Suffer the Little Children is a short story written by Stephen King, which leaves you with an uneasiness few stories can call fourth. It was first published in an American magazine 1972, later it took part in the collection “Nightmares and Dreamscapes”.
The story follows a traditional plot structure, used in horror stories. There is a suspense, tension points and elements of foreshadowing.
The plot is about first grade teacher Miss Sidley, who is highly respected by her students. But one day a student is standing up to her and after detention she experienced him changing his face (it is not mentioned whether it really happened, or she imagined the event). After taking some time off she comes back to school and finds her in a weak psychological state of mind. In her view the children are evil things, that want to harm her and the rest of humanity. In her delusion she takes her brother’s pistol to school to put an end to her horror.
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The main character is Emily Sidley, she is developing through the story. She is an old, unmarried teacher, who has grey hair and wears glasses. She is a hardboiled teacher, which all her pupils are afraid of due to her hard punishments. Miss Sidley is proud of her strictness, and her character changes as Robert, one of her students, stares at her when he is seemingly transforming in something nonhuman. The thought of this is taking over her and is driving her insane.
The student Robert is the antagonist of the story. On the one hand he is a third-grade pupil but, in Miss Sidley Eyes, he is an abominable creature who controls the boy’s body. He is a flat character, which does not change through the story. His main character trait is defiance.
The setting is placed in the United States, at a school where she is a teacher. In the text a classroom, the school yard, the bathroom, and the mimeograph room are mentioned. Outside of the school estate, the story is set at Miss Sidley’s home and a psychiatric ward.
The writer chose a third-person narrative style, but with limited knowledge. The story is told from the point of view of two adult characters. Most of the time is told out of Miss Sidley’s perspective. At the end the point of view changes to the psychiatrist. It is no longer clear what Miss Sidley is thinking, we get to know what the psychiatrist’s perspective is.
The language used in the short story is impressible and not hard to follow, the writer often creates pictures with his writing. He works adroit with metaphors, symbols and keywords. Most time a narrative style is used, but occasionally dialogue to complement the characterization.
The main themes of the short story are fear, insanity and a different version of reality, where an incontestable evil exists. Fear can be detected throughout the whole story, the students are afraid of Miss Sidley and Miss Sidley is afraid of what the children became. It is hard to tell whether the teacher imagines that some of the children are replaced by something evil, therefore, insanity is not far-fetched. But if she is seeing the reality, it is a different version of that we know, and it makes the reader question the nature of reality. Even justice could be a worked topic, as Miss Sidley is a more or less abusive teacher, which gets punished by the universe.
The story lives up to the author’s reputation. The characters are split into good and evil, but the two sides are easily confused and with the twisted story both, the great atmosphere and the tension of a good horror novel, are created.
