History DrivenToSuicide / Literature

'''As a DeathTrope, expect spoilers, both marked and unmarked.'''

** The protagonist's uncle in ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' after learning of the family's monstrous heritage.

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', Tosten, the younger brother of the protagonist, Ward, is driven to attempt suicide by his abusive father. Ward finds him just in time to save his life and take him to another town, where their father can't find him.
** Also Oreg, who was MadeASlave and could only be [[ICannotSelfTerminate killed by his owner]]. He tried to provoke at least one of his owners into killing him. Unfortunately, the guy was clever enough to have someone ''else'' beat the shit out of Oreg, from which he recovered due to the near-immortality.

* This was how ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' ends. The protagonist, who never had a happy life at his old place but adopted their beliefs, moves with Bernard back to London. London is like all the world except where said protagonist came from and maybe the islands (unless those fall under ReleasedToElsewhere). It is a CrapsaccharineWorld where there is no free will and everybody is on drugs all the time. John eventually undergoes a HeroicBSOD which eventually makes him go against everything he believed in and cave into the peer pressure. He hangs himself in an act of honor.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov
** ''Literature/AllTheTroublesOfTheWorld'': Stressed due to the demands of ''every'' human being treating Multivac as [[ThereAreNoTherapists their personal advisor]], providing guidance for trivial and life-changing decisions, [[PrecrimeArrest predicting crimes ahead of time]], and now [[OneWorldOrder the world government]] wants to add medical diagnosis and prediction to the load. [[WhamLine The last line of the story has Multivac admit it wants to die.]]

* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': {{Subverted}}. After Rusp dies, Jak's comrades are worried about him and afraid he may commit suicide out of despair. It never happens, though, and Jak himself gets better once he bonds with Alsebra.

* Literature/TheBible:

** In the Literature/ActsOfTheApostles'', when an earthquake struck the jail at Phillippi, the keeper of the prison was going to kill himself, thinking the prisoners had fled, and he knew he'd probably die if that happened. He was stopped by Paul, one of the prisoners.
* In ''Blue Lights And Long Nights'' by Les Pringle (about his experiences during his first 18 months as an Ambulance driver in Birmingham in the 1970's), he and a colleague were once called out, only being told that it was a "woman burned." It was worse; it turned out that a woman had been getting her kids ready, had just given them breakfast, and then went outside into the garden, poured petrol over herself and set herself alight. The children then noticed what was going on, and then ran after her mother, trying to douse her with cups of water. When the Ambulance arrived, the woman was little more than a charred corpse on the grass.
* [[spoiler: Sammy]]'s suicide in the final year of high school in ''Literature/TheBookOfJoe'' has a huge impact on the lives of the characters around him and the novel essentially follows how his best friend is still struggling to deal with it, years since the event.
* This was how ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' ended. The protagonist who never had a happy life at his old place but adopted their beliefs moved with Bernard back to London. London is like all the world except where said protagonist came from and maybe the islands (unless those fall under ReleasedToElsewhere). It is a CrapSaccharineWorld where there is no free will and everybody is on drugs all the time. John eventually undergoes a HeroicBSOD which eventually makes him go against everything he believed in and cave into the peer pressure. He hangs himself in an act of honor.

* A member of the Wakecliff family in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', Kareem Wakecliff, killed herself upon hearing about four catastrophic events happening to her family in one day: a shipwreck, a fire that claimed the lives of every family member under ten, smoke inhalation and burns killing the adults who'd tried to save them, and a DeathByChildbirth.

* In ''Literature/BurmeseDays'', a major character commits suicide at the climax of the novel. [[spoiler:After an incident ruins his reputation and destroys any chance of his marrying Elizabeth, Mr. Flory goes home, gets out his gun, blows his pet dog’s brains out, and shoots himself in the heart.]]
* How a mental illness the Fear manifests in the [[FallenAngel eloim]] in ''Literature/BuryingTheShadow'', sparking the plot of the novel.

* In Creator/SandyMitchell's Literature/CiaphasCain novel ''Cain's Last Stand'', when [[spoiler:Donal]]'s freedom from [[CompellingVoice mind control]] is lost as Jurgen steps away, he turns his gun on himself rather than attack Cain. Later, [[spoiler:the Battle Sisters whom Varan brought to his meeting with Cain are also freed by Jurgen's nearness, go insane realizing what they have done under his influence, and commit suicide]].
* The character Cass Anders shoots himself in the ''Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon'' short story "Fivesight" because he sees the future, but cannot change it or what he tries to prevent ends even more disastrously. He crossed his DespairEventHorizon when he foresees but fails to prevent his stepson's death by car accident.
** More than one patron of Callahan's--including the narrator, Jake--is in a suicidal frame of mind the first time they walk in the door, since it's a place people find when they really, ''really'' need it.

* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''[[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars Chessman of Mars]]'', O-Tar is handed the dagger when they would replace him with his son as jeddak, because "There can be but one jeddak in Manator."
** In ''The Warlord of Mars'', Phaidor [[DisneyVillainDeath throws herself overboard]] [[RedemptionEqualsDeath to repent]] for [[MurderTheHypotenuse her attempt on Dejah Thoris' life.]]
* Many of the people listed in the files retrieved [[spoiler:during the Albanian operation]] in ''[[Literature/PaladinOfShadows Choosers of the Slain]]'' have been quietly informed of the existence of the files, resulting in a lot of them committing suicide. [[spoiler:Japanese businessmen in particular are said to have ''all'' killed themselves after being informed their activities were recorded.]]

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/ShadowsInTheMoonlight", Olivia tries to escape by telling her pursuer that she will drown herself if he comes after; he tells her the waters are too shallow.

* Brought up in one ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' novel. See, the Eighth Doctor of the novels is even more of a CloudCuckoolander than [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] usually is, and sometimes cannot tell the difference between TV and movies and RealLife. There's "a popular [[BritishSeries British]] SoapOpera" (likely ''Series/EastEnders'') which, if he watched it while in such a confused state, even after all the horrifying things he's seen traveling through time and space which have mostly only ever upset him a little, would so thoroughly convince him of "the sheer futility and misery of life" that he'd try to kill himself.[[note]]This comes up in a footnote, which is worded oddly, so it's not clear if he's ever gone so far as to try doing away with himself when faced with the endless tragedy that is life in Walford.[[/note]]

* In Creator/GKChesterton's ''Paradise of Thieves'', Literature/FatherBrown discovers that someone was carrying a bottle of poison. Discovering who it is takes a little longer.
* Two of Creator/EllisPeters' [[Literature/FelseInvestigates Felse novels]] (''[[spoiler:Flight of a Witch]]'' and ''[[spoiler:The Knocker on Death's Door]]'') end with the murderer turning his weapon on himself to avoid capture.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1''. In the book's climax, the Heart of Gold's crew was being fired upon by intergalactic police. [[spoiler: Then the cops suddenly died for no apparent reason. As it turned out, Marvin had been talking to the other ship's computer giving it his views on the universe. The computer then committed suicide taking the cops out with it]].
* In ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'', [[spoiler:Holloway Roberts]] goes AxCrazy exploring the labyrinth, shoots both of his fellow explorers, and runs around inside the labyrinth talking into his portable camera, constantly repeating his name and where he was born. Several days later he finally shoots himself, having gone insane from fear [[strike:[[color:red:of something he perceived was following him.]]]]

** This is also the climax of the first book: when the Capitol reneges on their previous ruling that Tributes from the same District could tie in the games, Katniss and Peeta Mellark threaten to both eat poisonous berries rather than fight to the death, meaning that the Games would have no winner. The Capitol allows the tie instead.
* In ''Literature/HuntersMoon1989'', [[spoiler: A-konkon]] commits ritual suicide and causes the humans to worry there's a rabies outbreak.

* This has happened Toki so many times, once in ''[[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=Toki#/d4z8cib Insanity and Resentment]]'' and, before that, possibly, she tried to get herself runover by a car in ''[[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/34256876#/d5j8gg1 Flashbacks I]]'' (no one knows her real motives and Toki may never tell them, though, she could have been leaving to die in peace but, at that point, getting runover with a car would most certainly prove fatal). Both are understandable because, in the first one, she is mentally ill [[labelnote:Hmm?]]Toki has multiple mental illnesses, one of which is schizophrenia and, for those who don't know, schizophrenics have been known to attempt suicide more than once.[[/labelnote]] and, the latter, is because she is really sick with leukemia and was being abused and neglected at the time (in conjunctions with the fact that she in the later stages and is virtually dying). Neither has anything to do with her heritage.
** Deconstructed to a decent extent with her motives in the poem ''[[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/art/A-Plea-To-River-Seine-373510427 A Plea to River Seine]]'', in that they are very well thought out and were pulled apart from what they are.
* In ''Literature/IShallWearMidnight'' by Mr. Petty, who was Driven To Suicide after he went on a drunken rampage, bludgeoned his pregnant thirteen-year-old daughter and caused her to miscarry. Fortunately Tiffany arrives in time.
* ''Literature/TheVillainessFlipsTheScript'': Count Royton Greenhalten kills himself, explaining in his suicide note he did it out of fear of facing Ruediger in the duel. He could technically refuse Ruediger's challenge, but it would meant losing his honor. However, Judith speculates said suicide might have been orchestrated by Franz wanting to clean up his loose ends, since Count Greenhalten was acting on his orders, and Judith planned to interrogate the count in exchange for Ruediger calling off the duel.

* In Creator/LordDunsany's short story ''The Jest of the Gods'', the title characters created a king's soul containing more pride, strength, and ambition than kings ordinarily had, then sent the soul to be born as a slave. Their jest backfired when the soul grew up and was Driven To Suicide, which they hadn't expected.

* In ''Literature/TheJoyLuckClub'' An-mei's mother, after getting kicked out of her home, raped by a man, forced into a horrific marriage and concubine to her rapist, and has her son by him taken from her by his Second Wife to claim as her own, commits suicide by poison. However, she times her suicide to fall two days before Chinese New Years', as folklore states that a dead person's spirit returns the third day after he or she dies to settle old scores, knowing that her husband and Second Wife are supersitious and would not want to deal with her vengeful spirit on such a holy day on New Year's, ensuring that her children would be treated well from now on.

* In Creator/RickCook's ''Literature/LimboSystem'', [[spoiler:Ludenemeyer]] does this to avoid capture with his knowledge. Later, Jenkins implies to [=DeRosa=] that Dr. Takiuji had to agree to do this if need be to avoid capture [[spoiler:to hide from spies that his actual plan was to substitute someone else for Takiuji and so prevent their having his knowledge.]]
* At the opening of Creator/GarthNix's ''Literature/{{Lirael}}'', Lirael decides to commit suicide at the age of fourteen, having not received the Sight and therefore still a child in her cloistered world. She climbs to a ledge in a Paperwing (airplane) hangar to jump to her doom. She is stopped when a Paperwing arrives, and witnesses the ensuing plot-relevant conversation. The other Clayr find her and deduce what she was doing. They convince her that there is still hope she will gain the Sight, and promptly erase her memory of the plot-relevant conversation.
** She tried again in the ensuing years, but was talked out of it by her companion, the Disreputable Dog.

-->''Sarah Brown wondered whether she could cut her throat with a hoe.
"Suicide while of sound mind," she said. "The said mind being entirely sick of its unsound body."''
* In ''Literature/LonesomeDove'', [[spoiler:After the town has become a ghost town, Xavier tragically locks himself into the barroom and then burns it down so he can't escape out of loneliness.]]
* ''Literature/LookToTheWest:'' Lavoisier offs himself when he learns that the primitive gas chamber he built has been used to execute the French Royal Family.
* In ''Literature/TheLordsOfDiscipline'': A minor character, Poteete, hangs himself in the first act of the book. This foreshadows when [[spoiler: Pig walks in front of a train after he's expelled from the Institute a few months from graduation.]]
* In ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' Captain Rogov commits suicide after the threat of a mutiny among his crew forces him to abandon his current (probably illegitimate) orders to start a war with the Dancers and formally accept Geary's authority. While his exact reasons aren't spelled out it seems likely that it was a combination of guilt about getting seven members of his crew killed and the knowledge that no matter wether his orders were legitimate or not he's going to face a CourtMartial once the fleet returns to Alliance Space. If the orders were illegitimate then he'll get court martialed for getting members of his crew killed while trying to follow them and if they were genuine then he'll almost certianly be made the scapegoat for failing to carry them out.
* ''Literature/MadameBovary'': Emma poisons herself with arsonic, feeling unloved and misunderstood by her husband and lovers and unable to pay her debts she owes to a usurer. She expects her death to be romantic and dignified, but it is anything but and she suffers horribly.

* ''Literature/MadgieWhatDidYouDo'':
** In ''Requiem'', Madgie felt so much regret about her time travel experiment that, before they could reverse it, she jumps into a ravine, dying shortly after impact.
** She does it again in ''Memories'' to keep from losing her memories, the things that she would have lost as what little sanity she had possessed would unlikely have withstood the great amnesia.

* In Creator/TadWilliams's ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'', reading Nisses' book will push you over the DespairEventHorizon and make you wish you were dead. The first person to read it flung himself out a window. The only other person we know to have read it was driven from a position of happiness and power to a life of wandering begging and shame and despair.

* A particularly manipulative example in ''Literature/TheMonk'' Matilda swears that if she can't have Ambrosio or at least be near him, she will kill herself. This threat goes away later for reasons unexplained after he beds her.
* In ''Literature/TheMothDiaries'', Ernessa may or may not have committed suicide by slitting her wrists after her father's death (also a possible suicide), which act could have [[spoiler:made her a vampire, if she was one]]. The narrator theorises this - no, she states it as a matter of fact - in one of the very last entries in her journal [[spoiler:before she tries to burn down her school]]; as her mental health was already deteriorating quite early on, we are left unsure. The narrator also [[spoiler:contemplates this act, but doesn't go through with it]]. Her father did this too, which did leave you wondering whether the narrator was imprinting her past onto Ernessa, and fantasising about ending her life in the same way.

* In Creator/DeanKoontz's ''Literature/OddThomas'', [[spoiler:Odd's mother, who is incapable of any responsibility whatsoever, threatens suicide with a gun any time anyone asks her something she doesn't want to deal with. She does this even to Odd as a child, which is certainly emotional abuse.]]
** Well, if that isn't abuse, [[spoiler:putting the barrel of the gun to his eye so he could see the bullet, and threatening to kill him, certainly is.]]
* At the end of dystopian novel ''Literature/OfMiceAndMooshaber'', Mrs Mooshaber who is poor, widowed and terrorised by her children poisons herself and dies. It happens after TheReveal that she is [[spoiler:rightful ruler of the oppressed country, Duchess Augusta, and she dies just before she returns on her throne.]]
* At the beginning of Creator/PiersAnthony'''s Literature/OnAPaleHorse'', after thoroughly screwing himself over with several bad descisions, Zane decides to kill himself. (He gets better when he winds up [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt killing and replacing]] [[TheGrimReaper Death]].)
* Narrowly averted in ''Literature/OneFatSummer'' when Bobby Marks is so broken from his recent trauma that he contemplates lying still and letting the rising tide claim him. Fortunately, an InnerMonologue leads to an epiphany regarding his own worth as a person.

* ''Literature/OnTheBeach'' has ''everyone left on Earth'' that hasn’t already been killed in the final nuclear war committing suicide via [[CyanidePill cyanide pills]] administered by the Australian Government, as it is [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled quicker and more painless than dying slowly from radiation sickness]].
* ''Literature/OnTheJellicoeRoad'': [[spoiler: The Hermit and in a slower version Tate]] both commit suicide; [[spoiler: Jonah and Hannah]] were stopped [[InterruptedSuicide before they finished the job]].

* This shows up a ''lot'' in Literature/ThePaleKing:

* ''Literature/PetalsOnTheWind'' by Creator/VCAndrews:

** [[spoiler: Julian is turns suicidal after an accident leaves him paralyzed and unlikely to even walk again, much less dance]].
** [[spoiler: Carrie commits suicide after her own mother pretends to not know her]].

* ''Literature/{{Violeta}}'': One year after the Great Depression begins, the Del Valle family loses its fortune and its home and Arsenio receives a warrant for his arrest. The next day, Violeta bring coffee to her dad and finds him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' fiction:
** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's Literature/{{Ultramarines}} novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', when they go through certain tunnels in [[{{Mordor}} the Eye of Terror]], their thoughts are filled with murder and suicide; Pasanius starts to kill himself before Uriel realizes the attack and encourages them to break free.

** In the Literature/HorusHeresy novel ''Fulgrim'', Serena d'Angelus [[DreamingTheTruth realizes]] that her {{Past Experience Nightmare}}s stem from [[spoiler:murders she committed and forgot]]. She seeks out Ostian, thinking he could save her. She finds him murdered, weeps that [[ObliviousToLove he loved her and she hadn't seen it, and that she loved him]]. Then she commits suicide.
*** Later, Fulgrim realizes how great his betrayal is when he [[spoiler:kills Ferrus Manus]]. He goes to kill himself. [[spoiler:His [[EvilWeapon sword]] says it's too noble for him, and tricks him into accepting possession]].
** In Lee Lightner's Literature/SpaceWolf novel ''Wolf's Honour'', when [[spoiler:Ragnar and Torin]] speculate about the causes of the slow turn to ''wulfen'' [[TheCorruption encroaching on their minds]], [[spoiler:Ragnar]] thinks it may be his influence. [[spoiler:Torin]] dissuades him, and is not amused when [[spoiler:Ragnar]] says that it would be much better if he could end it by shooting himself.
** In Creator/JamesSwallow's Literature/BloodAngels novel ''Deus Encarmine'', when the second LastStand looks even more devasted than the apparent first, Turcio speaks of their defeat. Only when Arkio offers him a knife to cut his throat with does Turcio rouse himself to fight again.
*** In ''Deus Sanguinius'', Inquisitor Stele plays on Rafen's fears--that he [[YoungestChildWins overshadows his younger brother]] and [[GreenEyedMonster is jealous of him]]--to convince him that he has to free Arkio by killing himself. [[spoiler:Only a literal vision allows him to throw off the mind-witchery.]]

* In ''Wody Głębokie jak Niebo'', Arachne decides to commit suicide, when she is captured by Severo and faced with a FateWorseThanDeath. She tries to burn herself alive. [[spoiler: It doesn’t work, because fire she wants to use is a demon and she ends up [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by it.]]
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'':

* In Emily Bronte's ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' [[spoiler:Catherine]] purposefully makes herself sick (and later dies) just to spite the two men who love her.

* In ''Literature/SmallPersonsWithWings'', this has been known to happen to people who drink the moonstone elixir, which confronts people with every AwfulTruth about themselves. Ogier's father died this way when Ogier was fifteen. [[spoiler:After Mellie's parents drink the elixir, Fidius keeps telling them even more awful things about themselves until they decide to jump off the roof of the inn, but [[InterruptedSuicide the other Parvi catch them]].

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', Tosten, the younger brother of the protagonist, Ward, is driven to suicide by his abusive father. Ward finds him just in time to save his life and take him to another town, where their father can't find him. Also, Oreg, who was MadeASlave and could only be [[AWizardDidIt killed by his owner]]. He tried to provoke at least one of his owners into killing him. Unfortunately, the guy was clever enough to have someone ''else'' beat the shit out of Oreg, from which he recovered due to the near-immortality.