History ValuesDissonance / Literature

* ''Literature/{{Socks}}'', which was published in 1973, has a scene in the beginning where a random woman has a scandalized reaction when George says they're saving up to have Socks' mother spayed. Starting in the 1970s (at least in the US), spaying/neutering for cats and dogs has become part of standard pet care. In fact, it is considered irresponsible to not do so, because pet shelters are overflowing with homeless cats and dogs, and allowing them to breed freely contributes to the problem.

* Creator/AlexanderPushkin's ''Literature/RuslanAndLudmila'' has two characters, a sorcerer and a sorceress who are mortal rivals. The cause? When the future sorcerer was a young shepherd, the future sorceress rejected him. He went on a ten year long raiding spree, returned a rich war hero, and she rejected him again. So, he went to study sorcery [[DoubleStandardRapeSciFi in order to win her love]], cast the proper spells, she came to him... and he rejected her because the studies took 40 years, and she (him as well, of course) grew old. Did I mention that the sorcerer is the good guy?

** We're supposed to see Mary (admittedly through Martha's eyes, who's from a different social class and who likely started working as a servant at a relatively young age) as dysfunctional and hopelessly coddled because at the advanced age of ''nine'', she never goes anywhere by herself. In the same part of the world now, Mary would be at about the ''minimum'' age that children would start going out of sight of home without an adult.
** We're supposed to see Mary -- at least through Martha's eyes -- as dysfunctional and hopelessly coddled because at the advanced age of ''9'' she never goes anywhere by herself. In the same part of the world now, Mary would be at about the minimum age that children would start going out of sight of home without an adult. A bit more to the point, where would Mary go? Mary has just moved to the Yorkshire Moors, after having lived most of her early life in British India. Her only living relative is an uncle-by-marriage, she has no friends, and she is unfamiliar with the region. She can't exactly go on house visits or explorations.

* L.M. Montgomery's ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' series falls victim to this trope, having been written in the early 20th century and set at least thirty years earlier. The most glaring example is the impetus for the entire series: adoption now versus adoption in the 19th century. Marilla and Matthew originally wanted to adopt a boy from off the island; not to love or raise, per se, but for help on the farm. Anne herself had been orphaned since infancy and spent much of her young life caring for other people's children. Many times she was denied proper food, clothing, or education, none of which were investigated by the orphanage she had come from. She is around 11 at the start of the series. This was quite common for the time period; the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates and the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom had similar programs by which orphans were taken from their hometowns and put to work for foster families, but since that practice has long since been abolished, it can be quite shocking to the modern reader.
** The last book, being set in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, often makes reference to "savages" living in remote parts of the world, and that it is the duty of good Christians to educate them. Whether or not these are to be taken seriously (they were said by a rather eccentric older woman) is up for debate.
** Pregnancy and other womanly matters are often glossed over, which is understandable given the time period. Around the time Anne would start menstruating, her doctor tells Marilla that she should leave off studying and get plenty of exercise; a common thought in the medical community was that menstruation made women anemic and nervous and that too much cerebral activity would make it worse. Definitely not something a modern reader would pick up on. The references to pregnancy are equally as vague, and modern readers are wont to miss them until the actual births. Anne calls herself a "dreamer of dreams," tells her husband she can't wait for spring, and Marilla promises to visit for a few weeks in early June for her first pregnancy. For her second, there is only one reference -- Anne is "once more a dreamer of dreams" -- though the avoiding talking about ''that'' pregnancy makes a little more sense in context; Anne's first baby [[spoiler:died a few hours after birth]] and she is understandably hesitant to get attached. Birth scenes are also avoided (except, oddly, for the first one, which is rather plainly written). For Jem's birth, the old analogy of a stork is used. The only other birth we read about is Rilla's, which is conveniently written-out by having the events told from her older brother Walter's point of view, and he spent the night at a friend's house.
** Rilla and Kenneth Ford share ''one'' kiss before he leaves to fight in World War I, and as a result, everyone from her mother to her friends think she and Ken are engaged. Rilla is 16, by the way, to Ken's 22 or so -- perfectly acceptable at the time, but questionable ''at best'' today.
** Rilla raises a baby, mostly by herself, from age ''14.'' The baby's mother had died and his father was overseas fighting, so Rilla opted for taking him with her instead of letting him die. The entire scene where she brings Jims home is rather reminiscent of a child bringing home a stray kitten; her father tells her that she is on her own and that if she cannot take care of him, he will go to the orphanage. And this is just accepted by everyone around Rilla. Very hard for modern readers to swallow. She does well, aided in part by the family maid Susan and a parenting book she holds great faith in. The entire family comes to love Jims and she raises him until the age of 3-4, but no adult really offers to help beyond Susan.

** There was also a strong negative reaction by readers when Daine got together with Numair in ''The Realms of the Gods''. She was 18 at the time, but he is well into his 30s and [[TeacherStudentRomance had been her teacher since she was 13]]. This looks like grooming from every angle. The fact that Daine came onto a hesitant Numair, only falls into different issues, since many abusers claim that this is what happened to them.

** ''Every member of the Fellowship'' except for Samwise is a noble in some measure. Frodo, Meriadoc, and Peregrin are members of highly-esteemed hobbit families; Merry and Pippin in particular eventually assume hereditary offices that place them in control of parts of the Shire (the Oldbuck and the Thane of the Tooks, respectively). Gimli is the son of one of Thorin Oakenshield's companions, and thus a prominent member of the Line of Durin, though not actually the heir. Legolas's father is the ruler of the elves in Mirkwood. Boromir is the son of the steward of Gondor and Aragorn is the long-lost heir to its throne. Gandalf is [[GodWasMyCopilot a literal demigod]]. While Sam is treated well by the story and is in fact integral to finishing the quest, there's still an unspoken assumption that nobles are more capable of resolving problems than commoners. In today's society, hereditary nobility is often actually ''sneered'' at; the idea of inherent superiority simply based on who one is related to sits badly with modern audiences.

** The fact that the mainstream media provided by the ''Daily Prophet'' is fake news and Wizarding ''Pravda'', while the ''real'' news is found in a ConspiracyTheorist rag like the ''Quibbler'', is meant to satirize the bias and influence of major news outlets in the United Kingdom. However, to some American readers, it might feel awkward thanks to the prevalence of Fox News, as well as the existence of far-right websites like Info Wars and Breitbart that trade in conspiracy theories and decry any mainstream media source (especially those that oppose their philosophy) as fake news.[[note]]''The Quibbler'' in-universe is meant to be mostly nonsense and only occasionally publishes legitimate stuff that helps Harry because it's not being controlled by the Ministry.[[/note]]

*** There are also different degrees of values dissonance between the UK and US. In the UK, the woman's second English husband took two minutes of thought before he accepted the daughter and took her and his wife home. In the US edition he needed ten minutes of thought, t hough in both cases he accepts his step-daughter and tells the woman that she could trust him to take care of the girl regardless of her race.

** In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', Odysseus brags about the sacking and raping of the Cicones. Of course, this angered Athena, who set them adrift.
** In the climax of the ''Odyssey'', Odysseus kills Penelope's suitors, which, while being seen as his right as the master of the house and considered to be his most triumphant moment in the story, can come off as extremely brutal and cruel to today's readers, with moments like having his servants barring the doors so nobody can get out, executing some of them while they ''beg for mercy'', and then having all the servants who were complicit in the suitors' actions killed. That said, the suitors themselves were ''unwanted'' suitors, hanging around trying to bully the lady of the house into marrying one of them, which would be considered an attempt at [[MaritalRapeLicense rape]] by coercion nowadays.
** Odysseus also planned to kill Penelope if she was unfaithful to him in the years following his apparent death, while by the standards of modern audiences ''[[MyGirlIsNotASlut he himself was unfaithful]]''.
* Creator/{{Virgil}}'s ''Literature/TheAeneid'' serves as an example from a Roman perspective; Aeneas is much more concerned with protecting his men than Odysseus was. That is, he shows some interest in protecting his men.

*** ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' has an example which also qualifies as ScienceMarchesOn: a secondary character is an expert on phrenology and various racial "sciences" of the day, traits which would certainly be villainous in any modern work. Watson clearly finds the phrenology absurd but is tactful enough not to say it aloud, especially how the character gushes over the shape of Holmes's head and wishes for it to be displayed should the Great Detective depart from his mortal coil.

*** There are also different degrees of values dissonance between the UK and US. In the UK, the woman's second English husband took two minutes of thought before he accepted the daughter and took her and his wife home. In the US edition he needed ten minutes of thought.

*** A non-racial Holmes example is the Great Detective's drug use, which began being dissonant when cocaine started being banned, but is particularly noticeable when the stories are billed as young adult literature. In Victorian times, a gentleman could freely walk to any drugstore and buy as much cocaine and morphine (and after 1899, heroin) as he saw fit.

*** In a story from ''The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes'', a man confesses to concealing his sister's death so he can retain use of her properties long enough to clean up at the track. These days, his hiring someone to impersonate her smacks of identity theft, and would be prosecuted as fraud. Holmes lets him walk, apparently not considering it objectionable once he's confirmed the sister was not murdered. The fact that both he and the suspect refer to his creditors as "the Jews" doesn't help.
*** Quite a few culprits are allowed to go unprosecuted on the condition that they leave Britain, or are treated as if the crimes they've committed outside of Europe are none of Holmes's affair. Crimes outside the U.K. may not be ''Lestrade's'' jurisdiction, but Holmes takes pride in not having the same constraints as the police, so it seems hypocritical when his commitment to justice ends at the British coastline.

* Helen Bannerman's children's story ''Literature/TheStoryOfLittleBlackSambo'' has long left a bad taste in people's mouths due to the horrible "darky" caricatures that illustrated most of the early publications. However, apart from this and the name of the title character. "Sambo" meaning "born on Sunday" was at one time a common and neutral name, but with remarkable tone-deafness and irony, the author actually got it from a minstrel-show character. The story is rather innocuous -- Sambo is depicted as being rather clever in solving his problems -- and has been retold (''sans'' UnfortunateImplications) several times in recent years. [[http://www.johnmariani.com/archive/2008/080106/alephBetBooksStoryOfLittleBlackSambo.jpg Here]] is an example of some earlier artwork for the story. Contrast that with the cover of [[http://www.k-state.edu/wwparent/story/award/r-sambo.htm one of the later editions]]...

* ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' was written in the 21st century, but by a, er, ''right-wing'' author to put it rather lightly. The aim of the heroes is to restore the social values of small-town early 20th-century America throughout the land (with everything this entails for women and various "oppressed minorities"), and this is unambiguously presented as a good thing. They also use extremely brutal means bringing this about, up to and including nuking Atlanta[[note]](In context; Atlanta was ruled by a [[DirtyCommunists genocidal communist regime]], and the nuke was dropped to prevent the revolution from spreading -- which is still an overreaction)[[/note]], but of course this is always justified. Their mostly leftist enemies are treated with hatred, and/or contempt, throughout. The book is filled with [[AuthorFilibuster rants by the narrator]] about varous political and social issues, so the reader doesn't forget that this is a paleoconservative AuthorTract.

** The story also has the heroes face off against [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]], who are portrayed as the ''most'' sympathetic of the various antagonists. Their leader is a charming, intelligent WorthyOpponent, and it's even made clear that the heroes ''agree'' with elements of the Nazi ideology, and oppose them mainly for their [[RomanticismVersusEnlightenment coldly rational, modernistic and technocratic]] beliefs.

* ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'': Many of the characters demonstrate hypocrisy and a warped worldview which isn't surprising given that this is what led them to the island to begin with. As such a considerable part of the beliefs espoused at various points are a case of DeliberateValuesDissonance with the author choosing specifically the individuals that are less than likely to be considered healthy examples to be followed and wouldn't gather that many supporters even back in the day of the story's setting:

** Drummond was depicted as a UsefulNotes/WorldWarI veteran. He found himself unable to to get used to a peaceful life, and was more interested in excitement than morality. As he explained in an early story, he was perfectly willing to commit "humorous" crimes. Drummond was brutal, he physically overwhelmed his opponents, and he took pride in being able to swiftly "kill a man with his bare hands". The author Cecil Day-Lewis thought that Drummond was nothing more than a "public school bully".

** A comic subplot in ''Literature/TheMysteriousAffairAtStyles'' (1920) is that the narrator Lieutenant Hastings is simultaneously in love with two women (Mary Cavendish and Cynthia Murdoch), and can't figure out why neither of them sees him as a potential lover. The facts that the two women barely know him (he is a recent house guest at their residence) and that Mary is married to Hastings' friend are not treated as major obstacles. If anything, Hastings amorous advances are somewhat creepy.

** [[invoked]] Sara's complaints that she is ugly because she has a slender build, short dark hair, green eyes, and olive skin may lead modern readers to see Sara in a negative light. However, Sara does not in any way match the Victorian-Edwardian image of child beauty and she compares herself to another child who has "dimples and rose-colored cheeks, and long hair the color of gold." Black hair was also not a good hair color to have in 19th-Century British India — as it suggested Sara (or her mother) might be mixed-race. Also at various points we get mentions of Sara's "brown" hand and "small dark face". Given that such descriptors are used even when she's been in England for several years, well after a mere acquired tan from playing outdoors in India would have faded, it's clear that she has naturally dark skin.

** The relationship between Frodo and Sam also raises eyebrows among modern readers. Tolkien based their relationship on that between British officers and their loyal "batmen" from the UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Frodo is clearly the upper-class gentleman and Sam his servant, and that difference in social classes heavily affects their interactions in the early part of the story. On the other hand, Tolkien certainly expresses a high opinion of such "lowly" individuals, with Sam as perhaps the single most courageous character in the entire book, while making it quite clear that without Sam, the Quest would have failed.

** One sentence in the thirty-fourth chapter of ''Literature/JaneEyre'' (1847) conveys the idea that school pupils in foreign European countries are generally ill-mannered compared to pupils taught in English schools; such xenophobic attitude does not occur before (or after) this sentence (in fact Jane taught a French girl, Adèle, earlier in the novel, and they got along very well), so it takes the reader completely by surprise. [[{{Hypocrite}} When you remember that Jane opposes intolerance because she was discriminated by her aunt in childhood, well...]]