The Things in the Forest

Thesis Statement

How we all suppress things out of self preservation?

Introduction

As part of the plot, two little girls sent to a children's shelter during WWII (named Primrose and Penny) go into the forest and encounter a hideous creature. This worm-like being devours a younger girl who has followed them. The worm, they later discover, is known through local legend. Does anyone know if this story is based specifically on a tale? Of course it is like many forest/woods tales--girls, paths, threats by Other--I won't list those here. I'm wondering if anyone who has also read it recognizes one specific tale in the plot or other elements, such as the names or the worm reference. It's a beautifully written and frightening story. (Elizabeth 102)

Discussion

AS Byatt writes about the WWII generation - not the adults - but the kids, the ones who were little during the war in England. What did it mean - to not be fully conscious of world events, at least not the political ins and outs - but to have your lilfe be so impacted? And that generation stands apart, in terms of its thrift, its practicality - etc. Byatt comes back to this time and time again. That era is closer to the Victorian era, in terms of sensibility, than anything closer to the modern era. “The Thing in the Forest” is all about that.

It's written like a fairy tale, which adds to the creep factor - because it's a fairy tale during the Blitz. Penny and Primrose and two little English girls who are one of a huge group of kids evacuated to the country during the war (a la Lion Witch and Wardrobe). Penny and Primrose befriend each other on the train. The kids are sent to a massive drafty country estate - and are basically set free, to do what they please all day long, before they have to go to sleep in makeshift dormitories set up throughout the estate.

And one day Penny and Primrose take a walk in the forest. And while in the forest, they see a “thing”. A terrifying huge slug-like creature - out of a nightmare - stinking of death and decay. By huge, I mean - fairy-tale huge. They hang back, and watch it slither by - destroying everything in its path. It doesn't swerve for trees in its way - it moves right through, so the tree slices it in half - and then the slug re-attaches itself afterwards. Penny and Primrose never speak about what they saw. And they never speak to each other again.

The first story in Little Black Book of Stories (LBBS) is called The Thing in the Forest. It begins in the 1940s in Britain when Germany has begun its attempt to either force Britain into surrender or into the stone age with its constant barrage of bombs and missiles. It focuses on two little girls being evacuated from the city who find themselves at a large mansion in the ...