History Main / NotUsedToFreedom

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', Kanao was sold as a slave from a very young age, which turned her into an EmotionlessGirl who will not do anything unless told to. Even after she was freed and became a hunter, if she received no orders, she would rely on a coin toss to decide her actions. It took [[AllLovingHero Tanjirou's]] intervention for her heart to start opening up again.

** In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E25S4E1Scorpion Season 4 premiere]], the ''Voyager'' crew encounters a Borg drone who had been human. She is not at all happy to be "liberated" from the collective. In subsequent episodes, she begins to accept herself as an individual, but she still retains elements of the Borg, as exemplified by her decision to continue using her Borg designation rather than going back to her human name. The fact that she was assimilated as a young child and literally grew up Borg probably plays a role in this. It's later revealed that at one point, she and three other drones were cut off from the collective and their individuality began to surface, but while the others tried to reclaim their former selves, Seven was frightened by individuality, and assimilated them into a sort of mini-hive mind until they were eventually able to rejoin the collective.

* In 1994, Oklahoma prison warden's [[https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Bobbi_Parker wife Bobbi Parker ]] was abducted by inmate Randolph Dial. When she was rescued and returned to her husband in 2005, her husband noted how timid she was and how she would ask him permission for everything--using the bathroom, eating or drinking, even leaving the room.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Hypnota brainwashed the victims she sold to Eviless to be sold as slaves in the Saturnian Empire so that they're docile, obedient and utterly terrified of the idea of escaping slavery. When the Emperor outlaws the abduction and owning of humans as slaves these victims beg to be enslaved again as the MindRape Hypnota had subjected them to ensures they do not know how to survive without being subject to the orders of a master.

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'''Thog''': '''prison changed thog quickly.''

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* In a less depressing case, but affecting more people, players used to Japanese {{Role Playing Game}}s, which are by nature relatively linear, with a pre-defined order to where you go, preset characters, and a single tightly-written story, often get confused when they play Western Role Playing Games where there is normally a focus on open-world gameplay, customizable characters, and decisions that affect how the story moves forward. In other words, most Japanese [=RPGs=] are designed to tell you a story; most Western [=RPGs=] are designed for you to make your own story. This is a popular theory as to why the Franchise/MassEffect games, which are the genre's epitome of choice-based gameplay, failed to catch on in Japan: The games give a lot of choices from the start, but it's interpreted instead as poorly-written challenges for you to figure out the right decision.

* In ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', [[spoiler:[[OldConvict Brooks]] hangs himself because he can no longer cope with freedom after 50 years in prison]].

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Geidel Paul Geidel]] went to prison for murder in 1911 at the age of 17. 63 years later, he was offered parole, but he refused, since he had spent his entire adult life in prison. He eventually left prison in 1980 after 68 years and moved to a nursing home where he died seven years later.

[[caption-width-right:350:TheOutsideWorld is overrated, anyway.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/garfields_subjects_not_used_to_freedom.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:It's too late. They don't know what life is like outside of a cage.]]

** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E23IBorg I, Borg]]", the ''Enterprise'' rescues a Borg drone from a crashed ship. His first few interactions with the crew involve telling them that [[CatchPhrase they will be assimilated]], and he struggles to understand why people find this so distasteful. Even when he begins to develop an individual identity, it's all based on his life in the moment; he never indicates that he remembers who he was prior to being assimilated.[[note]]Although this may be the result of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: the [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E16QWho first appearance]] of the Borg implied that there were "home-grown" Borg, and later episodes establish that they assimilate children and even babies. It's possible that Hugh was either always a Borg or was assimilated at a young enough age not to have developed much of a personality yet.[[/note]]

** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E23IBorg I, Borg]]", the ''Enterprise'' rescues a Borg drone from a crashed ship. His first few interactions with the crew involve telling them that [[CatchPhrase they will be assimilated]], and he struggles to understand why people find this so distasteful. Even when he begins to develop an individual identity, it's all based on his life in the moment; he never indicates that he remembers who he was prior to being assimilated.

Someone has been held for a long time in a place, or has been a member of an institution where their freedoms have been very much limited, such as a prison or a mental hospital, and has either difficulties in fitting in outside, or wants to remain in or return to their former place of confinement. Some wild animals too much used to being cared for by humans might also become unable to function in nature (which is why rangers put up "Don't Feed Wildlife" signs). Some TV shows centered on families also have stories of the mother getting bored when her children are away and she's no longer obligated to do her household duties.

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Someone has been held for a long time in a place, or has been a member of an institution where their freedoms have been very much limited, such as a prison or a mental hospital, and has either difficulties in fitting in outside, or wants to remain in or return to their former place of confinement. Some wild animals too much used to be cared for by humans might also become unable to function in nature (which is why rangers put up "Don't Feed Wildlife" signs). Some TV shows centered on families also have stories of the mother getting bored when her children are away and she's no longer obligated to do her household duties.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Marty's uncle "Jailbird Joey" is more comfortable as a toddler confined in his playpen; Marty tells him "better get used to these bars".

** In the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E25S4E1Scorpion Season 4 premiere]], the ''Voyager'' crew encounters a Borg drone who had been human. She is not at all happy to be "liberated" from the collective. In subsequent episodes, she begins to accept herself as an individual, but she still retains elements of the Borg, as exemplified by her decision to continue using her Borg designation rather than going back to her human name. (The fact that she was assimilated as a young child and literally grew up Borg probably plays a role in this.)

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "Critical Gas", [[MistakenForDying Dexter believes he's going to die]], and one of the things he does is tell his robots that they are free. They have no idea what he's talking about, and so just stand in place until Dexter [[HypocriticalHumor demands]] that they "be free" and leave. They do slowly start to get the concept [[BlackComedyBurst right before getting run over by a truck]].

* ''Film/{{Greenfingers}}'': After Colin is paroled, he pulls a GetIntoJailFree in order to get sent back to prison:

** Even Garfield himself fell into this trope before in a 1986 sequence where he ran away from home being fed up with Jon's daily demands of him bringing in the newspaper. However, Garfield was unable to provide for himself since he couldn't find any fresh food, water or shelter around him and was so desperate that he tried running back to Jon. His efforts to find Jon mostly failed until an elderly pet store owner helped him reunite the two.