Line #20 Literature/IHadTroubleInGettingToSollaSollew


1	[[quoteright:318:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ihadtroubleingettingtosollasollew.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Young fellow, what has happened to you\
4	Has happened to me and to other folks, too.\
5	So I'll tell you what I have decided to do…\
6	I'm off to the City of Solla Sollew\
7	On the banks of the beautiful River Wah-Hoo,\
8	Where they '''never''' have troubles! At least, very few.\
9	It's not very far.\
10	And my camel is strong.\
11	He'll get us there fast.\
12	So hop on! Come along!"''
13	-->--'''The Wubble chap'''
14
15	''I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew'' is a story written and illustrated by Creator/DrSeuss that was first published in 1965. It's a TheHerosJourney story, chronicling an unnamed protagonist's TraumaCongaLine as he searches for {{Utopia}}, and learns that GrassIsGreener.
16
17	----
18	!This book provides examples of:
19
20	* ActionSurvivor: The protagonist either endures or flees the troubles that beset him on his journey.
21	* AllForNothing: The protagonist finds the only way into Solla Sollew is unreachable by a small creature who slaps the doorman's key every time he tries to open the door. After this, he realizes that going to Boola Boo Ball is not worth any more troubles.
22	* AnAesop:
23	** Don't run away from your problems. Chances are, you'll just end up making them worse.
24	** Also, borrowed from ''Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?'', there's always a good chance that someone out there has worse troubles than you.
25	* ArcWords: "Solla Sollew, on the banks of the beautiful River Wah-Hoo, where they never have troubles! At least, very few."
26	* BadassBoast: The closing lines.
27	-->But I've bought a big bat.\
28	I'm all ready, you see.\
29	Now my troubles are going\
30	To have troubles with ''me!''
31	* BittersweetEnding: The protagonist still has troubles, the camel still has to spend at least twenty weeks in bed to recover from his illness, and Solla Sollew still has their problem with the Slippard, but at least the protagonist has a bat to fight off the pests, and the doorman is headed for a city without any troubles whatsoever (maybe).
32	* BoringReturnJourney: The narrative jumps from outside Solla Sollew straight back to the Valley of Vung. [[WildMassGuess Maybe the Happy Way Bus was running again?]]
33	* BrainsAndBrawn: The Wubble chap invokes this in the name of "teamwork". Conveniently, this allows him to sit back and bark out orders while the hero does all the heavy work.
34	-->'''Wubble chap:''' This is called teamwork. I furnish the brains. / You furnish the muscles, the aches and the pains. / I'll pick the best roads, tell you just where to go / And we'll find a good doctor more quickly, you know.
35	* ButtBiter: The Quilligan Quail does this to the hero, who is so intently watching out for rocks in his path that he doesn't see the bird coming.
36	* CatsAreMean: The Perilous Poozer of Pompelmoose Pass, which has the appearance of a lion. What's worse is that there are more of them.
37	* CitadelCity: Solla Sollew is one. Deconstructed, as it means that a single problem with the single door in and out is enough to turn the city on its head, since there's superstition around killing the little bastard.
38	* {{Conscription}}: The main character is drafted to join the war against the Perilous Poozer of Pompelmoose Pass.
39	-->'''General Genghis Kahn Schmitz:''' There's a war going on! And it's time that you knew / Every lad in this land has his duty to do.
40	* CueTheRain: How could walking over 100 miles to Solla Sollew be worse? If it were raining.
41	* DarkerAndEdgier: This was the start of Seuss' more somber stories, although it's still fairly light. The ending is especially unusual: Instead of a happy ending in Solla Sollew like most children's books would have, the protagonist discovers that the door is locked and the doorman cannot unlock it because of a Key Slapping Slippard in the door. It even considers the possibility of ''killing'' the Slippard, noticeably averting NeverSayDie in the process. (Granted, that's rejected, since it's considered seriously bad luck.) At the end the hero concludes ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer and returns home to face his problems with a bat.
42	* DidntThinkThisThrough: At the beginning, the narrator trips over a rock and thinks he will stay out of trouble forever if he keeps looking forward. This doesn't stop a quail from biting his tail from behind, a mosquito-like creature from stinging his neck from above, or a burrowing creature from biting his toe from below.
43	* FeatheredFiend: The Quilligan Quail [[ButtBiter bites the hero from behind]] for no stated reason.
44	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The refrain about Solla Sollew says that they have no troubles or "at least, very few." This gives an early hint that Solla Sollew is not the perfect place it's said to be.
45	* HereWeGoAgain: Averted. Rather than risk another arduous, fruitless venture, the hero passes on the trip to Boola Boo Ball and returns home instead.
46	* TheHerosJourney: The story takes this form, beginning with the main character running away from his problems, and ends with him growing up and facing them. It chronicles his departure, journey, and return.
47	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The Wubble driver is an unusual case. We see his "heart of gold" side first, when he invites the hero to join him on his journey. Only when the going gets tough do we learn he isn't ''quite'' as selfless as he initially appeared, being very bossy and work-shy.
48	* JourneyToFindOneself: At the end of the book, the main character grows up and stops running away from his problems.
49	* MilesGloriosus: General Genghis Kahn Schmitz and his soldiers. Once they learn that they face a pack of Poozers instead of one, retreating is understandable. Leaving their young conscript behind, less so.
50	* NoNameGiven: The story is told in first person, and the main character's name is never given.
51	* ThePromisedLand: The entire book is spent on a quest for Solla Sollew, which is made out to be a {{Utopia}}. It gets deconstructed once he finally arrives.
52	* SavedToEnslave: The protagonist is saved by drowning by General Genghis Kahn Schmitz who then conscripts him into his army to fight the Perilous Poozer of Pompelmoose Pass.
53	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The story is ''full'' of people making decisions to abruptly leave rather than face their problems.
54	** The story begins when the protagonist decides to leave home in this fashion.
55	** Implied that the Wubble chap left home in a similar fashion.
56	** The chap who leaves his home to avoid the Midwinter Jicker.
57	** General Genghis Kahn Schmitz when he sees the Poozers.
58	** The gatekeeper of Solla Sollew at the end.
59	* TraumaCongaLine: The whole book is one long series of random woes that befall the main character.
60	* UnconventionalFoodUsage: The protagonist dreams of sleeping on marshmallow-stuffed pillows.
61	* WarIsGlorious: General Genghis Kahn Schmitz thinks so for ''one page'' before it gets deconstructed.
62	* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Solla Sollew is not the city of no troubles that it was claimed to be… but Boola Boo Ball is. Subverted, in that the main character stops there, and doesn't go on to Boola Boo Ball.

Context Literature / IHadTroubleInGettingToSollaSollew