 Cover of a reprint edition. |
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| Author | William March |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Rinehart & Company |
| Publication date | April 8, 1954 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 247 pp (reprint edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0060795481 (reprint edition) |
The Bad Seed is a 1954 novel by William March, nominated for the 1955 National Book Award for Fiction. It was the last major work written by March, and, although published in his lifetime, its enormous critical and commercial success was largely realized after his death, one month after publication. The novel was adapted into a successful and long-running Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson and an Academy Award-nominated film directed by Mervyn Leroy.
Plot summary
The central character of the story is Christine Penmark, a young mother who finds out that her eight-year-old daughter, Rhoda, is a murderer. Prompted by strange dreams and her landlady's dalliance in psychiatric theories, Christine begins to wonder if she's an adopted child. She eventually figures out that she is actually the sole surviving daughter of "The Incomparable Bessie Denker," a well-known (fictional) serial killer. Bessie Denker's career is based very roughly on the real-life careers of Belle Gunness and other such black widows. The description of her execution in the electric chair is based on that of Ruth Snyder. Rhoda is portrayed as a sociopath, although the term was not in use at the time of the book. Like her grandmother, she has no conscience and will kill if necessary to get whatever she wants, whether that be a penmanship medal she felt she should have won, the silence of a janitor who knows more than she wants him to or the desire to possess an opal pendant. By the time Christine manages to put the truth together, Rhoda has already killed two people and one puppy. An adept manipulator, she can easily charm adults while eliciting fear and repulsion from other children who can sense something wrong with her. Once her mother has come to the correct conclusions, she has to wrestle with a terrible dilemma. As young as Rhoda is, there are no guarantees that any arrangements made to confine her will prove permanent, and there would be a huge glare of publicity. At the same time, Christine knows full well that Rhoda will certainly kill again and again. Christine solves her problems by giving Rhoda a lethal dose of sleeping pills and then committing suicide with a revolver. However, Rhoda survives the sleeping pills and is alive and well when the story ends.
Film versions
The play was adapted by John Lee Mahin for the screenplay of a 1956 movie directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Paul Wendkos directed the 1985 television adaptation of The Bad Seed. In the 1956 movie, Rhoda is struck and killed by lightning when she goes back to the scene of her crime to retrieve the medal, while Christine survives her suicide attempt. The 1985 television movie kept the novel's original ending. Plans to do a second remake, with Eli Roth as director, were scrapped.
