History Main / TheShutIn

* The self-imposed shut-ins who for whatever reason (typically agoraphobia or anxiety disorder) cannot bring themselves to go outside, or simply do not want to do so.

* Those who are kept against their will their entire lives, typically by family. Perhaps they have an injury or mental health condition the family finds embarrassing, as issue that's especially likely with BlueBlood families where status is crucial. Often ends up being a family's DarkSecret or SecretLegacy.

Since most fictional characters need to eat to live, shut-ins who are still ambulatory and aren't captives may go outside to buy the most necessary of supplies, but otherwise remain in isolation. Alternatively, a servant may bring meals to them or they may be long-term residents in a luxury hotel with room service.

It's not the least bit uncommon for people to avoid going outside in RealLife, and fiction follows through by giving us an assortment of house [[TheHermit hermit]] characters. They tend to come in three flavors:

* The self-imposed shut-ins who for whatever reason (typically agoraphobia) cannot bring themselves to go outside, or simply do not want to do so.

* Those who are kept against their will their entire lives, typically by family. Often ends up being a family's DarkSecret or SecretLegacy.

Since most fictional characters need to eat to live, shut-ins who are still ambulatory and aren't captives may go outside to buy the most necessary of supplies, but otherwise remain in isolation.

* '''GildedCage''': Usually befalls a young person, almost AlwaysFemale, who is given a luxurious lifestyle but is otherwise denied any socializing outside of interactions with her servants.

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Bella Swan falls into a deep depression and loses the will to leave the house in ''New Moon'' after [[SatelliteLoveInterest Edward]] moves away [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim to protect her]].

* In the third scene of ''Vanities'', Kathy has holed up in an unidentified friend's apartment after a [[HeroicBSOD nervous breakdown]] due to [[SuperOCD her obsession with "an organized life"]]. She copes with it by reading all the books she was assigned but never read in college, which leads her to become a novelist in the final scene of TheMusical.

* ''Film/IAmSam'': Annie, the elderly neighbor who babysits Sam's daughter Lucy when Sam works, is an agoraphobe who had not been outside in years. When testifying on behalf of Sam to his fitness as a father in his custody battle, her credibility is attacked with a lawyer bringing up this psychological condition.

* OlderThanRadio: Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, the protagonist of [[Literature/{{Oblomov}} the eponymous novel]] by Ivan Goncharov (1859), goes in a self-imposed exile from public life, not leaving his [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Saint Petersburg]] apartment for ''years''. What's most interesting here is that such behavior wasn't seen as something really extraordinary for a wealthy Russian landlord -- a class that had such high proportion of oddballs and weirdos that you might seem out of the line if you ''didn't'' have any eccentricities.

* In the short comic "The Forever Box" by Sarah Mesinga (anthologized in ''Flight''), the main character shuts herself in a magical time machine box with her books, laptop, and DVD's after the death of her brothers.

* None of the hellish spirits in ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce'' want to venture outside their "dwelling places" when darkness falls and 'They' arrive. Whether is a this is a case of OurAngelsAreDifferent or OurDemonsAreDifferent is not explicitly mentioned, therefore left open to interpretation. If anything, ''sunrise'' ironically comes first, and hoo boy [[GoodIsNotNice the damned don't]] [[HolyBurnsEvil like that]] [[EvilCannotComprehendGood one bit.]]

* In the backstory of ''Literature/UnnaturalIssue'', Richard Whitestone [[TheMourningAfter spends the bulk of his widowerhood]] in his chambers and library on the second floor of his country manor. He would have remained comparatively harmless[[note]](an Earth Master in that state of mind [[FisherKing would have done the local countryside absolutely no good]] were a mage of comparable strength not sealing the house off with wards)[[/note]] had he not [[FromBadToWorse gotten fixated on bringing his ]] [[{{Necromancer}} wife back]].

** PlayedForLaughs in the episode "The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification." Sheldon becomes obsessed with extending his life expectancy. Deciding that the outside world is too dangerous, he shuts himself in his room and builds a remote-controlled "Mobile Virtual Presence Device," equipped with a monitor, camera and speakers so that he can interact with others.

* ''Series/TruthSeekers'': Helen has intense anxiety around crowds and public places, to the extent that she has entered the cosplay contest at Conventry Collectibles and Cosplay Convention 5 years running, but has been unable to leave the car to attend. [[spoiler:This is revealed to be a psychological reaction to being emotionally neglected due to her parents being absorbed with the negative press attention around her brother being 'The Hinckley Boy'.]]

* In the ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'' comic, Jazmine was [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome missing for two years]]. The in-series reason was that she is locked herself in her room after 9/11 due to fearing terrorists. [[NotAllowedToGrowUp Yet, she didn't age a bit]].

* ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'' has Michael Angelo, a former Vault Dweller whose experience growing up in a cramped underground environment has given him crippling agoraphobia. Unfortunately, this means that as the designer of neon signs it means that he's unable to go out to get inspiration and thus tasks the player with taking pictures of various landmarks for him.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Brian has to do [[HeroDoesPublicService community service]] for a DUI, so he's made to be a home health aide, to a grouchy and mean elderly woman named Pearl. Though they originally hate each other, Brian eventually finds out Pearl was a great singer who became famous for jingles, was booed when she tried to do opera, and hasn't left her house in years. Brian falls in love with her, and sings an Emmy Award-winning song to her, convincing her to leave her house -- and she's immediately hit by a truck.

* Those with a physical condition that prevents them from going outside. [[HighFatIndex Extreme obesity]], [[WeakenedByTheLight extreme photosensitivity]], or being bedridden and likely near death are the most common reasons.

* In ''Anime/BNABrandNewAnimal'', Michiru Kagemori spent several months in her room after her accidental transformation into a tanuki beastwoman for fear of discrimination. As she is ''almost murdered'' on her trip to Anima City in the first episode, her fear was certainly well-founded.

* Became standard practice under [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.]] People avoided gatherings and transitioned to working at home where possible, as [[ThePlague the virus was easily transmitted through social contact]], making it necessary to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_distancing reduce physical contact]] between individuals as much as possible until vaccination reached a critical mass.

* Became standard practice under [[UsefulNotes/CoronavirusPandemic the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.]] People avoided gatherings and transitioned to working at home where possible, as [[ThePlague the virus was easily transmitted through social contact]], making it necessary to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_distancing reduce physical contact]] between individuals as much as possible until vaccination reached a critical mass.

* Became standard practice under [[UsefulNotes/CoronavirusPandemic the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.]] Those who were able to work at home, as [[ThePlague the virus was easily transmitted through social contact]], making it necessary to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_distancing reduce physical contact]] between individuals as much as possible until vaccination reached a critical mass.

* In 1874, the beautiful 25-year-old socialite Blanche Monnier had many suitors but decided to marry "a penniless lawyer", against the wishes of her family. Her mother, angered at Blanche's defiance, kept her locked up in a room for 25 years, surrounded by filth, without sunshine, weighing barely 25 kg, "lying completely naked on a rotten straw mattress". Adding insult to injury, the imprisonment began on her 26th birthday. It was only thanks to an anonymous tip that she was rescued, and even the officials had to leave the room shortly after they entered it because the atmosphere was so vile and rank. Her mother and brother went about their daily lives, pretending to mourn her disappearance. After her rescue, Blanche continues to suffer from mental health problems (anorexia nervosa, schizophrenia, exhibitionism, and coprophilia) and died in a mental hospital at the age of 61. Her lawyer lover had died suddenly in 1885.

* Victoria Victrix from the ''Secret World Chronicles'' by Creator/MercedesLackey became one of these through a combination of being betrayed by a lover and set on fire by a crazy relative. Her writing career allowed her to make a living without needing to leave her apartment for anything other than the horrifically stressful ordeal of grocery shopping, which she has to steel herself to perform for days and does as early in the morning as possible so that she doesn't have to encounter many people. She starts opening up more after becoming a superheroine, but [[MissionControl her]] [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection duties]] to her team are still arranged so she can perform them without leaving home, and her idea of hanging out with her teammates is to send an elemental to the bar where the others are hanging out to pick up drinks while she chats with them over the radio.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Film/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark(2019)'': has [[spoiler:Sarah Bellows. Due to her albinism, she was locked in her house and punished if she left the basement.]]

** Similarly, because she was sick all of the time, Satsuki started out as something this, until she had a [[spoiler: near-fatal asthma attack]] the one time she did go outside, which lead her to become full-on {{Hikkikomori}} after the whole event traumatized her.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* ''Film/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark(2019)'': has [[spoiler: Sarah Bellows. Due to her albinism, she was locked in her house and punished if she left the basement.]]

** Later on it's revealed that his brother Ambrose has the same condition, though Ambrose hasn't gotten over his. [[spoiler: He's eventually forced outside by Monk because his house was on fire.]]
* In ''Series/{{K9}}'', Professor Gryffen becomes this after having accidentally [[spoiler: killed his wife and children in a science experiment. He manages to overcome this in ''Eclipse of the Korven'' at the end of season one.]]

* Stephen Kepler in ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' is this, [[spoiler: or so it would seem...]]

* Alison Moyet - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8CeAHfAD2w "Invisible"]], [[ReclusiveArtist which reflected her real life situation for many years]].

* ''Webcomic/JackDavidHopkins'': Used very nastily in the story arc "Two For You". A loser is offered what looks like a sweet deal -- free room and board in a premium-luxury apartment as an advertising promotion, "So well cared for that you'll never have to leave this apartment again!" Of course there's a catch: [[spoiler: he's unwittingly sold his soul in exchange for a "Matrix"-type illusion, and then he loses even that.]]

* Dr. Schlock from ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' has been devolving into a shut-in after taking charge of [[spoiler: Hereti corp]], often using video conferencing or inflatable decoys to communicate with people while staying locked in his office. His growing list of enemies and setbacks is not being kind to his sanity.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': In the episode "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E12ATaleOfTwoStans A Tale of Two Stans]]", it's revealed that [[spoiler: Stan refused to leave his brother's house for several days after he inadvertently shoved him into an interdimensional portal until he ran out of food. When he went to buy food from a nearby store, the people there gave him the idea to impersonate his brother in order to make some desperately-needed cash by inviting them to the Mystery Shack, thus averting this trope]].

* In 1874, the beautiful 25-year-old socialite Blanche Monnier had many suitors but decided to marry "a penniless lawyer", against the wishes of her family. Her mother, angered at Blanche's defiance, kept her locked up in a room for 25 years, surrounded by filth, without sunshine, weighing barely 25 kg, "lying completely naked on a rotten straw mattress". It was only thanks to an anonymous tip that she was rescued, and even the officials had to leave the room shortly after they entered it because the atmosphere was so vile and rank. Her mother and brother went about their daily lives, pretending to mourn her disappearance. After her rescue, Blanche continues to suffer from mental health problems (anorexia nervosa, schizophrenia, exhibitionism, and coprophilia) and died in a mental hospital at the age of 61. Her lawyer lover had died suddenly in 1885.

* The most well-known case of a "feral child", Genie, was kept in isolation similarly to Blanche Monnier. Her isolation, abuse, and neglect started when she was 20 months old until she was 13.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Brian has to do [[HeroDoesPublicService community service]] for a DUI, so he's made to be a home health aide, to a grouchy and mean elderly woman named Pearl. Though they originally hate each other, Brian eventually finds out Pearl was a great singer who became famous for jingles, was booed when she tried to become do opera and hasn't left her house in years. Brian falls in love with her, and sings an Emmy Award-winning song to her, convincing her to leave her house -- and she's immediately hit by a truck.

* Eri Asai from Haruki Murakami's novel ''After Dark''. After being deprived of a normal childhood because of her hectic modeling career, she abruptly locked herself in her room and went into deep periods of sleep, awakening only to eat and use the bathroom.

* The Protagonist in ''The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant'' is an example of this, hiding himself away from the world after developing leprosy. %% wife]] ''[[{{Necromancer}} back]]''.

%%%* The main character of Creator/FyodorDostoevsky's ''Notes from Underground.''