History Literature / RoseMadder

* ContinuityNod: "Wendy" refers to ''ka'' and the city of Lud a couple of times, putting the novel in ''Literature/TheDarkTower'' universe.

* MythologyGag: Paul Sheldon's ''{{Literature/Misery}}'' novels make an appearance.

* NonconformistDyedHair: Cynthia is [[GenkiGirl cheerful]] punk girl whose hair is dyed orange and green.

** Norman is a fierce believer in the "Blue Brotherhood" and comradery between police officers, regardless of his own personal opinions of other officers, but when he murders two fellow officers, he feels nothing, despite knowing that he should be devastated by what he has done, a contradiction which causes a disassociation in which he puts all of the blame for the murders on the "Bull."

* VillainousFriendship: Norman sometimes finds Harley Bissington annoying, but mostly funny, raped and tortured a woman with him, stuck by him (and visa versa) during the ensuring investigation and, near the end, wishes that Harley was there to help him with Rose and Bill, even musing that he would let Harley (who had a thing for Rose) have first crack at her while he dealt with Bill.

* FreudianExcuse: Norman's father taught him to hate Blacks (and presumably everything else) when not beating him and his mother over slights like sneaking cigarettes, with the abuse only getting worse after Norman's mother left (something which he hates her for). He inherited his warped "catchphrase" of "I've got something to tell you, and I want to tell you up close" from his father, who would say the exact same thing before he beat or sexually abused Norman (who felt "lucky" whenever he was ''just'' molested instead of hit). His biting fetish stems from his childhood coping mechanism of violently gnawing on his own fingers, and he at one point has a kind of panic attack during which he regresses and nearly bites one of his own fingers off while scoping out Daughters and Sisters.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Norman's father. While he has no involvement in the story and more than likely died long before the events of it, what he subjected Norman to unsurprisingly caused Norman to grow up to be a violent, perverted bigot in a clear cut case of LikeFatherLikeSon. As the book progresses and Norman steadily becomes more and more unhinged, he begins hearing his father's voice chittering away in his head along with that of Erinyes.

* AlienGeometries: The Temple of the Bull, and the Bull Erinyes itself, don't quite fit with conventional geometry: looking at them is described as giving a headache like watching a movie out of focus. The temple's geometry becomes 2 dimensional when the Bull is no longer in residence.

* AxCrazy: Although Rose Madder is Rosie's ally, she's a few cards short of a full deck due to [[spoiler: a disease that is making her slowly rot, losing both her mind and control of her magic.]]

* BaitTheDog: Despite being abusive, Norman did seem to spend a lot of money on the diamond ring he gave her...but as Rose discovers after she leaves him, the diamond ring was actually worthless.

* BeardnessProtectionProgram: In preparation of his attempt to find Rosy at the Daughters and Sisters picnic, Norman goes to a barber and has himself shaven bald to lower the chances of anyone recognizing him.
* BecomingTheMask: Inverted with Norman, as it is implied that the mask represents what he really was all along: a mad, mindless, charging bull. [[spoiler: In his case, he also ''literally'' becomes the mask, as it soon becomes his actual face.]]

* BilingualBonus: Perhaps unintentional. Given her connostations to the world of insects and decomposition, Rose Madder's surname may just possibly be an allusion to the German word ''die Made'' meaning "maggot".

* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: Although Rose Madder appears to be a beautiful woman, underneath her glamour she's rotting from the inside out. And on top of ''that'' she's actually some sort of spider being hiding her true form so she doesn't drive mortals insane. Also, Norman when possessed by the Bull Erinyes turns him into a cyclopean Minotaur.]]
* CatchPhrase:

* DepravedBisexual: Norman may be a homophobic bastard, but he does rub a guy off to get information about where Rosie is (though it turns into a GroinAttack at the end). [[spoiler: It's also implied that he ''bit off'' Peter Slowik's penis.]]

* DramaticIrony: Once Norman reaches the city Rose is staying at, he passes a woman in a shop, and comments to himself that she has "an ass like Rose used to before she let herself go". Unbeknownst to him, it ''is'' Rose, who had dyed her hair blonde and styled it differently.
* DyeOrDie: Rose dyeing her hair from brunette to blonde on a whim ends up inadvertently saving Rose from being recognized by Norman on the street one day.

* EasyAmnesia: The waters of the stream near the Tree of Death have amnesia so easy you can forget your own name. [[spoiler: A drop at a time of the water every now and then stops Bill from [[GoMadFromTheRevelation going mad from the revelation.]]]]
* EyeScream: Pam Haverford gets her eye pierced by a coathook when trying to escape Norman after he caught her at the Whitestone Hotel to ask about Rose.

* FateWorseThanDeath: What drives Rose to leave Norman is the thought that if she stays with him, one of two things will happen: either his excessive abuse will kill her ''or'' [[FridgeHorror his abuse doesn't kill her and her miserable existence will prolong for another fourteen years]].
* FreudianExcuse: Norman was beaten and sexually molested by his father, [[SubvertedTrope though it doesn't excuse what he does.]]
* GainaxEnding: We never find out what Rose Madder really was, why she wanted to save the child from the maze, where she was taking it, what she planted the Erinyes body with, who made her sick, what will happen to the new Tree of Death...
** However, based on [[Literature/TheDarkTower other stories King has written]] and has [[Literature/TheTalisman contributed]] [[Literature/BlackHouse to]], it might be inferred that Rose Madder is Rosie's 'twinner' or an [[AlternateSelf alternate]] version of her, perhaps from another level of the Tower.
* GiantSpider: [[spoiler: Rose Madder's true form.]]

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Rose Madder, [[AntiHero possibly]]. She seems to be on the [[OrderVsChaos Order side of things cosmically speaking]], which is [[CrapsackWorld as good as cosmic beings ever get in Stephen King's world]]. She's desperately trying to complete some epic scale quest before dying, and it's large and complex enough that her role in helping Rosie isn't even really a blip.
* HumiliationConga: Norman, near the end. [[spoiler:He gets beat up and pissed on by a fat black woman, forced to wear a grotesque bull mask to hide his identity, has his sanity slowly ebb away, gets taunted by the wife he's abused for fourteen years and then, just as it seems things can't get any worse for him, he gets horrifically killed by a diseased insect-woman]]. Humiliation conga indeed. Not that he didn't deserve it.
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: After Norman runs into Rose Madder (whom he mistakes for Rose), she turns around and shows her true form: a spider with bulging red fox eyes. She says to Norman, " Come here Norman, I want to talk to you and I want to do it right up close!]]
* IronLady: Anna
* ItsAllMyFault: Anna tells Rosie that battered women have a tendency to blame themselves for everything. She tells a story about a woman she met, who blamed herself for the Challenger disaster, because she wrote "...not one but ''two'' letters supporting the manned space program".

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Norman and his ability to 'troll' for people, which reads like it could either be a psychic talent distorted by his own preconceptions or just good detective skills.

* SanitySlippage: After Rose leaves Norman, he begins to slowly go mad. He's aware of it, but doesn't really mind.

** The song "Really Rosie" sung by Music/CaroleKing and written by Creator/MauriceSendak for the [[WesternAnimation/ReallyRosie musical with the same name]] is referenced through the book, including being on the preface of the book.

** In chapter 1, part 1, Rose believes her life isn't real, and would wake up in a Creator/WaltDisney animated movie as one of the heroines.

* StoutStrength: Gert, who teaches self defense at the shelter, is a mountainous black woman; most people (including Norman) think she's just fat, but Rose notes she has real muscle underneath. When Norman tries fighting her, she surprises him with her strength and gains the upper hand, forcing him to use a stun gun on her to get away.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Norman manages to dispose of the two cops guarding Rosie's house by pretending to have a heart attack, and kill them when they get too close and lowered their guard.

* DoesNotLikeMen: Surprisingly most women from the shelter avert this. Anna even scoffs at other shelters for abused women that follow a strict policy not to involve any man with their work, and claims men are not their enemies unles they prove themselves to be. Rose Madder, however, thinks all men are beasts and at best can be tamed.

* HumiliationConga: Norman, near the end. [[spoiler:He gets beat up and pissed on by a fat woman, forced to wear a grotesque bull mask to hide his identity, has his sanity slowly ebb away, gets taunted by the wife he's abused for fourteen years and then, just as it seems things can't get any worse for him, he gets horrifically killed by a diseased insect-woman]]. Humiliation conga indeed. Not that he didn't deserve it.

* DramaticIrony: Once Norman reaches the city Rose is staying at, he passes a woman in a shop, and comments to himself that she "Had an ass like Rose used to before she let herself go". Unbeknownst to him, it is Rose, who had dyed her hair blonde and styled it differently.
* DyeOrDie: Rose dyeing her hair from brunette to blonde on a whim ends up inadvertently saving Rose from being recognized by Norm on the street one day.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: After Rose Madder kills Norman, Rose is free, knowing Norman can never harm her or any of her loved ones again. She and Bill lead a happy, normal life raising their daughter.]]

* GroinAttack: One of Norman's signature moves, and in line with his FreudianExcuse. When interrogating a male street hustler who saw Rose leave, Norman squeezes the poor bastard's balls till they almost pop. [[spoiler:Later, when he blacks out while torturing Peter Slowik, Norman bites his penis off and swallows it. He also notes it's not the first time]].

* BigBad: Norman Daniels, Rose Daniels’ abusive and psychopathic husband and a crooked cop from whom she escapes at the start of the novel and who searches for her using his skills as a police officer.

* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: Although Rose Madder appears to be a beautiful woman, underneath her glamour she's rotting from the inside out. And on top of THAT she's actually some sort of spider being hiding her true form so she doesn't drive mortals insane. Also, Norman when possession by the Erinyes turns him into a cyclopean Minotaur.]]

* ClingyCostume: [[spoiler: Norman should not have put the bull's head mask on. Though at first it is more like he's clinging to the mask once he's possessed by the Bull Erinyes. Once he enters the world of Rose Madder however, the mask becomes his true face and he is no longer able to take it off.]]

* ContrivedCoincidence: [[AWizardDidIt A wizard seems to be doing it.]] For example, as [[spoiler: Norman is being possessed by the Erinyes]] he happens to see a kid with a bull mask that he steals for a disguise.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Peter Slowik and Anna Stevenson are bitten to death by Norman. In the end, Norman gets one of these when Rose Madder talks to him up close.]]
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler: Once Rosie angers the Erinyes by rescuing the child it was guarding, it possesses her (already insane) husband to get its revenge.]]

* DoesNotLikeMen: Surprisingly most women from the shelter avert this. Anna Stevenson even scoffs at other shelters for abused women that follow a strict policy not to involve any man with their work, and claims men are not their enemies unles they prove themselves to be. Rose Madder, however, thinks all men are beasts and at best can be tamed.
* DomesticAbuse: Rose married Norman Daniels, and for 14 years have suffered domestic abuse which includes physical violence that took away the life of her unborn baby. Rose had enough, and ran away from Norman's home.

** The song "Really Rosie" sung by Music/CaroleKing and written by Creator/MauriceSendak for the [[WesternAnimation/ReallyRosie cartoon of the same name]] is referenced through the book, including being on the preface of the book.

** The song "Really Rosey" sung by Music/CaroleKing and written by Creator/MauriceSendak is referenced through the book, including being on the preface of the book.