A child's play is something easy and simple, because how else can children be but innocent and uncomplicated? Strangely enough, the motif of the evil child or one full of knowledge and agency in literature is popular, if not ubiquitous. Building up on such common imagery, Hà Trang and Kim read poem "On Children" by Kahlil Gibran and extracts from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.
Both authors challenge the conventional and expected role of the parent, which largely entails guidance, protection and control. While Gibran leans towards a theistical belief that children belong not to parents but to Life, James poses an upsetting question of whether or not children are innocent. What if, Kim articulates, we see innocence as a construction fabricated by adults?
