History Literature / FriedGreenTomatoesAtTheWhistleStopCafe

''Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café'' is a 1987 novel by Fannie Flagg (yes, the one from ''Series/MatchGame''). It was adapted into the film ''Fried Green Tomatoes'', which was released in 1991.

The sequel ''The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop'' was published in 2020. Like the original book, it has tons of characters (most of whom feature in the first book) and jumps around in time. The book mainly follows Ruth and Idgie's son Buddy "Stump" Threadgoode and his daughter Ruthie.

* PassFail: Examined. One of the novel's subplots involves Big George's granddaughter, who is light-complected enough to pass for white. Unaware that his niece is trying to pass, her dark-complected elderly uncle hugs her in public (in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1950s). The uncle's violently ejected from the store, while his niece burns with shame over what she's done to him, but is unable to intervene, knowing she'll be even ''more'' violently ejected if the white employees realize they've been deceived.

* RelatedInTheAdaptation: An odd but minor example: in the novel, the woman Ed and Evelyn visit in the nursing home is Ed's unnamed mother. In the film, they go to visit Ed's Aunt Vesta Adcock. This is an interesting (if random) switcheroo, since in the novel, Vesta Adcock is a long-time resident of Whistle Stop whom Mrs. Threadgoode has known for many years, while in the film, they're only fellow nursing home residents and there's no evidence that they knew each other previously.

* PintsizedPowerhouse: Sipsey, who's small and wizened in stature but who has been wielding ten-pound cast-iron frying pans double-handed since childhood. [[spoiler: Frank Bennett underestimates her, to his peril.]]

* PintPowerhouse: Sipsey, who's small and wizened in stature but who has been wielding ten-pound cast-iron frying pans double-handed since childhood. [[spoiler: Frank Bennett underestimates her, to his peril.]]

[[caption-width-right:300: Ruth, Idgie, and the whistle stop cafe]]

''Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe'' is a 1987 novel by Fannie Flagg (yes, the one from ''Series/MatchGame''). It was adapted into the film ''Fried Green Tomatoes'', which was released in 1991.

''Fried Green Tomatoes'' tells the story of two relationships. The first, set in [[TheEighties the modern day]], is a friendship between Evelyn Couch, a dissatisfied, middle-age, menopausal housewife too frightened of death to commit suicide, and Ninny Threadgoode, a boisterous and talkative octogenarian who bolsters Evelyn's spirits with her storytelling. The story she tells is of another pair of women: {{Tomboy}} Idgie Threadgoode and SouthernBelle Ruth Jamison, who ran a cafe together in [[TheGreatDepression Depression-era]] [[TheDeepSouth Alabama]].

Ninny's rambling stories of Idgie and Ruth, their family and friends, and the colorful crowd attracted by the cafe, soon become the only thing Evelyn looks forward to. Gradually the stories converge on a single event: the murder of Frank Bennett, Ruth's abusive husband, who vanished without a trace over fifty years ago after a late-night visit to the cafe.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: What really happened to Frank Bennett? Did he just take off into the night? Drown himself? Or [[spoiler: did the sweet tiny elderly black woman he had knocked out moments before crack his head with a frying pan, then serve his roasted flesh as pork in the cafe?]] Or maybe he just went fishing.

* FinallyFoundTheBody: Frank Bennet's truck is found in the river. [[spoiler: Years later, while the cafe is being bulldozed, workers find Bennet's skull in the garden.]]

* IAmAHumanitarian: [[spoiler: After Sipsey kills Bennet, she and the others at the Whistle Stop Cafe take a page from Sweeney Todd and serve him to the investigator looking for Bennet in order to hide the body]].

* RelatedInTheAdaptation: An odd but minor example: in the novel, the woman Ed and Evelyn visit in the nursing home is Ed's unnamed mother. In the film, they go to visit Ed's Aunt Vesta Adcock. (In the novel, Vesta Adcock is a long-time resident of Whistle Stop whom Mrs. Threadgoode has known for many years; in the film, they're only fellow nursing home residents, and there's no evidence that they knew each other previously.)

''Fried Green Tomatoes'' tells the story of two relationships. The first, set in the modern day, is a friendship between Evelyn Couch, a dissatisfied, middle-age, menopausal housewife too frightened of death to commit suicide, and Ninny Threadgoode, a boisterous and talkative octogenarian who bolsters Evelyn's spirits with her storytelling. The story she tells is of another pair of women: {{Tomboy}} Idgie Threadgoode and SouthernBelle Ruth Jamison, who ran a cafe together in [[TheGreatDepression Depression-era]] [[TheDeepSouth Alabama]].

* PassFail: Examined. One of the novel's subplots involves Big George's granddaughter, who is light-complected enough to pass as white. Unaware that his niece is trying to pass, her elderly uncle hugs her in public (in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1950s). The uncle's violently ejected from the store, while his niece burns with shame over what she's done to him.

* PassFail: Examined. One of the novel's subplots involves Big George's granddaughter, who is light-skinned enough to pass as white. Unaware that his niece is trying to pass, her elderly uncle hugs her in public (in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1950s). The uncle's violently ejected from the store, while his niece burns with shame over what she's done to him.

The sequel, ''The Wonder Boy of Whistlestop'' was published in 2020. Like the original book, it has tons of characters (most of whom feature in the first book) and jumps around in time. The book mainly follows Ruth and Idgie's son Buddy "Stump" Threadgoode and his daughter Ruthie.

* AmbiguouslyGay: The movie decided to play Idgie and Ruth's relationship as a more subtle and heavily implied thing, rather than outright stating to the camera they were lovers. The book on the other hand was quite explicit.

** Ninny saying what a courageous thing it was of Ruth to leave her husband. With divorce rates being rather common, some might think it's not that big and think the courage comes from leaving an ''abusive'' husband and fear of retaliation. But then one remembers that Ruth left her husband in the 1930s, where divorce was a ''huge'' No-No and 'when you got married, you ''stayed'' married'.

* KickTheDog: Or rather, kick your pregnant wife down the stairs as she's leaving you. Frank does this without a shred of remorse, earring him a YouMonster reaction from Idgie's brother Julian, who nearly assaults him. Really ninety percent of what Frank does could count as this, but that moment really stood out.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: The prosecuter thinks that Idgie and Big George killed Frank Bennett [[spoiler:but Judge Smoote dismisses the case anyways. Unbeknownst to him, the real killer is Big George's mother Sipsey.]]
* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: Between Idgie and Ruth. See also AmbiguouslyGay.

* BiTheWay: Eva Bates is heavily implied to be Idgie's first time and for awhile the two are kinda FriendsWithBenefits.

* GoodShepherd: Reverend Scroggins. He doesn't quite get along with Idgie all the time, but is a good man and [[spoiler: Provides her an alibi during her trial]]. He’s also the only person in the movie to ever refer tonBig George by his full name.

* GoodShepherd: Reverend Scroggins. He doesn't quite get along with Idgie all the time, but is a good man and [[spoiler: Provides her an alibi during her trial]].

* DeCompositeCharacter: Sheriff Smoot (whose past with Frank Bennet is omitted from the film) and [[spoiler: The Judge]]. are separate characters in the film, and neither of them indicates having any history with Frank Bennet.

* GoodBadGirl: Eva Bates.
* GoodShepherd: Reverned Scroggins. He doesn't quite get along with Idgie all the time, but is a good man and [[spoiler: Provides her an alibi during her trial]].

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Eva Bates.

* ImagineSpot: Done multiple times with Evelyn Couch.

** He's a Klansman in the movie as well, as Idgie points out because she recognizes his shoes when he's in his robes, and when he says he "doesn't recognize" the Georgian Klansmen that show up in Whistlestop. Apparently [[EvenEvilHasStandards Whistlestop Klansmen have different standards for how they treat black people than the Georgia ones]].

* ParkingPayback: Evelyn rear-ends a car that stole her parking spot... ''six times''.
* PassFail: One of the novel's subplots is about a black character who is able to pass as white, only to cause trouble to a relative who recognized her without realizing she was trying to pass.

* RelatedInTheAdaptation: An odd but minor example: in the novel, the woman Ed and Evelyn visit in the nursing home is Ed's unnamed mother. In the film, they go to visit Ed's Aunt Vesta. (In the novel, Vesta is a long-time resident of Whistle Stop whom Mrs. Threadgoode has known for many years; in the film, they're only fellow nursing home residents, and there's no evidence that they knew each other previously.)

* RightForTheWrongReasons: The prosecuter thinks that Idgie and her cook killed Frank Bennett [[spoiler:but Judge Smoote dismisses the case anyways. Unbeknownst to him, the real killer is the cook's adoptive mother.]]

** Smokey Lonesome is also alive when last seen in the film, while in the novel a chapter focuses on his death of natural causes, several years after the trial.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Idgie and Ruth.

* AgitatedItemStomping: Buddy "Stump" Jamison stomps an erector set he got for Christmas flat. While this is treated like a temper tantrum, an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_Set Erector Set]]--which uses nuts and bolts--is quite a thoughtless gift to give a ''one-armed'' kid.

* GiftGivingGaffe: Buddy "Stump" Jamison and the Erector set mentioned under AgitatedItemStomping.

* ScrapbookStory: The novel tells various characters' stories through traditional narrators, newspaper clippings and the local Whistlestop newspaper ''The Weems Weakly.'' The end of the book even has recipes from the titular restaurant.

* WhamLine: Mrs Threadgoode says a line early on that makes Evelyn really pay attention to what she's been blathering on about.
--> '''Mrs Threadgoode:''' "She was a character all right, but how anybody ever could have thought that she killed that man is beyond me."

* GoodShepherd: Reverned Scroggins. He doesn't quite get along with Edge all the time, but is a good man and [[spoiler: Provides her an alibi during her trial]].

* MyNewGiftIsLame: Buddy "Stump" Jamison and the Erector set mentioned under AgitatedItemStomping

* AgitatedItemStomping: Buddy "Stump" Jamison stomps an erector set he got for Christmas flat. While this is treated like a temper tantrum, an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_Set Erector Set]]--which uses nuts and bolts--is a rather thoughtless gift to give a ''one-armed'' kid.

* {{Trickster}}: Idgie exhibits almost all the characteristics: disdain for social conventions, dubious relationship with the truth, gender-bending behavior, [[spoiler:seeming immortality]].

* ChildByRape: Stump. It's never states directly, but Ruth's description of her married life makes it pretty plain that none of her sexual encounters with her husband were consensual. Stump never suffers for this and Ruth never loves him any less for the circumstances of his conception.

* BeeAfraid: Averted. Idgie can walk right up to a beehive, jam her hand in it, and rip out a fist full of honeycombs without getting stung. (Became a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for Mary Stuart Masterson in the movie: her stunt double quit the day before the bee scene, so Masterson performed the scene herself, without being stung.)