# Earliest Memory of a Downer Ending (Spoilers Aplenty!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188 "2008-12-15T01:31:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/1 "2008-12-15T01:31:35Z")
What was the first piece of fiction that you remember reading, having read to you, or watching (in the case of a movie, TV show, or a play) without a happy ending – where good fails to triumph, where the hero fails to prevail, where everyone dies without a purpose, etc? For me, it was [I Am the Cheese](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_am_the_cheese) by Robert Cormier. I must have been in fourth or fifth grade. A boy rides his bicycle for most of the book, desperately trying to get a package for his father. At the end it turns out that he has been imagining the whole thing, that he’s been riding around the grounds of a mental institution he’s been kept in ever since he witnessed his parents being killed by the government. The implication is that he will either spend the rest of his life there or be executed himself. Man, that did a number on me – but it laid the groundwork for a later appreciation of The X-Files and any number of conspiracy thrillers. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![Incensed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Incensed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incensed)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/2 "2008-12-15T02:02:53Z")
[An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge](http://www.adamsmithacademy.org/etext/Occurrence_At_Owl_Creek_Bridge_text.html) by Ambrose Bierce and [The Interlopers](http://haytom.us/showarticle.php?id=97) by H. H. Munro, aka ‘Saki.’ I’m thinking 10th great lit. class, and each made enough of an impression that I still remember them by independently and by name (and can give a rough synopses) these 10-12 years later, despite having read them each only once. There were probably earlier examples, but those are the two I remember. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/3 "2008-12-15T02:46:18Z")
**Ring of Bright Water**. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/4 "2008-12-15T02:47:55Z")
Sadako and the Thousand Damn Paper Cranes, It’s Just Something In My _Eye_, Okay? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/5 "2008-12-15T02:57:38Z")
Easy Rider 1969. Does Gone With the Wind qualify? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/6 "2008-12-15T03:22:06Z")
Old Yeller, which I first experienced as the novel. The Call of the Wild was the other book I’d gotten from the library that week, and so I started it to cheer me up… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/7 "2008-12-15T03:22:22Z")
Dr. Strangelove. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/8 "2008-12-15T03:27:25Z")
_To Build a Fire_, by Jack London Stupidest story ever written. It still makes me cringe when I think about it. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/9 "2008-12-15T03:28:26Z")
_A Flash of Green_ by John MacDonald was not the earliest but the earliest that really had a solid effect on me. (Maybe the others did not catch me by surprise). Hmm, OK, the short storey “To Build a Fire” by Jack London. That one also. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/10 "2008-12-15T03:28:36Z")
I saw “A Patch of Blue” when I was seven. It had a profound impact on me that remains to this day. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/11 "2008-12-15T03:42:12Z")
_Where the Red Fern Grows_. Gah. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/12 "2008-12-15T03:43:22Z")
A Taste of Blackberries. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/13 "2008-12-15T03:48:07Z")
As a preschooler I was traumatized by [this](http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=cLywD77KBT0). (video) ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/14 "2008-12-15T03:49:02Z")
I think it’s a tie between _Charlotte’s Web_ and _A Dog Called Kitty_. Jeez, why are there so many sad endings in YA literature? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/15 "2008-12-15T03:54:19Z")
Whoops! I just realized - I forgot _The Lorax_! I suspect that was the first real downer I experienced. I’ll admit, it’s not a complete downer, the movie does end with a ray of hope, but… ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/16 "2008-12-15T03:55:33Z")
_Mayor of Casterbridge_. ---
**Author:** ![stucco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/17 "2008-12-15T03:59:35Z")
_Bridge to Terabithia_ I read it in 5th grade and I remember thinking, “This can’t be happening. This has to be a misunderstanding. Things like this don’t happen in books!” ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/18 "2008-12-15T04:04:01Z")
Bambi. I’m not sure how it’s considered a children’s story. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/19 "2008-12-15T04:11:25Z")
Do nursery rhymes and fairy tales count? If so, my earliest memory of a downer ending is very early indeed (like around age two). “Humpty Dumpty” “Jack and Jill” _The Gingerbread Man_ - Yes, I know he was cookie and thus meant to be eaten but he was still a talking sentient being. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/20 "2008-12-15T04:12:19Z")
Bambi, at apparently 11 months of age. I still vividly remember parts of it. Quite startling, really. And yes, it’s not a confabulation with a later release, I remember seeing the theater it was in as part of the memory… I don’t think I was quite able to focus on the screen entirely. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188.md?page=2)