The Thing in the Forest
The Thing in the Forest
Containing all the well-known signs of a fairy tale from the beginning, The Thing in the Forest is expected to include the fantasy aspect of a fairy tale. Unlike most fairy tales however, The Think in the Forest quickly turns into a very real occurrence that happened to children all over that particular region during that particular time period. Once the girls come within earshot, and then sight of “The Thing”, it takes on many figurative meanings. These meanings include everything from the war and all it entitled, to the girls leaving their innocence and becoming affected by the war.
The story includes two little girls as the main characters, yet Primrose, the one who later in life becomes a story teller, is assumed to be the narrator throughout the story. Primrose is “Plump and blond and curly… [She] had bitten nails, a velvet collar on her dressy green coat.” (353). Interestingly, the narrator (Primrose), who is made slightly greedy from her experiences during the war, goes into grave detail of her clothing. The “dressy” clothing holds no real value, and is only added into the story because it holds some sort of personal value to the narrator. Also, describing Primrose as “plump” is about the nicest way to describe and overweight child. It becomes evident from the first description of Primrose that she is favored by the narrator.
Penny is different than Primrose in almost every way. “Penny was thin and dark and taller, possibly older than Primrose…Penny had a bloodless transparent paleness, a touch of blue in her fine lips.”(353). Even though Penny becomes a much more established person compared to Primrose later in life, how Penny is described isn’t nearly as positive as the description of Primrose. With the well detailed description of what Primrose was wearing, it would be expected that what Penny was wearing would be told. These details are never brought to light. This missing information proves that the narrator has a much
Containing all the well-known signs of a fairy tale from the beginning, The Thing in the Forest is expected to include the fantasy aspect of a fairy tale. Unlike most fairy tales however, The Think in the Forest quickly turns into a very real occurrence that happened to children all over that particular region during that particular time period. Once the girls come within earshot, and then sight of “The Thing”, it takes on many figurative meanings. These meanings include everything from the war and all it entitled, to the girls leaving their innocence and becoming affected by the war.
The story includes two little girls as the main characters, yet Primrose, the one who later in life becomes a story teller, is assumed to be the narrator throughout the story. Primrose is “Plump and blond and curly… [She] had bitten nails, a velvet collar on her dressy green coat.” (353). Interestingly, the narrator (Primrose), who is made slightly greedy from her experiences during the war, goes into grave detail of her clothing. The “dressy” clothing holds no real value, and is only added into the story because it holds some sort of personal value to the narrator. Also, describing Primrose as “plump” is about the nicest way to describe and overweight child. It becomes evident from the first description of Primrose that she is favored by the narrator.
Penny is different than Primrose in almost every way. “Penny was thin and dark and taller, possibly older than Primrose…Penny had a bloodless transparent paleness, a touch of blue in her fine lips.”(353). Even though Penny becomes a much more established person compared to Primrose later in life, how Penny is described isn’t nearly as positive as the description of Primrose. With the well detailed description of what Primrose was wearing, it would be expected that what Penny was wearing would be told. These details are never brought to light. This missing information proves that the narrator has a much