History Main / WillNotBeAVictim

See also BewareTheNiceOnes, DamselOutOfDistress, IronWoobie, SubmissiveBadass.

* Julie Winters from ''ComicBook/{{TheMaxx}}'' is a {{Subversion}} of this trope. After being raped and left for dead, Julie decided to cope with her trauma by adopting this philosophy, believing that people, at the end of the day, are ultimately responsible for their own lives and they need to take charge and stop blaming others for their misfortune. While not a bad philosophy in and of itself, Julie takes this to the extreme, to the point of having complete and utter apathy for the suffering of others, making her inept at her job as a social worker, and leaving her incapable of forming healthy relationships. The comics do not paint this attitude in a positive light, and once her backstory is revealed, it's made clear that Julie has ''not'' dealt with her issues, but has swept them under a rug and forgotten about them. [[/folder]]

* In ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', Andy Dufresne is often [[PrisonRape beaten and raped]] by a group called the Sisters. [[spoiler:When he fights back, the leader says, "[[YouGotSpunk Yes, you fight, I like that!]]", and it goes FromBadToWorse. Red says that "I wish I could say that Andy fought the good fight, and the Sisters let him be, but prison is no fairy-tale world".]] What saves Andy isn't his brawn or openly refusing to be a victim, but rather his knowledge and his ability to work with others. [[spoiler:He gains favor with the guards by helping them with taxes and wins the support of other prisoners by getting them beer. The lead guard finds out about the Sisters and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beats the hell out of the leader]], leaving him permanently crippled]]. Only then do the Sisters finally leave Andy alone.

* In ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', Andy Dufresne is often beaten and raped by a group called the Sisters. [[spoiler:When he fights back, the leader says, "[[YouGotSpunk Yes, you fight, I like that!]]", and it goes FromBadToWorse. Red says that "I wish I could say that Andy fought the good fight, and the Sisters let him be, but prison is no fairy-tale world".]] What saves Andy isn't his brawn or openly refusing to be a victim, but rather his knowledge and his ability to work with others. [[spoiler:He gains favor with the guards by helping them with taxes and wins the support of other prisoners by getting them beer. The lead guard finds out about the Sisters and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beats the hell out of the leader]], leaving him permanently crippled]]. Only then do the Sisters finally leave Andy alone.

* Faust, in [[FanFic/ThingsWeDontTellHumans Things We Don't Tell Humans]]. He's barely an adult, he's a prisoner of war in the Decepticon camp, and he (as far as a bullying Starscream knows) has had no proper combat training by anyone who can fly. Unfortunately for Starscream, Faust is a KungFuKid, Megatron is egging him on to fight, and Starscream just said something to press Faust’s BerserkButton...
* In the ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fanfiction ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6272844/1/Refusal-to-Fall Refusal to Fall]]'', Ukraine is injured and at the mercy of the personification of the Empire, a political movement that's been assimilating and killing nations left and right. Given the choice between surrendering to the Empire or dying, [[spoiler: Ukraine reflects on how she's spent her life depending on others to take care of her, before saying "I bow to no one" and shooting him. She herself is killed not long after, but is later remembered as a brave soldier who turned the tide against the Empire.]]
* Another ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fanfic, ''FanFic/SevenLittleKillers'', has [[ThePollyanna Finland]] (of all people) pull one of these while Blue/[[spoiler: Canada]] is killing him.

* In the 5th season of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', when [[EldritchAbomination Illyria]] starts to [[BodySnatcher take over her body]] and destroy her soul, [[spoiler: Fred Burkle]] says she refuses to be a {{damsel in distress}}.

* In the Japanese live action version of the manga ''Manga/HanaYoriDango'', the heroine, Makino Tsukushi, delivers a solid punch to the jaw of Domyouji Tsukasa, the spoiled, sadistic BMOC of Eitoku High School and its clique of ultra-rich hot guys, The Flower Four. No one dares to cross the F4 for fear of retaliation, but Tsukushi -- who the F4, particularly Domyouji, have been picking on mercilessly for weeks -- refuses to play the victim anymore and declares war.

* In ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', Andy Dufresne is often beaten and raped by a group called the Sisters. [[spoiler:When he fights back, the leader says, "[[YouGotSpunk Yes, you fight, I like that!]]", and it goes FromBadToWorse. Red says that "I wish I could say that Andy fought the good fight and they left him alone, but life is not a fairy tale".]] What saves Andy isn't his brawn or openly refusing to be a victim, but rather his knowledge and his ability to work with others. [[spoiler:He gains favor with the guards by helping them with taxes and wins the support of other prisoners by getting them beer. The lead guard finds out about the Sisters and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beats the hell out of the leader]], leaving him permanently crippled]]. Only then do the Sisters finally leave Andy alone.

* Buddy from ''VideoGame/{{Lisa}}'' is an interesting combination of this trope and HeWhoFightsMonsters: She's the only woman left in the entire world, so naturally everyone wants to either kidnap her or protect her. However, after seeing both sides go to [[Determinator absurd extremes]] just to get her, Buddy comes to the conclusion that the only way for her to be truly free is to ''conquer the world and kill anyone who stands in her way.''

** Julie Winters from ''ComicBook/{{TheMaxx}}'' is a {{Subversion}} of this trope. After being raped and left for dead, Julie decided to cope with her trauma by adopting this philosophy, believing that people, at the end of the day, are ultimately responsible for their own lives and they need to take charge and stop blaming others for their misfortune. While not a bad philosophy in and of itself, Julie takes this to the extreme, to the point of having complete and utter apathy for the suffering of others, making her inept at her job as a social worker, and leaving her incapable of forming healthy relationships. The comics do not paint this attitude in a positive light, and once her backstory is revealed, it's made clear that Julie has ''not'' dealt with her issues, but has swept them under a rug and forgotten about them. [[/folder]]

[[/folder]]

When successful, this usually results in a CrowningMomentOfAwesome. When unsuccessful, it can lead to either some talk about [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech the reason why you suck]], [[FromBadToWorse things going even more wrong]], or [[DownerEnding tragic results]].

* In ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland'', one of Ganta's many [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome moments]] is one of these. During his first Deadman fight with Crow/Senji, it looks like he's about to give up -- until he grabs the back of Senji's coat, hauls himself up and proceeds to say how it's tough, he's scared, but he [[TheDeterminator wants to live]]. However, Senji's [[spoiler: not a villain, and actually respects Ganta for this]]. Ganta also has another one before this, during the Dog Race.

* Another ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fanfic, ''FanFic/SevenLittleKillers'', has [[ThePollyanna Finland]] (of all people) pull one of these while Blue/[[spoiler: Canada]] is killing him. Both a CrowningMomentOfAwesome and an unbridled TearJerker.

-->'''''Chun Li''': [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome That's exactly what I wanted you to think.]] '''YA-TAI!''' *[[BreakingTheBonds snaps wrist bonds]] and kicks Bison out of his chair*''
* In the Japanese live action version of the manga ''Manga/HanaYoriDango'', the heroine, Makino Tsukushi, delivers a solid punch to the jaw of Domyouji Tsukasa, the spoiled, sadistic BMOC of Eitoku High School and its clique of ultra-rich hot guys, The Flower Four. No one dares to cross the F4 for fear of retaliation, but Tsukushi -- who the F4, particularly Domyouji, have been picking on mercilessly for weeks -- refuses to play the victim anymore and declares war. This could be considered a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, except it happens so early in the story that there is much more awesome to follow!

* In ''Manga/AyashiNoCeres'', Ceres herself ends up when [[spoiler: her [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility grown-insane]] husband, who has been physically abusing her, raping her and locking her away for fear of losing her ends up throwing one of their children into a tree, likely killing the child. Horrified and sad about what has become of her husband, when he demands she come back home with him, she yells "NO!" and accidentally unleashes her powers on him and killing him]].

What was that? I can't-- BLAFGH!

Looks like it's the end of the line, [[TheWoobie woobie]]. All the characters with awesome action skills aren't going to come save you. [[ForcedToWatch They just get to watch]] while I brutalize you so as to kick me a few notches up the villain ladder.