The short story “The Small Assassin” by Ray Bradbury explores the thoughts and fears of Alice Leiber and her husband David. The couple intended and planned on having a baby, but once delivered speculations and beliefs arise that the baby is a “small assassin”. Alice’s thoughts and fears are balanced through “showing versus telling”, while David and Dr. Jeffers, who are initially skeptical, are also persuaded by the evidence to believe the child is a “small assassin”.
Immediately after delivery, Alice feels no connection to her child and concludes he is trying to kill her. Her thoughts start to consume her; with the worry that people will think she is crazy. “I am dying and I can't tell them now. They'd laugh and call me one in delirium. They'll …show more content…
Jeffers and they are not persuaded or convinced, until Alice is dead. Suddenly, David believes the baby did in fact kill Alice. He saw the baby’s red face and moist from all the crying, he was instantly convinced. "Alice heard things at night, moving in the halls. You want to know what made those noises, Doctor? They were made by the baby. Four months old, moving in the dark, listening to us talk. Listening to every word!"(Bradbury, 91) David is finally persuaded and has a melt down, admitting Alice was right. Dr. Jeffers still not convinced gives David a sedative. When the doctor comes back to check on David he finds him dead, knowing it was not a suicide. “Coughing violently, the doctor hurried from the room, eyes watering. Leiber hadn't turned on the gas himself. He _couldn't_ have. Those sedatives had knocked him out, he wouldn't have wakened until noon. It wasn't suicide” (Bradbury, 94). Dr. Jeffers is enticed and realizes the Leiber’s were corrects about their child being a “small assassin”. The narrative does a superb job at balancing Alice’s thoughts and fears through “showing versus telling” next to the evidence found to persuade David and Dr. Jeffers, that Alice’s thoughts and fears were