Children Are Innocent: Difference between revisions

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Victorian-era Europeans are the direct inspiration of a dominant view of children, inspired by the New Testament and stretching to the present day. In this view, there is a sharp transition between innocent child and little adult. The conventional age Western culture assigns to this tradition has grown over the years. The meme, however, remains: a young child is a [[Blank Slate]] not yet sullied by the [[Growing Up Sucks|evils of the world]]. Only upon [[Coming of Age Story|coming of age]] does the child lose this innocence.

The [[Children Are Innocent]] trope captures the idea that [[Rousseau Was Right|children are never naturally evil]]. A consequence is that [[Would Hurt a Child|harming one]] is [[Moral Event Horizon|the ultimate evil act]], [[Revenge by Proxy|no matter how provoked]] ~~-- unless~~ that is [[Child Soldiers|forcing others to harm them]]. This is an extremely pervasive trope that is at the heart of many other tropes, such as [[Friend to All Children]], [[Harmful to Minors]] and [[Dead Little Sister]], and often motivates [[Papa Wolf]] and [[Mama Bear]]. When the [[Big Bad]] kills nameless hundreds, the heroes will say the villan killed [[Men Are the Expendable Gender|women]] and children. The Children Are Innocent trope is old enough that it is difficult to assign it an age; but certainly it goes back to the New Testament.

The '''Children Are Innocent''' trope captures the idea that [[Rousseau Was Right|children are never naturally evil]]. A consequence is that [[Would Hurt a Child|harming one]] is [[Moral Event Horizon|the ultimate evil act]], [[Revenge by Proxy|no matter how provoked]]—unless that is [[Child Soldiers|forcing others to harm them]]. This is an extremely pervasive trope that is at the heart of many other tropes, such as [[Friend to All Children]], [[Harmful to Minors]] and [[Dead Little Sister]], and often motivates [[Papa Wolf]] and [[Mama Bear]]. When the [[Big Bad]] kills nameless hundreds, the heroes will say the villan killed [[Men Are the Expendable Gender|women]] and children. The Children Are Innocent trope is old enough that it is difficult to assign it an age; but certainly it goes back to the New Testament.

Expect those who buy into this trope to hold that any villain character [[Used to Be a Sweet Kid]] until [[Start of Darkness|something bad]] happened to them, especially if they also believe that [[Rousseau Was Right]]. (Also keeping in mind that some view [[Teens Are Monsters|puberty]] as a [[Start of Darkness]] in its own right, and take much the same view of any worldly experience.)

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Part and parcel of this is depicting children as the other meaning of innocent: naive, guillible, and altogether too trusting. They can [[Innocent Inaccurate|misunderstand anything other than the most obvious]]. On the other hand, this very quality can lead to their being [[Too Dumb to Fool]].

Frequently children [[Can Not Tell a Lie]], because they are too innocent to think of suppressing the truth. Children who do start to lie often show this is new to them by being momentually [[Bad Liar~~|Bad Liars~~]].

Frequently children [[Can Not Tell a Lie]], because they are too innocent to think of suppressing the truth. Children who do start to lie often show this is new to them by being momentually [[Bad Liar]]s.

Standard for an [[Innocent Prodigy]]. Often comes into play for [[A Child Shall Lead Them]]. Generally does for [[Constantly Curious]] and [[Curious as a Monkey]].

[[Spoiled Brat~~|Spoiled Brats~~]] ''may'' subvert this. On the other hand, if the causes of the spoiling are clearly identified, and the children revert to innocence when they are removed, the children may still be innocent.

[[Spoiled Brat]]s ''may'' subvert this. On the other hand, if the causes of the spoiling are clearly identified, and the children revert to innocence when they are removed, the children may still be innocent.

Even when the child is doing ~~wrong -- as~~ in the [[Mouthy Kid]], the [[Bratty Half-Pint]], and [[Kids Are Cruel]] ~~-- it~~ is often regarded as not as wrong as when an adult does it, because children have to learn empathy, and not to be self-centered, and also often have a poor grasp of consequences of their actions. On the other hand, this often leads to [[Ambiguous Innocence]].

Even when the child is doing wrong—as in the [[Mouthy Kid]], the [[Bratty Half-Pint]], and [[Kids Are Cruel]]—it is often regarded as not as wrong as when an adult does it, because children have to learn empathy, and not to be self-centered, and also often have a poor grasp of consequences of their actions. On the other hand, this often leads to [[Ambiguous Innocence]].

The [[Creepy Child]], the [[Enfante Terrible]], and [[Corruption by a Minor]], on the other hand, draw much of their force from their ''[[Troubling Unchildlike Behavior|knowingness]]''. They understand as much, if not more, than the adults about them, which contradicts not only this trope but the general understanding of children.

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* ''[[My Neighbor Totoro]]'': Satsuki and Mei, both

* ''[[Spirited Away]]'': Chihiro, while somewhat spoiled and whiney, intuitively realizes that her parents are trespassing when they eat the food of the gods.

* The entire point of ''[[Now and Then Here and There]]'' is that [[Children Are Innocent]] and [[Complete Monster|you're a sick, sick bastard]] [[Cold-Blooded Torture|if you torture them]], [[Rape as Drama|rape them]], [[Tyke Bomb|make them fight a war for you]], or [[For the Evulz|mess with them in any way whatsoever.]]

* The entire point of ''[[Now and Then Here and There]]'' is that Children Are Innocent and [[Complete Monster|you're a sick, sick bastard]] [[Cold-Blooded Torture|if you torture them]], [[Rape as Drama|rape them]], [[Tyke Bomb|make them fight a war for you]], or [[For the Evulz|mess with them in any way whatsoever.]]

** [[Captain Obvious Aesop|Duh.]]

* In ''[[Grave of the Fireflies]]'' Setsuko's innocence is used as a foil to highlight the cruelty of war.

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* A recurring element in ''[[Strontium Dog]]'' is that children are (usually) not [[Fantastic Racism|prejudiced against mutants]], and often cheer them on even when their parents complain about how freaks should stay out of sight of decent folks. One particular story deserves special mention - a kid was caught in the crossfire between Johnny and a criminal. Johnny was wracked with guilt and chased away from the funeral, so in desperation to make amends, he dug up the corpse and brought it to a necromancer to be revived. This didn't end well.

== [[Fairy Tale~~|Fairy Tales~~]] ==

== [[Fairy Tale]]s ==

* ''The Emperor's New Clothes'', with the classic case of a kid who is [[Too Dumb to Fool]].

* In [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|The Brothers Grimm]]' ''The Children Who Played Butcher'', some kids watched a farmhand slaughter a pig, then cut it up. They decide to play this "game" and slit the throat of the child picked to be the pig, killing him. Before they can cut up the body one of the mothers come across them and drag them before the magistrate. The magistrate, with the help of the local elders, comes up with a way to determine if they are innocent or guilty. Each child is offered an apple and a silver coin. If they took the apple then they are innocent of the ways of the world and didn't intend to kill the other child. However, if they took the coin then they were wise to the ways of the world and intentionally killed the other child and will be hung for murder. It never actually said which they chose.

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* ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (novel)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'': Little Cindy-Lou Who, who was not more than two.

* ''[[Winnie-the-Pooh|Winnie the Pooh]]'': Christopher Robin.

** Real name of [[A. A. Milne|AA Milne]]'s son. Christopher never forgave his father for setting him up for endless years of being patted on the head and told how cute he was, even as an adult! Particularly mortifying to Christopher was "Vespers"<ref>Although he was quick to point out this was due to people misunderstanding the poem; it's not about [[Tastes Like Diabetes|a sweet little boy saying his prayers]], it's about a naughty little boy ''pretending'' to say his prayers</ref>. He did admit to having been somewhat girlish and slow-witted as a boy...such that his fictional counterpart was at least partly accurate, and perhaps a slight improvement on reality. (He fared better than Peter Pan's namesake: who suffered similar condescension, but took his own life in his forties.)

** Real name of [[A. A. Milne|AA Milne]]'s son. Christopher never forgave his father for setting him up for endless years of being patted on the head and told how cute he was, even as an adult! Particularly mortifying to Christopher was "Vespers".<ref>Although he was quick to point out this was due to people misunderstanding the poem; it's not about [[Tastes Like Diabetes|a sweet little boy saying his prayers]], it's about a naughty little boy ''pretending'' to say his prayers</ref> He did admit to having been somewhat girlish and slow-witted as a boy...such that his fictional counterpart was at least partly accurate, and perhaps a slight improvement on reality. (He fared better than Peter Pan's namesake: who suffered similar condescension, but took his own life in his forties.)

* ''[[Ender's Game]]'' both uses and subverts the trope. Valentine and Peter are angel and demon, respectively. Ender is, well, [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Ender]].

* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos|Orphans Of Chaos]]'' it is explicitly invoked, when Mrs. Wren asks Vanity and Amelia to pray for her, because God will hear the prayers of the "young and sweet" better than hers. Later in the same work, Amelia ponders that [[Kids Are Cruel]], and while some adults take advantage of their power to do wrong, others don't -- and wouldn't they be more innocent, because their opportunities are greater?

** In ''Fugitives of Chaos'', Amelia warns Colin that the Ring of Gyges might not work on the innocent, and cites children as possible.

* In ''[[The Secret Garden]]'', Mary and Colin are both [[Spoiled Brat~~|Spoiled Brats~~]] when they first appear. However, the causes are delineated: Mary's mother neglected her, and the servants learned to indulge Mary to keep her from coming to her mother's notice, and Colin's father had neglected him after his mother's [[Death by Childbirth]]. Letting them play together and experience the beauties of the garden and nature causes them to shed the characters and become their true, innocent selves.

* In ''[[The Secret Garden]]'', Mary and Colin are both [[Spoiled Brat]]s when they first appear. However, the causes are delineated: Mary's mother neglected her, and the servants learned to indulge Mary to keep her from coming to her mother's notice, and Colin's father had neglected him after his mother's [[Death by Childbirth]]. Letting them play together and experience the beauties of the garden and nature causes them to shed the characters and become their true, innocent selves.

* In [[James Thurber]]'s ''[[The 13 Clocks]]'', one of the wicked duke's wickedest deeds was imprisoning children in the tower. {{spoiler|Late in the book, the sounds of children's laughter from the tower and a ball rolling down the steps deeply enrages him.}}

* In [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''[[Operation Chaos]]'', the narrator and his wife have many run-ins with evil forces. The final one, which shocks them to the core despite all they have seen, is the kidnapping of their baby daughter to Hell.

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"Your Royal Highness."

"My Royal Highness! What's that? No, no, Lootie. I won't be called names. I don't like them. You told me once yourself it's only rude children that call names; and I'm sure Curdie wouldn't be rude. Curdie, my name's Irene."'' }}

* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s [[Warhammer 40000]] [[Ultramarines (novel)|Ultramarines]] novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', Uriel is horror-struck by the sight of crying children being herded into the process that turns them into Chaos [[Space Marine~~|Space Marines~~]]. {{spoiler|It influences him later, when he witnesses the twisted remains of those who are rejected, and is willing to consider that [[Beauty Equals Goodness]] might not be true.}}

* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s [[Warhammer 40000]] [[Ultramarines (novel)|Ultramarines]] novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', Uriel is horror-struck by the sight of crying children being herded into the process that turns them into Chaos [[Space Marine]]s. {{spoiler|It influences him later, when he witnesses the twisted remains of those who are rejected, and is willing to consider that [[Beauty Equals Goodness]] might not be true.}}

* At this point this is the only thing keeping Eragon from ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'' from being a 'complete' asshole: he won't harm a child, he'll just consider it.

* In [[Bram Stoker]]'s ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]'', the vampire Lucy preys on children. Although she doesn't kill them, the children's innocent inability to understand that she was harming ~~them -- some~~ even wish to meet her ~~again -- is~~ particularly horrific.

* In [[Bram Stoker]]'s ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]'', the vampire Lucy preys on children. Although she doesn't kill them, the children's innocent inability to understand that she was harming them—some even wish to meet her again—is particularly horrific.

* In Simon Spurrier's [[Night Lords]] novel ''Lord of the Night'', when Sahaal captures a child, who cries for its mother and then, when he's close enough, tries to stab him, even a {{spoiler|Chaos Space Marine}} such as Sahaal reflects that there is no place for innocence in the underhive.

** Later, when he orders Chianni to kill child hostages, she merely nods, and he is impressed that it does not perturb her.

* In Jim Butcher's [[The Dresden Files]] novel ''Death Masks'', Susan tells Dresden that the Red Court prey on children, which disgusts them both. Then, Ortega offers to turn Dresden into a vampire rather than [[Combat by Champion|kill him in a duel]], claiming they are [[Not So Different]]. Dresden fishes until he establishes that Ortega preys on children and cites it as a difference.

** In ''Dead Beat'', Wardens can not bring themselves to leave children behind in danger while they deal with the bad guys.

* In [[Piers Anthony]]'s [[Incarnations of Immortality]] books, the souls of infants are ~~pure -- except~~, in some ''interesting'' theology where they can be tainted down to "in balance" by such things as the circumstances of their conception, or by their deaths owing to genetic disease precipiating their mother's suicide.

* In [[Piers Anthony]]'s [[Incarnations of Immortality]] books, the souls of infants are pure—except, in some ''interesting'' theology where they can be tainted down to "in balance" by such things as the circumstances of their conception, or by their deaths owing to genetic disease precipiating their mother's suicide.

* ''[[Songs of Innocence and of Experience]]'': Children are portrayed this way in ''Songs of Innocence''. This is then [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in ''Songs of Experience'', in the poems "NURSE'S Song" and "Infant Sorrow".

* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld/Unseen Academicals|Unseen Academicals]]'', Vetinari speaks coldly of killing children; those he is addressing counter that they had exterminated ~~pups -- which~~ only makes them look bad. Even when we learn they are speaking of {{spoiler|orc}} children.

* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld/Unseen Academicals|Unseen Academicals]]'', Vetinari speaks coldly of killing children; those he is addressing counter that they had exterminated pups—which only makes them look bad. Even when we learn they are speaking of {{spoiler|orc}} children.

* In [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings|Two Towers]]'', Theoden throws off Saruman's charming voice citing the children who died from his attack (plus their [[Due to the Dead|multilation of the dead]]).

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s ''Duty Calls'', a [[Knight Templar]] explains to [[Ciaphas Cain]] how [[It's All About Me|he needed to do everything]]: even, when abandoning a settlement to alien attack, shooting the inhabitants when they tried to get their children on his ship. Cain, a self-professed [[Dirty Coward]] who would abandon anyone to save his own skin, is horrified.

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* [[Domingo Santos]]' story ''The First Day of Eternity'' (published in ''[[Analog]]'') has the [[Innocent Aliens]] befriend the children of the colonists first.

* ''[[Left Behind]]'' uses this, no doubt due to the conundrum of "what of people who were not raised Christian or were too young to understand what it really means", and similar. Of course, the writers being pro-life, they also raptured children in the womb, and there is surprisingly little angst when every child under twelve (the cutoff point) suddenly vanishes.

* In Teresa Frohock's ''[[Miserere: An Autumn Tale|Miserere an Autumn Tale]]'', a character warns not to be deceived by a child's ~~innocence -- since~~ she was drawn to a man they know is a traitor, she must be as bad.

* In Teresa Frohock's ''[[Miserere: An Autumn Tale|Miserere an Autumn Tale]]'', a character warns not to be deceived by a child's innocence—since she was drawn to a man they know is a traitor, she must be as bad.

* In [[Devon Monk]]'s [[Allie Beckstrom]] book ''Magic to the Bone'', Allie is surprised by a question of whether she cast a curse, and (truthfully) denies ~~it -- the~~ target's just a little boy.

* In [[Devon Monk]]'s [[Allie Beckstrom]] book ''Magic to the Bone'', Allie is surprised by a question of whether she cast a curse, and (truthfully) denies it—the target's just a little boy.

== Other ==

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** Also {{spoiler|the adorable local toddler Ben Stiller's character wants to adopt [[Crosses the Line Twice|stabbing him multiple times in rage before being flung off a bridge?]]}}

* The movie ''[[A.I.: Artificial Intelligence]]'' is built around this trope and its subversions.

** ~~And--ironically--its~~ commercial exploitation.

** And—ironically—its commercial exploitation.

* Sid from ''[[Toy Story]]'', but he's no good kid.

* Hob in ''[[RoboCop]] 2''.

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* Beautifully lampshaded and mocked by Terry Pratchett in ''Hogfather'', with the comment that the sound of children at play is a wonderful thing to hear, ''provided you're too far away to actually make out what they're saying''.

* Subverted in the [[Andrew Vachss]] Burke book ''Dead and Gone'' when {{spoiler|the first of the ambushers trying to kill him appears to be the very same child he was there to receive.}}

* Played every way but straight in the ''[[Gone (novel)]]'' series by Michael Grant, where every character is a child. On one end of the scale, you've got the evil, malicious kids: a [[Magnificent Bastard]] [[Big Bad]], an [[Ax Crazy|Ax Crazy sadist]], a manipulative [[Smug Snake]], a [[Dark Action Girl]] who can make people see monsters, an [[Fighting a Shadow|avatar for the alien monster]], and a [[Fantastic Racism|racist]] [[A Nazi by Any Other Name|cult leader]]. A little bit lighter gray, you've got a lot of kids who are only looking out for themselves, a [[Evil Genius|techie genius]] who is [[Heel Face Revolving Door|forever changing sides]], a greedy teenage businessman, and a hypocritical [[The Fundamentalist|Christian fundamentalist]] who will lie when it suits her but won't tolerate it in others. For the lightest gray, our heroes are a few well-meaning kids who crack under pressure. All under 15 years old at the start of the series. It's a world of [[Grey and Gray Morality]], with no room for ~~[[Children Are Innocent|~~innocence]].

* Played every way but straight in the ''[[Gone (novel)]]'' series by Michael Grant, where every character is a child. On one end of the scale, you've got the evil, malicious kids: a [[Magnificent Bastard]] [[Big Bad]], an [[Ax Crazy|Ax Crazy sadist]], a manipulative [[Smug Snake]], a [[Dark Action Girl]] who can make people see monsters, an [[Fighting a Shadow|avatar for the alien monster]], and a [[Fantastic Racism|racist]] [[A Nazi by Any Other Name|cult leader]]. A little bit lighter gray, you've got a lot of kids who are only looking out for themselves, a [[Evil Genius|techie genius]] who is [[Heel Face Revolving Door|forever changing sides]], a greedy teenage businessman, and a hypocritical [[The Fundamentalist|Christian fundamentalist]] who will lie when it suits her but won't tolerate it in others. For the lightest gray, our heroes are a few well-meaning kids who crack under pressure. All under 15 years old at the start of the series. It's a world of [[Grey and Gray Morality]], with no room for innocence.

* Averted in the works of [[P. G. Wodehouse|PG Wodehouse]]; children (usually boys) are almost always portrayed as obnoxious, grubby little pests.

* Subverted in [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''[[Knights Of The Forty Islands]]'', where aliens abduct teenagers ({{spoiler|duplicates, actually}}) and distribute them among the forty islands connected by bridges. They are told that the group that manages to conquer all forty islands gets to go home. The kids are supplied with wooden swords that turn into metal whenever they get aggressive (i.e. fight). The protagonist quickly learns that this is not a game, and people really die here. Very quickly, the teens realize that it is simply impossible to conquer all forty islands, as each island only has no more than a dozen people. Eventually, the protagonist suggests allying with the nearby islands in order to be able to achieve their goal. While this works at first, it later turns into a disaster, as their former allies turn on them, kill the boys, and [[Rape as Drama|rape]] the girls. In fact, they find remains of children from [[World War Two]] era who have tried the same thing with the identical results. This novels seems to be about breaking every child stereotype to claim that, under the right circumstances, even a child is capable of anything.