Punctuated For Emphasis / Literature

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Examples of things being Punctuated! For! Emphasis! in Literature.

• Numbers by Rachael Ward: A somewhat surreal (and early; it happens in chapter 1!) example, in that it was a mother talking to her child.
  "I don't need it, so just...bloody...shut...up."
• The Looking-Glass Wars: Now off! With! Your! Head!
• The Great Greene Heist: When Megan hears that Keith is brewing trouble for her beloved Tech Club, she says "Tell. Me. Everything."
• Harry Potter really loves this trope.
  • Molly Weasley to Bellatrix Lestrange, during the Final Battle:
    "You — will — never — touch — our — children — again!"
  • And in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when Hermione starts a PETA-style organization for house-elves and Ron is trying to talk Hermione out of it
    "They. Like. It. They like being enslaved!"
  • Hagrid yelling at Uncle Vernon, right before giving Dudley a pig's tail in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone?
    "NEVER — INSULT — ALBUS — DUMBLEDORE — IN — FRONT — OF — ME!"
  • Ron's response, upon seeing that the congratulatory letter Percy sent him also included an advice to sever ties with Harry, was to tear the letter into bits before throwing it into the fire, muttering as he did so:
    "He is — the world's — biggest — git."
  • Hermione to Ron in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix upon the latter considering ordering harder drinks when the trio enter Hog's Head for the first time:
    "You — are — a — prefect!"
  • Harry after Sirius falls through the veil and Lupin tells him he's dead:
    "HE! IS! NOT! DEAD!"
  • Snape after Sirius gets away in the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:
    "THIS — HAS — SOMETHING — TO — DO — WITH — POTTER!!"
  • Hermione when Ron comes back after abandoning them in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
    "YOU — COMPLETE — ARSE — RONALD — WEASLEY! YOU — CRAWL — BACK — HERE — AFTER — WEEKS — AND — WEEKS—!"
• How Requiem expresses his seething annoyance in Cerberus High: Another Story when Eden suddenly starts laughing despite the hopeless situation was in during their final battle.

  "OI, I ASKED YOU A QUESTION. WHAT. THE. FUCK. IS SO FUNNY?!"

• In City Of Night, John Rechy pioneered this, to the annoyance of some reviewers at the time.
  “And do you know why? Because—” He puckered his lips again. “—because it is: So Nice! . . . And so you see I ask for very little of My Angels.”
• A Death in the Family: A discussion about death leads to six-year-old Rufus asking his mother Mary about his pet rabbits that were mauled by dogs, which leads to a question about why God lets people do bad things. Mary finds herself outpointed on logic so she finally falls back on more or less arguing that God is a troll.
  "God—doesn't—believe—in—the—easy—way," she said, with a certain triumph, spacing the words to give them full emphasis.
• On the Discworld, multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign of a diseased mind:
  • In Thud!: That! Is!! Not!!! My!!!! Cow!!!!! Those who haven't read the book will probably snicker. Those who have read the book will shiver.
  • Also in Maskerade, everyone!!!! Takes!!!! Such!!!! A!!!!! Long!!!!! Time!!!!! To!!!!!...
  • Unseen Academicals: "Now. Will. You. Trust. Me?" and "Just. Someone. Who. Made. Clothes."
  • Hogfather: And that leaves us with one final question. Have you been naughty... or... nice? Ho! Ho! HO!
  • Men at Arms: Silas Cumberbatch, a new recruit to the Watch, speaks this way. Justified in that he's a former town crier.
  • A Hat Full of Sky: Part of Granny Weatherwax's rant. "That is the root and heart and soul and center of witchcraft, that is. The soul and center! The... soul... and... center!"
  • Although Not With The Same Intensity, All Of The Golems Of Discworld Are Implied To Speak Like This All The Time.
• The Dresden Files:
  • "I. Am Not. Yoda." The titular character has just exploded a rubbish bin out of sheer rage at his stubborn, mouthy, disobedient and-at-risk-of-the-dark-side apprentice, who also complained about an assignment and tried. It's a proper danger sign when Harry won't even be placated by pop culture references.
  • "Fuego. Pyrofuego! Burn!"
  • Also seen in the final battle in Changes, in a duel of wills between Kukulcan, the Red King, and Harry.
    Kukulcan: Bow. Down. Mortal.
    Harry: Bite. Me. Asshole.
• The Chronicles Of Nick book, Infinity had a comedic example less than four chapters in.
  Death: Do. You. Want. A. Cookie?
• In Horus Rising. the last confirmed transition from the Blood Angels force on 140-20 was just This. World. Is. MURDER!
• Another Dan Abnett Horus Heresy novel, Know No Fear, features this for the speech of one of its characters, Telemechrus. Slightly inverted, in that he is a Dreadnought (Giant Mech containing the mortally-wounded fragments of a Space Marine hero) and it represents the machine systems processing his speech.
• In Paper Towns, Margo says to Quentin, "I. Will. Miss. Hanging. Out. With. You."
• From 1635: The Cannon Law:
  Frank Stone: I — WROTE — NO — SUCH — THING!
• Happens a lot in Animorphs.
  Jake: "CATCH! THAT! BUTTERFLY!"
  Rachel: (in a different book) "Don't. Touch. Me."
• The Princess Bride: I-AM-THE-QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!
• Not with punctuation marks, but toward the end of the second book of Taylor Anderson's Destroyermen series, the destroyer Walker tries towing a much larger ship to safety. That cuts their speed severely, the enemy's guns are getting the range, and they can't maneuver to dodge. The engineer tells the captain they don't have enough fuel, the Bosun tells the captain it's no use, and the captain says, "We Are Not Leaving Anyone Else Behind." Then the captain of the ship they're towing cuts the line to let Walker get away.
• From Metro 2033, when Artyom doesn't understand about Che Guevara:
  '"Comrade. Ernesto. Che. Guevara." The commissar rapped the seperate syllables. "The great. Cuban. Revolutionary."'
• Saintess Summons Skeletons: The description of the [Madman] title, for surviving the Leviathan twice, is more disbelieving than congratulatory.
  "I feel like I HAVE to give you something for your stupidity but PLEASE. STOP. TRYING. TO. HORRIBLY. DIE."
• Tertius Fume from Septimus Heap:
  '"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again."'
• Early in Aunt Dimity: Detective, Dimity's reaction when Lori first informs her of Prunella Hooper's death, rendered in letters that take up nearly half the page: "MURDER? IN FINCH?!?"
• In Fifty Shades of Grey, Christian lapses into this when he gets upset, which is often. Also when he wants to sound commanding (and, well, dominant). It's described as his "staccato talking".
  "You. Are. So. Sweet," he murmurs between each thrust. "I. Want. You. So. Much."
• The Mediochre Q Seth Series:
  Mediochre: "I... liked... that... hair."
• In a short story in a Warrior Cats guidebook, Pinestar reminds White-eye and Dappletail angrily that "We are from ThunderClan. We. Don't. Eat. Fish."
• THIS. IS. INTERNET! The Woman Who Made Machines Go Haywire.
• Worst. Person. Ever. is the title of a book by Douglas Coupland, concerning a disagreeable man who is considered as such.
• Wings of Fire has a baby SkyWing dragon named Cliff say "I WANT. TO SEE. MOMMY KILL GRANDMA!"
• In Void City, after Eric makes two failed attempts to perform a Fastball Special with Talbot, both of which end with Talbot missing his target and nearly plummeting to his doom, Talbot gives a firm refusal to Eric's suggestion of a third try.
  Talbot: Do. Not. Throw. Me.
• Cauldron of Ghosts: Chuanli delivers a low-key version after examining the carnage left by Battle Couple Victor and Thandi buzzsawing their way through a rival gang.
  Mary. Mother. Of. God.
• Overlord (2012): Cocytus speaks in one word sentences in the novel, an effect not heard in the anime.
• Survivor Dogs: Upon noticing the deer has been partially eaten already in A Hidden Enemy, Alpha says "Who. Has. Done. This?"
• The Darkest Dark: Chris. Was. Going. To. Sleep. In. His. Own. Bed. Tonight.
• A Piece in the Game of Gods: From a Semi-Divine being in Part 38:
  “I…am…not…a…goddess,”
• Whateley Universe: Given that this is a Doorstopper, this occurs often. Here are some instances:
  • Imp 5 Head over Tail (part 1):
    “I. Don’t. Sing.”
  • Rises the Sun (Part 3)
    “Not. Funny. Ama.”
• Hive Mind (2016): Adika, when he's dressing down Tobias for being late to an emergency call because he'd left his gun behind at the shooting range.
  Adika moved from ordinary sarcasm to saying each word singly in withering disgust. "You. Forgot. Your. Gun."
• In Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Sleigh!, the Pigeon decides that he'd rather not drive the sleigh after learning that he'd be spending time with large smelly reindeer. He declares "FOR! GET! IT!"
• Quarters:
  • Gerek speaks to Karlene this way when insisting that she help the others.
  • Vree later does the same to Gyhard insisting he not leave her alone.
• In the light novel version of Date A Live, when Shido insists on asking Kurumi why her past self wore a medical eyepatch over her clock eye (an Old Shame on her part), she simply says "Please pay that no mind," the first two times. The third time, when she gets Shido to stop asking, she says in a very final tone:
  Please. Pay. That. No. Mind.
• The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong: A lot of Shen Qingqiu's speech in the novel has plenty of pauses when he's angry or trying to emphasize something.
  Towards the Sky-bro, Airplane-bro, "Great Master": Can we have a discussion? Fill! In! Plot holes! Okay?!
• Magic Hour: Near the end of "Dragon Hoard," Sir Carter says "This. Isn't. Over. Dragons!" before using his Cool Sword to teleport away after he's defeated by Dragonia and her parents.
• Earth's Scariest Monsters!: In "Holy Blessings," Louis Cypher says "I. Am. Satan!" after Jermaine asks who he really is following Louis attempting to goad Jermaine into making a Deal with the Devil with him.
• In the Babylon 5 novel, The Long Night of Centauri Prime, Emperor Mollari decides he has had more than enough of his head of Internal Security's verbal faffing about. "What business have you, Chancellor Durla?" Durla unwisely tries for a flowery speech. Londo lets him know just how short the fuse for his patience is with a single statement. "What. Business. Have. You." The Chancellor very quickly gets the hint.