The Deadly Sin of Sloth

This list is only for the laziest, most slug-like, apathetic good-for-nothings. Don't bother voting on this list, you can always put it off until tomorrow. Books fitting for this list feature laziness or apathy as a plot point - a character whose apathy ruins their life or somebody else's, lazy characters, characters who make others do all their hard work, etc.

Any genre or age group is fine. Some nonfiction and poetry is fine if it fits. Books about the animal sloth are okay, I guess..?

Also see:
The Deadly Sin of Envy
The Deadly Sin of Gluttony
The Deadly Sin of Lust
The Deadly Sin of Pride
The Deadly Sin of Wrath
The Deadly Sin of Greed
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16 books · 8 voters · list created April 26th, 2019 by deleted user.
1 like · 
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People Who Voted On This List (8)

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Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

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message 1: by Crystal (new)

Crystal I really like these lists. Make you think a little.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer I admittedly have never read this book. BUT everyone knows the scene where the kid tricks everyone into doing chores for him. Total lazy moment, or just leadership skills?

A Game of Thrones The whole series takes a turn basically because Robert Baratheon punts down his responsibilities to Eddard Stark so he can goof off and do w/e he wants.

Holes Why dig your own holes when you can get kids from a correctional facility to do the work for you? Probably would have been cheaper and faster to just rent a tractor and scoop up piles of dirt and poke around in it.


message 2: by Crystal (new)

Crystal This was my hardest one as well. Lust was easy, maybe because I read so many "Romance" novels.

Sloth? A little harder. I can think of characters the exhibit the trait of sloth, but it certainly isn't a huge plot aspect. Such as Percy from The Green Mile. Percy never liked to actually work and whined when he had to, but it was more a side trait to his actual personality and never played a large factor in the book. There are many others that seem to have laziness as one of the characteristics, but certainly not a major characteristic or even a major plot point.

Game of Thrones certainly does fit these lists.
- Spoilers for anyone who has not seen the show or read the books -
Robert Baratheon almost hits all points.
Lust for Liana Stark. His obsession with her being "his" lead to a lot of infighting and having to hide who Jon Snow really was. Also, his inability to let her go triggered Cersei from trying to be in love with a brave man from the north to her hatred of him as he only cared for Liana.
Wrath His rage that the Targaryen's are still alive and so he sends an assassin to murder them. Thus creating the events that lead to Khal Drogo's death as he gathers an army to sail across the sea and murder Robert Baratheon.
Gluttony As stated before. Robert over indulges on food, wine, and women. A leading cause in his death as well as the plot against him.
Sloth See above. Robert pretty much decides he doesn't need to do any work as a king and makes his counsel do it all for him. Placing the biggest burden on the Hand of the King, in this case, Eddard Stark.
Pride. Robert refuses to listen to good counsel and continues to do w/e he wants because he is king. He ignores the needs of others because he is king. He spends a great deal of time talking about and living in "his glory" days and his eventual death has a lot to do with him thinking he is still capable of hunting. Part of his drunkenness could even be blamed on his hurt pride. Getting old and not able to accept he is no longer the man he once believed he was.
Greed and Envy aren't really his traits though. But it could be said other characters certainly portray these traits in the books.


message 3: by Rosa (new)

Rosa I don’t think books about sloths should be included. The sloth is one of the very nicest creatures. He’s not sinning by being who and what he is. He can’t help it! His message—“slow down and just be in the world”—is one that some overly busy people should heed.
In a way, he’s the opposite of this sin, because he lives his best life—which human sloths are too lazy to do.


message 4: by Rosa (last edited Apr 14, 2020 07:11PM) (new)

Rosa This doesn’t apply to anthropomorphized storybook sloths who are lazy, of course.


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