History Literature / TheIndianInTheCupboard

* InjunCountry: Both played straight ''and'' subverted at the same time. The author [[ShownTheirWork did her research]] and properly displays the culture, building practices, food, language, and even religion of the Iroquois, delves into the history of the French and Indian War (especially for the last book of the series), and portrays the Algonquin as TheSavageIndian who were mortal enemies of the more peaceful and democratic Iroquois. Yet while elements of the NobleSavage are applied to the Iroquois, enough care is given to characterize the Native Americans with more depth, especially Little Bear, so that he and his people come off as neither paragons of virtue nor wicked slaughterers--but just people. At the same time, the trope is played with in having Little Bear use the dead Indian chief's feathered headdress, while [[{{Cowboy}} Boone]], meanwhile, at first believes Little Bear to be a 'dirty redskin' and views him through the distorted lens of his own time period. Nowhere is this contrast shown more clearly than when they are watching TheWestern on TV, with each of them cheering on their own side. In the end, however, Boone ends up becoming Little Bear's [[BloodBrothers blood brother]] (itself something which is lampshaded as not being an original Native practice but something invented by white men) after he saves his life, and both of them learn their prejudices and preconceptions were wrong.

* BloodBrothers: Little Bear and Boone, and Little Bear and Omri. The former pair became Blood Brothers by having their wrists cut and then bound together. The latter involved more of a prick on Omri's finger.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In the second book, the ProneToTears Boone is surprisingly calm and controlled as [[spoiler: he [[MercyKill Mercy Kills]] his beloved horse after a cat fatally wounds him.]]

There was a 1995 [[Film/TheIndianInTheCupboard film adaptation]] by {{Creator/Paramount}} and Creator/ColumbiaPictures, featuring Hal Scardino as Omri and rapper/actor Litefoot as Little Bull.

* AllJustADream: How the boys convince Tommy and Matron (who actually passes out when she first sees them!) to help them with the injured Little Bull and (in Matron's case) his men. Played straight with Tommy but eventually subverted with Matron as she reveals to them she isn't stupid, and the reality of the wounds and the dead are something she cannot deny as fact. When they confess the truth, although skeptical at first she handles it surprisingly well.

* BloodBrothers: Little Bull and Boone, and Little Bull and Omri. The former pair became Blood Brothers by having their wrists cut and then bound together. The latter involved more of a prick on Omri's finger.
* BloodlessCarnage: Also averted. Aside from the arrow wound Boone receives in the first book, and the musket wound Little Bull has in the second, the massacre of the Indian braves is depicted in, if not graphic detail, at least more than enough realism to make the horror of war hit home, for Omri and Patrick and for the reader.
* BornOfMagic: It was originally a lifeless plastic child's toy, until Omri put him in an old curio cabinet. The figure emerged as live human Indian Little Bull, though still only three inches tall. This also happened to some of Omri's other toys, but he undid the magic when they began clashing with one another. Little Bull even admonishes Omri, "You should not do magic - you do not understand!" This is also how the cowboy figure Boone came to life.

* ComesGreatResponsibility: What Omri realizes fairly quickly in the first book, once he comes to understand that the cupboard isn't bringing toys to life but actually bringing real people to him through time. It is a lesson [[AesopAmnesia he has to learn again]] in book two after his attempts to help Little Bull protect his people blow up in his face. Patrick, however, never seems to learn it--or even when he does, his IdiotBall moments still manage to get the little people in trouble anyway. A related moment occurs when Jessica Charlotte offers to pour the lead for Omri, but he refuses to learn what his future may hold, a decision she commends as very wise indeed.

* DirectLineToTheAuthor: This is actually ''true'' InUniverse for Omri when he tells the story of what happened with Little Bull but [[FictionAsCoverUp claims it as his own work for the contest]]. [[CassandraTruth But of course no one believes it]], [[RefugeInAudacity thinking it merely an incredible piece of fiction]]. This actually causes him some angst for a while, since he feels guilty for pretending it was all made up; he reconciles this by pointing out that even if the ''events'' actually happened, it was still his own words he used to tell them, including some embellishments or alterations he made to either hide the truth, for artistic license, or because he couldn't remember the exact words which were spoken. [[{{Metafiction}} The implication is also there that Omri's story is the very book the reader is reading]]. Which if so could also explain some of the inconsistencies, mistaken beliefs and stereotypes--Lynne Reid Banks wrote the books with this idea in mind, from Omri's point of view. It could even explain Little Bull's broken English as some sort of TranslationConvention (i.e., Omri wrote his speech the way he'd been taught Native Americans should speak, or the way his readers would expect them to.)

* {{Foreshadowing}}: One of the more ominous, if heavy-handed, versions appears when, after Omri accidentally jostles the cupboard, almost all the Indian braves he sent back with Little Bull fall over, so that it looks as if they have been slaughtered. This, of course, is precisely what happens.

* InjunCountry: Both played straight ''and'' subverted at the same time. The author [[ShownTheirWork did her research]] and properly displays the culture, building practices, food, language, and even religion of the Iroquois, delves into the history of the French and Indian War (especially for the last book of the series), and portrays the Algonquin as TheSavageIndian who were mortal enemies of the more peaceful and democratic Iroquois. Yet while elements of the NobleSavage are applied to the Iroquois, enough care is given to characterize the Native Americans with more depth, especially Little Bull, so that he and his people come off as neither paragons of virtue nor wicked slaughterers--but just people. At the same time, the trope is played with in having Little Bull use the dead Indian chief's feathered headdress, while [[{{Cowboy}} Boone]], meanwhile, at first believes Little Bull to be a 'dirty redskin' and views him through the distorted lens of his own time period. Nowhere is this contrast shown more clearly than when they are watching TheWestern on TV, with each of them cheering on their own side. In the end, however, Boone ends up becoming Little Bull's [[BloodBrothers blood brother]] (itself something which is lampshaded as not being an original Native practice but something invented by white men) after he saves his life, and both of them learn their prejudices and preconceptions were wrong.

* TheMagicGoesAway: Repeatedly throughout the series this is threatened, whether by the adults taking away the key and cupboard to study them ForScience, the key being lost, or Omri deciding to seal it and the cupboard away so he won't be tempted to use them anymore. This last one almost sticks at the end of book three thanks to all the innocent people of England who suffer because of it, until Omri has to bring the cupboard out so he can use the key to open Jessica's lockbox. After he and his father finally help set things as right as they can ever be with Little Bull and his people, it looks like the magic really will be locked away for good, to prevent any more danger (like what happened to them and Gillon).

** Omri gives one to Little Bull in the first book after the Indian continuously sticks his knife into the boy's leg in the middle of a school assembly (because he was mad about being stuck in Omri's pocket all day) and gets him in trouble.
** Omri gives multiple of these to Patrick in the first book for treating Little Bull and Boone like toys despite knowing that they're alive.

** Little Bull gives one to Omri in ''The Key to the Indian'' when he (albeit unknowingly) insults Clan Mother.

* SecretChaser: The headmaster, Mr. Johnson, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero once Omri's story makes him recall the moment]] Patrick showed him Little Bull and Boone, and he realizes [[BrokenMasquerade it was all true]].

* TipisAndTotemPoles: Averted. When Omri uses the cupboard on a toy tipi so Little Bull has a place to live, the miniature Amerindian has no idea what he's looking at and points out that he lives in a longhouse.

* ValuesDissonance: InUniverse, Omri is horrified when he learns Little Bull has scalped thirty men, a fact which Little Bull either boasts of with pride or dismisses as unremarkable because it was something so many in his time did (and was a practice first learned from ''the whites''); Boone isn't surprised when he learns of it, thanks to his prejudices. Omri's eventual rationalization of this, which allows him to still call Little Bull his friend and realize he is not a bad person ([[FairForItsDay or no worse than any in his time]]) puts things in clear perspective for the reader, even if it does partake of HumansAreBastards:

* YouDirtyRat: Gillon's rat that almost kills Little Bull, despite being a perfectly tame pet for most of the first book, is treated with suspicion, scorn, and nastiness from the beginning, and what it does at the climax is merely motivated by instinct (a small 'creature' scurrying before it is acting like prey).

* ButterflyOfDoom: When Omri considers keeping Jessica Charlotte from stealing the earrings, Patrick makes him realize that changing the past could have unforeseen consequences--in this case, that Lottie not being accused of stealing them and running into the street, and her father not dying, could make it so that Lottie never met his grandfather and Omri wouldn't be born. To Omri's horror, he realizes that having Bert return the jewel box could have the same effect. Luckily for him, Bert being a conniving little bastard who only keeps true to the ExactWords of his promise, turns all of this into a NecessaryFail. Or perhaps it is a StableTimeLoop; Omri later reflects that he recalls his mother told him the jewel box was returned empty when she first gave him the key, which means either StatusQuoIsGod and nothing he did could change it, or BecauseDestinySaysSo his intervention [[YouAlreadyChangedThePast ended up fulfilling what originally happened anyway]].

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Omri gives one to Little Bull in the first book after the Indian continuously sticks his knife into the boy's leg in the middle of a school assembly (because he was mad about being stuck in Omri's pocket all day) and gets him in trouble.
** Omri gives multiple of these to Patrick in the first book for treating Little Bull and Boone like toys despite knowing that they're alive.
** In ''The Return of the Indian'', Matron tells Omri off for foolishly equipping Iroquois braves with modern firearms (the disastrous aftermath of which she is now forced to deal with single-handedly).
** Little Bull gives one to Omri in ''The Key to the Indian'' when he (albeit unknowingly) insults Clan Mother.

There was a 1995 [[Film/TheIndianInTheCupboard film adaptation]] by {{Creator/Paramount}} and Creator/ColumbiaPictures, featuring Hal Scardino as Omri and rapper/actor Litefoot as Little Bear.

* AllJustADream: How the boys convince Tommy and Matron (who actually passes out when she first sees them!) to help them with the injured Little Bear and (in Matron's case) his men. Played straight with Tommy but eventually subverted with Matron as she reveals to them she isn't stupid, and the reality of the wounds and the dead are something she cannot deny as fact. When they confess the truth, although skeptical at first she handles it surprisingly well.

* BloodBrothers: Little Bear and Boone, and Little Bear and Omri. The former pair became Blood Brothers by having their wrists cut and then bound together. The latter involved more of a prick on Omri's finger.
* BloodlessCarnage: Also averted. Aside from the arrow wound Boone receives in the first book, and the musket wound Little Bear has in the second, the massacre of the Indian braves is depicted in, if not graphic detail, at least more than enough realism to make the horror of war hit home, for Omri and Patrick and for the reader.
* BornOfMagic: It was originally a lifeless plastic child's toy, until Omri put him in an old curio cabinet. The figure emerged as live human Indian Little Bear, though still only three inches tall. This also happened to some of Omri's other toys, but he undid the magic when they began clashing with one another. Little Bear even admonishes Omri, "You should not do magic - you do not understand!" This is also how the cowboy figure Boone came to life.

* ComesGreatResponsibility: What Omri realizes fairly quickly in the first book, once he comes to understand that the cupboard isn't bringing toys to life but actually bringing real people to him through time. It is a lesson [[AesopAmnesia he has to learn again]] in book two after his attempts to help Little Bear protect his people blow up in his face. Patrick, however, never seems to learn it--or even when he does, his IdiotBall moments still manage to get the little people in trouble anyway. A related moment occurs when Jessica Charlotte offers to pour the lead for Omri, but he refuses to learn what his future may hold, a decision she commends as very wise indeed.

* DirectLineToTheAuthor: This is actually ''true'' InUniverse for Omri when he tells the story of what happened with Little Bear but [[FictionAsCoverUp claims it as his own work for the contest]]. [[CassandraTruth But of course no one believes it]], [[RefugeInAudacity thinking it merely an incredible piece of fiction]]. This actually causes him some angst for a while, since he feels guilty for pretending it was all made up; he reconciles this by pointing out that even if the ''events'' actually happened, it was still his own words he used to tell them, including some embellishments or alterations he made to either hide the truth, for artistic license, or because he couldn't remember the exact words which were spoken. [[{{Metafiction}} The implication is also there that Omri's story is the very book the reader is reading]]. Which if so could also explain some of the inconsistencies, mistaken beliefs and stereotypes--Lynne Reid Banks wrote the books with this idea in mind, from Omri's point of view. It could even explain Little Bear's broken English as some sort of TranslationConvention (i.e., Omri wrote his speech the way he'd been taught Native Americans should speak, or the way his readers would expect them to.)

* {{Foreshadowing}}: One of the more ominous, if heavy-handed, versions appears when, after Omri accidentally jostles the cupboard, almost all the Indian braves he sent back with Little Bear fall over, so that it looks as if they have been slaughtered. This, of course, is precisely what happens.

* InjunCountry: Both played straight ''and'' subverted at the same time. The author [[ShownTheirWork did her research]] and properly displays the culture, building practices, food, language, and even religion of the Iroquois, delves into the history of the French and Indian War (especially for the last book of the series), and portrays the Algonquin as TheSavageIndian who were mortal enemies of the more peaceful and democratic Iroquois. Yet while elements of the NobleSavage are applied to the Iroquois, enough care is given to characterize the Native Americans with more depth, especially Little Bear, so that he and his people come off as neither paragons of virtue nor wicked slaughterers--but just people. At the same time, the trope is played with in having Little Bear use the dead Indian chief's feathered headdress, while [[{{Cowboy}} Boone]], meanwhile, at first believes Little Bear to be a 'dirty redskin' and views him through the distorted lens of his own time period. Nowhere is this contrast shown more clearly than when they are watching TheWestern on TV, with each of them cheering on their own side. In the end, however, Boone ends up becoming Little Bear's [[BloodBrothers blood brother]] (itself something which is lampshaded as not being an original Native practice but something invented by white men) after he saves his life, and both of them learn their prejudices and preconceptions were wrong.

* TheMagicGoesAway: Repeatedly throughout the series this is threatened, whether by the adults taking away the key and cupboard to study them ForScience, the key being lost, or Omri deciding to seal it and the cupboard away so he won't be tempted to use them anymore. This last one almost sticks at the end of book three thanks to all the innocent people of England who suffer because of it, until Omri has to bring the cupboard out so he can use the key to open Jessica's lockbox. After he and his father finally help set things as right as they can ever be with Little Bear and his people, it looks like the magic really will be locked away for good, to prevent any more danger (like what happened to them and Gillon).

* SecretChaser: The headmaster, Mr. Johnson, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero once Omri's story makes him recall the moment]] Patrick showed him Little Bear and Boone, and he realizes [[BrokenMasquerade it was all true]].

** Omri gives one to Little Bear in the first book after the Indian continuously sticks his knife into the boy's leg in the middle of a school assembly (because he was mad about being stuck in Omri's pocket all day) and gets him in trouble.
** Omri gives multiple of these to Patrick in the first book for treating Little Bear and Boone like toys despite knowing that they're alive.

** Little Bear gives one to Omri in ''The Key to the Indian'' when he (albeit unknowingly) insults Clan Mother.
* TipisAndTotemPoles: Averted. When Omri uses the cupboard on a toy tipi so Little Bear has a place to live, the miniature Amerindian has no idea what he's looking at and points out that he lives in a longhouse.

* ValuesDissonance: InUniverse, Omri is horrified when he learns Little Bear has scalped thirty men, a fact which Little Bear either boasts of with pride or dismisses as unremarkable because it was something so many in his time did (and was a practice first learned from ''the whites''); Boone isn't surprised when he learns of it, thanks to his prejudices. Omri's eventual rationalization of this, which allows him to still call Little Bear his friend and realize he is not a bad person ([[FairForItsDay or no worse than any in his time]]) puts things in clear perspective for the reader, even if it does partake of HumansAreBastards:

* YouDirtyRat: Gillon's rat that almost kills Little Bear, despite being a perfectly tame pet for most of the first book, is treated with suspicion, scorn, and nastiness from the beginning, and what it does at the climax is merely motivated by instinct (a small 'creature' scurrying before it is acting like prey).

* CantHoldHisLiquor: Boone.

* EmbarrassingNickname: "Boo-hoo" Boone.

* HappyBirthdayToYou: In TheMovie.

* DeusExMachina: Just when it seems [[SecretChaser Mr. Johnson]] is about to expose the truth to Omri's parents and Patrick's mother...[[spoiler:Omri, in bringing Patrick back, brings with him the cyclone from Boone's hometown]]. What is interesting about this is, not only was there {{Foreshadowing}} to such a thing happening, but the fact this stops the truth from being revealed is ''not'' without consequences, seeing as [[spoiler:[[WhatTheHellHero the cyclone ravages England, destroying thousands of homes and killing hundreds of people]]]]. It is in fact this horrific result that convinces Patrick and Emma to finally agree with Omri that the cupboard should be locked away and the little people sent home. And in a final bit of irony, while the destruction of Mr. Johnson's car and his subsequent going off the deep end [[YouHaveToBelieveMe prevents anyone from ever believing him]], [[spoiler:Omri's mother knew the truth all along, so]] the DeusExMachina really didn't solve anything or was even that necessary.

* WhenItAllBegan: The story of how the cupboard and key got made is finally all revealed as a {{Prequel}} within a {{Sequel}}, in book four.

* ATeamFiring: Horribly averted when the Indians go back to the past with "now-guns"--not understanding the way bullets work, the braves surround their enemies and all shoot at once, and thus end up mostly killing and badly injuring each other.

* BigBrotherBully: Both Adiel and Gillon are this to Omri on occasion (though to be fair Omri does ''his'' fair share of antagonizing as well- such as when he rages at Gillon for "allowing" his rat to escape when it was clearly a complete accident).

* BrattyHalfPint: Oh my God, ''Tamsin''.

* PlotMagnet: The key becomes this several times, most notably in the first book/movie when it is lost under the floorboards and again in ''Secret of the Indian'' after [[spoiler:the cyclone is brought to the present]]

* AerithAndBob: There are the three brothers Omri, Adiel and Gillon, and then there's Omri's friend Patrick.
* AllJustADream: How the boys first keep Matron from passing out and willing to help them with the injured Little Bear and his men. Eventually subverted as she reveals to them she isn't stupid, and the reality of the wounds and the dead are something she cannot deny as fact. When they confess the truth, although skeptical at first she handles it surprisingly well.

* TrappedInThePast: Happens to both Omri and Patrick, though longer for the latter. Also happens to Omri and Gillon in the last book.

* NarrativeProfanityFilter: Occurs quite a lot, but a notable example would be in the fourth book when, while climbing up into the barn's hayloft to reach Kitsa and her kittens, Patrick falls through the weak boards and lands on top of his friend, breaking his arm in the process. When he does, the friend cries out "Oh shoot!" Omri then notes, via the narrative, "except he didn't say 'shoot'."

* BornOfMagic: It was originally a lifeless plastic child's toy, until Omri put him in an old curio cabinet. The figure emerged as live human Indian Little Bear, though still only to three inches tall. This also happened to some of Omri's other toys, but he undid the magic when they began clashing with one another. Little Bear even admonishes Omri, "You should not do magic - you do not understand!" This is also how the cowboy figure Boone came to life.

* BornOfMagic: It was originally a lifeless plastic child's toy, until Omri put him in an old curio cabinet. The figure emerged as live human Indian Little Bear, though still only four inches tall. This also happened to some of Omri's other toys, but he undid the magic when they began clashing with one another. Little Bear even admonishes Omri, "You should not do magic - you do not understand!" This is also how the cowboy figure Boone came to life.

* ValuesDissonance: [[invoked]] Omri is horrified when he learns Little Bear has scalped thirty men, a fact which Little Bear either boasts of with pride or dismisses as unremarkable because it was something so many in his time did (and was a practice first learned from ''the whites''); Boone isn't surprised when he learns of it, thanks to his prejudices. Omri's eventual rationalization of this, which allows him to still call Little Bear his friend and realize he is not a bad person ([[FairForItsDay or no worse than any in his time]]) puts things in clear perspective for the reader, even if it does partake of HumansAreBastards:

* AerithAndBob: There are the three brothers Omri, Adiel and Gillon, and then there's Omri's fried Patrick.

* AerithAndBob: There are the thee brothers Omri, Adiel and Gillon, and then there's Omri's fried Patrick.