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A Brief Review Of William March's The Bad Seed

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William March, born William March Campbell, was an American author and serviceman who was born in 1893 in Mobile, Alabama and passed away in 1954 in New Orleans, Louisiana. March grew up in a family with eleven children that was extremely poor. Due to his low-income upbringing, March was forced to leave school and join the workforce early. Eventually, March finished his high school degree and studied law for a year at the University of Alabama. After World War I broke out, March enlisted and became a well decorated soldier due to his bravery in France. Despite his military honors, March’s service is clouded with the multiple injuries he endured and the severe trauma he attained. Because of his military service, March acquired a very anti-war view that would impact his writing and perspective for the rest of his life. In addition to Company K, William March has written several novels that both reflect on his time in the military and his time growing up in Alabama. The Bad Seed, his most famous work, is a novel that was eventually adapted into a play that was performed in both London and Broadway. Sadly, March’s work did not reach its full impact until after his death, nevertheless he has received posthumous praise of his stark war perspective and his storytelling techniques. …show more content…

Using the perspective of countless soldiers allows March to paint images of the war from a variety of different points of view allowing the reader to be taken on the journey from boot camp to the return home. Additionally, March can use the various narrators to discuss social and military issues, while making each section of the book unique and important. Company K attacks the social view of war as glamourous head on, and describes military history throughout. March truly crafts a novel that can speak to both social history and military history by depicting military action in such a brutal and realistic

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