Line #1 Literature/ThidwickTheBigHeartedMoose


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thidwick_big_hearted_moose.jpg]]
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3	''Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose'' is a 1948 children's storybook written and illustrated by Creator/DrSeuss.
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5	Thidwick the moose lets a bug ride on his antlers while he grazes. Unfortunately, this one act of generosity spreads into Thidwick having to put up with an increasing number of "guests", who make increasingly troublesome demands. Can the moose use his head to find some way out of the problem created by his big heart?
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7	A Russian AnimatedAdaptation, ''Welcome'', was made in 1986.
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10	!!This book contains examples of the following tropes:
11	* AssholeVictim: At the end, the hunters decide to kill and stuff the guests once Thidwick leaves them behind.
12	* BearsAreBadNews: One of Thidwick's final guests is a bear. Now not only is there no more room in his antlers, he is carrying 500 pounds.
13	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Thidwick at the end. After being nice to his "guests" and receiving no help in return, he eventually abandons them to their fate at a time of danger. He survives, while his "guests" die.
14	* DarkerAndEdgier: One of the very few Seuss stories where characters actually die.
15	* {{Deuteragonist}}: Thidwick's guests all share this role to Thidwick's protagonist. This is how we learn the DoubleAesop.
16	* {{Disneyfication}}: ''Welcome'' does not feature the hunters and instead Thidwick just leaves the guests dazed and bewildered on his discarded antlers.
17	* DoubleAesop: Through Thidwick, we learn that if you let someone [[TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity take advantage of your generosity,]] it can lead to your destruction. Through his guests, we learn that if you take advantage of someone else's generosity, they might stop being generous to you.
18	* ExtremeDoormat: Thidwick until his CharacterDevelopment.
19	* LaserGuidedKarma: A rare Seuss comeuppance story. Multiple animals take advantage of Thidwick and locate to his antlers, apathetic to the discomfort it causes and the potential of him starving to death. He eventually sheds his antlers, just as a pack of hunters pursue him, leaving him free to escape and all the animals on the antlers caught and stuffed.
20	* LoopholeAbuse: Thidwick's guests argue that his antlers are their home now and he can't relocate their home to the other side of the lake. At the end, Thidwick realises that this is the time of year that the deer family shed their antlers, so he simply tosses them off his head and says his "guests" are welcome to keep them while he goes to join his herd.
21	* MooseAreIdiots: Or at least {{Extreme Doormat}}s.
22	* NeverSayDie: Thidwick's dead guests are simply described as "all stuffed".
23	* NoSympathy: Thidwick's guests are apathetic to the fact he may starve, simply on the grounds that they don't want to relocate to the other side of the lake.
24	%%* Reality Ensues: Thidwick's guests can't stay on his antlers forever because he will eventually shed them.
25	* SacredHospitality: Thidwick puts up with an increasing number of creatures on his antlers without complaining solely because they are guests, even though he didn't even invite most of them.
26	* ShortTeensTallAdults: The Zinn-a-zu Bird (implied to be a teenager) and the woodpecker (implied to be middle-aged) are implied to be the same species. Despite this, the woodpecker is much bigger.
27	* StupidEvil: Thidwick's guests refuse to let him migrate, despite the fact that if he starves to death, they will be left homeless.
28	* TakingAdvantageOfGenerosity: The bug asks Thidwick if he can ride on his antlers, which Thidwick allows. Then the bug lets on another "guest", and they bring in more, until poor Thidwick is supporting a huge number of animals. Furthermore, they will not allow him to go to the other side of the lake with the rest of the herd so he can get the food he needs.
29	* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Thidwick lets other animals live on his antlers. Unfortunately, these animals—who increase in number—take advantage of his hospitality, and refuse to leave. When Thidwick's herd gives him an ultimatum—get rid of them or be left behind—he still can't bring himself to be rude to his guests, and leaves. Still, the guests grow in number and size, inviting more guests, and refusing to consider the increasing physical and psychological load they're putting on their host. Finally, when a group of hunters comes after Thidwick, he decides to stand up for himself, and sheds his antlers, fleeing to safety and leaving his inconsiderate guests behind. The last page of the book shows them made into taxidermy specimens, still on the shed antlers.
30	* WalkingSpoiler: The Harvard Club hunters don't show up until the climax.

Context Literature / ThidwickTheBigHeartedMoose