History Literature / DifferentSeasons

* KarmaHoudini: Todd in the film ([[NoEnding possibly]]). It's left ambiguous whether he does manages to escape the wrap for his involvement with Dussander and the film ends after he states his intention to blackmail Edd into keeping quiet, by claiming he's made inappropriate gestures towards him in exchange for good grades.

* FromBadToWorse: The whole last thirty pages or so is the systematic unraveling of both [[spoiler:Todd's web of lies and his sanity. First, Rubber Ed finds out about Todd's earlier deception where Dussander posed as his grandfather. Then, he finds out about the doctored report cards. Then, Dussander gets identified and reported by one of his former victims. Then, Dussander commits suicide, wearing on Todd's nerves even more with the fear of his non-existent document. Then, the police find the remains of Dussander's murders. Then, they start to suspect Todd of associating with Dussander, while the Israeli agent suspects him on the bum murders. Then, Rubber Ed sees that the man who posed as Todd's grandfather was a Nazi war criminal. Then, a bum fingers Todd on his murders, having seen him walk off with a victim and then seen his picture in the paper. Then, Rubber Ed confronts Todd and a now near insane Todd kills him. And THEN, Todd goes completely insane and dies in a shooting spree.]]

* DisposableVagrant: Todd begins killing homeless 'winos' as he grows older.

* BrokenAce: Todd Bowden is an A student that gets fascinated with the local hidden Nazi Dussander's old war stories. This eventually causes him (and Dussander) to snap.

* HeyYou: Dussander never uses Todd's name; instead, he always calls him "boy". Even when he impersonates Todd's grandfather. Todd is annoyed by this:

* DepravedHomosexual: Todd is s implied to have latent homosexual feelings.

* FromBadToWorse: The whole last thirty pages or so is the systematic unraveling of both [[spoiler:Todd's web of lies and his sanity. First, Rubber Ed finds out about Todd's earlier deception where Dussander posed as his grandfather. Themn, he finds out about the doctored report cards. Then, Dussander gets identified and reported by one of his former victims. Then, Dussander commits suicide, wearing on Todd's nerves even more with the fear of his non-existent document. Then, the police find the remains of Dussander's murders. Then, they start to suspect Todd of associating with Dussander, while the Israeli agent suspects him on the bum murders. Then, Rubber Ed sees that the man who posed as Todd's grandfather was a Nazi war criminal. Then, a bum fingers Todd on his murders, having seen him walk off with a victim and then seen his picture in the paper. Then, Rubber Ed confronts Todd and a now near insane Todd kills him. And THEN, Todd goes completely insane and dies in a shooting spree.]]

* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Morris Heisel is a Holocaust survivor whose first wife, Heather, died in a concentration camp. He imagines what he would say, if God appeared to him like he did to [[Literature/BookOfJob Job]] and said "Where were you when I made the world?"
-->Where were You when my Heather was dying, You potzer, You? Watching the Yankees and the Senators? If You can't pay attention to Your business better than this, get out of my face.

* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Morris Heisel is a Holocaust survivor whose first wife, Heather, died in a concentration camp. He imagines what he would say, if God appeared to him like he did to Job and said "Where were you when I made the world?"

* RetiredMonster: Todd is fascinated by his old neighbour, Kurt Dussander, who took part in Nazi atrocities. His increasing fascination with the old man slowly brings back the monster in him.

** Weiskopf, the Israeli agent sent to America [[spoiler:after Dussander's secret is exposed]] says this about the architects of a possible new Holocaust: "I think most of them would look like ordinary accountants. Little mind-men with graphs and flow-charts and electronic calculators, all ready to start maximizing the kill ratios so that next time we could perhaps kill twenty or thirty millions instead of only seven or eight or twelve.

''Different Seasons'' is a collection of four novellas by Creator/StephenKing. Published in 1982, it represented something of a departure for King at that point, as three of the novellas were straight dramatic stories (albeit with ''some'' horrific elements) that did not deal with the supernatural fiction the author was known for.

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* BrokenAce: Todd is an A student that gets fascinated with the local hidden Nazi Dussander's old war stories. This eventually causes him (and Dussander) to snap.

* TheLoinsSleepTonight: Todd Bowden has a girlfriend because he wants to [[StepfordSmiler look normal]]. However, by this time, he is a misogynistic, hateful monster, and he's only able to perform when he's thinking of rape and abuse; eventually, not even ''then''.

* RetiredBadass: Kurt Dussander, a Nazi general that's killed thousands of people and who escaped to America and lives a quiet life in a small town.

* TeensAreMonsters: Todd Bowden. He learns that his elderly next-door neighbour is a Nazi fugitive, but doesn't turn him in because he wants to learn the "gooey stuff" about the Holocaust. As his OddFriendship with the Nazi continues, Todd graduates from dreaming about raping concentration camp inmates to becoming a hobo-mauling serial killer. Finally, [[spoiler:Todd kills his guidance counsellor and snipes motorists on an expressway]].

* ParanoiaFuel: That nice, folksy old guy who lives on a quiet little street? Yeah, he's a horrendous Nazi war criminal. And the seemingly normal boy next door wants to be ''just like him''.

* ScreamingBirth: Averted. Sandra practices the titular breathing method, which is designed to let the woman "use her breath for something more useful than screaming". [[spoiler:Unfortunately, this is a contributing factor in her death; the taxi driver taking her to hospital is creeped out when she's breathing heavily but not screaming, turns to check if she's okay, skids on a patch of ice, and crashes the cab, killing her, though she [[{{Determinator}} doesn't let]] a little thing like ''decapitation'' interfere with the delivery of her child.]] The narrator, Dr McCarron, mentions that this was very common in the '30s, since [[YourMindMakesItReal women heard from everywhere that giving birth is very painful -- so it turned out to be painful]].