History Literature / TheAmyVirus

* WomenAreWiser: While both of Cyan's parents are jerks, her mother is definitely the kinder one. [[spoiler: She's also the parent who makes an effort to reconcile with Cyan when she finds her in Portland and admitting everything she did to her was wrong, while her husband continues to insist he's done nothing wrong]].

* StarvingArtist: The reason why Cyan's father discourages her drumming and songwriting hobbies, and doesn't want Tam to go to RISD for college, is because he believes that being a doctor is the only way to make a living in the current 2010s US economy. However, this belief also demonstrates one of the ways Daniel [[ControlFreak enforces his control over his family]]. Not only is he insistant that they attend Caltech, his Alma Mater, despite being other good colleges out there, he goes so far as to confiscate any of Cyan's music and instruments to keep her from practicing her hobby. Also, in Tam's case, she's planning on averting this by majoring in Industrial Design at RISD, which would help her find a very good career off her drawings.

** While still emotionally abusive, Belinda is shown to be much less strict with Cyan, such as giving her the music-writing notebook back after Cyan's father confiscated it, making sure Cyan gets the letters Renate writes to her, allowing Cyan to go to Renate's New Year Eve party unsupervised, and taking Cyan out on a Girl’s Day Out during Christmas Break. She is also shocked at some of the harsher things Daniel does, such as telling Mr. Shusberg "[[PrecisionFStrike Fuck you]]" when he thinks they should get an IEP for Cyan, and [[spoiler: she calls out Daniel for considering buying test papers and homework to keep the remission charade up. During the overheard conversation, she also states that she never should have let Daniel talk her into scamming people with the diet]]. [[spoiler: Cyan running away is what finally kickstarted Belinda's HeelRealization and stand up to Cyan's father. She is also the parent who admits that her actions were wrong and put forth the effort to reconcile with Cyan and the other people she has hurt]].

** While still emotionally abusive, Belinda is shown to be much less strict with Cyan, such as giving her the music-writing notebook back after Cyan's father confiscated it and allowing Cyan to go to Renate's New Year Eve party unsupervised. She also seems shocked at some of the harsher things Daniel does, such as telling Mr. Shusberg "[[PrecisionFStrike Fuck you]]" when he thinks they should get an IEP for Cyan, and [[spoiler: she calls out Daniel for considering buying test papers and homework to keep the remission charade up. During the overheard conversation, she also states that she never should have let Daniel talk her into scamming people with the diet]]. [[spoiler: Cyan running away is what finally kickstarted Belinda's HeelRealization and stand up to Cyan's father. She is also the parent who admits that her actions were wrong and put forth the effort to reconcile with Cyan and the other people she has hurt]].

** When Cyan's parents decide to take her to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival, they note that ''Theatre/{{Lysistrata}}'' is about the women going on strike against their husbands. [[spoiler: The day the play is performed, Cyan runs away, an action that makes Belinda [[HeelRealization finally stand up to Daniel]], which culminates in their divorce and Belinda kicking Daniel out of both her and Cyan's life]].

* ControlFreak: Cyan's father in a nutshell. He believes that all of his daughters are destined to be doctors and go to Caltech, and thinks being interested in anything else will automatically result in a life of poverty even though . While Annabeth has sucessfully done this, it's not enough for him. He refuses to let Tam go to RISD and doesn't approve of her artistry, even though she's interested in the industrial design program which can still make a lot of money. This leads to Tam applying to it behind his back. The worst is with Cyan, as he constantly cracks down on her, doling punishment after punishment on her for wanting to be a drummer and constantly denying that she's autistic, [[spoiler: which culminates into Cyan running away to Portland when he tries to pull her out of school and cut her off from her friends in order to have 24/7 surveillance on her]]. [[spoiler: Even Cyan's mother has had enough of it near the end]].

* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Averted with Eroica's mom, who was physically and emotionally abusive to her, so Eroica doesn't miss her one bit. Eroica's father, on the other hand, is loving and caring parent.

* AFriendInNeed: When Renate and Eroica find out about Cyan's situation and how bad it gets, they do whatever they can to protect Cyan, even if it means getting in trouble for it.

** While still emotionally abusive, Belinda is shown to be much less strict with Cyan, such as giving her the music-writing notebook back after Cyan's father confiscated it and allowing Cyan to go to Renate's New Year Eve party unsupervised. She also seems shocked at some of the harsher things Daniel does, such as telling Mr. Shusberg "[[PrecisionFStrike Fuck you]]" when he thinks they should get an IEP for Cyan, and [[spoiler: she calls out Daniel for considering buying test papers and homework to keep the remission charade up. During the overheard conversation, she also states that she never should have let Daniel talk her into scamming people with the diet]]. [[spoiler: Cyan running away is what finally kickstarted Belinda's HeelRealization and stand up to Cyan's father. She is also the parent who admits that her actions were wrong and puts forth effort to reconcile with Cyan and the other people she has hurt]].
** When Cyan's parents decide to take her to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival, they note that ''Theatre/{{Lysistrata}}'' is about the women going on strike against their husbands. [[spoiler: The day the play is performed, Cyan runs away, making Belinda [[HeelRealization finally stand up to Daniel]], which culminates in their divorce and Belinda kicking Daniel out of both her and Cyan's life]].

* OffscreenKarma: [[spoiler: Belinda, Cyan, and Eroica decided to expose the truth about the Good Brain Diet at the end of the story as well as Daniel's abuse to Cyan. This will permanently discredit Daniel, Dr. Nansi, and everybody else involved with the scam, and they would be charged with fraud and faced with several lawsuits. Belinda even acknowleges that she will also have to face legal proceedings because she still helped with the fraud. However, since the story ends after Belinda and Cyan reconcile, we don't see this happen]].

* ToxicFriendInfluence: Cyan's father believes Renate is this because Renate is encouraging Cyan to stand up to him. In reality, he's the one who's being a toxic influence on his family.

* WomenAreWiser: While both of Cyan's parents are jerks, her mother is definetely the kinder one. [[spoiler: She's also the parent who makes an effort to reconcile with Cyan when she finds her in Portland and admitting everything she did to her was wrong, while her husband continues to insist he's done nothing wrong]].

** From Cindy Butt to Cyan Beaut, as part of the process of discovering her identity and breaking away from her parents' control. [[spoiler: Her mother promises to make it official at the end]].

* NeverMyFault: The defining trait of Cyan's father other than being a lying hypocrite and a major ControlFreak. [[spoiler: Tam reveals to Cyan that he actually lost his IT job because he messed up some code and blamed someone else for it instead of admitting he screwed up, not because he was laid off by younger competitors as he had claimed]].

* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: At first, Cyan's father seems like he genuinely believes that the Good Brain Diet is helping Cyan. He even points out that autistic people are less like likely to be hired for jobs. However, as the story goes on, especially after [[spoiler: it's revealed that Cyan's parents know that the Good Brain Diet is a total quack]], it becomes clear that Cyan's father doesn't want Cyan officially diagnosed with autism because he wants complete control of Cyan's life.

* StarvingArtist: The reason why Cyan's father discourages her drumming and songwriting hobby and doesn't want Tam to go to RISD for college is because he believes that being a doctor is the only way to make a living in the current 2010s US economy. However, this belief also demonstrates one of the ways Daniel [[ControlFreak enforces his control over his family]], as he goes to great lenghts to cut Cyan off from her love of music. Also, in Tam's case, she's planning on averting this by majoring in Industrial Design at RISD, which would help her find a very good career off her artistry.

* ControlFreak: Cyan's father in a nutshell. He believes that all of his daughters are destined to be doctors and go to Caltech, and thinks being interested in anything else will automatically result in a life of poverty even though . While Annabeth has sucessfully done this, it's not enough for him. He refuses to let Tam go to RSID and doesn't approve of her drawings, which leads to Tam applying to it behind his back . The worst is with Cyan, as he constantly cracks down on her, doling punishment after punishment on her for wanting to be a drummer and constantly denying that she's autistic, [[spoiler: which culminates into Cyan running away to Portland when he tries to pull her out of school and cut her off from her friends in order to have 24/7 surveillance on her]]. [[spoiler: Even Cyan's mother has had enough of it near the end]].

* ControlFreak: One good way to describe Cyan's father. He believes that all of his daughters are destined to be doctors and go to Caltech, and thinks being interested in anything else will automatically result in a life of poverty. He refuses to let Tam go to RSID and doesn't approve of her drawings. The worst is with Cyan, as he constantly cracks down on her, doling punishment after punishment on her for wanting to be a drummer and constantly denying that she's autistic, [[spoiler: which culminates into Cyan running away to Portland when he tries to pull her out of school and cut her off from her friends in order to have 24/7 surveillance on her]]. [[spoiler: Even Cyan's mother has had enough of it near the end]].

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Cyan finally gets to meet the real Amy Zander at the Portland drum store she now owns. She turns out to be just as friendly as Cyan imagined she was, and they do a drum duet together. This causes Spectral Amy to disappear because Cyan doesn’t need her anymore. Cyan’s mother has a HeelRealization and finally stands up to her controlling husband, which culminates in them divorcing. Belinda promises that she’ll clear the charges against Mr. Shusburg to the best of her ability. Belinda, Cyan, and Eroica decide to work together to write a statement outing the Good Brain Diet as a scam, expose Daniel’s abuse (which would guarantee him losing full custody of Cyan and her sisters in the upcoming court case) and end the “autism remission” claims. This would shut down the industry for good. Furthermore, Cyan is allowed to legally change her name, pursue her drumming interests, and can finally get an autism diagnosis and an IEP, which would help her improve her grades and stay focused. The best part is, the whole family can now eat anything they want, so Cyan promises to learn how to cook to make it up to her mom and sisters for running away]].

* EmbarrassingLastName: Cynthia Butt, of course, and her friend Renate Silverdick.
* FantasyForbiddingFather: Cyan's father wants all three of his daughters to become doctors. When Cyan brings home a bad report card, he confiscates all her music and instruments. In addition, Cyan's older sister Tamarlyn is a talented artist who wants to apply to RISD, but her parents don't want her to go anywhere but Caltech.
* FinancialAbuse: Cyan's parents live off the money they make blogging about the Good Brain Diet. When Cyan begins to rebel, they crack down hard and eventually [[spoiler: threaten to have her institutionalized to prevent anyone from finding out she's still autistic. This is the final push for Cyan to run away]].

** [[spoiler: Cyan accidentally left out the alt-weekly ad for the drum circle on her desk at home. Tam eventually finds it when looking for clues after Cyan runs away, which is how she and post-HeelRealization Belinda managed to find Cyan]].
* HollywoodAutism: Cyan's parents believe in this trope. They think Cyan can't still be autistic because she displays musical talent and a sense of humor. Cyan herself averts this trope hard, though. Eroica, who is also autistic, also averts it.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler: Belinda finally stands up to Daniel, forcibly divorces him, and then kicks him out of the house she had inherited so he can never hurt Cyan again. Because the story is told from Cyan's P.O.V., we only learn about what happened after Tam and Belinda found her in Portland]].

** [[spoiler: Even though Belinda has a HeelRealization at the end and reconciles with Cyan, she acknowledges that she still will face legal trouble and possible lawsuits as she still helped her now ex-husband scam people because she was too afraid to stand up to him]].
* TheRunaway: [[spoiler: After Cyan's parents threaten to institutionalize her to cover up the fact that she's still autistic, Cyan runs away early the next morning, convinced that if her parents are willing to go that far, they'd be willing to kill her if they thought it could bring them more money. When Tam and post-HeelRealization Belinda find her, Cyan outright states that she was given no choice]].

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: [[spoiler: After Cyan runs away, Renate and Eroica go after her because they think she's making a terrible mistake. Once they learn that her parents threatened to institutionalize her, they immediately decide to ''help'' Cyan run away so her parents can no longer hurt her, even when they know they'll get grounded for it]].
--> '''Renate:''' [[spoiler: We're supposed to be back in Ashland by noon, and it's almost eleven-thirty now. We're doing some backstage tour meet and greet thingie-whatsis. [The Chaperones] are going to freak if we're gone for the entire day and then miss Lysistrata on top of it. And my parents will ground the crap out of me. And [Portland]'s what, a four and a half hour drive from here, if we don't hit major traffic?]]\\

** As Cyan starts losing focus in school and her grades start to slip, she decides to set up regular appointments with the school therapist, Dr. Ngo, to figure out what's going on. He becomes one of her two confidants and he's the one who helps her realize that there is no such thing as autism remission.
** Renate is a former bulimic, so she sees an Eating Disorder therapist once a month to make sure she won't relaspe.

* ToxicFriendInfluence: Cyan's father believes Renate is this because Renate is encouraging Cyan to stand up to him.

* AltumVidetur: When Cyan becomes severely overwhelmed and falls ill, she loses the ability to speak, but can still sing in Latin.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: {{Averted|Trope}}:
** As Cyan starts losing focus in school and her grades start to slip, she decides to set up regular appointments with the school therapist, Dr. Ngo, to figure out what's going on. He becomes one of her two confidants and he's the one who helps her realize that there is no such thing as autism remission.
** Renate is a former bulimic, so she sees an Eating Disorder therapist once a month to make sure she won't relaspe.

** When Cyan's parents decide to take her to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival, they note that ''Theatre/{{Lysistrata}}'' is about the women going on strike against their husbands. [[spoiler: The day the play is performed, Cyan runs away, making Belinda [[HeelRealization finally stand up to Daniel]], which culminates in their divorce and Belinda kicking Daniel out of Cyan's life]].

** When Cyan's parents decide to take her to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival, they note that ''{{Theater/Lysistrata}}'' is about the women going on strike against their husbands. [[spoiler: The day the play is performed, Cyan runs away, making Belinda [[HeelRealization finally stand up to Daniel]], which culminates in their divorce and Belinda kicking Daniel out of Cyan's life]].

* UsefulNotes/Portland: The story takes place in a small town in Souther Oregon, and [[spoiler: Cyan runs away to the city to escape her parents]].

* AuthorAvatar: The author, Andee Joyce, is autistic musician/songwriter like Cyan is, and according the "About the Author" page, she began to discover her musical idenity around the time she was embracing her autistic idenity.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Cyan finally gets to meet the real Amy Zander at the Portland drum store she now owns. She turns out to be just as friendly as Cyan imagined she was, and they do a drum duet together. This causes Spectral Amy to disappear because Cyan doesn’t need her anymore. Cyan’s mother has a HeelRealization and finally stands up to her controlling husband, which culminates in them divorcing. Belinda promises that she’ll clear the charges against Mr. Shusburg to the best of her ability. Belinda, Cyan, and Eroica decide to work together to write a statement outing the Good Brain Diet as a scam, expose Daniel’s abuse (which would guarentee him losing full custody of Cyan and her sisters in the upcoming court case) and end the “autism remission” claims. This would shut down the industry for good. Furthermore, Cyan is allowed to legally change her name, pursue her drumming interests, and can finally get an autism diagnosis and an IEP, which would help her improve her grades and stay focused. The best part is, the whole family can now eat anything they want, so Cyan promises to learn how to cook to make it up to her mom and sisters for running away]].
* EmancipatedChild: One of the first songs Cyan writes is called "Emancipated Minor." [[spoiler: She would have officially emanipated herself after running away if her mom didn't have her HeelRealization]].

* FinancialAbuse: Cyan's parents live off the money they make blogging about the Good Brain Diet. When Cyan begins to rebel, they crack down hard and eventually [[spoiler:threaten to have her institutionalized to prevent anyone from finding out she's still autistic. This is the final push for Cyan to run away]].

** The Butt's blog is one of the top sellers for the Good Brain Diet. [[spoiler: It's heavily implied that when Belinda, Cyan, and Eroica write a statement exposing the diet for the sham that it is, explaining Daniel's abuse to his family, and showing that there's nothing wrong with being autistic, the scam will end due to it's top supporter denouncing it]].

* ImaginaryFriend: Cyan imagines a spectral version of Amy Zander following her around and talking to her. [[spoiler:Spectral Amy disappears at the end because Cyan doesn't need her anymore.]]

* MoustacheDePlume: Male example. [[spoiler:Cyan's father writes blog posts under his wife's name.]]
* NeverMyFault: The defining trait of Cyan's father other than being a lying hypocrite and a major ControlFreak. [[spoiler: Tam reveals to Cyan that he actually lost his IT job because he messed up some code and blamed someone else for it instead of admitting he screwed up, not because he was laid off by younger competetors as he had claimed]].

* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: At first, Cyan's father seems like he genuinely believes that the Good Brain Diet is helping Cyan. He even points out that autistic people are less like likely to be hired for jobs. However, as the story goes on, especially after [[spoiler: it's reavealed that Cyan's parents know that the Good Brain Diet is a total quack]], it becomes clear that Cyan's father doesn't want Cyan officially diagnosed with autism because he wants complete control of Cyan's life.

* TheRunaway: [[spoiler: After Cyan's parents threaten to intutionalize her to cover up the fact that she's still autistic, Cyan runs away early the next morning, convinced that if her parents are willing to go that far, they'd be willing to kill her if they thought it could bring them more money. When Tam and post-HeelRealization Belinda find her, Cyan outright states that she was given no choice]].

** While still emotionally abusive, Belinda is shown to be much less strict with Cyan, such as giving her the music-writing notebook back after Cyan's father confiscated it. She also seems shocked at some of the harsher things Daniel does, such as telling Mr. Shusberg "[[PrecisionFStrike Fuck you]] when he thinks they should get an IEP for Cyan, and [[spoiler: she calls out Daniel for considering buying test papers and homework to keep the remission charade up. During the overheard conversation, she also states that she never should have let Daniel talk her into scamming people with the diet]]. [[spoiler: Cyan running away is what finally kickstarted Belinda's HeelRealization and stand up to Cyan's father]].

** [[spoiler: Cyan accidentally left out the alt-weekly ad for the drum circle on her desk at home. Tam eventually finds it when looking for clues after Cyan runs away, which is how she and post-HeelRealization Belinda figured out where Cyan went]].

** [[spoiler: Even though Belinda reforms at the end, she acknowledges that she still will face legal trouble and possible lawsuits as she still helped her now ex-husband scam people because she was too afraid to stand up to him]].

* TheStoolPigeon: Cyan's father tries to get Tam to spy on Cyan and Renate and tell him every detail because he believes the latter is a "bad influence". It doesn't work because by that point in the story, Tam isn't on good terms with her parents, either.

** Cyan decides to set up regular appointments with the school therapist, Dr. Ngo. He becomes one of her two confidants and he's the one who helps her realize that there is no such thing as autism remission.

** Cyan's parents are the emotionally and financially abusive type. [[spoiler: Cyan's mother eventually has a HeelRealization and becomes TheAtoner, while Cyan's father just gets worse]].

** While still emotionally abusive, Belinda is shown to be much less strict with Cyan, such as giving her the music-writing notebook back after Cyan's father confiscated it. She also seems shocked at some of the harsher things Daniel does, such as telling Mr. Shusberg "[[PrecisionFStrike Fuck you]] when he thinks they should get an IEP for Cyan, and [[spoiler: she calls out Daniel for considering buying test papers and homework to keep the remission charade up. During the overheard conversation, she also states that she never should have let Daniel talk her into scamming people with the diet]]. [[spoiler: Cyan running away is what finally kickstarted Belinda's HeelRealization, which causes her to finally stand up to Daniel]].
** When Cyan's parents decide to take her to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival, they note that ''{{Theater/Lysistrata}}'' is about the women going on strike against their husbands. [[spoiler: The day the play is performed, Cyan runs away, making Belinda [[HeelRealization finally stand up to Daniel]], which culminates in their divorce and Belinda kicking Daniel out of the house]].

* FinancialAbuse: Cyan's parents live off the money they make blogging about the Good Brain Diet. When Cyan begins to rebel, they crack down hard and eventually [[spoiler:threaten to have her institutionalized to prevent anyone from finding out she's still autistic]].

** While still emotionally abusive, Belinda is shown to be much less strict with Cyan, such as giving her the music-writing notebook back after Cyan's father confiscated it. She also seems shocked at some of the harsher things Daniel does, such as telling Mr. Shusberg "[[PrecisionFStrike Fuck you]] when he thinks they should get an IEP for Cyan, [[spoiler: she calls out Daniel for considering buying test papers and homework to keep the remission charade up. During the overheard conversation, she also states that she never should have let Daniel talk her into scamming people]]. [[spoiler: Cyan running away is what finally kickstarted Belinda's HeelRealization, which causes her to finally stand up to Daniel]].
** When Cyan's parents decide to take her to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival, they note that ''{{Theater/Lysistrata}}'' is about the women going on strike against their husband. [[spoiler: The day the play is performed, Cyan runs away, causing Belinda have a HeelRealization and finally stand up to Daniel, which culminates in their divorce and Belinda kicking Daniel out of the house]].

** The Butt's blog is one of the top sellers for the Good Brain Diet. [[spoiler: It's heavily implied that when Belinda, Cyan, and Eroica write a statement exposing the diet for the sham that it is, explaining Daniel's abuse to his family, and showing that there's nothing wrong with being autistic, the scam will be discredited due to it's top supporter denouncing it]].

* JawDrop: [[spoiler: Cyan, Renate, and Eroica do this when Belinda reveals that she finally has had enough of Daniel's ControlFreak attitude, so she divorced him and kicked him out of the house she inherited]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: While still emotionally abusive, Belinda is shown to be much less strict with Cyan, such as giving her the music-writing notebook back after Cyan's father confiscated it, [[spoiler: and she calls out Daniel for considering buying test papers and homework to keep the remission charade up]]. [[spoiler: She has a major HeelRealization after Cyan runs away, which causes her to finally stand up to Daniel]].

** The Butt's blog is one of the top sellers for the Good Brain Diet. [[spoiler: It's heavily implied that when Belinda, Cyan, and Eroica write a statement exposing the diet for the sham that it is, explaining Daniel's abuse to his family, and showing that there's nothing wrong with being autistic, the industry will be discredited due to it's top supporter denouncing it]].
** Cyan's parents force her to give up her phone when her grades start to slip. [[spoiler: That bites them in the ass when Cyan runs away because they aren't able to track down her location or call her]].

* CordonBleughChef: Cyan's parents promote and force her to eat the quack Good Brain Diet in order to "force" her autism "into remission", which consists of bits of animals most people wouldn't be caught dead eating (animal brains, animal eyes, animal organs, animal skins, even ''chicken toenails'') and unripe fruits. Cyan buying some hot chocolate at a Safeway is the first sign that she is rebelling against her parents' control.

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:Cyan's mother eventually has one, causing her to divorce her controlling husband, take full custody of Cyan, and try to make amends for the damage she's done.]]

* JawDrop: [[spoiler: Cyan, Renate, and Eroica do this when Belinda reveals that she finally has had enough of Daniel's ControlFreak attitude and divorced him]].

* TheRunaway: [[spoiler: After Cyan's parents threaten to intutionalize her to cover up the fact that she's still autistic, Cyan runs away early the next morning, convinced that if her parents are willing to go that far, they'd be willing to kill her if they thought it could bring them more money. When Tam and post-HeelRealization Belinda find her, Cyan outright states that her parents gave her no choice]].

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: At the end, Cyan's mother becomes this, admitting that her husband scared her into promoting the sham diet and financially/emotionally abusing Cyan, and that she's never been brave enough to stand up to him until after Cyan ran away. Afterwards, she decides to divorce him and take full custody of their daughter. Then after finding Cyan in Portland and reconciling with her, she promises to expose the Good Brain Diet as the quack that it is, end the "autism remission" claims, and clear Mr. Shunsberg's name to the best of her ability]].

* TheRunaway: [[spoiler: After Cyan's parents threaten to intutionalize her to cover up the fact that she's still autistic, Cyan runs away early the next morning, convinced that if her parents are willing to go that far, they'd be willing to kill her if they thought it could bring them more money]].

* SnakeOilSalesman: Cyan's parents, Dr. Nansi, and the others who promote the Good Brain Diet to "cure" autism are all this, [[spoiler: and Cyan's parents' case, they know that it's a fraud]]. [[spoiler: At the end, Cyan, [[TheAtoner her mother]], and Eroica are planning to write a final blog post exposing the truth about the diet in order to shut down the industry]].
* StepfordSmiler: Cyan's mother starts to give off this vibe as the book goes on.