Line #66 Literature/TheLunatic


1	[[quoteright:262:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_lunatic_262.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:262:[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial No, the flower was not just talking. Nor is it shaped like female genitalia with teeth]].]]
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4	''The Lunatic'' is a novel by Jamaican author Creator/AnthonyWinkler, published in 1987.
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6	Aloysius is the village madman in Moneague, St. Ann, tolerated by his neighbors but otherwise shunned because of his tendency to [[TheMentallyDisturbed hold conversations]] with literally ''everything:'' [[HearingVoices rocks, trees, bushes, animals, etc]]. He lives in the bushland, where he often seeks shelter under the limbs of a friendly flame-heart tree, and scavenges for wild fruit to feed himself. Because he's a lunatic, he's shunned by the local women, and as a result hasn't had any sex in two years. He also claims to have a thousand names, which he'll spout off if you [[SchmuckBait ask him his name]].
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8	Then one day, he meets Inga Schmidt, a German tourist who's out snapping photos of the local flora and fauna. Their meeting is very unexpected: she finds him asleep with his, er, flag-pole flying high, and takes photos of it.
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10	Inga, it turns out, is sex-crazy. HilarityEnsues. Then she brings in a second local man, a butcher named Service, to satisfy herself. Even MORE hilarity ensues, leading to the three concocting a plan to burgle the house of the local landowner.
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12	The novel spawned a [[TheFilmOfTheBook film]] in 1991, starring Paul Campbell and Carl Bradshaw as Aloysius and Service, respectively.
13	----
14	!!Tropes present in ''The Lunatic:''
15	* AdaptationDistillation: The movie removes several minor sub-plots that were in the book, likely to better streamline the story. Some of the sub-plots include the village doctor's lecherous behavior, the schoolboys' taunting of Inga, Busha's visit to the hospital after suddenly falling ill, and the explanation of Barrister Lingstrom's backstory.
16	* AdaptedOut: Several characters in the novel are excised from the movie, including Busha's circle of friends, the village shopkeeper Mr. Shubert, and the schoolboys who invoke Inga's wrath.
17	* TheAtoner: Service at the end of the novel.
18	* BadBoss: Mr. Shubert, the village shopkeeper and church sexton, gets yelled at by Busha for not keeping the local cows out of the cemetery. In turn, Mr. Shubert takes out his frustration on his shop assistant, who had nothing to do with that earlier scolding, before ordering him to run the cows out of the graveyard.
19	* BerserkButton: Oh, geez, does Inga ''hate'' it if [[SpeedSex her partner finishes before she does]]. The first one we see is when, twice in a row, she explodes at Aloysius for not being able to control his climax. She later boxes Service on the ear for likewise being too quick.
20	* BestialityIsDepraved: At one point in the book, when Inga takes Aloysius to her hotel for a tryst, she claims that she can take anything and anyone she wants into her room, even a donkey. Aloysius immediately starts wondering why Inga would want a donkey for a guest and what exactly she would be planning to do with the animal (and given her propensity for sex, one can hardly blame him for wondering).
21	%%* BigEater: Aloysius.
22	* BigFancyHouse: Hubert "Busha" Macintosh, the local landowner, has one. So does Barrister Lingstrom.
23	* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Inga claims this about Aloysius.
24	--> '''Inga:''' I stay vith him because he has a big cock! Vhat you think of that?!
25	* BloodKnight: Service is a little too eager to use his knives and machete to settle conflicts. It doesn’t help that his profession is that of a butcher, or that he derives amusement from [[OffWithHisHead beheading chickens and then watching the headless corpses run around blindly]].
26	* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the novel, the widow Mrs. Dawkins has a recurring problem with farting, which makes Busha not want to sit near her in church. The movie changes this to her having a shrill singing voice instead.
27	* ButtMonkey: Aloysius suffers all sorts of mishaps throughout the story. Service gets his fair share of this trope as well, mostly at Inga's hands. Busha also suffers his fair share of misfortunes, some comical and others not.
28	* CallingTheOldManOut: Inga does this to her father in the movie adaptation.
29	* CardboardPrison: [[spoiler:Inga escapes from the jail where she’s held for her part in the robbery of Busha’s house. The movie outright shows that [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections her father's connections]] are responsible]].
30	* CharacterDevelopment: Aloysius and Service both get this. Service's is especially noteworthy, as he goes from being a FlatEarthAtheist and BloodKnight to TheAtoner.
31	* ComedicSociopathy: During her first sexual escapade with Aloysius, Inga beats him up for...[[SpeedSex being too quick]]. She does the same thing to Service later, for the same reason.
32	* DarkActionGirl: Inga knows her kung fu. She’s actually strong enough to break off a tree limb with her bare hand.
33	* DeadpanSnarker: Service.
34	-->'''Aloysius:''' Mi brain confuse.\
35	'''Service:''' What brain?
36	** A lot of the animals and vegetation that Aloysius hears talking serve in this capacity as well.
37	* DisproportionateRetribution: [[NoodleIncident Whatever Inga did to the boy]] who called her an insulting name. However, it is potent enough that his cronies never call her any nicknames again.
38	%%* EarnYourHappyEnding: And boy, Aloysius deserves it.
39	* ExtremeOmnisexual: Inga has a voracious sexual appetite outright saying that she must have ''at least'' two lovers to get satisfaction. She even says at one point that she could have a donkey in her room if she wanted to, leading Aloysius to rightly wonder what she would want to do with the poor beast under such circumstances.
40	* FlatEarthAtheist: Service claims that there is no God, no heaven, no hell, no coming back from death, no reincarnation...for him, everything is mud. [[CharacterDevelopment He improves his viewpoint much later]].
41	* FreudianExcuse: The film version hints pretty strongly that Inga may have one for her behavior, given how she calls her father out for not showing her enough love and care when she's in the courtroom. The possible excuse is less pronounced and public in the book, though she clearly doesn't get along very well with her father there either.
42	* GenreSavvy: Inga proves herself to be this, training Aloysius and Service to burgle houses in little time, and supplying gloves for them to hide fingerprints and wrapping their feet to prevent leaving footprints, in preparation to rob Busha's house.
43	* HappilyMarried: Busha Macintosh and his wife Sarah.
44	* HeelFaithTurn: Service eventually finds religion while in prison, having believed in no God and being very kill-happy before that point.
45	* ImmodestOrgasm: “O-iso-propoxy-phenyl!”
46	-->'''Aloysius:''' What dat word mean?\
47	'''Inga:''' Cockroach poison.\
48	'''Aloysius:''' Cockroach poison?\
49	'''Inga:''' Vhy not? [[RefugeInAudacity Vhat does it matter vhat I say?]]\
50	'''Aloysius:''' It don't matter.
51	%%* JerkAss: Service, before his HeelFaceTurn. Also, Busha.
52	* KidsAreCruel: The schoolchildren mock Aloysius for his madness, and a group of schoolboys take it upon themselves to point out other people's physical deformities and oddities. Inga retaliates against one of them in what later becomes a NoodleIncident.
53	%%* LargeHam: Inga's actress in the film version.
54	* LousyLoversAreLosers: Inga is [[BerserkButton very unforgiving]] to her lovers if they perform poorly, especially if they [[SpeedSex finish before she does]]. The first this manifests is when, twice in a row, she explodes at Aloysius for not being able to control his climax. She later boxes Service on the ear for likewise being too quick.
55	%%* LoveTriangle: Aloysius, Inga and Service.
56	* MamaBear: The mother of the boy Inga assaults swears an oath that she'll kill the white woman before sundown. Thanks to Aloysius's intervention, it doesn't happen.
57	%%* ManlyTears: Aloysius does this from time to time.
58	%%* TheMentallyDisturbed: Aloysius, of course.
59	* TheNicknamer: A group of schoolboys in the village make a practice of shouting nicknames at passersby based on their physical attributes or know character traits, such as "Crook Foot," "Peel-Head Parson," and "Big Batty Woman" (for a woman with a large butt). Not even Busha escapes this, as they call him "Big Belly Busha" whenever he drives past. At one point they call Inga "Two Hood Woman" (because she's known to have two lovers, Aloysius and Service)...but when she responds violently and does ''something'' to one of the boys that involves tearing his clothes off, they never call her any names again.
60	* NoodleIncident: Nobody ever finds out just what Inga did to that poor kid, though we can be very certain AttemptedRape is involved somehow.
61	--> '''Mother:''' She hold him down and do something to de boy so wicked and nasty dat to dis day him won't tell me what she do!
62	* OnlySaneMan: Of the TrueCompanions, Service believes himself to be this.
63	* OverlyLongName: Did we mention that Aloysius has a thousand names?
64	--> Aloysius Gossamer Longshoreman Technocracy Parliamentarian Patriarch Verdure Emulative Perihelion...
65	* ParentalAbandonment: Aloysius experienced this, being raised only by his aunt. For him, it's a source of [[ManlyTears sorrowful wishing]].
66	* PrecisionFStrike: Inga's mouth is among the dirtiest in the whole story. As just one example:
67	--> '''Inga:''' Shit! Fuck! Piss! Fuck! Bumbo! Bumbo! Cock!
68	--> '''Busha:''' ''(to Aloysius)'' The woman is even madder than you!
69	* RuleOfFunny: A lot of what happens in the book is PlayedForLaughs.
70	* RunningGag: "Aloysius Gossamer Longshoreman Technocracy Predominate Involuted Enraptured Parliamentarian Patriarch Verdure..." And that's only a mere handful of his [[IHaveManyNames thousand names]].
71	* SchmuckBait: Go ahead and ask Aloysius his name. [[OverlyLongName We'll wait]].
72	* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Service murdered his own father]].
73	* SmiteMeOhMightySmiter: Service challenges God to strike him down if he's lying [[spoiler:about killing his father]] as Inga claims he is. God doesn't oblige.
74	* TrueCompanions: Of a rather weird sort: Aloysius, Inga, Service, and the flame-heart tree that has always been Aloysius's companion.
75	%%* {{Tsundere}}: Inga.
76	* VerbalTic: Being German, Inga pronounces her W’s like V’s. Aloysius later starts copying her unconsciously.
77	* VisualInnuendo: In the film version, when Busha's wife Sarah openly wonders why any woman like Inga would want a lunatic like Aloysius, Busha pointedly holds up a large boiled banana on his fork. Sarah immediately gets the message and is thoroughly disgusted. (In the book, there's no visual illustration, with Busha instead delicately paraphrasing what Inga has said about Aloysius's penis, but Sarah is still put off.)
78	%%* WellDoneDaughterGirl: Inga's father in the movie adaptation.
79	* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"I kill me father. You kill your father too?"]]

Context Literature / TheLunatic