History Main / TakeBackYourGift

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

** A platonic example occurs in "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS1E6TheConqueror The Conqueror]]", Gaia's EvilCounterpart, Zarm, pretends to be benevolent and offers the Planeteers power upgrades. He corrupts everyone except [[ImmuneToMindControl Ma-Ti]], turning Gaia into a mortal. Nonetheless, she still goes after the rogue Planeteers, managing to convince them of Zarm's real nature. When they throw off the corruption, Kwame, Gi, Linka and Wheeler signify it by taking off and throwing away the gauntlets of conquest Zarm gave them.
** PlayedForDrama in "Kwame's Crisis". When Sly Sludge's latest scheme makes Kwame feel dejected, his ring stops working. Gaia shows up as a hologram to convince him not to give up hope, but he replies that it's too late and she should give the ring to someone else, before throwing it at the hologram.\\

[[folder:Films - Animation]]

[[folder:Films - Live Action]]

Seeing as this trope involves break-ups or dramatic shifts in relationship dynamics, be wary of unmarked spoilers.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': A platonic example occurs in "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS1E6TheConqueror The Conqueror]]", Gaia's EvilCounterpart, Zarm, pretends to be benevolent and offers the Planeteers power upgrades. He corrupts everyone except [[ImmuneToMindControl Ma-Ti]], turning Gaia into a mortal. Nonetheless, she still goes after the rogue Planeteers, managing to convince them of Zarm's real nature. When they throw off the corruption, Kwame, Gi, Linka and Wheeler signify it by taking off and throwing away the gauntlets of conquest Zarm gave them.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

* Near the beginning of ''{{Manga/Monster}}'', Dr. Tenma's fiance does this with her engagement-ring, and a decidedly unpleasant smile, after Tenma's fall from grace - and adds insult to injury by dropping it at his feet, before walking inside to immediately start flirting with the guy who got Tenma's promotion instead of him.

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Comic Strips]]

[[folder: Films - Animation]]

[[folder: Films - Live Action]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In the Otto Prohaska novels, the protagonist is injured in a flying accident and is likely to lose his leg. Countess Sophie, the wife of Archduke Ferdinand, visits Otto in hospital and presents him with a religious medal to urge him to keep faith. After she leaves Otto throws the medal in the rubbish bin in a fit of anger. Turns out she's arranged for the royal train to convey him express to Vienna where a surgeon is able to save his leg. Otto feels guilty for the rest of his life, worried that someone might have found the medal and returned it to her. The countess and her husband are assassinated in Sarejevo (triggering World War One) so he never had a chance to apologise or thank her.
* A Creator/PeterDavid ''Franchise/StarTrek'' novel, ''Q-In-Law,'' has a friendly alien woman give Wesley Crusher a handmaiden in return for some favor or other. The handmaiden is beautiful, enthusiastic - and devastatingly clumsy, and Crusher swiftly grows chagrined by her antics. Naturally he can't give back the gift without inciting an incident. [[spoiler: it turns out that the woman was ''lying'' about returning a gift being an insult - she was using the situation as an excuse to get rid of the kind-hearted but annoying handmaiden. In the end, after the girl helps keep the woman from killing her betrothed husband (it's a long story), the woman takes her back.]]
* In ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility,'' Willoughby puts the final nail in the coffin when he returns all of Marianne's letters and the lock of hair that he'd asked from her, and then marrying a Miss Gray for her fortune after having giving everyone the serious impression that he was going to propose to Marianne. This turns out to be the ''least'' caddish of his actions.

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

'''Nate:''' ''[throws it]'' There. Barf.

[[folder: Music]]

-->She wants to return the things I bought her,
-->Tell her she can keep them just the same.
* [[PlayingWithAtrope Played With]] in the Music/TaylorSwift song "All Too Well": The ex-boyfriend mails back everything ''except'' the most personal item, a scarf that got left at his place.

[[folder: Theatre ]]

* In ''Theatre/TheMoonIsBlue'', Patty decides to give David back the six hundred dollars he gave her (an amount equivalent to fifteen weeks of her salary) when she overhears a remark implying that she ought to have remained beholden to him for that duration.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Visual Novels ]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

--> “Fine. You know what, ''fine.'' Here, just, see all this goddamn tea you gave me? Well you can take it back. Here, fish it out of the harbor for all I care.”
--> "Don't do this."
--> “I have no choice. I’ll never be anything more than a colony to you.”

[[folder: WesternAnimation]]

* Downplayed in the 2002 mini-series ''Series/{{Napoleon}}''. After his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon's Polish mistress returns a diamond necklace he gave her, but makes a point of saying there's no rancor in the act -- Napoleon may have to flee France soon and will need money.

* In a reversal and inversion of this trope, during the GrandFinale of ''Series/{{MASH}}'', Charles demands that Margaret return to him a book that he gave her as a present. She grudgingly obliges, and at their final farewell, he returns the book to her, this time with a heartfelt message written inside.

%%* Lampshaded in ''Series/SixFeetUnder'', as seen in the page quote.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', Moses returns the ring back to Ramses when he refuses to free his people and that Moses must carries on God's mission, even if it means breaking their brotherhood.