top100- stock plot devices for important works of literature

haha yes, 37a was specifically motivated by my reading The House of Mirth

A surprising amount of important literature revolves around an inexperienced young women swept off her feet by a dashing suitor whose character flaws are all too visible to the reader, but to which the heroine is blind, due to her youth, sheltered upbringing, and overly romantic view of life.

53(?). Protagonist climbs over/stabs in back everyone to achieve success they always dreamed of, finds it strangely lonely/empty

54. Character finds trove of diaries/entries, reads them all in sequence (which form perfect novelistic texture with no mystifying references, unexplained persons, etc), never skips to the end to see what happened

Not exactly a plot device, but I am sick of trees and weather reflecting emotional states. (this post inspired by the revenant but it's in a ton of books too.)

I hear you, but I have a feeling that trope is here to stay -- hard to do things otherwise, probably even moreso in film than in books

I like it, doesn't seem artificial to me. Hurting alive otm.

55. As the servants clear away the dinner dishes and refill the brandy snifters, the peculiar visitor from Goodlandia prepares to spend the next 200 pages regaling his fascinated hosts with a description of his homeland's political, economic and technological achievements.

56. A long term and otherwise solid relationship crumbles due to a simple misunderstanding which could easily be cleared up but for a completely inexplicable failure to communicate.

57. Character with trauma goes to the country, feels better.

58. Superficially good-looking but ominously weak-jawed young man spends all his money on a horse.

59. Woman rejects a man's proposal, realizes too late that she loved him all along.

60. Ugly duckling with suspicious similarities to the author makes a series of embarrassing social mistakes.

61. Orphan is unofficially adopted by a grumpy old man/a grumpy old woman/someone of a different race and/or social class/wolves

62. Sudden death at author's convenience---as in Middlemarch, even: stock devices aren't nec. bad, although I'm really sick of unreliable and most other or "other" first-person narrators.

Realized most of mine are actually plots, rather than plot devices. I should read thread titles more carefully.

you're good! this thread, like its TV cartoon predecessor, has always had room for both. and those are great also.

57. Character with trauma goes to the country, feels better.

― Lily Dale, Monday, February 27, 2023 12:05 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

58. Superficially good-looking but ominously weak-jawed young man spends all his money on a horse.

― Lily Dale, Monday, February 27, 2023 12:06 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Gonna make it happen, this year, maybe even this week.

Been mewing too, workin on that jaw