Children Are Innocent: Much like other Edward Gorey books that focus on children, this book plays around with this trope.This ironically makes it all the more eerie. Censored Child Death: Save for Kate, Rhoda, and Winnie, we do not actually get to see the deaths of any of the children, only the events that occurred right before.The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: One of the children, Olive, is depicted tossing an awl in the air, which apparently killed her when it landed onto her.Black Comedy: The seemingly improbable deaths in the book are especially prone to getting laughs.Black Bead Eyes: Every character in the book has small pinhole-like eyes.Bears Are Bad News: One of the children, Basil, is mauled to death by bears.Bar Brawl: One of the children, Prue, finds herself in the middle of one, resulting in her death.note That isn't to say they can't be dangerous for other reasons, though. Real leeches are far too small to completely drain a human, even a child, of all their blood. Artistic License – Biology: Fanny is said to have been 'sucked dry by a leech'.What exactly fell on him is unclear, as he is depicted looking up at some kind of column. Anvil on Head: One of the children, Yorick, has his head 'knocked in'.Along with that, the deaths are sorted by each of the children's initials in said book. Alphabetical Theme Naming: Each of the twenty-six children in the book are named after a letter in the English Alphabet, and no letter is missed.George is depicted crawling under a rug, which he suffocates under. Almost Out of Oxygen: Implied to have happened to one of the children, George.13 Is Unlucky: 13 boys, 13 girls, 13 rhyming couplets.Even after 50 years since being published, the books has never ceased to go out of print. To this day, despite (or probably because of) its subject matter, The Gashlycrumb Tinies is considered the most popular, as well as the most successful of all of Edward Gorey's works. These range from things like falling down a flight of stairs, choking on peaches, being done in by thugs, drowning in lakes, run through with awls, or even dying of boredom.

The book was published in 1963 in a collection of three 'Cautionary Tales' called The Vinegar Works.Īll throughout the book, the children meet all kinds of strange and unusual fates, all happening with little to no context.

The Gashlycrumb Tinies is a short, macabre book by Edward Gorey recounting the deaths of 26 small children. Gorey, Gorey, what a hell of a way to die.

The gashlycrumb