Basic Trope: They get rejected, and take it extremely poorly.
- Straight: Alice tells Bob that she's not into him. He freaks out.
- Exaggerated: Alice tells Bob that she's not into him. He tries to kill her because of it.
- Downplayed:
- Alice tells Bob that she doesn't like him that way, and while they remain friends, their friendship is clearly strained.
- Alice's gentle rejection hurts Bob far more than it would hurt most other guys in Bob's position, yet he still accepts the rejection and chooses to remain functional.
- Justified:
- Bob isn't the most stable individual.
- Alice was extremely callous with her rejection of Bob.
- If I Can't Have You…
- Inverted: Alice tells Bob that she returns his feelings, and that makes him not want her anymore.
- Subverted: At first, Bob has an epic freakout after Alice rejects him, but he soon calms down and accepts the rejection.
- Double Subverted: ...But then he sees Alice with Charlie, and he starts to get angry again.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Alice tells Bob that she's not into him. He's fine with it.
- Enforced: "The studio says we need a new bad guy, but I don't want to have to create a new character!" "Just have Alice reject Bob and that can be his Start of Darkness."
- Lampshaded: "Wow, you're really not taking this well."
- Invoked: Bob deliberately performs a melt-down act so that Alice would feel bad for rejecting him or is guilt-tripped into accepting him.
- Exploited: Alice specifically rejects Bob to make him miserable.
- Defied:
- "Like hell you're rejecting me. If I Can't Have You…...nobody can!"
- "Bob, I'm not into you. And before you start crying and whining, nothing will change my mind."
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "How come so often when one character rejects another, the rejected character will react really poorly?"
- Deconstructed:
- While Alice is not into Bob romantically, she is at first willing to remain friends with him, and perhaps give him another chance in the future. Bob's poor reaction towards her rejection changes her mind, and she now wants nothing to do with him.
- Bob taking rejection poorly reveals an underlying problem in society: the fact that no one has been taught how to let go or cope with rejection in a healthy manner. No matter how Bob ends up after the rejection, there will always be people like Bob. And yet, other than condemnation, nothing is done to mitigate or solve this issue.
Back to Not Good with Rejection.
