Line #18 Literature/TheMouseAndHisChild


1	[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mouse_and_His_Child_429.jpg]]
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3	A novel by Russell Hoban, ''The Mouse and His Child'', published in 1967, tells the story of a wind-up toy mouse-and-child pair and their friends the Tin Seal and the Elephant in a small-town toy shop. The central point of the novel is the nature of free will and self-determination; in the toy shop, the toys are told that they can only do what they're "wound" to do, but Mouse and Child want to be "self-winding" and determine their own future, and live with their friends as a "family" instead of being sold or disposed of.
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5	After an accident due to a cat, Mouse and Child are thrown out of their owners' home and sent to the town dump, where the story actually begins and we meet the BigBad, Manny the Rat, who represents the dangers out in the world beyond the toy shop, enslaving wind-ups to plunder for him and his gang of rats. As Mouse and Child travel the countryside just outside the town, they discover several characters that help them on their quest, including a kindly Muskrat and a Frog who can see the future, but also encounter other dangers such as militant shrews and hungry seabirds. Eventually, Mouse, Child, Elephant and the Tin Seal reunite and defeat Manny's gang, and Mouse and Child's dream of a family comes true.
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7	The novel was adapted into an animated movie in 1977, bankrolled by Creator/{{Sanrio}} (the people behind Franchise/HelloKitty) and [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates]], and animated by Murakami-Wolf (the same studio that made ''WesternAnimation/ThePoint'' and the 1980s ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' series), with a score by composer Roger Kellaway (probably best known for the closing theme of ''Series/AllInTheFamily''; he had just been nominated for an Oscar for the 1976 version of ''Film/{{A Star Is Born\|1976}}''). It flopped at the box office, but [[CultClassic was popular years later]] on cable and pay-TV services, especially {{Creator/HBO}}, and was released on VHS in the early 1980s. It hasn't been released on DVD, but the whole movie [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OWdw1IwdYY is available on YouTube.]]
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9	Just like ''Literature/WatershipDown'', which was popular at the same time, it's proven to be a rich source of NightmareFuel; in fact, ''TV Guide'' listings in the late 1980s warned that it [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids "may frighten younger children."]]
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11	!!''The Mouse and His Child'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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13	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In the film, the mouse states that they survived “war, robbery, flood, and showbusiness.”
14	* CarnivoreConfusion: ''Inverted'' in the case of a particular hawk in the movie, who fully intends to eat them but doesn't realize the "mice" he's caught are clockwork:
15	--> '''Child:''' Mr. Hawk, where are you taking us?
16	--> '''Hawk:''' Lunch!
17	--> '''Child:''' What's "lunch?"
18	--> '''Hawk:''' Watch!
19	--> (The Hawk bites Father Mouse, realizes they're metal, drops them.)
20	--> '''Hawk:''' You're not part of the balance of nature!
21	* BallBalancingSeal: One of the LivingToys is a windup seal who spins a ball on her nose. Over the course of the novel, she loses it and replaces it with multiple other things, including a spinning platform for a mouse dancer to perform on and a rod to help the philosophical beaver wind his fishing line.
22	* DefeatMeansFriendship: Manny, in the novel. Possibly the film as well, though it's unclear if he ever actually meets up with the main characters again.
23	* DontYouDarePityMe: [[spoiler:In the film, after Manny loses everything, including his teeth, the heroes see Manny react in a shriveling terrified way with the mouse child trying to reach for him. His response, without words, is surely like this.]]
24	* DragonAscendant: Manny's top henchman Iggy takes over control of the rats during the finale when Manny is despondent over his plans failing, rallying them to fight back against the wind-ups and their friends. He also continues trying to kill them after his troops are defeated.
25	* DrosteImage: The dog food can seen numerous times throughout the movie. The characters speculate that some great wisdom lies beyond the [[ArcWords last visible dog]].
26	* EarnYourHappyEnding
27	* GoryDiscretionShot: In the film the camera pulls away as the donkey is disassembled and we see the shadows of his parts as they are flung across the room to land in a scrap heap.
28	** Also when Manny Rat [[spoiler:smashes the mice to pieces with a rock]]. Only [[OhCrap Manny's reaction to what he's done]] is shown, and he [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone recoils]] in abject ''horror''.
29	* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: [[spoiler:Manny Rat, very much so in the novel, eventually landing on good and staying there at the end of the novel and presumably until the end of his days.]]
30	* LivingToys: All of the wind-up dolls seem to be sentient to some degree.
31	* ParentalAbandonment: Sort of. Child wants the Elephant to be his mom.
32	* TheToothHurts: In the novel, Manny loses all of his teeth courtesy of the donkey's kick (aided by the "YOU SHALL SUCCEED" coin), which leads to his Heel Face Turn because he can no longer defend himself, or chew most of the foods he used to eat.
33	* TraumaCongaLine: '''AND HOW.''' One particular sequence sees the mice grabbed by a hawk that tries to eat them, dumped into a pond, a catfish tries to eat them ''again'', then they are forced to argue about recursive infinity with a snapping turtle at the bottom of the pond.
34	* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The main point of the story.
35	* YouDirtyRat: Manny and his gang.

Context Literature / TheMouseAndHisChild