# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/81 "2008-12-16T17:38:44Z")
“All Summer in a Day”–by Ray Bradbury. Brutal. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/82 "2008-12-16T17:47:01Z")
> [@Purgatory\_Creek](#): > > \*\*That blasted _Red Balloon_ movie. \*\* They tortured us with that every year in grade school. > > _Old Yeller_ was another one. What lesson was that supposed to teach? I still tear up when I think of it. And then there was Shirley Jackson’s _The Lottery_, a grim reminder of middle school government-sponsored child abuse. I came to this thread to mention that. We had the book when I was a kid, with photos from the movie. It depressed me to no end. Charly (starring Cliff Robertson, based on the book “Flowers for Algernon”) was pretty damned depressing too. And Silent Running, while I remember it being a great movie, was a bit of a downer. I still try to imagine what a world it would be if all the trees were gone (and orbiting in a ship). ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/83 "2008-12-16T21:38:37Z")
_Little Match Girl_ and the original _Little Mermaid_ Stupid Hans Christian Anderson ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/84 "2008-12-16T22:13:58Z")
A post about Marcus & Narcissa Whitman in another thread today reminded me of a big one from my childhood. I remember reading a book called [Seven Alone](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073686/) that was also made into a film that I enjoyed. It’s based fairly closely on the true story of the seven Sager siblings- two boys and five girls in age from 13 to infancy- on the Oregon Trail who are orphaned when their father is killed by Indians and their mother dies of disease. In spite of constant obstacle they manage to make it to the destination themselves, that being the Whitman Mission near Walla Walla. The book has a happy ending- they’re adopted by the Whitmans, who were still grieving for their own child’s death and saw the children (especially the baby of course) as a godsend. Not only a happy ending, but true. About that time we went to Washington on vacation and stopped at the Whitman Mission in Walla Walla. When I learned the Whitmans were killed in an Indian attack (a blow in and of itself) I haltingly asked the tour guide about the Sagers. 30+ years later I still remember he was a very nice guy who’d had the question before and actually squatted down to say “Well, I won’t lie to you”, and he told me that the boys (John and Francisco) were killed in the attack and the girls were taken prisoner by the Indians, where next to the youngest Louise (who was 6 at the time) died of measles. But, he told me, there was some happy news: the other girls survived, were rescued, married, and had many children, and the lady working in the gift shop was a granddaughter of one of them. (She was also sweet, even though she had to get this question everyday, and showed me pics of her grandmother [or great-grandmother or whatever], who of course looked nothing like the movie actress but like every other constipated seeming matriarch ever captured on tin.) I bought a book at the mission (not a children’s book) that explained the oldest daughter, about 12 or 13, was probably gang raped while a captive. The baby from the book, Rosanna, was killed by a gunslinger in her 20s. The oldest three though (including the rape victim) did indeed marry and have many children and live long lives (and even at the time I remember thinking ‘God help any of their kids whenever they complained about anything’ “You think your childhood is bad? Let me tell you about mine… starts with our parents dying when your Aunt Rosanna… you remember her? No you don’t and there’s a reason… was a baby… in Indian territory… when we had no food and it was snowing… from there… it goes downhill”. Anyway, this was when I first learned that the difference in a happy ending and a sad one is usually in where you end the tale. So it was a good lesson. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/85 "2008-12-16T22:49:40Z")
_Old Yeller_ and _Of Mice and Men._ I was seven. (Yes, I **did** begin to read early, and heavily.) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/86 "2008-12-17T15:45:25Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > “You think your childhood is bad? Let me tell you about mine… starts with our parents dying when your Aunt Rosanna… you remember her? No you don’t and there’s a reason… was a baby… in Indian territory… when we had no food and it was snowing… from there… it goes downhill”. **Sampiro** , if you never have children, it’ll be a damned shame. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/87 "2008-12-17T17:31:37Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Not quite that bad. The Boy’s favorite toy is the China Dog, and one day it can’t be found. So he plays with the Velveteen Rabbit, which is the laughingstock of the playroom because all the other toys believe themselves to be Real. The boy comes to love the Velveteen Rabbit as his favorite toy, until he contracts scarlet fever. > > When he recovers, he is sent on a trip to the seaside. He is given a new rabbit toy, and the Velveteen Rabbit is supposed to be burned because it is contaminated. The Rabbit is so sad that it cries a Real tear, and the Nursery Magic Fairy comes and turns him into a Real rabbit at last. He goes and joins the other Real rabbits. > > I have something in my eye . . . And by the way, the whole story is an allegory of the Resurrection from the Dead- that we are Loved enough to become Real. Yes, that was exactly what I thought as I wept the first time I saw a cartoon of it. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/88 "2008-12-17T20:00:22Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > **Snoopy Come Home** and **A Boy Named Charlie Brown**. Strictly speaking, they both have happy endings – Snoopy does come home, and Charlie Brown goes on with his life – but the turning points are **so** heartbreaking, and the resolutions so short and sudden, I [del]am[/del] was always still in tears during the final credits. Oh, Lord, Snoopy Come Home. I both love and hate it. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/89 "2008-12-17T20:14:54Z")
Another vote for _Bridge to Terebithia_. And like DLuxN8R-13, I was too young to read _Of Mice and Men_, but I did anyway. It was doubly traumatizing, because I got to the end on the school bus, and got made fun of for crying about a book. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/90 "2008-12-17T20:17:21Z")
Still didn’t work so well. Sorry:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/91 "2008-12-17T20:18:23Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > **Sampiro** , if you never have children, it’ll be a damned shame. Don’t even say that in jest. You’ve no idea how many prophecies could be fulfilled if they weren’t exposed in time. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/92 "2008-12-17T20:35:05Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > “All Summer in a Day”–by Ray Bradbury. > > Brutal. Is that the one where the schoolchildren lock the Earth-girl in a closet on the one day the sun comes out? I remember reading that in high school, and yes, it was brutal. Weirdly enough, I read it before I really knew anything about Bradbury’s work. It wasn’t until I was an adult and reading a book of his short stories that I thought of this one and instinctively knew it had to be his. Sure enough… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/93 "2008-12-17T20:42:21Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Is that the one where the schoolchildren lock the Earth-girl in a closet on the one day the sun comes out? > > I remember reading that in high school, and yes, it was brutal. Weirdly enough, I read it before I really knew anything about Bradbury’s work. It wasn’t until I was an adult and reading a book of his short stories that I thought of this one and instinctively knew it had to be his. Sure enough… Oh yes, that is the one. Considering how often I’ve seen it come up in CS in “I read this really depressing story back in middle school/grade school” threads, I know Bradbury must have hit some kind of universal nerve with that one. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/94 "2008-12-17T21:35:42Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Oh yes, that is the one. Considering how often I’ve seen it come up in CS in “I read this really depressing story back in middle school/grade school” threads, I know Bradbury must have hit some kind of universal nerve with that one. I don’t know what was up with my 9th grade English textbook, but it involved literally one depressing story after another. We read _A Night to Remember_ (about the Titanic disaster), _All Summer in a Day, The Lottery, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Birds, Monsters on Maple Street, The Cask of Amontillado_… all very interesting, but what downers! ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/95 "2008-12-17T21:52:08Z")
> [@flyboy](#): > > For me it was Silent Running. I don’t recall much about the movie, but I do remember that, after slogging through a very sad story, it ended even sadder. After checking the end just now on Youtube, that seems fairly accurate. Why is it that other people have the same experience as me?? The Dope is weird that way. Silent Running was the first ‘adult’ show I watched alone and understood. Shortly after that came The Beach and my induction into sad movies was complete. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/96 "2008-12-17T23:39:34Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > _Little Match Girl_ and the original _Little Mermaid_ > > Stupid Hans Christian Anderson Little Match Stick girl. I still can’t read it. My Mam used to read it to me. Not sure why because I’d cry my eyes out. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188/97 "2008-12-18T02:33:44Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > Little Match Stick girl. I still can’t read it. My Mam used to read it to me. Not sure why because I’d cry my eyes out. Y’know, [Disney actually made a short version, a couple of years ago](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Matchgirl_(film)). I understand that it’s actually pretty faithful to the original. The [Ressurection of the Little Match Girl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_of_the_Little_Match_Girl), on the other hand, not so much. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-memory-of-a-downer-ending-spoilers-aplenty/477188.md?page=4)