believes in the very science-based Method with religious passion.
41	-->'''Mia Holl:''' I do not believe in God and he does not believe in me.
42	* HumanPopsicle: The equivalent punishment to execution under the Method. [[spoiler:Subverted regarding Mia in the end: she shall be frozen, but is freed]].
43	* ImaginaryFriend: Exaggerated with an Imaginary Lover or "Ideal Beloved", Moritz' imaginary girlfriend, who is passed on to Mia.
44	* JesusWasCrazy: Invoked by Heinrich Kramer, who calls him a "bearded masochist".
45	* LittlestCancerPatient: Moritz Holl was this in the past, having had leukemia with six years. It was a crucial step in him becoming a very philosophical and wise adult who is eager for life.
46	* LivingIsMoreThanSurviving: Mia Holl's crucial revelation.
47	* MeaningfulName:
48	** Heinrich Kramer, named after an infamous witch hunter.
49	** Mia Holl, after Maria Holl, a woman burnt as a witch by the real-life Heinrich Kramer.
50	** Lutz Rosentreter (the surname translates to "rose stepper") is in love with a woman he isn't allowed to love due to incompatible immune systems. In the book, he solves the conflict with the Method by ending his relationship, metaphorically "stepping on the rose".
51	** Würmer, Kramer's spineless, slimy younger colleague (the name translates to "worms" in English).
52	* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: Heinrich Kramer has the same name like the author of the infamous witch-hunting manual ''Malleus maleficarum''. Maria Holl was the name of a real woman that was burnt as a witch under his oversight.
53	* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: We only get to know that Heinrich Kramer was one of several masterminds behind the Method. We never get to know more about what kind of system it exactly is and never see anyone who is an actual member of TheGovernment.
54	* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Nobody seems to be religious anymore, and religious buildings are only depicted as parts of a museum. Heinrich Kramer even calls Jesus a "bearded masochist".
55	* PassingTheTorch: What Moritz did when handing the Ideal Beloved to Mia.
56	* RuinsOfTheModernAge: The book depicts factories that were turned into culture centers and a museum consisting of churches.
57	* TheCasanova: Moritz, who had many short flings with women during his life. A little downplayed since he was looking for an ideal love anyway.
58	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Strangely, the Method seems to negate mental issues.
59	* TotalitarianUtilitarian: The Method is a philosophical and political system that aims to grant everyone a life free of pain and suffering -- and ironically gives the citizens even more of them. Heinrich Kramer is this as a person.
60	* TrackingChip: Everyone under the Method has a chip implanted into their body that is not just used for tracking and identification purposes, but also to examine their health all the time.
61	* WallsOfTyranny: Human settlements are behind a fence that separates them from the world outside (forests and free nature). This is since the outside world is basically considered plague area.

Context Literature / CorpusDelicti