Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

The Hole We're In

 The Hole We're In
type
TVTItem
 The Hole We're In
label
The Hole We're In
 The Hole We're In
page
TheHoleWereIn
 The Hole We're In
comment
The Hole We're In is a 2010 novel by Gabrielle Zevin.The Pomeroys are a family of apparently upstanding Seventh Day Adventists in Tennessee when Roger, the patriarch, decides to go back to college and earn his PhD in Education in Texas. The hit to the family's finances causes matriarch George to become reliant on credit card debt, including taking out a credit card for Vincent Pomeroy - her estranged son, who was thrown out of the family for attending college. The decision leads to a series of escalating disasters throughout the 1990s and the 2000s for their youngest daughter Patsy.
 The Hole We're In
fetched
2024-04-18T10:32:12Z
 The Hole We're In
parsed
2024-04-18T10:32:12Z
 The Hole We're In
processingComment
Dropped link to StudentDebtPlot: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
 The Hole We're In
processingUnknown
Student Debt Plot
 The Hole We're In
isPartOf
DBTropes
 The Hole We're In / int_21718ffc
type
Deep South
 The Hole We're In / int_21718ffc
comment
Deep South: The story is set in rural Texas and Tennessee.
 The Hole We're In / int_21718ffc
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_21718ffc
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_21718ffc
 The Hole We're In / int_23698fa8
type
Aborted Arc
 The Hole We're In / int_23698fa8
comment
Aborted Arc: Twice with Helen. The first time we meet her, she's thinking about how much she loathes her fiance and in a mountain of credit card debt that she's hiding from him. When we catch up with her after the first Time Skip, she seems Happily Married with two young children and her financial problems aren't mentioned (it's not even confirmed if she told him). The second time we meet her, her twin children climb a tree and then can't get down. After she thinks about how unwilling she is to raise a disabled child - having hated working with disabled or impaired people - her daughter Alice falls from the tree. Despite this Cliffhanger, Alice's fate isn't mentioned.
 The Hole We're In / int_23698fa8
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_23698fa8
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_23698fa8
 The Hole We're In / int_3039ffc7
type
Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting
 The Hole We're In / int_3039ffc7
comment
Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Patsy was scapegoated after her mother George got an abortion, sent away to live with her abusive grandmother, and emotionally abused. She is ultimately a good mother to her daughter Britt, sacrificing for her and ensuring she got a safe abortion when she needed one.
 The Hole We're In / int_3039ffc7
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_3039ffc7
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_3039ffc7
 The Hole We're In / int_545f8c91
type
Abortion Fallout Drama
 The Hole We're In / int_545f8c91
comment
Abortion Fallout Drama: Except, unusually, the person who pays the price isn't the person who got the abortion. George gets an abortion when she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. Roger finds out because she charges it to their credit card. However, she blames her own daughter Patsy and due to Roger's racism, he goes ballistic at the thought of her being pregnant and by a black classmate, which causes her to be thrown out and abused by her grandmother.
 The Hole We're In / int_545f8c91
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_545f8c91
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_545f8c91
 The Hole We're In / int_599f943f
type
Karma Houdini Warranty
 The Hole We're In / int_599f943f
comment
Karma Houdini Warranty: Despite not facing consequences for anything else, George dies young after suffering from severe mental illness. Carolyn also dies young after sleeping with Roger (her student), even though it technically happens years later.
 The Hole We're In / int_599f943f
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_599f943f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_599f943f
 The Hole We're In / int_5f930b19
type
Named After Somebody Famous
 The Hole We're In / int_5f930b19
comment
Named After Somebody Famous: Patsy names her daughter Britt after Britney Spears.
 The Hole We're In / int_5f930b19
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_5f930b19
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_5f930b19
 The Hole We're In / int_5fcb9ad1
type
Time Skip
 The Hole We're In / int_5fcb9ad1
comment
The first time we meet her, she's thinking about how much she loathes her fiance and in a mountain of credit card debt that she's hiding from him. When we catch up with her after the first Time Skip, she seems Happily Married with two young children and her financial problems aren't mentioned (it's not even confirmed if she told him).
 The Hole We're In / int_5fcb9ad1
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_5fcb9ad1
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_5fcb9ad1
 The Hole We're In / int_8387bb18
type
Good Girls Avoid Abortion
 The Hole We're In / int_8387bb18
comment
Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Discussed. The Pomeroys, as Seventh Day Adventists, are extremely against abortion. George, who is definitely not "good", gets an abortion in the late 1990s after getting pregnant unexpectedly - then blames Patsy for it. However, Patsy's daughter Brit also later has an abortion when she's sixteen, which is portrayed as a normal and understandable decision (even though it requires Patsy and Brit to go into multiple dangerous situations due to abortion being banned).
 The Hole We're In / int_8387bb18
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_8387bb18
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_8387bb18
 The Hole We're In / int_863fa679
type
What Happened to the Mouse?
 The Hole We're In / int_863fa679
comment
What Happened to the Mouse?: Having always been Out of Focus, Helen is completely absent after the third Time Skip (to 2020).
 The Hole We're In / int_863fa679
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_863fa679
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_863fa679
 The Hole We're In / int_9f6fb586
type
Leitmotif
 The Hole We're In / int_9f6fb586
comment
Leitmotif: A rare literary example. Characters are constantly noted to be listening to the music of Britney Spears, especially her 1990s and 2000s hits when she was at the peak of her fame, "Hit Me Baby One More Time" and "Oops! I Did It Again!"
 The Hole We're In / int_9f6fb586
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_9f6fb586
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_9f6fb586
 The Hole We're In / int_a1841170
type
Generational Saga
 The Hole We're In / int_a1841170
comment
Generational Saga: Starting in the mid-1990s, when Patsy is a teenager, it begins by focusing more on Roger and George, before the story skips forward to the mid-2000s (when Patsy is an Iraq War veteran), to the 2020s when Patsy's own sixteen-year-old daughter, Britt, is pregnant.
 The Hole We're In / int_a1841170
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_a1841170
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_a1841170
 The Hole We're In / int_a70223
type
Karma Houdini
 The Hole We're In / int_a70223
comment
Karma Houdini: George dies young (in her fifties), and Roger does eventually die, but neither character faces any consequences for abusing their children, stealing money from them, or abandoning them.
 The Hole We're In / int_a70223
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_a70223
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_a70223
 The Hole We're In / int_b11ac9f5
type
Abusive Parents
 The Hole We're In / int_b11ac9f5
comment
Abusive Parents: George is financially abusive, taking out thousands in credit card debt in Vincent's name over a period of years. She is also at best a huge Useless Bystander Parent, allowing Patsy to take the blame for getting the abortion and allowing Roger to throw her out. Roger was physically abusive to Vincent, and is definitely emotionally abusive to both him and Patsy. He is also financially abusive to Patsy, refusing to help her even when he's in a significantly better financial position to do so.
 The Hole We're In / int_b11ac9f5
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_b11ac9f5
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_b11ac9f5
 The Hole We're In / int_c49935fa
type
20 Minutes into the Past
 The Hole We're In / int_c49935fa
comment
20 Minutes into the Past: The story begins in the mid 1990s...
 The Hole We're In / int_c49935fa
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_c49935fa
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_c49935fa
 The Hole We're In / int_c6b8d37a
type
Cliffhanger
 The Hole We're In / int_c6b8d37a
comment
The second time we meet her, her twin children climb a tree and then can't get down. After she thinks about how unwilling she is to raise a disabled child - having hated working with disabled or impaired people - her daughter Alice falls from the tree. Despite this Cliffhanger, Alice's fate isn't mentioned.
 The Hole We're In / int_c6b8d37a
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_c6b8d37a
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_c6b8d37a
 The Hole We're In / int_deb39de3
type
Bad Future
 The Hole We're In / int_deb39de3
comment
Bad Future: The case is made in-universe that the 2000s are this to the 1990s. A time of prosperity gives way to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Great Recession, and the destruction of American small towns. 2020 is an even clearer example. Abortion has been made illegal in the United States and, as a result, thousands of young girls are being maimed or killed every year in unsafe procedures.
 The Hole We're In / int_deb39de3
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_deb39de3
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_deb39de3
 The Hole We're In / int_ec1572fb
type
Useless Bystander Parent
 The Hole We're In / int_ec1572fb
comment
George is financially abusive, taking out thousands in credit card debt in Vincent's name over a period of years. She is also at best a huge Useless Bystander Parent, allowing Patsy to take the blame for getting the abortion and allowing Roger to throw her out.
 The Hole We're In / int_ec1572fb
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_ec1572fb
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_ec1572fb
 The Hole We're In / int_f32d85ab
type
20 Minutes into the Future
 The Hole We're In / int_f32d85ab
comment
20 Minutes into the Future: ...and ends in 2020 (the book was published in 2010), when abortion is illegal in the United States.
 The Hole We're In / int_f32d85ab
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_f32d85ab
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_f32d85ab
 The Hole We're In / int_name
type
ItemName
 The Hole We're In / int_name
comment
 The Hole We're In / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Hole We're In / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The Hole We're In / int_name
 The Hole We're In / int_name
itemName
The Hole We're In

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
Student Debt Plot / int_4d8249ca
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
The '90s / int_4d8249ca
 The Hole We're In
hasFeature
Turn of the Millennium / int_4d8249ca