History IJustWantToBeNormal / Literature

** Any of the Animorphs would rather [[BlessedWithSuck not have their powers and just have a normal life]], at least until [[ItsPersonal they're personally affected]] by the [[AlienInvasion Yeerks]]. [[BloodKnight Except for Rachel]], that is. One of the Megamorphs books has Jake wish that the Animorphs had never formed and due to a deal made between the Ellimist and another being, the wish is granted, with [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor relatively predictable results.]]

* This is a mayor plot point in ''The Progeny'', as it is [[spoiler: the reason why Emily aka Audra even wiped her mind to begin with. She was tired of being hunted as she's a Progeny, so she wanted to live a normal life]]. More specifically, she did it for [[spoiler: her daughter]].

* ''The Gospel According to Jesus Christ'' by Creator/JoseSaramago depicts Jesus as a very human man beset with doubts and fears.

* In ''LightNovel/ClotureOfYellow'' and its sequels, Kyle Marlon has absolutely no desire to be king, and would much rather spend his life as a painter.

* Flinx, the major protagonist of Creator/AlanDeanFoster[='=]s ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' universe, frequently has occasion to wish he did not have [[TheEmpath empathic powers]] as the result of a [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke genetics experiment]] by a group of {{Evilutionary Biologist}}s. Especially when the badass allies, CoolStarship, and the whole [[WalkingTheEarth exploring the galaxy]] thing get overshadowed by being told he's TheChosenOne fated to confront an UltimateEvil; being [[SternChase pursued]] by people who want to variously [[TheyWouldCutYouUp "fix" him]], imprison him, or kill him for being TheChosenOne; and possibly his [[SuperPowerMeltdown brain exploding]] from his evolving powers. {{Wangst}}, thy name is Flinx.

* Hugo Danner, the world's first superhero, suffered from this. Philip Wylie wrote the novel ''Literature/{{Gladiator}}'' in 1930, featuring Hugo who was super-strong, fast, and with skin too tough to be pierced by a machine gun. Naturally he mopes about it for 332 pages before being struck by lightning and reduced to ash. On the bright side, two Jewish kids from Cleveland read the novel and came up with [[{{Superman}} a more cheerful version]].

* Near the end of ''Flat Stanley'', [[spoiler:Stanley, who is starting to be constantly teased for [[PaperPeople being flat]], decides he wants to be round and normal again. His brother, Arthur, succeeds this by pumping him with a bicycle bump.]]

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-->'''[[spoiler:Cameron]]''': You'll say that normal people do what we do, only in smaller amounts. Lots of people self-stim, but they don't even realize it. They tap their feet or twirl their hair or touch their faces. Yes, but they're normal and no one makes them stop. Other people don't make good eye contact, but they're normal and no one nags them to make eye contact. They have something else to make up for the tiny bit of themselves that acts autistic. That's what I want. I want - I want not to have to try so hard to look normal. I just want to ''be'' normal.…I want to get married. I want to have children. I want to live in an ordinary house in an ordinary neighborhood and take the ordinary public transportation and live the rest of my life as a normal person.

* In ''Literature/ThisAlienShore'', Jamisia, who has learned that she secretly has multiple personality disorder, longs for an hour without her alternate personalities in her head. She whispers, "I want to be normal. Oh, please, I just want to know what that's like again."

* In ''Literature/TheGirlFromTheMiraclesDistrict'', Nikita sometimes wishes that she never manifested as a berserk of have a father that wants her dead, and that she could simply move in with her brother and spend the rest of her life working in a library.

* A variant with Lirael in the ''Literature/OldKingdom'' series. She wants to be normal -- but for a Clayr, normal is having precognitive powers. She gets over it after she realizes she's [[spoiler:Abhorsen-in-Waiting]].

Special people [[IJustWantToBeNormal who wish they weren't]] in literature.

* Eilonwy, in the ''Literature/PrydainChronicles'', spends the entire series being more or less comfortable with the idea that she's "half an enchantress" and has latent magical powers, even though she can't always access them the way she'd like. At the end, however, when she learns that these same powers are the reason she has to leave the man she loves forever, she emphatically wishes that she could be rid of them. [[spoiler:Fortunately, she's been carrying around a little ChekhovsGun that can make her wish come true.]]

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': While not exactly "normal" in the usual sense, all the titular character has only ever wanted to be a normal wizard. However a prophecy about him that caused the death of his parents and the BigBad's utter refusal to leave him alone, along with his ChronicHeroSyndrome and massive GuiltComplex prevented this from happening for all of his seven years at Hogwarts. [[spoiler:When it's all over and Harry has the chance to wield the most powerful wand in history, perhaps even becoming the most powerful wizard in history?]]

* In her first appearance in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels, Susan Sto Helit refused to believe she was Death's granddaughter. In later appearances she still attempts to maintain a "normal" life, and insists on being sensible and using logic, often denying her own abilities. Ironically, because she lives on the Discworld, what she thinks of as the "normal world" is actually just as illogical and fantastic as the underlying world of her grandfather. By ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', she seems to have accepted her powers, even if she's still irritated at being occasionally tapped by her grandfather for help. As a teacher she uses them to make her students' lessons more...interesting, such as taking them to view ancient battles firsthand. She also, at the end of [[spoiler:''Thief of Time'', takes them to see Nanny Ogg]], which, as she says to herself, is the equivalent of ''two'' lessons.
** There's also Rincewind, an unremarkable wizard whose main ambition in life is to be bored. He's constantly being dragged into dangerous quests to save the world, and he hates every second of it. He's even quite aware of it, but still insists that he wants to go home. When people try to say that he must enjoy it, he retorts that he rather ''likes'' being bored, as it generally means no one's trying to harm him. In one book (''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}'', perhaps) he meets a man who complains about how there's no excitement in his life, and Rincewind greatly envies that man.

* The titular character in the ''Literature/AlexRider'' series has an I Just Want To Be Normal moment at least once in every book he's been in... and he's been in seven. Not only does he want to be normal again, he never wanted to do it in the first place! They blackmailed him. Not hard to do since MI6 is his legal guardian, but still.