“The Thing in the Forest” by A.S. Byatt is a peculiar fairytale. Throughout the story the reader can sense a darker tone inferring that deeper meanings may lie beneath the forest. By taking the setting into account, we are made aware that a great war is about the land. World War II, in all of its horrific grandeur is plaguing the country and the two young girls are sent away. Through the “uneasy silences”, “snuffles and sobs”, and “gray shoddy blankets”, the reader understands what strife these children are going through. Perhaps not a direct horror of the actual war about them, but the indirect dread of what is going on around them. The girls run into the forest with hopes of exploration. Their childhoods have been utterly dampened; perhaps they can find a simple joy in adventure. The thing serves as the crucial symbol in the story. This thing is described painstakingly in the most horrific manner. This image remains haunting to the girls for years to come, indicating that this monster represents the loss of their own innocence. Frightening for years to come, this image has eaten away at the lives of the two and leaves the story to end just as it started. “ There were once two little girls who saw, or believed they saw, a thing in a forest.”
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