• Source: Suffer the Little Children

"Suffer the Little Children" is a horror short story by American writer Stephen King. It was first published by Cavalier in 1972, and was later collected in King's book Nightmares & Dreamscapes in 1993.




Plot summary


Miss Emily Sidley is a third grade teacher. On one particular day, while she is teaching spelling, Sidley gets the disconcerting feeling that one of her students is staring at her. She turns around and notices that Robert, the quietest student, has his gaze fixed on her. During the following week, Miss Sidley eventually punishes Robert for her suspicions. Robert taunts her by asking her if she wants to see him "change", which he does (whether it really happened or was a figment of her imagination is not exactly explained) and terrifies the teacher who runs screaming and is nearly run down by a bus.
After the incident, Miss Sidley takes a leave of absence. When she returns, Robert taunts her at recess about there being more creatures at school, posing as normal children. They have replaced the real children they look like, who are imprisoned within their doppelgängers. He says of the real Robert: "I can hear him screaming, Miss Sidley. He wants me to let him out."
The things Robert is saying soon get to Miss Sidley, and the terrified teacher decides to take drastic measures. She takes out her deceased brother's pistol from a drawer and puts it in her purse. That day at school, she takes twelve of her students to a testing room where sound is well concealed, and shoots each one dead. Another teacher comes in as Sidley is preparing to shoot a thirteenth student, and Sidley's bad back gives way as the other teacher struggles with her.
Miss Sidley is sent to a mental institution after the murders. She works with little preschoolers each day for therapy. One day she feels the fear that drove her to her crime and asks to be removed from the room. As she is taken away, some of the children slyly watch her, implying that they are also doppelgängers. That night, Miss Sidley commits suicide by slashing her throat and her former psychiatrist soon focuses intently on the children.




Publication


"Suffer the Little Children" was first published in the magazine Cavalier in February 1972. It was originally planned to be published in King's first collection of short stories, Night Shift, in 1978, but editor Bill Thompson opted to cut it for length (King had wanted to cut "Gray Matter", but deferred to Thompson's choice). In 1979, "Suffer the Little Children" was included in the anthology Nightmares edited by Charles L. Grant. In 1983, it was included in the anthology The Evil Image: Two Centuries of Gothic Short Fiction and Poetry edited by Nora Crow Jaffe and Patricia L. Skarda. In 1993, the story was collected in King's book of short stories Nightmares & Dreamscapes.




Reception


Christopher Golden describes "Suffer the Little Children" as an "effective chiller."
King has stated that the story reminds him of the works of Ray Bradbury, and similarities have been noted by other authors as well. King also wrote that the story had "no redeeming social merit whatever.




Adaptations


Bernardo Villela made a Dollar Baby film adaptation. The audiobook version was narrated by actress Whoopi Goldberg.
A 2017 short film directed by Alexander Domogarov Jr. was released, titled Let the Children in ("Пустите детей"). The film was made for the YouTube platform in the Russian language with English subtitles.
A film adaptation is in the works from producers Craig Flores, Nicolas Chartier and Sriram Das. It will be directed by Sean Carter.




See also


Stephen King short fiction bibliography




References






External links


"Suffer the Little Children" at StephenKing.com
Suffer the Little Children title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

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