Follow TV Tropes

Following

Shrinking Violet / Literature

Go To

  • The Afterward: The younger of Sir Edramore's daughters, Carster, is very shy. After giving her name she hides behind her father on meeting Kalanthe, and can't find her voice to thank her later for what Kalanthe's gotten her (along with her older sister Elenia), only whispering it into her ear. Kalanthe's understanding of this and gently sympathizes with her.
  • Angela Nicely:
    • “Problems, Problems!” introduces Molly, a girl who’s new to the school, doesn’t talk much, blushes a lot, and gets nervous easily.
    • Just like in Dirty Bertie, Mr. Weakly is a very jittery, nervous man who hesitates a lot and his afraid of heights.
  • Anne of Green Gables: Matthew Cuthbert is an incredibly shy, older gentleman who gets unbearably nervous whenever talking to women or children (or even other men, sometimes). The only women he is comfortable talking with are his sister Marilla and their neighbor and friend Mrs. Rachel Lynde, and Anne is the only child he can talk to. It's implied that he never had any romance in his life due to this. Deep down, he's one of the biggest softies in the story. But he certainly has it bad - one notable scene includes him going to the store to buy Anne a pretty dress for Christmas. Unfortunately for him, the clerk is a woman, and he's shy to the point where he stammers and stutters that he wants to buy a... garden rake, and... hayseed...in the middle of winter. He got flustered to the point where he bought 20 pounds of brown sugar. Anne once asks him if he's ever gone courting, and the author states that he'd never thought of such a thing in his life.
  • The Baby-Sitters Club:
    • Mary Anne; Kristy's little stepbrother Andrew is presented this way too.
    • Charlotte Johanssen, Depending on the Writer.
  • The Porcelain Doctor from Dead West plays with this. His aura, The Devil's Veil compells people to think he is this, and Prone to Tears to boot. Sure he is reserved and quiet, but he is a military surgeon, leader of the medical corps, and if on the field, he is not shy about shouting and ordering people around. He is also not the kind whom you can easily push around.
  • Semi in Dr. Franklin's Island is shy and socially awkward. She doesn't believe herself to be unpopular and says people like her when they get to know her, but because she's a shy chubby nerd that often just doesn't happen. She also has a buried sense of resentment towards other people, which she's ashamed of, and Beware the Quiet Ones - she has a surprising reserve of rage and defiance if pushed far enough.
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl: Katia is quite shy when she first joins the Royal Court of Princess Donut, not confident of the race and class she's chosen, painfully aware that she's at a much lower level and they're basically babysitting her. Circumstances force her to step up and take charge of her own journey.
  • Forbidden: Lochan Whiteley is a male version.
  • The Girl Who Could Fly: There is a character named Violet who can, take a guess, shrink. She's shy as well.
  • Harry Potter:
    • Neville Longbottom was this trope the first time Harry saw him and remained so for much of the series, though still willing to take a stand when he has too. Subverted later on when he Took a Level in Badass.
    • Ginny Weasley also plays with this. It's stated by the Weasleys that Ginny acts as a Shrinking Violet when around Harry, but is more or less normal when not in his surroundings. When we first meet her until about the third or fourth book, she has become friends with Hermione and Luna (to whom she is the Only Friend for a while) and becomes a lot more outspoken as the series progresses - which helps her to actually catch Harry's attention, sorta.
  • Havemercy: Hal is a rare male representative of this trope.
  • Homer Price: "Nothing New Under the Sun (Hardly)" has Michael Murphy, who's been away from civilization for thirty years and is very shy around people as a result.
  • The Janitor's Girl: Magda is one. She overcomes much of her shyness when she makes friends with the help of her extremely cute cousin Anton.
  • Jen Delaney of The Jenkinsverse was a nobody with a dead-end job in I.T. whose entire love life consisted of one ill-advised drunken fumble at the office Christmas party... prior to her Alien Abduction. Getting away from Earth seems to have agreed with her, transforming her into a confident, competent, self-described "Space-Babe".
  • Jenny and the Cat Club: Jenny's friends help her overcome her shyness, as does her unexpected talent for ice skating.
  • Journey to Chaos: A Mage's Power: Eric is a quiet and timid soul. He moves through an office without anyone noticing him and has difficulty making friends even when they share interests.
  • Little Miss Shy, who tends to hide from people, is Prone to Tears (she is second only to Little Miss Tiny in that regard), and barely ever leaves her home of Thimble Cottage.
  • Little Women: Elizabeth "Beth" March finds it very difficult, even painful, to talk to people outside her immediate family, and stops going to school out of shyness. She gets... a little better, but not too much. And then, she becomes Delicate and Sickly and dies. Sniff.
  • The Magicians: Alice Quinn. Thanks to Parental Neglect and the death of her supportive big brother, she's emerged as one of the most isolated figures at Brakebills: she's painfully shy, lacking in self-confidence, and incredibly awkward when asked to perform magic in front of the class. However, what Alice lacks in certainty she makes up for in sheer intellect, allowing her to skip the first year after a rigorous exam; combined with her Commonality Connection with Quentin, this eventually encourages her to come out of her shell and gain a bit of confidence.
  • Mansfield Park: Fanny Price is something of Trope Codifier/Trope Maker. 8 years of psychological abuse and so little love will do that to you. Thankfully, she's able to stand up when it counts.
  • MARZENA: Lauren Hackenhoek. According to Livia she has Crushed Childhood Syndrome (personality type A, Submissive). "Look at her! She's just listening! She's not engaging with the other girls."
  • Lauchlan, the main character of Mix Beer With Liquor And You Will Get Sicker is painfully shy, socially inept and introverted to a fault. He has no friends beyond his immediate family, his neighbor's housemaid, his cat and the company horses. His self-esteem issues and crushing lack of social skills makes something as simple as talking to shopkeepers rather harrowing. Add in that he's a Nervous Wreck, and Word of God declaring that he's on the Autism Spectrum, and he's practically got a whole bouquet.
  • Monster of the Month Club: Butterscotch, the August Selection, prefers lots of peace and quiet, to the point where she hides under the bed when it gets too loud. This is a problem when considering the fact that one of her active roommates is Sparkler, the July Selection, who loves loud noises.
  • Moongobble and Me: Felicity the Finder, a witch in book 2, is so painfully shy that she hides from anyone who tries to visit her. The only way to get answers from her is to be polite, and not to disturb her for long enough, or otherwise she'll lose control of her magic.
  • The Murderbot Diaries: Yes, Murderbot has guns built into its arms. No, it does not want to make eye contact with you during a conversation. At one point, it is so overwhelmed by all the attention being focused on it that it goes and stands in the corner.
  • Old Kingdom: Lirael. A Second Assistant Librarian who with borderline Wangst bemoans her lack of the Sight, which prevents her from being a Mad Oracle like the rest of the Clayr. Admittedly, it's not like the rest of the Clayr do anything to make her feel loved in the slightest. She gets... better.
  • The Pale King: David Cusk.
  • P. G. Wodehouse:
    • Mike Jackson, who features most notably in the Psmith series. While he's a kindhearted, empathetic boy who would do anything for A Friend in Need, he tends to come off as gruff or sullen due to embarassment. He also hates calling attention to himself, making him a good foil for talkative Attention Whore Psmith.
  • Phantom: Christine describes herself once as a shrinking violet, another time as a "wilting marigold", and again as a shrinking mouse.
  • Phule's Company: "Mother". Nearly the only time she speaks at a normal volume is over the communication network (she's also been a radio DJ). Talking to people in the same room is nearly impossible for her, except under serious emotional stress. Subverted in the sense that "Mother" is revealed to actually have an extremely confident and outgoing personality - she just has a neurological tic that renders her unable to talk if she can hear the sound of her own voice, which is why she's only chatty with her headphones on. (The woman once did a nude photo shoot, fer gossake.)
    "How did you get Mother to go along with it?"
    "Go along with it? It was her idea!"
  • A Place Beyond Courage: Aline Pipard, first wife of protagonist John Marshall. Described as "of fragile mind and totally squeamish", she seems passive even by the standards of the novel's Medieval setting and cringes in fear at blood, sex, the responsibility of running a household, and even speaking assertively to others.
  • Prep: Protagonist Lee Fiora, who notes that this wasn't always the case and she was a normal, bright kid back in her hometown in Indiana, but at Ault Academy she is overwhelmed by her affluent, connected peers and becomes a Shrinking Violet to cope with the complex social politics of the school.
  • The Princess 99: Axel is shy, especially around boys but this is because she's insecure. This changes the longer she hangs around Maree-Celee and Skye, the embodiment of a loud-mouthed woman. An adult example would be Prof. Colette, who barely speaks above a whisper but don't piss her off.
  • Ruler of the Magical Keys: Wizard Alyosha. He's terribly shy and awkward with just about everyone except for his genie and his cat. Which, more often than not, makes villains think he's weak.
  • Satisfaction Guaranteed: Claire Belmont has crippling self-doubt, causing her to usually retreat from confrontation and be easily cowed by other people. Tony builds her confidence with new clothes and hairstyles. It's implied that her transformation has improved her self-esteem and given her the confidence to be a social hostess.
  • Shy Charles: Protagonist is a very shy mouse and mostly enjoys playing alone. He did make new friends in the end of the book. Charles is also present in the Animated Adaptation of Timothy Goes to School.
  • The Shy Ones: Robin Morgan, who overcomes her own shyness by helping her dog Katie overcome hers.
  • A Sick Day for Amos McGee: The penguin is described as being very shy, and his favourite activity is just sitting quietly.
  • Someone Else's War: Ruth may be the most tragic case of this trope. All the more moving when she improves.
  • Speak: Main character Melinda goes through almost the entire school year trying to keep her head down low and staying as quiet as possible after she's been branded a social outcast due to having called the cops at a party over the summer, leading to her old friends and many other students hating her. What's worse is that she used to be cheerful and relatively outgoing before that fateful party where she had been taken advantage of and raped by the school's resident Jerk Jock, so a large part of the novel focuses on her recovering from the incident.
  • Those That Wake's sequel has Rose, who is clingy, shy, and dependent on Mal.
  • The Tillerman Family Series: Maybeth, to the point where in the first book she was mistaken for retarded partially because of her shyness.
  • Tortall Universe:
    • In Protector of the Small, Gower's niece Lalasa is painfully timid owing to a lifetime of abuse, the death of her family, and being harassed by the men in the palace (who either think that her shyness is a sign of flirting or just see her as an appealing victim). After a shaky start, Kel befriends her and teaches her self-defense.
    • Beka Cooper is painfully shy and flames out in front of the gods and everyone when she has to testify in court. She's able to put it aside when she's doing the actual work of chasing and questioning, though, and by the second book it's much less of a problem.
  • The Underland Chronicles: Lizzie.
  • Warrior Cats:
    • Ravenpaw is a male example in the first book, shy and timid. Part of the reason, it turns out, is because he's witnessed his mentor murdering a cat; after he flees the Clan, he gains a lot more confidence living on the farm with Barley.
    • In Moth Flight's Vision, Moth Flight's daughter Blue Whisker is shy and afraid of most things.
  • Watchers: In this Dean Koontz work, Nora is somewhere between this and Prone to Tears for much of the novel thanks to the emotional abuse she suffered most of her life courtesy of her aunt Violet. She later grows out of it when Travis and Einstein save her from Art Streck.
  • Whateley Universe: More than just one. Some examples are:
    • Fey: A downplayed example, and a trope she develops out of. She speaks softly initially when she first arrives at Whateley Academy, as said in Welcome to Poe:
      Belle nodded then turned to Fey. "Your turn, hon."
      Fey drew in a breath, then started out softly.
      [...]
      "Could you speak just a bit louder, dear?" Belle questioned with an encouraging smile. "You have a beautiful voice and shouldn't be ashamed of it at all. Plus, your grammar is pretty good so far, by the way.
    • Tennyo: She's is actually quite shy until she gets to know you, which other people see as aloof and feeds into her "All of the Other Reindeer" problems.
    • Lapin: Currently suffering from PTSD, depression, and a generally poor self image, which all conspire to make her less than assertive, especially under the influence of her nymphomania meds, but Dr. Bellows judges that it's best to control the nymphomania and try to rebuild her self esteem using more conventional therapy.
  • The World According To Humphrey: Sayeh is painfully shy. She almost never speaks up in class, and when she does, it's almost inaudible, prompting her teacher to tell her, "Speak up, Sayeh." Humphrey learns this is because her family doesn't speak much English, and Sayeh is ashamed of her accent. Humphrey encourages Sayeh to speak up more.
  • Worm:
    • Taylor began the story this way thanks to a year-and-a-half bullying campaign, but Grew a Spine after she began kicking ass as the supervillain Skitter.
    • Cuff, of the Chicago Wards, is a more enduring example. While she's capable of kicking ass with the rest of them using her Extra-ore-dinary metal-manipulation powers, she's normally shy and avoids conflict.
  • The Zombie Knight: A somewhat darker example in Hector. Not only is he immensely shy and frequently struggling with his own words, but also killed himself out of loneliness and depression. Obtaining undead superpowers does not (as of yet) appear to have changed this. Upon rescuing someone from being tortured and killed, he had this to say:
    "Sorry. I’d untie you, but... you should probably stay and explain... uh, to the police... about what he tried to do to you. Otherwise, he could... you know... get away with it... and... yeah...”
    [...]
    "Oh! But, uh... don’t worry! The police will be here any minute. And he’s unconscious now. And I tied him up just in case. So... uh... y-you’re safe, now. And I-I should, I should go..."

Top