Bob may have opinions, but he doesn't act on them if someone disagrees. Instead, he will follow their instructions or advice. This someone might be anyone, a single person that he is dependent on, or the prevailing attitudes in society. Then Bob starts to actually trust and act on his own judgment, and begins to go his own way. Bob earlier had no independent judgment in relation to some external factor, and this is the growth and expression of his own judgment: he's growing a spine.
This is a form of
Character Development, and often a defining moment in a
Rite of Passage. It's also a staple of a
Coming of Age Story, where it does not necessarily mean that Bob has more
resolve than earlier, but rather that he has learned to follow his own independent judgments. It might be lousy judgment, but at least he has started to develop and act on it.
As a trope, this can take two forms:
- A plot arc for a character. This is the long and slow variety.
- A single scene, where the character unambiguously chooses their own way in a plot-relevant fashion.
Grew a Spine is normally a big part of a
Coming of Age Story, and can be assumed to be included as part of that. Please only include such examples if Grew a Spine is the major part of the
Coming of Age Story.
Some starting points for Grew a Spine is
Extreme Doormat or
Shrinking Violet, but the character might just be inexperienced and unsure of themselves. After all, this is all part of growing up. May coincide with
Took a Level in Badass or
Sudden Principled Stand. Has nothing to do with the evolution of vertebrate animals.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime
Film
- Luke leaving Yoda's training in The Empire Strikes Back to save Han and Leia.
- This is a big part of Raven's character development in X-Men: First Class. The downside is she joins the wrong side in doing so, foresaking the only family she's ever known.
- In exchange for membership in a group that doesn't restrict leadership to people that look like absurdly handsome/pretty baseline humans, and isn't actively ashamed of its "ugly" members. Bonus: the side she defects to is the one that DOESN'T almost destroy the world twice or support mutant genocide in later movies. So... kind of a lateral trade at worst.
- Todd in Dead Poets Society goes from extremely shy and incapable of speaking up for himself to the first student to stand on his desk in support of Mr Keating when the latter is fired.
- C.C. Baxter refuses to loan Sheldrake his apartment for affairs any more, even though it costs him his job in The Apartment.
- Near the end of School of Rock, Ned the perpetual pushover is getting chewed out by his girlfriend for his spinelessness. Right when she asks if he's ever going to get around to standing up for himself, he interrupts her by heading off to the concert that she didn't want him to go to. Many of the kids also grow spines in a more gradual way, by learning to defy their overly strict parents.
Literature
Live-Action TV
- In one episode of Head of the Class Jawarhalal (an Indian student) is suddenly well known for agreeing with everyone about everything. Then the class goes to see Mr. Moore's off-off-off-Broaday post-post-Modern production of Hamlet. Everybody hates it except Jawarhalal, who defends it to everyone. They're so caught up in trying to prove him wrong that until the end of the episode they never ask him why he likes it and don't notice that he's disagreeing with them, counter to his personality.
Mythology
Video Games
- Yuna Final Fantasy X. Although it does take a healty amount of spine to become a Summoner in the first place, learning how to have desires for herself rather than the greater good of Spira is a big part of her Character Development.
Visual Novels
- In Katawa Shoujo, this happens to Hisao in Shizune and Lilly's routes. In Shizune's route, while attempting to stand up to Shizune's father in an argument over the Student Council, he reflects on how much he has changed, wondering why he was so resistant to joining the Student Council at first despite his general apathy about life. In Lilly's route, he realizes in the Good Ending that he has relied on her for everything, and so decides to confront her one last time before her departure for Scotland in order to apologize for not being there when she needed him.
- Also happens for Hanako in her route: slowly through awkward relationship-building in the Good path, and abruptly in the Bad one. In the latter, Hisao gets excessively pushy, so she furiously tells him how much she hates it when people treat her like she's helpless...and how much she hates Hisao and Lilly for failing to understand that. Some people think her "Neutral" ending is the worst one, because it's the only version where she doesn't grow a spine.
- Little Busters is largely the story of how Riki - a rather nervous, passive, and feminine boy totally content to live in the shadow of his friends - manages to, over the routes, grow into a more indepedent and strong person. In fact, it's the very basis of the story - Kyousuke created this world specifically so he and Rin could become strong enough to live on without him after he and the others died in a bus crash.
Web Comics
- Tavros Nitram, from Homestuck, finally stands up to Vriska and actually goes to fight her when he learns she created Bec Noir. Too bad it gets him killed.
Web Original
- Taylor in Worm becomes a lot more able to assert herself after she begins kicking ass in her supervillain identity, Skitter.
Western Animation
