A Survey Of Evil Children In Literature

flavorwire.com:

We all know adults can be evil, but in the modern era we are still under the impression that children are born good. Which is why it scares the bejesus out of us to imagine a reality where wicked children reign. The youth below range from the ambiguously bad (e.g., Miles in Turn of the Screw) to the Antichrist (e.g., Damien in The Omen), with eight other stories in between.

Read the whole story: flavorwire.com

Comments

[ZeeAli]

05:36 PM on 04/16/2011

Well... I don't like evil characters for children, because children are already... innocent and symbol of heavenly entity...

I would suggest not to pretend children as evil in literature...
http://www.surveytool.com/survey-polls/

[inmyhumbleopinion]

09:13 PM on 04/13/2011

How about the baby in Ray Bradbury's short story, "The Small Assassin"?

[mrs young]

01:00 PM on 04/13/2011

So glad Rhoda was included. I question including Nellie.

[zenju2]

03:33 AM on 04/13/2011

Growing up, I found some children to be horrid little beasts. Some never outgrow that, either. (Many become Conservatives...)

[mrs young]

12:59 PM on 04/13/2011

Can't ya let it go just once?

[Mary Daugherty]

10:18 PM on 04/12/2011

The children in The Lord Of The Flies terrified me as a teenager. I am a Stephen King fan and those childern scsare me to this day!

[EvolveorPerish]

12:02 PM on 04/14/2011

How about the little boy who comes back in "Pet Cemetery"?

[Mary Daugherty]

01:55 PM on 04/14/2011

Gabe...ooooo ....good one

[ESerafina42]

07:18 PM on 04/12/2011

Well, at least that site actually puts blurbs telling you something about the various choices, UNLIKE SOME OTHER SITES I COULD NAME.

I still think it's kind of silly, though, to put a spoiled brat like Veruca Salt up alongside the kid from The Bad Seed or Damien from The Omen

[mauispiderweb]

05:19 PM on 04/12/2011

Veda Pierce in James M. Cain's "Mildred Pierce" was a fairly vicious narcissist.

[GraceNotes]

04:56 PM on 04/12/2011

Rhoda from The Bad Seed is my all time favorite evil child character.

[wm1066]

04:18 PM on 04/12/2011

What about "The Children's Hour"? Thier gossip did a number on Shirley MacLaine.