What causes a child to grow up without developing empathy? Is it possible for them to learn these emotional skills and have healthy relationships with others, or are such children doomed for life? Safe to say, the solution proposed by author William March in the case of little Rhoda should not be applied to the general population.Īlthough Rhoda’s father is working overseas, she has a number of adults in her life, both loving and otherwise. The issues raised by the novel are still timely. It’s a controversial topic even today, so this book was hugely shocking in the 1950s, a period which idealized childhood and family life. The Bad Seed tackles the difficult question of what to do with child psychopaths. Christine Penmark starts to wonder whether her little girl is quite as innocent as she looks… When Claude drowns during a school picnic, Rhoda takes her first experience of death a little too calmly. She doesn’t get along with children her own age, however, especially classmate Claude Daigle, who wins a prize Rhoda has her heart set on. Unfailingly polite and diligent, the “old-fashioned” young girl is doted on by adults. Little Rhoda Penmark isn’t like other children. “Some murderers, particularly the distinguished ones who were going to make great names for themselves, usually started in childhood they showed their genius early, just as outstanding poets, mathematicians, and musicians did.”
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