It's a Good Life
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It's a Good Life is a short story by Jerome Bixby, written in 1953. In 1970 it was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the 20 finest science fiction stories ever written, and was published in a collection of those 20 entitled the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume I.
The premise of the story is what happens if a child, at birth, is given godlike powers—perhaps by random mutation, though this is never explained—and can change, punish, reward, and kill at whim.
It was turned into an episode of The Twilight Zone (see It's a Good Life (The Twilight Zone)).
Unlike the episode, Anthony Fremont is only three (whereas in the episode he's six) and is vaguely described except for having a "wet purple gaze". He lives in the town of Peaksville, Ohio. The rest of the world does not exist, and the story explains that this happened when Anthony was born. Outside the borders of Peaksville is nothingness. Nobody knows whether Anthony transported Peaksville somewhere or whether the rest of the world was destroyed and only Peaksville remained.
There is no electricity, and the people of the town have to make their own things and grow their own food, which is difficult because Anthony controls the weather. They also have to satisfy Anthony's every whim and think happy thoughts or risk being sent into "the cornfield" (i.e. being killed) or being turned into horrible mutations. He passes his time manipulating animals with his mind, including making a rat eat itself from the tail up, or by building up a grove designed to suit the simple desires of animals, since he likes their happy thoughts of satisfaction. Nobody is safe from Anthony, including his own family. Terrible things have happened to those who acted or thought in ways that displeased Anthony, and even when Anthony tries to help other people, he apparently has no understanding of what will actually help and causes things to be worse than before. Therefore no one wants to give Anthony a reason to change anything, and everyone pretends to be happy and content at all times, no matter how bad things are.
The story mostly takes place during a surprise birthday party for Dan Hollis. In Peaksville, residents take turns with certain objects like books, music, or furniture since they can't get it from the outside world anymore. Dan receives a Perry Como record for his birthday and wants to play it, but Anthony does not allow singing. Dan ends up getting drunk and starts singing You Are My Sunshine. Anthony turns Dan into some sort of horrific mutation before sending him away to the cornfields. Afterwards he makes it snow, which kills half of the crops.
External link
- Text of the story (http://www.llywelyn.net/docs/greats/its_a_good_life.html)