!! Goosebumps and resentment

R.L. Stine has stated that he intends his books to stray as far from real-life anxieties as possible. He states that he never makes a book with a "moral" in mind, and so he avoids themes of abuse, divorce, or other such adult themes to make these stories more palatable to Children.
But just how true does that statement ring? While most can say that Goosebumps are little more than camp kid's b-movie grade books, it is hard not to pick up on a recurring element and arc among many of its characters. And that is ostracization.
Many,''many'' protagonists [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer are outcasts of some kind.]] Whether it's being bullied for lack of physical fitness, believing in things that no one else in their "rational" world can see, or wanting to fit in with a "cool" new group, half the time it's this resentment for their unfair situations and desire for validation that drives the respective story. And that resentment often leads them to making terrible decisions, ones that hurt both themselves and those around them.

* ''The Girl Who Cried Monster'': Lucy Dark is interested in monsters, but her peers and family are tired of her constant scary stories and pranks. Than when she ''actually'' meets a real monster in the form of Mr. Mortman, she's just as excited as terrified, because this is her chance for validation by proving he exists. Of course, Lucy's family are themselves a species of monster, and so Mr. Mortman is eventually lured to his demise thanks to Lucy's obsession with proving her theories.

* ''Be Careful What You Wish For'': Samantha hates Judith. Judith constantly makes Sam's life miserable, and in turn, all Samantha can think of is revenge. She soon receives the opportunity of a lifetime when she meets Clarissa, an enigmatic woman with the power to grant any wish. All of Sam's wishes from then on relate to her desire for payback against Judith, whether being better than her at basketball or making her ''entire life'' revolve around Samantha. Clarissa warns Sam of the rammifications, but the girl's resentment ''constantly'' boils over and in the end, she traps herself by refusing to let go of this path.

* ''The Haunted Mask'': Carly-Beth is teased and tormented at her school, and wants to erase the image of herself as a mousy coward. So she gains a life-like mask that fuses to her face and brings all her anger to the surface, but makes her lose her true self and lash out at her friends and family. What's especially interesting is that the Living Mask itself is lashing out in anger: it's a lab experiment, a living organism along others that became flawed and deformed, and now this "unloved" is taking out it's rage and pain on the world through a human host.

There are ''many'' other examples with the various unlucky protagonists, but this insecurity is also present in several of the adult antagonists. The Shopkeeper from the aforementioned Mask story creates living, disembodied faces to cover up his own facial issues, and only achieves a lonely existence with his failed experiments. Mr. Toggle of ''Piano Lessons Can Be Murder'' steals hands from students to compensate for his failure to create perfect music. Stanley of ''The Scarecrow Walks At Midnight'' creates evil scarecrows with dark magic because he's tired of being belittled for his "odd" way of thinking.
Heck, this is even somewhat present in the ever-odious Slappy the Dummy. Being a living kid's toy, he wants to intimidate and control the people who think they own him. He's basically a small man trying to be bigger and stronger by tormenting those larger than him, and when he gets his freedom taken away in the 2000s Book, ''Slappy's Nightmare'', he breaks down because that's all he has going for him.

Many books also involve dealing with pain and anger by literally stealing lives from others, or otherwise just making everyone else suffer the same way. The campers of "Ghost Camp" are spirits trapped on a cursed Campground who seek to possess innocent people so they can live among people again. Ricky from "Calling All Creeps" gets so fed up with his school bullying that he throws aside his one friend and becomes a monster figuratively and literally to lead a Reptilian AssimilationPlot. The missing kids in "The Haunted School" so broken by their long stay in Greyworld they force normal humans to join them in their insanity.

Even in the most light-hearted and whimsical stories the characters are driven to dangerous decisions by their own desire for validation and longing to achieve their ideal life. Gary in ''Why I'm Afraid Of Bees'' is so frustrated with his social ineptitude that he signs up for an experiment to switch bodies and lives with a more popular kid.