Line #19 Literature/TheStoryOfDoctorDolittle


1	[[quoteright:228:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dolittle_4404.PNG]]
2	John Dolittle is a doctor living in the small village, Puddleby[[note]]short for Puddleby-on-the-Marsh[[/note]]. He is a highly competent and well-respected physician, but he is also somewhat of an animal hoarder, which drives away almost all of the paying human customers. The only exception is the Cat's-meat-man (a man who sells meat for pets to eat, not a man who sells the meat of cats) who's never had any problem with animals. John Dolittle even drives his own spinster sister away when he adopts a crocodile, and he's left penniless with no one to take care of his house or manage his money.
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4	His parrot, Polynesia, teaches Dolittle how to speak certain animal languages, which fascinates him. And despite his dire financial straits, he remains happy and carefree. One day he receives a message from a swallow begging him to travel to Africa to cure a disease epidemic among the monkeys. Being flat-out broke, he borrows money and a ship and sails across the ocean, adventure waiting just around the corner
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6	''The Story of Doctor Dolittle'' is the first book of Creator/HughLofting's ''Literature/DoctorDolittle'' series. It was published in 1920 and now in the public domain and can be read [[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/501/501-h/501-h.htm here]].
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10	!!This novel provides examples of:
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12	* AmplifiedAnimalAptitude: All animals have language and can understand abstract concepts. Even very simple organisms without nervous systems like starfish and sea urchins can be multilingual and have meaningful conversations.
13	* AnimalLover: The eponymous doctor is kind to animals. It helps that he can understand them.
14	* AnimalStereotypes: Played straight in some instances, averted or subverted in others, played with on a few occasions.
15	** Straight: Gub-Gub is a gluttonous pig, Jip is a heroic and loyal dog, and Too-Too is a very intelligent owl. Polynesia, being a parrot, is clever and can converse as well as any human.
16	** Averted: Dab-Dab is a practical and sensible duck with no trace of the stereotypical clumsiness and dimness you tend to see in fictional ducks, and Chee-Chee has none of the traditional mischievousness of a monkey.
17	** Subverted: The crocodile is a totally harmless GentleGiant, but the people of Puddleby are incapable of seeing it as such because everyone knows crocodiles are vicious killers. The sharks in the sea are polite and friendly to the Doctor, and refrain from eating the pirates when he asks them not to, but the pirates are still terrified of the sharks because everyone knows sharks eat people.
18	** Played with: The rats on the ship ''are'' opportunistic survivors, but they're not portrayed as being in the wrong for it; in fact Doctor Dolittle has a chat with one of them and agrees that their behavior is entirely sensible. They do leave the ship because they feel it's about to sink, but they take the time to warn the Doctor that he'd better get off the ship too.
19	* AnimalTalk: Averted. Each animal species has its own language. Polynesia, the Doctor's parrot, is multilingual and taught Dolittle his first animal languages. Though the Doctor's household consists of (among others) a dog, a horse, a duck, an owl, a pig and a mouse, and they can talk with each other easily, so there is some lingua franca going on. Polynesia is the only one who can speak human languages, though later books establish that the others have spent so much time talking to the doctor and being there while he learned the various animal languages that while they can't ''talk'' to humans, they can understand humans just fine.
20	* {{Bowdlerize}}: Bumpo wishing to be [[TheWhitestBlackGuy white]] is edited out of some later editions of the book.
21	* CarnivoreConfusion: Animals vary in their degree of intelligence, but all are sapient. This obviously creates some issues, but they are never really addressed.
22	* FriendToAllLivingThings: To the point of practically being an animal hoarder.
23	* JerkassHasAPoint: King Jolliginki is definitely taking things too far when he throws Doctor Dolittle and all his animals in jail for trespassing even though they did so unintentionally, but he's not ''wrong'' about white men of the time having a tendency towards ravaging the land for its riches, and it's understandable that after having experienced this once he's become rather soured on white men in general.
24	* TheLoad: Gub-Gub is pretty much only there for comedy relief. He's definitely the most useless of the animal companions; he doesn't contibute much to the plot other than cause trouble for the others with his complaining, inconvenient appetite and cowardice.
25	* TheWhitestBlackGuy: Bumpo agrees to help Doctor Dolittle if the Doctor will in turn make him white.
26	* PollyWantsAMicrophone: Although ''all'' animals are implied to be sapient, Polynesia is a parrot who can understand and speak fluent English (among other languages). She's fluent in English because the Doctor taught it to her, enabling her to return the favor by teaching him animal languages.
27	* PutOnABus: Or rather, Left Behind At The Bus Stop. Polynesia, Chee-Chee and the crocodile remain behind in Africa while Doctor Dolittle and the other animals travel back to England, meaning that they vanish from the latter half of the book. Both Polynesia and Chee-Chee would [[TheBusCameBack return to the Doctor]] in the sequel, but the crocodile never did.
28	* SpeaksFluentAnimal: The former trope namer. All animals speak different languages, some incorporating body language.
29	* TalkingAnimal: Polynesia, who is a parrot, naturally.
30	* TranslationConvention: Happens in a lot of the conversations between animals.

Context Literature / TheStoryOfDoctorDolittle