History Literature / TheHundredAndOneDalmatians

* NoNameGiven: The adult couple are simple "Mr Dearly" and "Mrs Dearly."

* RealityEnsues: The real life difficulties of the plot come up over and over again. Fifteen puppies are too much for Missis, leading Mr Dearly to start feeding puppies himself while Mrs Dearly looks for a nurse dog. Also, the trip back to London on foot is more than most of the puppies can handle, particularly for Cadpig. And Pongo is aware that getting "home" might not mean safety and a hot meal since the Dearlys won't possibly have enough food on hand for dozens of puppies.

* BoisterousBruiser: The Staffordshire Terrier. His owners are very proud of him and give him affectionate nicknames like "The Canine Cannon Ball" and "Misguided Missile".
* BrainlessBeauty: Missis is described as very pretty and brave but also somewhat silly, vain, selfish, and baffled by abstract concepts such as "left". Then again, many dogs are -- and Pongo is very aware that while Missis may not be as clever as he is, she has better instincts.

** Cruella de Vil is cruel and the villain of the book.
** Her country estate is named Hell Hall ("Hill Hall" before the de Vil family bought it).

* NoodleIncident: The Dearlys can afford a nice house near Regent Park because Mr Dearly, a financial wizard, had "done a very great service for the government". Later they can afford to move to the country (and buy Hill Hall) because he had done yet another "very great service" (something to do with "getting rid of the National Debt").

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Inverted. At the end of the novel, when trying to find the owners of the other 82 puppies, the Dearlys are surprised to find that no one is looking for them...because they're not stolen. Cruella simply purchased them legally.

* VillainBall: There was no reason at all for Cruella to kidnap the Dearly puppies. She already owned 82 dalmatian puppies, which should have been plenty to start her fur farm. The only thing that taking the Dearly puppies accomplished was 1) wasting money (she paid more to the dog thieves than she had for any litter), 2) bringing unwanted police attention (nothing she'd done before was illegal), 3) causing her husband's business to be destroyed by 99 extremely irate Dalmatians.

** Hell Hall, the manor where the puppies are kept.
** Cruella's, and to a lesser extent, the Dearlys' London homes also qualify, as the Outer Circle was (and is) one of the most prestigious locations in London.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Perdita recalls a time, not long after she grew up, when she "felt a great desire to marry".

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Cruella, as opposed to her AxCrazy depiction in other works. She genuinely doesn't see why Dalmatian dogs are supposed to be beloved family pets instead of mindless fur animals. But since she has the drive and wherewithal to do anything she likes, she's terrifying.

* CatsAreMean: Zigzagged. The cats are friendly to the dogs, but Cruella's cat commits a vicious act that is directly responsible for her downfall (she lets the dalmatians into the house to destroy the De Vil stock of furs in retaliation for all the kittens Cruella drowned). She later confides that she could foresee Cruella heading for a bad end and wanted to be there to witness it.

** The book's Perdita is a stray; Mrs Dearly names her Perdita because it is Latin for "lost".

* MeaningfulName: Cruella de Vil is cruel and the villain of the book. [[SarcasmMode How unforeseen.]]

* {{Xenofiction}}: Although for the most part a fantasy story, there are shades of this, as it's made clear that dogs think ''very'' differently from humans. Missus may not know right from left, but the fact that Pongo ''does'' know right from left is treated as rather remarkable and proof of his advanced intelligence.
* VillainBall: There was no reason at all for Cruella to kidnap the Dearly puppies. She already owned 82 dalmatian puppies, which should have been plenty to start her fur farm. The only thing that taking the Dearly puppies accomplished was 1) wasting money (she paid more to the dog thieves than she had for any litter), 2) bringing unwanted police attention (nothing she'd done before was illegal), 3) causing her husband's business to be destroyed by 99 extremely irate Dalmatians.

* NoodleIncident: The Dearlys can afford a nice house near Regent Park because Mr Dearly, a financial wizard, had "done a very great service for the government". Later they can afford to move to the country (and buy Hill Hall) because he had done yet another "very great service".

* AccidentallyAccurate: In universe. While resting for the night in an old country estate, Pongo is startled when the elderly owner (who thinks he is seeing the ghost of dogs from his childhood) calls him by his real name. Then he remembers that he was named that because it was a common name for Dalmatian coach dogs.

* AlienLunch: What Cruella eats (food in bizarre colours, all of which taste of pepper, even the ice cream, which was ''black'') could very well be that.
** She got expelled from school for drinking ink.
*** And during the Dearlys' dinner party she grinds huge amounts of pepper over everything before eating it, including the fruit salad.

* BigFancyHouse: Hell Hall, the manor where the puppies are kept.

* BrainlessBeauty: Missis is described as very pretty and brave but also somewhat vain, selfish, and baffled by abstract concepts such as "left". Then again, many dogs are.

** Cruella, in keeping with her "devil" theme, has an [[PyroManiac above-average]] fascination for fire. At one point in the novel she stops her car and temporarily drops the chase of the dalmatians in order to watch a bakery burn. Though nothing is ever stated, older readers might note that her glee at seeing the fire burning almost takes on a tint of sexual excitement and ecstasy.

* CatsAreMean: Zigzagged. The cats are friendly to the dogs, but Cruella's cat commits a vicious act that is directly responsible for her downfall (she lets the dalmatians into the house to destroy the De Vil stock of furs in retaliation for all the kittens Cruella drowned). She later confides that she could foresee Cruella heading for a bad end and wanted to be there to witness it.

* DogWalksYou: In ThisInMyHuman fashion, Pongo and Missis think of themselves as putting the Dearlys on the leash and taking them out for some air.

* RealityEnsues: The real life difficulties of the plot come up over and over again. Fifteen puppies are too much for Missis, leading Mr Dearly to start feeding puppies himself while Mrs Dearly looks for a nurse dog. Also, the trip back to London on foot is more than most of the puppies can handle, particularly for Cadpig. And Pongo is aware that getting "home" might not mean safety and a hot meal since the Dearlys won't possibly have enough food on hand for dozens of puppies.

* ThisIsMyHuman: The dogs refer to the Dearlys as their pets. They are aware that the Dearlys believe it's the other way around, but they find it charming and let their humans continue to believe so.

*** And during the Dearlys' dinner party grinds huge amounts of pepper over everything before eating it, including the fruit salad.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Cruella, as opposed to her AxCrazy depiction in other works. She genuinely doesn't see why Dalmatian dogs are supposed to be beloved family pets instead of fur animals like everything else. But since she has the drive and wherewithal to do anything she likes, she's terrifying.

* CatsAreMean: Averted.
** Well, averted by Willow but subverted by Cruella's cat. She is initially hostile to the Dalmatians but the book makes a point that this was only the result of mistreatment by her owner ([[MoralEventHorizon Cruella had drowned thirty-three of her kittens]]), and she befriends the Dalmatians -- we eventually learn that she stayed with Cruella for so long because she knew Cruella was heading for a bad end and she wanted to be there to witness it.

* DogWalksYou

* RightHandCat: Cruella's white Persian cat. Subverted, in that the cat hates Cruella and Cruella herself keeps her only because she's a valuable pedigree.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: After rescuing the puppies, the dalmatians break into Cruella's house and destroy every fur that she owns. This wasn't just about revenge, though: Pongo was trying to put the de Vils out of business so that they couldn't try again with another group of dalmatian puppies. (Missis, understandably, had less noble motives).

* VillainBall: There was no reason at all for Cruella to kidnap the Dearly puppies. She already owned 82 dalmatian puppies, which should have been plenty to start her fur farm. The only thing that taking the Dearly puppies accomplished was 1) Wasting money (she paid more to the dog thieves than she had for any litter), 2) Bringing unwanted police attention (nothing she'd done before was illegal), 3) Causing her husband's business to be destroyed by 99 extremely irate Dalmatians.

The book was adapted several times by Creator/{{Disney}} into ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians''. Dodie Smith also penned a lesser known sequel, ''The Starlight Barking'' (1967).

*** And during the Dearlys' dinner party pours huge amounts of pepper over everything before eating it, including the fruit salad.

The anxious parents find that Cruella has imprisoned their puppies in her country estate (along with 84 she had previously acquired), with the intent to skin them and make spotted Dalmatian-skin coats. Pongo and Missis rescue them all and return home triumphant with 97 puppies in tow. A rescued nurse-dog named Perdita and her long-lost beau round out their numbers to 101, and the Dearlys end up buying the same country estate where the pups were originally held prisoner.

* AccidentallyAccurate: While resting for the night in an old country estate, Pongo is startled when the elderly owner (who thinks he is seeing the ghost of dogs from his childhood) calls him by his real name. Then he remembers that he was named that because it was a common name for Dalmatian coach dogs.

* TributeToFido: Dodie Smith's inspiration for the book was her own dalmatian Pongo; naturally, she put him into it as the main character.

The anxious parents find that Cruella has imprisoned their puppies in her country estate (along with 84 she had previously acquired), with the intent to skin them and make spotted Dalmatian-skin coats. Pongo and Missis rescue them all and return home triumphant with 97 puppies in tow. A rescued nurse-dog and her long-lost beau round out their numbers to 101, and the Dearlys end up buying the same country estate where the pups were originally held prisoner.

* PimpedOutDress: Cruella always appears wearing [[EverythingsSparklyWithJewelry loads of jewellery]] and a white mink cloak.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: After rescuing the puppies, the dalmatians break into Cruella's house and destroy every fur that she owns. This wasn't just about revenge, though: Pongo was trying to put the de Vils out of business so that they couldn't try again with another group of dalmatian puppies.