History TheUnFavourite / Literature

* In their mother's eyes at least, Anna and Jesse are clearly Unfavorites in comparison to DelicateAndSickly Kate in ''Literature/MySistersKeeper''. As Jesse says, he's the "lost cause", a guy that spends all his time in a filthy garage apartment doing drugs and drinking. The unfavoritism leads to [[spoiler:him becoming an arsonist and causing his fireman father quite a lot of grief.]] Anna, on the other hand, was only born to donate blood to Kate, who has leukemia. It's scary how her mother seems to think of her not in terms of who she is as a person, but as the sum of the parts that could be used to help Kate. Their father, on the other hand, seems to think of all of them equally, though of course because of Kate's condition he has to put the other two in the back seat from time to time -- especially Jesse, who started consider himself "invisible" within the family, since Kate and Anna are often the center of attention whenever Kate's condition worsens.

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/TheZeroStone'', Jern was his mother's. His brother and sister were his father's, but the father dies first, and his mother cuts him off.
* Vera Whitefern of ''Literature/MySweetAudrina'' is her father's un-favorite; he refuses to even acknowledge her as his child. Her desire to gain her father's love basically caused the entire plot of the book.

* In ''Literature/ParableOfTheTalents'' by Creator/OctaviaButler, Asha Vere is the unfavorite to her parents, strict Christian [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalists]] who don't seem to love her. Their other child, Kamaria, died in a bombing. [[spoiler:It turns out she's adopted.]]

* ''Literature/AllAmericanGirl'' has Samantha Madison perceives herself to be this. She's the [[MiddleChildSyndrome middle child]], with her older sister Lucy being an attractive, popular cheerleader and her younger sister Rebecca being [[ChildProdigy super intelligent]]. She notes that she was always getting hand-me-down clothes from Lucy (including bras), and that her parents do not understand her love for art and dislike for school. It isn't until she [[ItMakesSenseInContext rescues the US president from an assassination attempt]] that her parents seem to pay positive attention to her. ''Ready or Not'' does show that both parents love their children, even choosing to cut back on their hours to spend more time with ''all'' of their daughters because they feel a better parental presence would do all of them good.

* Jane Rizzoli in the ''Series/RizzoliAndIsles'' books (the first two, at least). Her mother is completely oblivious to and dismissive of her job as a detective, even chastising Jane when she has to leave a family dinner in order to make an arrest, asking her, "Can't they do it without you?" In another instance, despite Jane having gone all out to make sure that she has a nice birthday, she focuses on and bitches about the one thing that Jane didn't do -- bake a cake. But when her brother Frankie fails to buy a gift and doesn't even show up for the party, she doesn't get angry at all and dismisses his attempts at apologizing. It's so prevalent that in another scene, Jane is downright shocked when her mother takes her side in argument with Frankie, as this has apparently never happened before. The reader soon learns the root of this -- she has just discovered that her husband is having an affair and Frankie and the other brothers have taken his side, finally cluing her in to what a mistake she's made favoring the boys over Jane.

* ''No Place for Me'': Protagonist Copper Jones is a dramatic example of an Unfavorite, largely due to her mother's reputation as an unstable, manipulative alcoholic. When her mother goes to rehab (again) and her stepfather has to move for work, she ends up living with a succession of three different aunts' families and getting kicked out of the first two. Her Aunt Dorothy won't spend a penny on Copper even for something as trivial as an ice cream cone, and all but forces Copper to sleep on a urine-stained quilt because it's too expensive to have the quilt cleaned (and later, when she learns that Copper tried to wash the quilt herself and ruined it, is furious). Then it's off to Aunt Judith and Uncle Raymond, who throw Copper out after their house is burglarized, fearing that the negative publicity will ruin Raymond's political career. Finally and fortunately, Aunt Maggie (her father's sister) is able to provide Copper with the love and understanding she needs and has thus far lacked.

* Another example is Kevin Christ in ''Only Human'', who's the younger brother to Jesus and the second son of God.

* In ''How Sweet It Is'' by Creator/MelissaBrayden, Jordan had a hefty dose of this in comparison to her older siblings who dutifully went into healthcare like their parents, especially her now-deceased sister Cassie. It was a regular thing long before she went into filmmaking, though, and the realization that she'd never be good enough for her parents probably influenced her choice.

* In their mother's eyes at least, Anna and Jesse are clearly Unfavorites in comparison to IllGirl Kate in ''Literature/MySistersKeeper''. As Jesse says, he's the "lost cause", a guy that spends all his time in a filthy garage apartment doing drugs and drinking. The unfavoritism leads to [[spoiler:him becoming an arsonist and causing his fireman father quite a lot of grief.]] Anna, on the other hand, was only born to donate blood to Kate, who has leukemia. It's scary how her mother seems to think of her not in terms of who she is as a person, but as the sum of the parts that could be used to help Kate. Their father, on the other hand, seems to think of all of them equally, though of course because of Kate's condition he has to put the other two in the back seat from time to time -- especially Jesse, who started consider himself "invisible" within the family, since Kate and Anna are often the center of attention whenever Kate's condition worsens.

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/TheZeroStone'', Jern was his mother's. His brother and sister were his father's, but the father dies first, and his mother cuts him off.

* Ebenezer Scrooge, of Creator/CharlesDickens' ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' fame, is heavily implied to be this, sent away to BoardingSchool for years at a time by his resentful father. In some versions (at least in TheFilmOfTheBook with Alistair Sim), it's explained that Ebenezer's father blames him for his mother's DeathByChildbirth. His kind-hearted and beautiful [[FridgeLogic younger]] sister Fan is kept at home and is the apparent favorite, possibly due to an implied resemblance to her mother.

** Ron ''feels'' like this, even though it's not true (his family never shows him anything but unconditional love). Specifically, he feels overshadowed by his five older brothers, '''and''' his younger sister (the last child and the only daughter; his mum supposedly wanted a girl), '''and''' by his famous best friend, whom his mum treats like another son.
** Molly has shown some unfavorite sentiments toward Fred and George. More than once she's compared them (and Ron) unfavorably to their three older brothers. When Ron is appointed a school prefect (like Bill, Charlie, and Percy) in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'', Molly squeals, "That's everyone in the family!" prompting George to quip, "What are Fred and I? Next-door neighbors?" She also apparently didn't have much faith in Ginny becoming a prefect either. Granted, Fred and George can be a handful, but even so...

* In ''Literature/SeekerBears'' Toklo resents his IllBoy brother Tobi because their mother dotes over Tobi. He also feels Tobi weighs them down and that they'd be better off without him. When [[spoiler:Tobi dies]] their mother [[spoiler:[[ParentalAbandonment abandons Toklo]] in her despair due to not wanting to lose both cubs due to food shortages (especially after losing previous litters).]] Afterwards Toklo begins hating his mother for [[spoiler:abandoning him]].

* In their mother's eyes at least, Anna and Jesse are clearly Unfavorites in comparison to IllGirl Kate in ''Literature/MySistersKeeper''. As Jesse says, he's the "lost cause", a guy that spends all his time in a filthy garage apartment doing drugs and drinking. The unfavoritism leads to [[spoiler:him becoming an arsonist and causing his fireman father quite a lot of grief.]] Anna, on the other hand, was only born to donate blood to Kate, who has leukemia. It's scary how her mother seems to think of her not in terms of who she is as a person, but as the sum of the parts that could be used to help Kate. Their father, on the other hand, seems to think of all of them equally, though of course because of Kate's condition he has to put the other two in the back seat from time -- especially Jesse, who started consider himself "invisible" within the family, since Kate and Anna are often the center of attention whenever Kate's condition worsens.

* In the ''Literature/ObsidianAndBlood'' series, Acatl ''became'' this upon deciding to be a priest for the dead instead of following his older brother Neutemoc and become a warrior. Their parents, who had been peasants, really wished for their sons to reach a higher status in society, so the younger son's decision to go off and become a priest with no wordly possessions was not popular with them. Never mind that he managed to climb the ladder and become the HighPriest of his order. It becomes a major plot point in the first book.

* ''Literature/{{Power}}'': Omishto, who has a rocky, distant relationship with her mother and is outright abused by her stepfather, Herman, being physically beaten while fearing him having sexual attraction to her. Donna, her older sister, escapes all of this.

* Jane Rizzoli in the ''Series/RizzoliAndIsles'' books (the first two, at least). Her mother is completely oblivious to and dismissive of her job as a detective, even chastising Jane when she has to leave a family dinner is order to make an arrest, asking her "Can't they do it without you?". In another instance, despite Jane having gone all out to make sure that she has a nice birthday, she focuses on and bitches about the one thing that Jane didn't do -- bake a cake. But when her brother Frankie fails to buy a gift and doesn't even show up for the party, she doesn't get angry at all and dismisses his attempts at apologizing. It's so prevalent that in another scene, Jane is downright shocked when her mother takes her side in argument with Frankie, as this has apparently never happened before. The reader soon learns the root of this -- she has just discovered that her husband is having an affair and Frankie and the other brothers have taken his side, finally cluing her in to what a mistake she's made favoring the boys over Jane.

** Jon Snow is treated this way by Catelyn Stark, the wife of his father Ned Stark, because Jon is Ned's [[HeroicBastard illegitimate son]] with [[MissingMom another woman]]. Ned loves and treats Jon like all of his other children and Jon loves and is loved by the rest of his family. Catelyn, on the other hand, treats him coldly. Though it was only the one time after Bran fell from a tower, Catelyn -- deranged with grief and worry -- tells Jon (who is also deeply grieved and worried over Bran) that this near fatal accident should have happened to him rather than to one of her own children.

** Theon Greyjoy, whose father Balon Greyjoy only holds disdain for his son as Theon spent the last ten years as a hostage/ward to Balon's hated enemies, the Starks. Balon ignores that the only reason his son spent ten years as a hostage/ward of the Starks was because he gave his son away as this hostage, to pay for his own crimes of rebelling against King Robert, who wanted to ensure Balon would not rebel again.

* Josephine in Creator/TimPowers' ''Literature/TheStressOfHerRegard''. She is the disturbed and unappreciated younger sister of protagonist Michael Crawford's wife Julia; their mother [[DeathByChildbirth died giving birth]] to Josephine; the family says that they don't hold this against her but that Josephine holds it against herself. Josephine spent her youth coping with stress by becoming someone else; imitating a clockwork machine, or imitating her sister Julia (who charmingly made sure that people knew about this). Years after Julia's death, Crawford and Josephine are guests in someone else's home when Josephine slips into 'becoming' Julia for several days. Crawford then feels that he now knows Julia far better than he did when they were married -- and doesn't like her much, and tries to help Josephine return to her own personality.

* A major source of angst for Lissa in ''Literature/VampireAcademy'', is how she was always walking in her brother's shadow.

** It turns out that each apartment was custom-built for the tenants, having the correct number of bedrooms for the family assigned to it. How many bedrooms does the Wexler apartment have? Two and a half. The "third" is repeatedly confused for a closet, and Grace declared it "just perfect for Turtle" upon the initial walk through. Which meant even Sam Westing, who'd never properly met the family before the story, knew exactly how Grace felt about her daughters.

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/TheZeroStone'', Jern was his mother's. His brother and sister were his father's, but the father dies first, and his mother cuts him off.

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** Jin Guangyao is the least favoured child of the notoriously promiscuous Sect Leader Jin Guangshan's (known) children due to his [[SonOfAWhore mother being a prostitute]]. When he seeks out his father as a teenager, he gets kicked down the stairs of the Koi Tower on his and Jin Zixuan's shared birthday (Jin Zixuan being Jin Guangshan's only legitimate child). He's only accepted into the family after becoming a war hero in the Sunshot Campaign, and even then, is treated more like a servant than family. After Jin Zixuan's death, his father's wife takes her anger over Jin Guangshan's infidelity out on him to the point where he has to hide bruises and wounds from her abuse. Jin Guangshan also brings the fourteen year old Mo Xuanyu, another illegitimate child of his, back to the Koi Tower, possibly planning to have Mo Xuanyu succeed him rather than Jin Guangyao because his mother at least came from a good family.

* The titular character of ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'' was this to his father, due to being the child of his hated fourth wife and inheriting more of her (goblin) features than his (elvish) features.

* Creator/JaneAusten:
** In ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'', Elizabeth is her father's favorite, and her mother's least favorite. Lydia is her mother's favorite, and her father's least favorite. This is a nice indicator of what each parent values. Jane is adored by pretty much everybody, Mary is almost universally ignored, but the second-youngest Bennet daughter Kitty is perpetually told to shut up and stop getting in everyone's way.
** In ''Literature/{{Persuasion}}'', plain, sensible, and sensitive Anne is ignored and dismissed by her family while her beautiful but vain sister Elisabeth is admired by all.
** In ''Literature/MansfieldPark'', Fanny's mother only cares about her sons and babies her youngest daughter, but ignores her older two daughters. Fanny only discovers this when returning for a much anticipated visit after years away from home.
** In ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'', Mrs. Ferrars dotes on her daughter Fanny and younger son Robert, but doesn't seem to particularly like elder son Edward.

* Creator/AgathaChristie:
** ''Literature/SparklingCyanide'': Sandra Farraday. Sandra's mother explicitly says at one point that Sandra is the most difficult and least dear to her of all her children. Also from the same book, Iris Marle seems to be rather neglected compared to her beautiful, rich older sister Rosemary. Iris doesn't really seem to resent it, though.
** ''Literature/TheyDoItWithMirrors'': Mildred Gulbrandson, the biological daughter of Literature/MissMarple's friend Carrie Louise, is the Unfavorite as compared to Carrie Louise's adopted daughter Pippa, her stepsons Alex and Stephan, and later Pippa's daughter Gina. Poor girl just can't catch a break.
*** The end of the story, when Carrie Louise turns to Mildred for support and comfort and an earlier conversation between the former and Literature/MissMarple implies that much of this "unfavoritism" was Mildred's perception.
** ''The Moving Finger'', in which the local barrister's grown-up stepdaughter, Megan, is neglected by the family. They either forget about or don't know what to do with her, favouring the two younger boys who are biologically his.

* Cosette in ''Literature/LesMiserables'' is an extreme example. After being put in the care of the Thenardier family (with her mother paying them all she can), is despised, terribly abused and forced to be the inn's servant at the age of five. In contrast, the real daughters of the Thenardier family are treated like little princesses.
** Gavroche, the other child of the Thenardier family fits this trope too, as his mother only loved her daughters and his father didn't pay any attention to any of his children. He's so neglected that, as a baby, he's left to cry on and on with nobody paying any attention to him. He's later abandoned and lives on the streets. While on the street, he takes two younger boys who are actually his brothers that his mother gave away as infants and were (accidentally) abandoned by their adoptive mother under his wing.

* ''Literature/{{Power}}'': Omishto, who has a rocky, distant relationship with her mother and is outright abused by her stepfather, Herman, being physically beaten while fearing him having sexual attraction to her. Donna, her older sister, escapes all of this.

* Comes up a few times in the works of Creator/JRRTolkien.
** In ''Return of The King'', Denethor often compares Faramir unfavorably with his deceased older brother, Boromir. There had been tension between them since childhood for several reasons. One is that Faramir and Denethor are TooMuchAlike, scholarly and serious and slightly prescient, while Boromir was energetic and proud and more earthly. Another is that Faramir is very like his mother, who died when he was five, and Denethor doesn't like the reminder. By the time of the third book, grief over Boromir's death is implied to add ''another'' reason for Denethor to lash out because the loss of his favorite heightens his existing ambivalence into open contempt, particularly when Faramir acts according to his own judgment. Faramir's attitude towards all of this is rather resigned until Denethor implies he wishes his sons had been exchanged, at which point he reminds his father whose order sent Boromir away in the first place. (Despite all this, the narration points out that there was never any SiblingRivalry between the two brothers.)
** Denethor himself was the Unfavorite to Thorongil/Aragorn's Favorite.
---> "Indeed [Denethor] was as like to [Aragorn] as to one of nearest kin, and yet was ever placed second to the stranger in the hearts of men and the esteem of his father." ''The Return of the King'', Appendix A, J.R.R Tolkien.
** Fingolfin, from Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. After his half-brother Fëanor threatens to kill him then is exiled, their father Finwë chooses to accompany him into exile, relinquishing his crown, even though the text gives the reader no reason to think that Fëanor's attack on his brother was justified.
** In all his works, Men in general. Compared to Elves, they are weaker, less wise, mortal by nature, affected by diseases and old age, easier killed and they are shorter and uglier. They have no advantages whatsoever over Elves to even it all up. To add an insult to injury, they die in all horrible ways imaginable, the Valar just could not care less of them, and Eru Ilúvatar intervenes on things ''only to commit a genocide on Men''. Justified, since J.R.R. Tolkien was WWI veteran and saw what men could do to each other.

** In ''The Cuckoo Clock of Doom'', Michael's younger sister Tara is a horrible brat who makes his life hell and always tells lies to get him in trouble, but is never punished by their parents.
** In ''Don't Go To Sleep'', it's the youngest child Matt who is treated as this by his mother, who believes his older brother and sister are wonderful siblings, completely oblivious to their bullying towards Matt. When Matt openly calls his siblings out on their torment on him, ''he'' is the one who gets chastised by his mother.
** Amy Kramer in ''Night of the Living Dummy II'' isn't exactly treated badly by her parents, but she gets no support on what she shares in Family Sharing Night and doesn't really have anything special to share like her older sister and younger brother. On top of that, her younger brother's pranks on her is supported by even her parents, as opposed to the parents punishing him for ruining the older sister's painting. And that's even ''before'' Amy gets accused of vandalism thanks to Slappy.
** A milder example in ''Egg Monsters from Mars'', where Dana's parents spoil his younger sister Brandy, but don't do the same for him. To be fair, he admits that even he has trouble saying no to her sometimes.
** ''Son of Slappy'' flips it around by having the younger sibling be the one who is put down, due to being considered a "problem child".

* Creator/TomHolt has a tendency to do this.
** The most obvious example is the protagonist Malcolm in ''Literature/ExpectingSomeoneTaller''. Like most of Holt's male leads, Malcolm is a total wimp, and his parents unabashedly compare him to his super-perfect sister Bridget. Becoming the heir to practically unlimited power makes Malcolm immediately think that it was originally meant for Bridget. [[spoiler:In fact, Malcolm's lack of self-esteem and desire to do good make him the perfect person to inherit said power; Bridget would totally mess it up.]]
** Another example is Kevin Christ in ''Only Human'', who's the younger brother to Jesus and the second son of God.
* In ''Literature/HowSweetItIs'' by Creator/MelissaBrayden, Jordan is this to her older sister, Cassie. Made worse by the fact that Cassie is dead and Jordan can't compete with the idealized memory of her.

* The titular character of ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'' was this to his father, due to being the child of his hated fourth wife and inheriting more of her (goblin) features than his (elvish) features.
* In ''How Sweet It Is'' by Creator/MelissaBrayden, Jordan had a hefty dose of this in comparison to her older siblings who dutifully went into healthcare like their parents, especially her now-deceased sister Cassie. It was a regular thing long before she went into filmmaking, though, and the realization that she'd never be good enough for her parents probably influenced her choice.

** Zil gets this on a much smaller scale when he revealed that he was neglected and ignored by his parents in favor of his older, {{jerkass}} brother Zayn. Acts as a {{freudianexcuse}} for his ur...Arson, bigotry and attempted genocide.

* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''A Daughter of the Land'', Kate. Mary is clearly the Favorite, but the other sisters also had their share.