History Literature / DifferentSeasons

* AdaptationalHeroism: Although a youth obsessed with Nazi crimes in both versions, Todd is a lot less nasty in the film version than he is in the novella. In the book he is a budding sociopath who fantasizes about raping a captive woman in a concentration camp and, together with Dussander, becomes a serial killer of hobos before he kills his guidance counselor and finally goes on a killing spree [[spoiler:that ends in his death.]] In the film Todd comes across as more disturbed and immature than unfeeling and homicidal, doesn't have anything as explicit as a rape fantasy during his dreams about the camps, he and Dussander only kill one homeless person who found out that Dussander was a former Nazi, and Todd simply blackmails his guidance counselor and [[spoiler:goes to college after Dussander dies.]]

* AxCrazy: Todd is ''seriously'' messed up and his fixation on the Holocaust doesn’t help matters much. [[spoiler: It gets to the point where he pretends to snipe at drivers from the top of a highway ForTheEvulz before losing it completely and going on a killing spree.]]

* InsuranceFraud: This version of Red is a little more evil than the movie's. He took out insurance on his wife and then cut the brakes to her car.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Although a youth obsessed with Nazi crimes in both versions, Todd is a lot less nasty in the film version than he is in the novella. In the book he is a budding sociopath who fantasizes about raping a captive woman in a concentration camp and, together with Dussander, becomes a serial killer of hobos before he kills his guidance counsellor and finally goes on a killing spree [[spoiler:that ends in his death.]] In the film Todd comes across as more disturbed and immature than unfeeling and homicidal, doesn't have anything as explicit as a rape fantasy during his dreams about the camps, he and Dussander only kill one homeless person who found out that Dussander was a former Nazi, and Todd simply blackmails his guidance counsellor and [[spoiler:goes to college after Dussander dies.]]

* CorruptTheCutie: It starts when Todd finds magazines about World War II in his friend's garage and becomes morbidly fascinated by the Holocaust. It continues when he decides to get firsthand "gooshy stuff" from Dussander instead of turning him in. [[spoiler:It finally ends with Todd becoming a multiple murderer.]]

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

* FauxAffablyEvil: Dussander comes off as unfailingly polite and courteous in proper company, such as when he warmly chats with a young nurse about her engagement and says to tell him everything, and omit nothing. [[spoiler:His fellow convalescent recognizes to his horror that the words and tone Dussander uses are the exact same as those of the concentration camp commander who interrogated him long ago.]]
* 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 of 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 is killed for his troubles. And THEN, Todd goes completely insane and dies committing a massacre.]]
* HeyYou: Dussander never uses Todd's name; instead, he always calls him "boy." Even when he impersonates Todd's grandfather (which is noticed by Rubber Ed, the guidance counsellor). Todd is annoyed by this:

* KarmaHoudini: Todd in the film version, which removes [[spoiler: his final massacre]]. It's left ambiguous whether he does manage to beat the rap for his involvement with Dussander, with the [[NoEnding film ending]] after he states his intention to blackmail Ed into keeping quiet, by claiming he's made inappropriate gestures towards him in exchange for good grades.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: The film adaptation spares the lives of both [[spoiler:Todd himself and his guidance counsellor]]. In the novella, [[spoiler:Todd kills him before going on a shooting spree that ultimately ends with Todd being taken down by the police]].

* SoapPunishment: When Todd says "suck my cock" to Dussander, he replies that if he said something like that as a boy, he would've had his mouth washed with lye soap.

* TeensAreMonsters: Todd. He learns that his elderly next-door neighbour is a Nazi fugitive, but doesn't turn him in because he wants to learn the "gooshy 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]].

* AdaptationalHeroism: Although obsessed with Nazi crimes in both versions, Todd is a lot less nasty in the film version than he is in the novella. In the book he is a budding sociopath who fantasizes about raping a captive woman in a concentration camp and, together with Dussander, becomes a serial killer of hobos before he kills his guidance counsellor and finally goes on a killing spree [[spoiler:that ends in his death.]] In the film Todd comes across as more disturbed and immature than unfeeling and homicidal, doesn't have anything as explicit as a rape fantasy during his dreams about the camps, he and Dussander only kill one homeless person who found out that Dussander was a former Nazi, and Todd simply blackmails his guidance counsellor and [[spoiler:goes to college after Dussander dies.]]

''Different Seasons'' is a collection of four [[{{Novella}} 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 that he was known for.

* HeyYou: Dussander never uses Todd's name; instead, he always calls him "boy". Even when he impersonates Todd's grandfather (which is noticed by Rubber Ed, the guidance counsellor). Todd is annoyed by this:

* BattleInTheRain: The final confrontation between the four friends and the older boys at the site of the corpse takes place during a rainstorm, and in the middle of hailstorms Chris tells Gordie to "stay with me".

* LosingYourHead: Sandra Stansfield, who's about to give birth [[spoiler: is decapitated in a car accident in front of the hospital. She remains alive and conscious for several minutes from sheer willpower until she gives birth to her son.]]

* RiddleForTheAges: There's something strange about the club. It has books that cannot be found anywhere else, published by companies nobody has ever heard of. The narrator once tries to ask Stevens, the butler about where all these things come from. But all he manages to ask is: "Are there many more rooms upstairs?"

* 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]].

* TheUnfavorite: Gordie's parents never show much affection to him, preferring Gordie's older brother. In flashbacks, it shows they didn't pay much attention to him, anyway.
* WeWillMeetAgain: Ace says this after Gordie pulls the gun on him. Sure enough, Ace and his gang gives each of the boys a CurbStompBattle after they return to town.
* WorldsSmallestViolin: What Gordie says near the end of the story as Chris talks about how
* YouKnowImBlackRight: "How do you know when a Frenchman's been in your back yard? Well, your garbage cans are empty and your dog is pregnant. Teddy would try to look offended, but he was the first one to bring in a joke as soon as he heardit, only switching Frenchman to Polack."

* AuthorStandIn: Gordie Lachance, the sensitive and imaginative boy Stephen King used to be.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Todd blows it when [[spoiler: he reveals to the detective investigating Dussander's case that only the letter was stolen from Dussander's house and nothing else. The detective quickly realizes the only way Todd would know that is if he had take the letter himself.]]

* GreatEscape: Andy tunnels through his wall, crawls through a sewer pipe, and escapes from prison.

* AxCrazy: Todd is ''seriously'' messed up and his fixation on the Holocaust doesn’t help matters much. [[spoiler: It gets to the point where’s he sniping at drivers from the top of a highway ForTheEvulz before losing it completely and going on a killing spree.]]

[[folder:''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption'' contains examples of:

The tropes present in ''Shawshank'' can be found on the movie page.

* MythologyGag: Geordie notes that Chopper's legend as the scariest dog in Castle Rock has since been supplanted by Literature/{{Cujo}}.

* AxCrazy: Todd is ''seriously'' messed up thanks to his fixation on the Holocaust. It gets to the point where’s he taking sniping at drivers from the top of a highway ForTheEvulz.

* AxCrazy: Todd is ''seriously'' messed up thanks to his fixation on the Holocaust.

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

* ''Apt Pupil (or, Summer of Corruption)'' - A teenage boy learns about the Holocaust right from the source. Made into a movie starring Sir Creator/IanMcKellen.

* BringYourBrownPants: "A thin stream of urine ran listlessly down the inside of one thigh" when Gordie reached down to the railroad track and felt it vibrating with the approach of a train.

The tropes present in ''Shawshank'' and ''Stand by Me'' can be found on their respective movies' pages.

[[folder:''The Breathing Method'' contains examples of:]]

* {{Determinator}}: Sandra. [[spoiler:After being decapitated in a car accident, she refuses to die until she gives birth.]]
* ChekhovsSkill: Sandra tells Dr. [=McCarron=] the story of how her boss fired her when her pregnancy began to show, in the process treating her very shabbily. It made Sandra so angry that to avoid blowing up and trashing the office, she controlled herself using the Breathing Method.
* EldritchLocation: The club itself is implied to be one. Adley reads several novels and poetry collections there that have no evidence of existing anywhere outside the clubhouse, and near the end of the story he takes notice of a corridor leading out of the main chamber that he doesn't recall ever being there before.
* LosingYourHead: Sandra Stansfield, who's about to give birth [[spoiler: is decapitated in a car accident in front of the hospital. She remains alive and conscious for several minutes from sheer willpower until she gives birth to her son.]]
* MeaningfulName: [[Creator/StephenKing Stevens]], the Club's butler.
* MySecretPregnancy: Dr. [=McCarron=] specifically cautions Sandra against this, relating to her an anecdote of a woman who used a girdle to hide her condition, possibly causing the birth defects her child ended up with.
* OrphanedPunchline: A horror variant: readers will eternally wonder how a man could drown in a telephone booth, or why "His head is still speaking in the earth!"
* RiddleForTheAges: There's something strange about the club. It has books that cannot be found anywhere else, published by companies nobody has ever heard of. The narrator once tries to ask Stevens, the butler about where all these things come from. But all he manages to ask is: "Are there many more rooms upstairs?"
-->'''Stevens:''' Oh, yes, sir. A great many. A man could become lost. In fact, men ''have'' become lost. Sometimes it seems to me that they go on for miles. Rooms and corridors.
* 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]].
** Also an aversion, of sorts, to the LamazeClass trope, since the [[TitleDrop Breathing Method]] itself is a pre-cursor of Lamaze.
* SequelHook: "Yes, always more tales. And perhaps, one day, I'll tell you another." (In fact, there is a sequel-of-sorts about the Club at 249B: "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands" from ''Literature/SkeletonCrew''.)
* SmokyGentlemensClub: The narrator attends a gentlemen's club which features storytelling as well as the usual socialising, brandy-drinking and the like. There's something eerie about the club, but we never find out exactly what it is.
* YearX: In the framing story, David Adley first starts attending The Club in 196-, and Emlyn [=McCarron=] tells the Breathing Method story in 197-. Throughout the entire novella, no last numbers are given for any dates.

[[/folder]]

* CallForward: In the novella, it's mentioned that Chopper was the most feared dog in the county until Literature/{{Cujo}} went rabid 20 years later.

* StoryWithinAStory: "The Revenge of Lard-Ass Hogan." The novella also includes a good-sized excerpt from another story Gordie wrote early in his career titled "Stud City."

* YouKnowImBlackRight: At the beginning, Chris, Teddy, and Gordie are sitting in their tree-house, playing cards, when Chris decides to tell a joke:
-->'''Chris:''' How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your back yard?
-->'''Teddy:''' Hey, I'm French, okay?
-->'''Chris:''' Your garbage cans are empty and your [[BestialityIsDepraved dog's pregnant.]]
-->''[Chris and Gordie laugh]''
-->'''Teddy:''' Didn't I just say I was French?
** Gordie notes that [[HypocriticalHumor Teddy will happily repeat the same kind of jokes, only replacing the word "Frenchman" with "Polack."]]

* HeelFaithTurn: The circumstances leading Morris Heisel to [[spoiler:identify Dussander]] restores his faith in God.

* AppealToWorseProblems: After he breaks his back and gets paralyzed for the waist down, Morris Heisel tries to console himself by thinking about how many people have it worse than him - and how he himself used to have it worse, since he's a Holocaust survivor.

* CorruptTheCutie: Starts when Todd finds magazines about World War II in his friend's garage and becomes morbidly fascinated by the Holocaust. Continues when he decides to get firsthand "gooshy stuff" from Dussander instead of turning him in. [[spoiler:Finally ends with Todd becoming a multiple murderer.]]

* DisposableVagrant: Todd begins killing homeless "winos" as he grows older. Dussander also begins killing local homeless, and doesn't reveal he knows what Todd has been up to until much later.

** Dussander himself claims he and Todd have something in common; in that Dussander's mother was a Jew -- it is unclear whether he was serious or joking.

* ''The Breathing Method (or, A Winter's Tale)'' - A single woman wants to carry her child to term, no matter what. Has never been made into a movie, and it would probably be really hard to do so.