Basic Trope: A character learns to not only to forgive but also respect those who torment him in the past.
- Straight: Allen learns to forgive his abusive father, Bob, for physically and emotionally abusing him in his childhood.
- Exaggerated: Allen easily forgives and automatically loves just about everyone who abused and bullied him throughout the years — the most notable are his parents Bob and Carol, his older sibling Danny, his classmates who bully and demean him, especially Jake and Heather, his old "friends" Sam, Kyle, and Zoey, and his former Fetishized Abuser Veronica. Bonus points if they all continue to abuse Allen.
- Downplayed: Allen learns to forgive Bob for being so verbally abusive to him.
- Justified:
- Bob is trying to atone for being a terrible father to Allen.
- Bob's treatment of Allen stems of the fact his father terribly abused him.
- Bob thinks his treatment of Allen was a means to make Allen stronger and better.
- Allen lives in a society where forgiveness is highly valued. If he chooses not forgive his father, he will be antagonized and reviled for being as just as bad as anyone who tormented him.
- Inverted: Allen comes to the terms to hate and despise his father Al for being a good parent throughout all these years.
- Subverted: Allen forgives Bob...right before he disowns him.
- Double Subverted: He comes back to truly forgive Bob.
- Parodied: Bob has curbstomped puppies, ate babies alive, grounded Allen for a week, and single handedly caused World War 3. Bob saying "I made an oopsie" was enough to convince Allen to break him out of prison. Bob proceeds to beat Allen to death and Burn the Orphanage. The narrative treats this as heroic.
- Zig Zagged: Bob's relationship with his father is a Yo Yo Plot Point.
- Averted: Allen doesn't forgive Bob at all.
- Enforced: The writer wants to make An Aesop about Forgiveness.
- Lampshaded: "You've forgiven me after all that I've done to you over the years?"
- Invoked: Allen's wife suggests he should forgive Bob.
- Exploited: Allen knows that forgiving Bob is not only the right thing to do, but it also helps prove which of them is the better man for what they had to deal with.
- Defied:
- Allen lets Bob know in no terms he isn't going to forgive him:
Allen: "Fuck you. You think I should forgive you for causing me so much pain and suffering for all my life? You think I should forgive you just because society expects me to? You think you're gonna be let off the hook with your shitty excuses in why you're still treating me like this? I don't trust you, and I don't forgive you! I want absolutely nothing to do with you! Go kill yourself, you old piece of shit!"- Alternatively, Allen does forgive Bob, who isn't having it.
Bob: Aw, keep it to yourself, we both know I don't deserve it anymore.- Flash, the local Boisterous Bruiser, sees how much Allen is being abused and tormented by others, and decides to invoke the first defiance of this trope with this Get A Hold Of Yourself Man speech:
Flash: Wake the fuck up, Allen! Quit bein' such a spineless idiot an' stand up for yerself! These guys, they ain't doin' ya no good! Please, just this once, grow a spine an' tell 'em off before they ruin yer life! - Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Allen mentions his father Bob was abusive, but when Bob appears for the first time, the two are on good terms.
- Deconstructed: Bob takes this as license to continue his abusive and controlling behavior of Allen.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob takes Allen's forgiveness as a sign he has been granted a second chance, and refuses to waste that chance. He is a good man for the rest of his life.
- Allen severely tells him he's not worthy of forgiveness if he takes exploits it, and sever all ties with him until he makes an actual change of behavior.
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