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Good and Evil in The Bad Seed by William March

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Added on  2019-09-21

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This article analyzes the framework of good and evil in The Bad Seed by William March, with a focus on the characters of Rhoda and Kenneth. It explores the idea that evil is an inescapable factor of the heart, and that the novel covers a great deal of horror to surprise the readers at various points. The article also discusses the suppressed desires and violent efforts of young kids to achieve what they want from life.

Good and Evil in The Bad Seed by William March

   Added on 2019-09-21

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Response One: Prompt ThreeThe Bad Seed by William March is one of the finest examples of external forces affectingthe growth and understanding of a child of the world. In fact, the unusual behavior of Rhoda andit horrifying consequences prove that the goodness and the evil exist in balancing situation in theworld, however, evil is always more powerful to tempt than goodness. Rhoda develops theextraordinarily strange habit of killing people when she does not receive the desired things. As achild, she does not know the scale of ‘evil’ she commits. March mentions the death of others interms of justifying her actions as, “The time comes in the life of each of us when we realize thatdeath awaits us as it awaits others, that we will receive at the end neither preference norexemption. “ (March, 1951) thus, by calling the death as an ‘inevitable hour which awaits alikeall’, he tries to show the thought processes of Rhoda as a child which is directly symbolical toevil. Secondly, the goodness in the storyline of the novel exists in the characters of Kennethand her husband. She goes through the entire plight and even views silently Rhoda killing herneighbor by putting him into flames though, she does not accept the truth that Rhoda has becomelike a hardcore criminal through some external factors. She is of the view that it is all because of her own mother for whom; she was an adoptedchild and who had to suffer electric chair death because of her criminal activities. It is her DNAwhich has made Rhoda to receive a bad seed of generation. As for readers, Kenneth stands inequally good amount to Rhoda; if they like Rhoda for giving them some innovative ways ofunderstanding the evil in society the child crime, Kenneth represents the ideal mother who doesnot let her mind go against her own doughtier and calls for an action against her by committing
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