History Literature / DifferentSeasons

* RacingTheTrain: The boys race a train on foot, not because they want to, but because they're on a railroad bridge.

''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. Three of the four novellas were later adapted into feature films.

* ''The Breathing Method (or, A Winter's Tale)'' - A single woman wants to carry her child to term, no matter what. It has never been made into a movie, and it would probably be really hard to do so.[[note]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Breathing_Method#Film_adaptation Though it seems like they're trying anyway!]][[/note]]

* FromBadToWorse: The last thirty pages detail the the systematic unraveling of both [[spoiler:Todd's web of lies and his sanity. First, Rubber Ed finds out about Todd's doctored report cards and how he made Dussander pose as his grandfather. Then, Dussander gets identified and reported by one of his former victims, leading to him committing suicide, which wears on Todd's nerves even more with the fear of their connection being revealed. After the police finds the remains of Dussander's murders, they start to suspect Todd of associating with Dussander, while the Israeli agent suspects him of the bum murders. This culminates with Rubber Ed seeing that the man who posed as Todd's grandfather was a Nazi war criminal; and a bum fingering Todd on his murders after witnessing him walk off with a victim and later seeing his picture in the paper. Todd is confronted by Rubber Ed and ends up murdering him, then loses whatever was left of his sanity and goes on a killing spree, during which he is finally shot dead by the police.]]

* NervousTics: Discussed in "Apt Pupil." Dussander recalls that the stress of waiting for the Allies to march on the concentration camp he commanded caused a strange outburst of nervous tics in his soldiers, including teeth clicking and a man who would drum intricate patterns on his legs with his fingers. Dussander tends to talk to himself when stressed, a habit he unknowingly shares with Todd Bowden.

* SpreeKiller: [[TeensAreMonsters Todd Bowden]], a seemingly ordinary boy who is secretly a [[AxCrazy budding psychopath]] with an obsession with Nazi war crimes fantasies about going on a killing spree, regularly thinking about murdering his loving parents and girlfriend, and at one point pretends to snipe drivers from a top the highway. He only holds off for fear of the reprisal that would occur. [[spoiler:At the climax realising it will all come out about his involvement with Kurt Dussander, a former Nazi commander in hiding, and all the [[SerialKiller homeless people he murdered]] he decides to embrace it. Taking his .22 rifle he first murders his guidance counsellor Rubber Ed, then heading to a highly-populated location open fires on random citizens for five hours straight before being killed by the police.]]

* DesiresPrisonLife: Red is paroled after spening 38 years in prison. He has difficulty adjusting to the life outside, and considers committing some crime just that he could get back. Only thinking about Andy keeps him from doing it - he doesn't want to throw away the freedom Andy worked so hard to win back.

* DesiresPrisonLife: Red is paroled after spening 38 years in prison. He has difficulty adjusting to the life outside, and considers committing some crime just that he could get back. Only thinking about Andy keeps him from doing it.

* NervousTics: Discussed in "Apt Pupil." Dussander recalls that the stress of waiting for the Allies to march on the concentration camp he commanded caused a strange outburst of nervous tics in his soldiers, including teeth clicking and a man who would drum intricate patterns on his legs with his fingers. Dussander tends to talk to himself when stressed, a habit he unknowingly shares with Todd Bowden.

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

* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: The original ending dealt with [[spoiler:Todd murdering his guidance counselor and going on a 5-hour shooting spree in a populated area before getting shot to death by the police.]] In the film, [[spoiler:Todd just blackmails the guidance counselor to keep his connections to [[NaziGrandpa Kurt Dussander]] secret and goes off to college.]]
* AdaptationalHeroism: Although he is still 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 SerialKiller of hobos before [[spoiler:he murders his guidance counselor and finally goes on a killing spree that ends in his death.]] In the film Todd comes across as more disturbed and immature than AxCrazy and sadistic, doesn't have anything as explicit as a rape fantasy during his dreams about the camps (imagining himself as an inmate instead), 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.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Todd in the film version, which removes [[spoiler: his final killing spree]]. 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 advances towards him in exchange for good grades.

* LighterAndSofter: The film is far less explicit and violent than the book.

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

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

* ''Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption (or, Hope Springs Eternal)'' - Hope springs eternal, even in prison. Made into the [[Film/TheShawshankRedemption number one movie on IMDb's Top 250]].

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

* ''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (or, Hope Springs Eternal)'' - Hope springs eternal, even in prison. Made into the [[Film/TheShawshankRedemption number one movie on IMDb's Top 250]].

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

* TooDumbToLive: Teddy is almost the personification of this trope. His truck-dodging, [[NoodleIncident "that time in the tree,"]] etc. Vern isn't any smarter (maybe even less so), but he's considerably more risk-averse than Teddy, so doesn't count.

* ParentalAbandonment: The novella makes it clear that this is not something that started after Denny's death - Gordie once swore at the dinner table just to see what would happen ("Please pass those goddamn spuds."), and the only response was his mother telling Denny that his aunt asked how he was doing.

* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Red narrates but the focus of the story is on Andy. Red says as much: "Anyway, it's not me I want to tell you about; I want to tell you about a guy named Andy Dufresne."

-->As usual, the state in all its wisdom had let him go long after any chance he might have had to become a useful part of society was gone.

* TooDumbToLive: Teddy is almost the personification of this trope. His truck-dodging, [[NoodleIncident "that time in the tree,"]] etc.

* WritersCannotDoMath: "Five hundred yards... Just shy of a mile." That's like saying twenty minutes is just shy of an hour (there are 1,760 yards in a mile).

* WardensAreEvilL: Norton is borderline sadistic.

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

[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/different_seasons_stephen_king_1982.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:220:First edition cover.]]

* BadDreams:
** Kurt Dussander, who used to be the commander of a Nazi concentration camp, frequently has nightmares about it. [[spoiler: He eventually commits suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills, and he ends up dreaming those dreams -- forever.]]
** Todd's first wet dream is of Dussander directing him to rape a Jewish prisoner as part of an "experiment."