Times where someone attempts to undercut, undermine and ruin the success of another in Literature.
- In The Adventures of Pinocchio, the blue fairy promised him he'd become a real boy if he's always well-behaved and gets good grades in school. Then one day, the other boys tell him that the monster whale was seen near their place and that they should skip school to look for it. Pinocchio hesitates but then decides to join them because he cares about Geppetto. When they go to the sea, no whale. Pinocchio gets suspicious and wants to know what's going on. Then, the other boys tell him, that they'll look bad if he's an A-student, but if everyone in class was as lazy as they are, they'd be just average. This fact is often omitted in the adaptations, with the major exception of the Giuliano Cenci version.
- This is the entire point of the book Among Friends by Caroline B. Cooney. Jennie Quint is regarded as pretty much perfect (except for math) at her school and she's a super-overachiever. Jennie herself isn't an egotist or a snob, but even her very best friends are getting really fed up with constantly being overshadowed by Jennie's perfection.
- Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World:
- The reason that Argus kicks Nick out despite being smarter, better, and more honorable than any of their other teammates is because he's those things. Argus apparently felt Nick should have been doing things more akin to his stature only for the younger man to see it for betrayal by his father-figure/mentor.
- Tianna was at the top of her class at the magic school she attended, but she was so focused on studying and improving herself that she failed to notice her own fiancé's growing envy of her abilities. A member of a rival family used her own success against her by making it seem like the only reason she had gotten so far was because she bribed the teachers.
- Repeatedly touched on in the works of Ayn Rand, such as Atlas Shrugged, and the the philosophy she founded. It's always portrayed as the greatest evil society perpetuates, with repeated connections to Marx's slogan, "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need" which the novel's government and Twentieth Century Motor Company interpret as "punish those with ability, and reward those without." In fact, this is the central motivation of all her villains in all her novels. It's perhaps most explicit in The Fountainhead, where Big Bad Ellsworth Toohey explicitly spells out his goals (and the goals of altruism in general) in a pages-long Motive Rant: he deliberately props up the mediocre and tears down the truly innovative and great in the name of "equality," all with the direct hope of keeping the masses stupid and willing to bend to the whims of himself and his powerful circle of friends. As he succinctly sums it up, "We don't want any thinking men."
- In A Brother's Price, Corelle Whistler tells Jerin Whistler that "some people" think the Whistlers are "giving themselves airs" by talking the Queen's English instead of the local dialect, and insists they should try to fit in better. They talk like this because their grandfather was Prince Alannon, and he presumably liked it that way and had his wives twisted around his little finger. The family eventually evades the tall poppy syndrome when Jerin manages to marry into the royal family. Her sudden interest in fitting in is explained by her chasing after the neighbour boy's pants - it's their neighbours who are most offended by their way of talking.
- More literally than most examples, the narrator of "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" describes one scene he passes through this way, with the actual weeds jealous of any that grew above the rest.If there pushed any ragged thistle-stalk
Above its mates, the head was chopped; the bents
Were jealous else. - Exaggerated in The Court of the Air by the fanatical "communitarians" of the underground colony: in their case, they'd dispense with the chains or masks and just maim or mutilate the ones who are too fast or too pretty. Most likely, at the "tall poppy"'s own request.
- In Hermann Hesse's Demian, the title character speculates that The Descendants of Cain are actually the intelligent, ambitious, talented people of the world, whom the ordinary people shun out of resentment. While it doesn't play out too much in the story itself, it's significant that Demian and his mother (who clearly have the mark) don't really have peers, just followers — of which the protagonist is one, and he in turn attracts a disciple of his own.
- The Scandinavian term Janteloven ("the Jante law" or "the law of Jante") comes from the 1933 novel A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks by Danish-Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose. In this book, the first-person narrator comes from a small town called Jante in Denmark, where the working-class inhabitants follow the unwritten Jante law, which consists of rules that basically boil down to "You're shit just like us, and don't you dare forget it."
- Don't think you're anything special.
- Don't think you're as much as us.
- Don't think you're wiser than us.
- Don't convince yourself that you're better than us.
- Don't think you know more than us.
- Don't think you are more than us.
- Don't think you are good at anything.
- Don't laugh at us.
- Don't think anyone cares about you.
- Don't think you can teach us anything.
- Perhaps you don't think we know a few things about you?
- Cited in The Death of WCW as one of the reasons the company failed. A small clique of already-established main eventers were given near-total creative control over their characters and significant sway with the bookers. As a consequence the company's talent pool stagnated, with potentially huge stars left stuck in the midcard for their prime earning years, squashed by the New World Order, or buried when they got too popular for the backstage clique's comfort; similarly, established superstars like the post-Montreal Bret Hart or Ric Flair and his Horsemen were either Put on the Bus or buried at every turn, typically by or at the instigation of the nWo clique.
- This is a major theme in Girl in Translation. The main character, Kimberly Chang, is repeatedly shown to be jealous of her much wealthier classmates. On a more serious note, Kimberly's aunt forces her and her mother to live in a dangerous, roach-infested apartment and work long hours of hard labor in a Chinatown sweatshop from fear that Kimberly will be more successful than her son.
- Exaggerated in Harrison Bergeron, in which everyone is literally handicapped to the lowest common denominator. Athletic people must wear heavy chains to make them slow and clumsy. Smart people wear earphones that randomly play loud noises to disrupt their thinking patterns. And beautiful people must wear masks.
- Near the end of Have Space Suit – Will Travel, protagonist Kip is about to make a jab at Peewee about her being smarter than other kids her age. He stops himself when he notices that she's actually rather insecure about it. Remembering that his father had previosuly talked down about people "Who insist that cause that 'mediocre' is better than 'best.' They delight in clipping wings because they themselves can't fly."
- In Huckleberry Finn, Huck's father (a slovenly, abusive, and neglectful drunkard) is absolutely enraged by the fact that Huck is getting an education and a chance at a decent shot in life, because he thinks that now Huck is going to think he's above his dad.
- In Invisible Man, one day when the protagonist is working for the Brotherhood he receives an anonymous, unstamped letter warning him, "Keep working for the people but remember that you are one of us and do not forget if you get too big they will cut you down." Only too late does he recognize who the familiar handwriting belongs to.
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull features a seagull (the titular character) who discovers that the true purpose of life is to learn to fly as high and as fast as physically possible. When he shares this discovery with his flock, he is savagely driven out. Later, he returns in a transcendent spirit form and recruits followers, all of whom suffer the same fate.
- In Matched, Ky does this on purpose so, as an Aberration, he won't be selected to fight in the war.
- The short story "Null-P" by William Tenn describes the rise and (extremely eventual) fall of a future society so afraid of individual variation that all rewards (e.g. scholarships or public office) are given to those whose performance is closest to the exact average of their group.
- The Thorburn family in Pact have been twisted by the desire for a massive inheritance from Rosalyn Thorburn, and actively sabotage any attempts to better themselves-if one gets into a good college, another will ruin her chances. At this point, it's largely reflexive for them to spitefully verbally attack one another whenever they meet. Blake Thorburn, the narrator, is The One Who Made It Out by running away.
- Discussed in "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" from The Screwtape Letters. Screwtape, a senior devil from Hell, discusses how Tall Poppy Syndrome can be used to undermine democracy. While a full discussion would become a lengthy entry, the short version is that Screwtape says the Devils can undermine democracy and education - the government least inclined toward the Hellward road and one of humanity's greatest achievements, respectively - by introducing mediocrity in a citizenry that refuses to accept excellence. Talented individuals become ashamed of their talents because their excellence elevates them. In short, while "the Enemy" (i.e. God) would want humans to excel while remaining humble and kind, the devils want humans to be proud but mediocre. Screwtape best summarizes it as confusing the message "All men are created equal," meaning all humans deserve rights, equal protection before the law, and to be valued as individuals, with "All men are created equal," to mean no one is truly more virtuous, more talented, more industrious, or more capable. The full lecture goes into much greater detail.
- This is a major factor in most of the Sharpe stories — the Establishment is deeply offended that a common soldier born to poverty could have become an officer. Then even more offended when he goes around being better at it than them. Similarly, a lot of the common soldiers resent being given orders by a "jumped-up Sergeant". To the point where they attempt to frag him several times.
- In the Star Wars Legends continuity, the book The Truce at Bakura introduces a religion called the "Cosmic Balance", which essentially advocates this, as if you attempt to better yourself a great deal then other people will suffer to keep the balance. The religion doesn't like the Jedi due to their having had vast power, seeing their eradication by the Emperor as a balancing effect.
- The Imperial Order from the Sword of Truth series is a very literal embodiment of this trope. Under their belief, everyone is meant to give to those who have less than them, and anyone who doesn't should be put to death. They want to kill all who can use magic because there are many who can't. They sack entire cities because the people who live there just want to live their own lives rather than join the Order. Though the leaders often openly contradict their own beliefs (just being leaders shows they think they are superior and, by their own ideals, should give up authority) it is often a society run by mob rule. As Nikki eloquently puts it, "The Order teaches us that to be better than someone is to be worse than everyone."
- These Words Are True and Faithful:"You see, gay guys aren't supposed to be young and hot like you are and also educated professionals like you are, and if you are, you broke one of the gay commandments, so everybody has to put you in what they think's your place."
- In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus complains that "All men are equal" has led to schoolteachers who promote all students instead of holding back underachievers.
- In The Tower and the Fox, Calatians are treated as second-class citizens by the British Empire. When one of them, main character Kip Penfold, dares to apply to a college for sorcery, his family are ostracized by most of the local Calatian community for fear of reprisal for one of their number "reaching above his station", to the point that they have to move.
- Discussed in the third Troy Rising novel, when Comet is transferred to the Thermopylae and is now in charge of a squad of Latin American engineers (all male). They immediately take a disliking to her for being an overachiever, an American, and a woman. She also learns that the other squads regularly steal one another's tools. Her goal is to make her squad the best on the station, but a fellow squad leader explains that Latin Americans prefer to sabotage the best over trying to become better than them. There may be some Author Tract involved here. In fact, by going to official channels about the tool theft, she is seen as a "cheater" and someone who has hurt their honor.
- In Unseen Academicals, when Glenda is resistant to her friend Juliet taking an opportunity for a lucrative and glamorous life as a fashion model, she's told by Pepe that this is an example of "Crab Bucket", but doesn't understand, and Pepe doesn't elaborate. When a fishmonger later tells Glenda that you can keep crabs in a bucket with no lid, since any crab that tries to climb out is pulled down by the others, she realizes what the reference meant. The lower class in Ankh-Morpork suffer from such a case of Tall Poppy Syndrome that anyone trying to elevate themselves is seen to be "giving themselves airs" and "having ideas above their station" and dragged back down by their peers — or, just as often, by themselves, these habits having become ingrained. Overcoming the "crab bucket" mentality is a big part of Glenda's Character Development.
- When Women Were Dragons: Alex is very good at math. So good, that her exam scores make the other children in her class (especially the boys, who are believed to be naturally better at math than girls), feel bad. Her teachers fudge her scores to make her grades more average, and her principal accuses her of being insensitive to her classmates' feelings. Alex avoids this problem in her correspondence courses by using her androgynous nickname.
