Symbolism Of The Wolf In The Nesting Place

In Emily Carroll’s graphic novel “Through the Woods” we are given a view into the vast and mysterious world that contains the stories that are throughout the novel. The novels goal is to portray how we as humans expect the threats to our lives to come from something outwardly and obviously vicious such as a carnivorous wild wolf, however; we almost never expect the less obvious “wolves” that don’t present themselves to us as forwardly or aggressively as an actual wolf would. In “Through the Woods” in the story “The Nesting Place” we are brought into the life of a young woman named Mabel, or Bel. The young woman is being brought from her boarding school in the city to live with her older brother and his wife, Rebecca, in the country. In the

We also once again see the sounds portrayed in a particularly creepy font and style to create an ominous effect. The formation and word choice of the sound itself “sscck”, “shhckkh”, etc.; creates a creepy feeling for the reader. All of these negative aspects piled onto the already eerie setting of this event, being a dank, dark, and wet cave; creates an even more terrifying and uncomfortable exchange for the Bel and the reader. In the scene spoken of earlier, the head shot of sorts of the monster, we get a full view of most of this monster’s physical qualities that make it the most obvious “wolf” of this story. The entire 6 ½ by 9-inch page is covered with the stringy worm monster in its fullest form. Front and center is the human like figure that is the body of Rebecca but, streaming from every visible opening on her face is the monster we are finally getting to view. As described earlier we see the strings or red, some of which have teeth attached, reaching out from the woman’s face. It is almost as if they were reaching for the reader with their long red tentacle like arms or bodies, we cannot be absolutely sure which as the full body of the creature is never fully visible outside

This scene provides the embodiment of the fear that this “wolf” figure causes in its victims. After Bel’s outburst Clarence leaves the room, leaving Bel and Rebecca alone. Of course, the monster once again makes an appearance in it’s true form. These given scenes rely less on the visual aid and presentation of sounds and more on physical movements of the monster itself. The monster seems to be showing off a bit because it has its “prey” just where it wants it. This “showing off” entails the stretching of Rebecca’s face and hands to allow the monster to reveal itself in different ways. We first see it come from her fingers, making them unusually long and an unnatural red as they stretch to reach for Bel. There is then the stretching of the eyelids which creates the eerie bug-eyed portrait of Rebecca again. The last image of this line of pictures is the image of the tentacles coming from the mouth, meaning the spindly red arms have human teeth attached. We see the monster’s confidence grow even farther as it proceeds in its attempts to intimidate Bel, stretching and reaching further from the host’s body and sweeping around the bodies head and neck. The arguably most inhuman view of the monster is when the