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What Is The Thing In The Forest Mental Health

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Mental Illnesses are commonly known within society. Depression and anxiety are obstacles that individuals may encounter on a daily basis. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, is a mental illness that can last many years. Adults, children, and the elderly can all suffer from this dreadful disorder. From severe stress levels to the events in war, these people seem to fight constant battles within their memory. In the story “The Thing in the Forest” by A.S. Byatt, two girls, Penny and Primrose, experience trauma due to their evacuation to a mansion during World War II. The anxiety that they experience during their travels affect them from their childhood, into their adulthood. A “Loathly Worm” that they spot in the forest brings …show more content…

However, she still conveys that Pennys PTSD and trauma is overcoming her in the forest. Byatt expresses this by not only her outcome, but her adventure into the forest as well. She writes “She forced herself to go into the dark, stooping, occasionally crawling on hands and knees.” Unlike Primrose who compares herself to a brave storybook character, Byatt is describing Penny as the opposite. Primrose wants to return in order to see this creature in its existence. However, Penny forces herself to enter the deep part of this forest where the worm lives. Byatt continues to describe the environment that Penny is in. She stated “It came from no direction; it was all around; as though the Thing encompassed the wood, or as though it traveled in multiple fragments…” This gives more description into Penny's negative PTSD visions while she is in the presence of the worm. She began to feel the creature all around her and enclose her, similar to the effects of trauma. Even though Primrose experiences PTSD, her description of the forest did not match the horrific events of Pennys. Byatt leaves the reader on a cliffhanger as she reveals what happens to Penny as a result of facing the worm. She wrote “When it came, she would look at it in the face, she would see what it was. She clasped her hands loosely in her lap. Her nerves relaxed. Her blood slowed. She was ready.” This ending to Penny's story exposes her outcome due to PTSD. Penny is unable to escape the horrors from the war. When she finally faced the worm, she also faced her childhood trauma. This clear ending for Penny plays a role in the symbolism of the worm. Pennys PTSD overcomes her just like her reaction to the creature

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