History Literature / WeAllFallDown

* TheCorruptor: Harry, who delights in leading Buddy and his other goons into increasingly destructive (and drunken) mischief that they would never have gotten into on their own, and is too sociopathic to care about the consequences.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: The Avenger kills his grandfather when it seems as though the latter is about to realize his grandson was involved in Vaughn Masterson's death.

* MaliciousMisnaming: Mickey Stallings, the local handyman who is said to resemble Mickey Rooney, but is creepy enough that the locals call him Mickey ''Looney''. Downplayed in that no one actually says this to his face.

* PartingWordsRegret: Touched on. Jane feels especially bad that her last exchange with Karen before the latter fell into a coma was an argument.

** Subverted when Harry is busted for the vandalism, but is able to rig things so that only he takes the fall, while Buddy and the other vandals are never suspected. [[spoiler:While this is certainly a kindness on Harry's part, he only got a slap on the wrist for all that damage, and we're left with the sense that being able to keep manipulating Buddy is worth more to him than seeing Buddy get nailed by the law, too.]]

* GuileHero: The Avenger ''appears'' to be this at first, being an 11-year old boy who must find a way to enact his brand of justice against several older teenagers, and as he stalks them, the narrative centers on his calculating nature. [[spoiler:He's actually Mickey Stallings, a seriously disturbed middle-aged man who committed the Avenger's murders 30 years ago, yet still imagines that he's 11 years old.]]

* GuileHero: The Avenger ''appears'' to be this at first, being an 11-year old boy who must find a way to enact his brand of justice against several older teenagers, and as he stalks them, the narrative centers on his calculating nature. [[spoiler:He's actually Mickey Stallings, a seriously disturbed middle-aged man who committed the Avenger's murders 30 years ago.]]

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Buddy was one of the four trashers, but when he befriends Jane and comes to genuinely like her, he is inspired to at least ''try'' to stop drinking and take more responsibility for his life. [[spoiler:Then the Avenger kidnaps Jane and tells her that Buddy was involved, which torpedoes their relationship and his redemption]].

* ToxicFriendInfluence: Buddy's life was on a downward spiral from the start, but meeting Harry made things much, much worse for him.

* GuileHeroine: In the climax, [[spoiler:the Avenger, who turns out to be Mickey, kidnaps Jane and accuses her of being involved in Karen's accident because she was dating Buddy. Jane is horrified and starts to StressVomit, especially when the Avenger brings out the knife. Then she calms down and tells Mickey that it's not true, and he's not a child Avenger but a delusional old man. This causes the Avenger to have a VillainousBreakdown and slit his wrists]].

* PetTheDog: Subverted. [[spoiler:After Jane breaks up with Buddy, Harry Flowers calls her to apologize on Buddy's behalf, explaining that Buddy himself had no part in what happened to Karen. Then he promptly flirts with her, which understandably weirds Jane out and causes her to hang up on him.]]

Four drunken teens invade and trash a house while the family is away. This savage act takes a turn for the (even) worse when one of the family's daughters, Karen, unexpectedly returns early. While trying to escape, Karen is pushed down a flight of stairs, leaving her in a coma, and the vandals flee. As the family is shaken by the tragedy, a murderous vigilante who witnessed the trashing begins hunting the perpetrators, and Karen's older sister unknowingly begins a relationship with one of the vandals.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: The Avenger kills his grandfather when it seems as though the man is about to realize his grandson was involved in Vaughn Masterson's death.

* PsychopathicManchild: The Avenger is revealed to be this when [[spoiler: it's revealed he committed his first murder 30 years ago and is now a psychotic middle aged man who's perfectly willing to kill Jane and never mentally grew past his 11 year old self on the day of his first murder.]]

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Jane, after her traumatic experience with "The Avenger," confronts Buddy for his failure on this. [[spoiler:He could have confessed that he was one of the idiots that "pissed" on her walls and injured her sister, but he didn't because he was a DirtyCoward. What's more, he lied to her about who he was and what he did, since if he had a conscience he could have testified against Harry and turned in the other gang members]].

Four drunken teens invade and trash a home while the family is away. This savage act takes a turn for the (even) worse when one of the family's daughters, Karen, unexpectedly returns early. While trying to escape, Karen is pushed down a flight of stairs, leaving her in a coma, and the vandals flee. As the family is shaken by the tragedy, a murderous vigilante who witnessed the trashing begins hunting the perpetrators, and Karen's older sister unknowingly begins a relationship with one of the vandals.

* TheAlcoholic: Buddy, both before and after his relationship with Jane.
* BittersweetEnding: More bitter than sweet, but relatively lighter than most of Cormier's books. Karen recovers from her coma, and is steadily rebuilding her life and motor functions. [[spoiler:Jane breaks up with Buddy when learning he was one of the gang members that invaded her house, calling him out for being a spineless DirtyCoward. As a result, Buddy takes up drinking again and is in worse shape than he was at the beginning of the book. While Jane forgives him, she's not getting back together with him, for obvious reasons. Harry Flowers is still walking free, and the other gang members aren't known. Oh, and the Avenger commits suicide when Jane tells him he's not a child but a delusional old man]].

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Jane spells this out to [[spoiler:Buddy when learning he invaded her house along with the gang of boys. She knows he had a rough life and is sympathetic about his father being abuse. That was not an excuse to piss on her walls and hurt her sister]].

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Buddy was one of the four trashers. He starts befriending Jane and comes to genuinely like her, which inspires him to at least ''try'' to stop drinking and take more responsibility for his life. [[spoiler:Then the Avenger kidnaps Jane and tells her that Buddy was involved, which torpedoes their relationship and his redemption]].

''We All Fall Down'' is a novel by Creator/RobertCormier. It is relatively lighter compared to his other novels but still depressing.

Several teens invade a home while the family is away, leaving only the youngest Karen as the witness. Karen, while trying to escape, is pushed down a flight of stairs which leaves her in a coma. As everyone is shaken by the tragedy and one individual seeks justice, Karen's older sister unknowingly gets involved with a gang member.

* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: PlayedForDrama. Buddy when he was vandalizing Jane's home was sloshed to the nines. Even so, he knows it's not an excuse [[spoiler:when Jane confronts him about it]].

* GuileHeroine: In the climax, [[spoiler:the Avenger, an old man known as Mickey, kidnaps Jane and accuses her of being involved in Karen's accident because she was dating Buddy. Jane is horrified and starts to StressVomit, especially when the Avenger brings out the knife. Then she calms down and tells Mickey that it's not true, and he's not a child Avenger but a delusional old man. This causes the Avenger to have a VillainousBreakdown and slit his wrists]].
* HeKnowsTooMuch: The Avenger kills his grandfather when it seems as though the man is about to realize his grandson had some part to play in Vaughn Masterson's death.
* HomeEarlySurprise: Karen Jerome "made the mistake of arriving home early" and is attacked by the gang of boys vandalizing her family's house.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Buddy was one of the guys involved in invading the house. He starts befriending Jane and comes to genuinely like her, cleaning up his act. [[spoiler:Then the Avenger kidnaps Jane and tells her that Buddy was involved, which torpedoes their relationship and his redemption]].
* KarmaHoudini: Deconstructed. While Harry Flowers is let off the hook for trashing the house and injuring Karen, everyone knows what he did. His reputation is shot, even as he maintains a cool persona and tries to appear like he doesn't care.

* PetTheDog: Subverted. [[spoiler:After Jane breaks up with Buddy, Harry Flowers calls her to apologize on Buddy's behalf. He says that Buddy didn't attempt to rape Karen or push her down the stairs, and so he was innocent of those crimes. Then Harry Flowers starts trying to seduce Jane over the phone, who understandably freaks out and hangs up]].

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Jane, after her traumatic experience with "The Avenger," confronts Buddy for his failure on this. [[spoiler:He could have confessed that he was one of the idiots that "pissed" on her walls and injured her sister, but he didn't because he was a DirtyCoward. What's more, he lied to her about who he was and what he did, since if he had a conscience he could have testified against Harry and turned in the other gang membres]].

''We All Fall Down'' is a novel by Robert Cormier. It is relatively lighter compared to his other novels but still depressing.

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Jane spells this out to [[spoiler:Buddy when learning he invaded her house along with the gang of boys. She knows he had a rough life and is sympathetic about his father being abuse. That was not an excuse to piss on her walls and hurt her sisters]].
* GuileHeroine: In the climax, [[spoiler:the Avenger, an old man known as Mickey, kidnaps Jane and accuses her of being involved in Karen's accident because she was dating buddy. Jane is horrified and starts to StressVomit, especially when the Avenger brings out the knife. Then she calms down and tells Mickey that it's not true, and he's not a child avenger but a delusional old man. This causes the Avenger to have a VillainousBreakdown and slit his wrists]].