ipl-logo

The Thing In The Forest By A. S. Byatt Summary

823 Words4 Pages

The Thing in the Forest by A.S. Byatt is a fairytale like story that takes place during World War II. It captivates its reader with a mysterious lack of detail, keeping the fairytale aspect up to the imagination. Through symbolism, metaphors, and juxtaposing character development, Byatt shows how war and trauma kills childhood innocence. This story is about two young girls, Penny and Primrose, who are sent away from home during World War II for safety. This was common practice during the war, to keep children away from the heat of the battle. While traveling away, the two girls meet and become fast friends, sharing chocolate and speculating as to why they had to leave home. They arrive at a temporary foster home, and decide to go explore the forest, where they witness a terrifying creature …show more content…

Byatt uses physical death and friendship to represent the death of the girls’ innocence. Alys was described as, “quite extraordinarily pretty,” (Byatt 227). The emphasis of her cute appearance and her curious personality is representative of childhood innocence as a whole. Penny and Primrose, “were too excited about meeting and liking each other,”(Byatt 227) to want Alys tagging along with them, so when the younger girl asked to accompany them, they ran off in an attempt to leave her behind. However, while the two girls managed to hide from the Thing they find, Alys presumably fell into its path and was destroyed. In this moment, the two girls embraced and cried, but once they exited the forest they never spoke again. Alys being so representative of innocence shows Byatt’s attempt at showing the physical death of innocence. As does the abrupt end of Penny’s and Primrose’s friendship. The speed in which their friendship blossomed was naïve and childlike, so when it ended after witnessing something, “more real than we are,” (Byatt 232), it is clear that Byatt intended to once more show how war and reality crushes childlike

Show More
Related

Slenderman Phenomenon Research Paper

247 Words | 1 Pages

All three girls were 12-year-olds and in the same class. Morgan and Anissa planned they would kill Payton during a game of hide and seek in the woods. Anissa suggested that Payton should lay on the ground so Morgan wouldn 't find her and while she was on the ground Anissa sat on her so Morgan can take the big kitchen

Read More

Summary Of Woodchucks By Maxine Kuman

409 Words | 2 Pages

In “Woodchucks”, Maxine Kuman describes the problem she has in her back yard with woodchucks. She goes into detail of the idea of killing them without hurting them by “gassing” them. She also had no mercy of the woodchucks when she shot at them. Kuman uses her experience with the woodchucks to explain the situation between the Nazis and the Holocaust victims.

Read More

Maurice Sendak's Book 'Where The Wild Things Are'

569 Words | 3 Pages

The Banned Book “Where the Wild Things Are” In 1963 Maurice Sendak’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” was published. This book is one of the bestselling children’s books of all times and it almost didn't make it past his editors. It took him four years to get his book published. There are many reasons why his book was banned from libraries, schools and even homes when it came out.

Read More

Summary Of The Jungle Under The Auspice By Upton Sinclair

1424 Words | 6 Pages

In 1904 Upton Sinclair was given $500 and commissioned by Fred Warren, the editor of the Appeal to Ransom to write about the wage slavery going on in Chicago’s packinghouse district after a failed strike by the workers. He was a socialist who had written several articles, political novels and was a patron of left-wing magazines. He spent seven weeks in Chicago doing his research. He was very much ill prepared for what he saw. He had never been in such areas, as he was raised in Baltimore and living in New Jersey.

Read More

Analysis Of Mary Pipher's Saplings In The Storm

713 Words | 3 Pages

In Mary Pipher’s passage, Saplings in The Storm, Pipher claims that young big-hearted girls are changing as they age. She claims that the nature and source of these problems come from the fairy tales, which capture the essence of change, and approval of others. The elements of language that she uses are tone and rhetorical devices. This passage is made in order to appeal to the audience about the situation and to get them interested in the situation. As adolescent girls grow up they start to lose their inner kid that was once inside them.

Read More

In The Lake Of The Woods By Tim O Brien

666 Words | 3 Pages

The book “In the lake of the woods”, written by Tim O’Brien, is about a Vietnam veteran and politicians story. The main character, John Wade, is a Vietnam veteran who was involved with a brutal massacre. John was also a politician, and in fear that the massacre he was involved with would affect his political career, John does everything he can to cover up this incident. During this time John's wife mysteriously disappears. John has an ambition throughout the story to cover up what happened to profit his own career.

Read More

Stylistic Analysis Of The Payoff By Susan Perabo

794 Words | 4 Pages

Everyone has done something in their life that they have deeply regretted and mostly refer back to their childhood. However, from a young age a person may not understand the issue until they grow into an adult. The author, Susan Perabo shows this to be especially true in her short story “The Payoff”. The use of the main characters Anne and Louise reveal how unwise a young mind can be in realizing the most simple of things. However, through the use of these characters an important message is suddenly conveyed over the story.

Read More

Conflicts Faced By Alyss And Alice In The Looking Glass Wars

745 Words | 3 Pages

In The novel, Beddor uses these conflicts to reveal the real Princess of Wonderland, Alice. In the beginning of the novel, Alyss is characterized as troublesome , demanding , and stubborn. The author states that imagination is a crucial part of life in Wonderland and Princess Alyss had the most powerful imagination ever seen in a 7-year-old ever to live in Wonderland: “ but as with any formidable talents, Alyss’ imagination could be used for good or ill, and the queen saw mild reasons for

Read More

Analysis Of Again Calls The Owl By Margaret Craven

293 Words | 2 Pages

Again Calls the Owl is a memoir written by Margaret Craven, about her life as a struggling author. Again calls the Owl takes place in the 1920’s, when Margaret Craven graduates from Stanford University. In the book, Margaret Craven also tells about different jobs she had when first starting out. Margaret Craven wanting to become a writer despite being blind works hard and perseveres through difficult times and wrote of an important time in her life while teaching a lesson to all of her readers.

Read More

Maturation In Lizabeth's Marigolds

172 Words | 1 Pages

Have you ever been so mad that you did something stupid? Lizabeth in “Marigolds” acts out often. In the story “Marigolds” Lizabeth throws a tantrum and stomps on the marigolds. The theme of “Marigolds” is maturation leads to a deeper understanding of life. The theme of “marigolds” demonstrates Lizabeth’s change of attitude throughout the story just as maturation affects every modern teens.

Read More

Summary Of Into That Forest By Louis Nowra

717 Words | 3 Pages

THE MONTHLY Nowra’s leap “Into that Forest”: Representing Indigenous Perspectives in Australian Literature Do non-Indigenous authours have the authority to write from Indigenous perspectives? Joshua D’Souza evaluates Nowra’s empowering tale ‘Into that Forest’ and his courageous leap into the world of realism. What is it like to witness your culture, your heritage, your native identity misrepresented for Australia to see? Ask Aboriginal Australians, and they will tell you a thing, or two about being ignored.

Read More

The Thing In The Forest

976 Words | 4 Pages

The Explanation of the Story: “The Thing in the Forest” by A.S. Byatt In A.S. Byatt’s “The Thing in the Forest”, the author uses the elements of a short story to craft a dark, fairy tale. The title of the story, “The Thing in the Forest”, in the sense that it foreshadows the main idea of the story. The audience expects more than just a "thing", as listed in the title. Byatt emphasizes that the main characters are the two-main protagonist who were girls dealing with more than just a “thing” in the forest that affected them for the rest of their lives. this is the use of symbols that expresses a meaning to focus on the story.

Read More

The Thing In The Forest Analysis

916 Words | 4 Pages

In A.S Byatt’s “The Thing in the Forest”, the author uses the elements of a short story to craft a dark, mature fairytale. The title of the story, “The Thing in the Forest”, in the sense that it foreshadows the main idea of the story. The audience expects more than just a "thing", as listed in the title. Byatt emphasizes through figurative language that the main characters, Penny and Primrose, are dealing with more than just a creature in the forest that affected them for the rest of their lives, and that with this use of symbols to express a larger meaning to objects in the story. A.S Byatt emphasizes more on plot and setting, characters, theme and symbols.

Read More

Symbolism In Hansl And Gretel And Hansel

1338 Words | 6 Pages

SYMBOLISM IN HANSEL AND GRETEL A fairy tale is a type of a short fairytale that typically features European folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, witches and usually magic or enchantments . One such fairytale is HANSEL AND GRETEL (German: ' ' Hänsel und Gretel ' ').

Read More

Into The Woods ': Symbolism In Into The Woods'

933 Words | 4 Pages

Into The Woods The musical “Into the Woods” by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine is a metaphor for life in many ways, but the most prominent one is the woods symbolizing life itself. The prologue song “Into The Woods” is about each of the character’s dreams and wishes. Cinderella wishes to go to the festival, Little Red Riding Hood wants to deliver bread to Granny, and the Baker and his wife want to have a child, even though the witch cursed their lineage.

Read More

More about The Thing In The Forest By A. S. Byatt Summary

Related Topics

Open Document