Basic Trope: A teetotal Principles Zealot who doesn't drink and doesn't want anyone else to drink either.
- Straight: Clara, a member of a temperance movement that wants to ban alcohol, will scold anyone she sees drinking it.
- Exaggerated:
- Whenever Clara sees anybody with anything resembling an alcoholic drink nearby, she subjects them to a multi-page Character Filibuster "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how heinous they are for daring to enjoy a little alcohol.
- Clara is a violent anti-alcohol extremist who bombs bars and poisons any alcohol she comes across because she believes drinking even a tiny amount of beer should be punished by death.
- Clara rails against the use of alcohol as a disinfectant. She doesn't care about its useful properties, or that the alcohol in question is denatured (i.e. pretty much undrinkable) anyway.
- Clara spends most of her time engaging in anti-alcohol Activist-Fundamentalist Antics.
- Downplayed:
- Clara believes the world would be better off without alcohol, but pursues reasonable ways to decrease alcohol consumption instead of seeking extreme policies like total prohibition. At her worst, she acts like a Smug Straight Edge.
- Clara is okay with moderate drinking, but rails against drunkenness.
- Justified:
- All Clara's experiences with alcohol have been terrible: Her uncle was an abusive drunkard. The only time she tried alcohol started with her hating the taste and ended with some scumbag taking advantage of her while she was unconscious. Her husband is a lazy drunk. As far as she knows, alcohol is just some awful thing that does nothing but ruin lives.
- Clara's religion teaches that drinking alcohol is sinful.
- Clara is a recovering alcoholic, and she is in recovery because she saw that drinking very nearly ruined her life ... and she also knows that drinking could cause her to lose progress. (And Tropaholics Anonymous doesn't distinguish between a single glass of wine with dinner on a special occasion and finishing an entire bottle of tequila by oneself because it's Wednesday; both are seen as regression.) She worries that other people are trying to sabotage her, or could ruin her progress because they (as drinkers) "just don't understand."
- Inverted:
- Clara is a Hard-Drinking Party Girl who wants everyone else to drink as much as she does.
- Clara is a teetotaller, but likes it when everyone else gets drunk — after all, they might show hidden sides of themselves, and filming their embarrassing drunken antics gives her excellent Blackmail material.
- Subverted:
- Clara sees Benny drinking beer, and approaches him to scold him ... for spending too much money betting on horse racing.
- Clara doesn't drink herself, but doesn't mind if other people do.
- Double Subverted:
- At the end of her rant, Clara blames Benny's "gambling addiction" on his "demon drinks".
- Clara says she doesn't mind other people drinking, but later she reams them out in private.
- Parodied:
- Clara scolds the alcoholic drinks themselves for their "evil ways".
- Clara avoids alcoholic drinks as if they were kryptonite. Merely showing her a bottle of beer causes her to scream and run away in terror.
- Clara likes to go on long, Insane Troll Logic-filled rants against alcohol ... while enjoying a drink. Though she does try to discourage drinking at social events she hosts.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Clara castigates Amy's drinking but not Benny's. But that's because Amy is a Hard-Drinking Party Girl who gave Clara an unwanted Naked First Impression while Benny drinks responsibly. At least, that's what Clara tells people who ask.
- Clara goes from being anti-alcohol to tolerant to pro-alcohol, or some other order of those, Depending on the Writer.
- Averted:
- Clara is teetotal, but respectful of others' choices regarding alcohol.
- Clara drinks as much as (or more than) most other characters in the story.
- Enforced: Moral Guardians demand that since Clara is one of the good characters, she must have an anti-alcohol attitude to "make her a good role model".
- Lampshaded: "Here comes Clara! You'd better hide those bottles of wine!"
- Invoked: Clara's parents and church teach her to eschew alcohol.
- Exploited: Benny hates Clara, so he goes to the liquor store to avoid her.
- Defied:
- "I drink. Not a lot, but I drink. Aside from that, I am a perfectly normal person who takes great care of his body and livelihood. And if you can't stand that, for the love of God, either leave or at least don't act like such a bitch."
- Clara isn't against drinking, period, but against being an alcoholic. Cracking open a cold one with her friends isn't something she's against, living in a bar is. Doubly so if someone is using it as "medicine" for a problem better solved by talking to a psychologist or pastor.
- Discussed: "Please tell me Dina isn't one of those anti-alcohol fundamentalists."
- Conversed:
- Implied: Clara's first scene has her fervently cleaning a photo of her great-great-grandmother, who was part of the Anti-Saloon League and very visibly proud of it.
- Deconstructed: Clara's anti-alcohol zealotry drives away her friends — both moderate drinkers, and teetotallers who are sick of how she makes them all look like fundamentalist jerks.
- Reconstructed: Clara ends up gravitating towards other like-minded teetotalers who constantly support each other as they rail against alcohol and plan to burn down their next pub.
- Played for Laughs: Clara tells Benny she's interested in him, but finds his drinking revolting and will actively avoid him if he doesn't stop it. Benny thanks her for the heads-up and makes sure to always bring a bottle of beer with him from that point.
- Played for Drama:
- Clara is the Monster of the Week of Police Procedural Alice and Bob: The Series, and she murdered her own (possibly-would-have-been-former-really-fast) boyfriend because he liked to drink (only a cup, once a year on the anniversary of his parents' death, and was a man who lived perfectly clean otherwise. Indeed, up until Clara gives her Motive Rant, Alice and Bob expected something serious like the man being secretly abusive). Alice and Bob are pretty disturbed about the fact Clara believes touching a drop of alcohol is an act that deserved such Disproportionate Retribution.
- Clara is the Patient of the Week. She's been poisoned, and the Improbable Antidote is ... alcohol. Which she'll most likely refuse to touch.note Now, Dr. Doug faces a dilemma: Should he tell her the truth and hope she'll accept the treatment? Give her alcohol against her will, lying about it if necessary? Or should he respect her wishes even if it increases the chance of her dying needlessly?
- Played for Horror:
- Clara is a brutal Serial Killer who targets people who like alcohol.
- Clara is made to drink alcohol to cure her of a methanol poisoning. She tries to kill herself the very second she figures out what was poured down her throat.
Don't you dare visit the bar on your way back to Dry Crusader!
