The short story “The Littlest Hitler” by Ryan Boudinot is about a young boy, Davy. One day Davy gets the idea to dress as Hitler for Halloween, inspired by a tv-show about World War II. His dad assists him.
On Halloween, Davy and Lisette are the sole persons depict a historical person. Therefore, they are selected to present their characters. Davy represents Hitler, and Lisette represents Anne Frank. Lisette tells the class, that the Nazi killed the Franks. After class Davy is bullied and accused of killing Anna Frank. At home Davy tells his dad about what happened. His dad feels sorry and buys Davy a different costume. After the change of clothes, they go out to Trick-or-treat. Finally, guilt gets him to take his candy and tiptoe downstairs to the stove to burn the candy but ends eating it.
It is not just the actions of adults that can include consequences, it likewise affects their children. In this story, the main character Davy gets bullied because of his dad's choices. Bullying is one of the themes, and the power of popularity enters into it. The short story is written with first-person narration and express Davy's point of view. He is an innocent and sensitive child, who also has feelings. Already when he enters the school bus, he senses the antagonism that the costume wakes. He also says, "It didn’t take long for them to make me cry." (l. 62, p. 3) and this is a clear expression of his emotions. At school, some of the kids are more offensive than he expected, it gets worse when the girl named Lisette was dressed as Anna Frank. Anna Frank was one of the Hitler’s victims. Even if Davy is not actually the character that he depicts, he still gets accused of Hitler's doing, as they point at him, saying “How would you like it if you had to live in an attic and pee in a bucket and couldn’t walk around or talk all day and didn’t have much food to eat?” (l. 60-61, p. 3)
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