The Thing in the Forest

In response to Germany’s bombing of Britain during World War II, the British Government evacuated vulnerable members of the population, like children, from cities to more rural and less targeted areas. Images like the one of Penny and Primrose on the platform were seen throughout the country as English families from all socioeconomic backgrounds tried to protect their children. “The Thing in the Forest” begins by characterizing Penny, Primrose, and the other evacuees' youth, and thus their vulnerability. The narrator describes a platform crowded with very small children, some too little to be traveling alone in the safest of times—an indicator of the fear that drove English parents to send their children to live with strangers. In this way, “The Thing in the Forest" closely represents the bleak reality of this period. However, by incorporating elements of the imaginary to represent one of the most difficult moments in England’s history, Byatt blends realism, or in this case historical fiction, with fantasy.

The girls find a fragile solace in clinging to each other, using their friendship as a shield against the terror of the bombings and the confusion of their mothers having sent them away. Their bond is sealed with a meager meal that represents both the innocent generosity of children and the scarcity caused by rationing during the war. Byatt alludes to the conflict using small details like this, as well as Penny and Primrose’s confused observation of the flooded fields, pitted hills, and blacked-out signage—clear indicators of bombings and tactics to stall an invading infantry. This narrative strategy captures the confusion of the experience from a child’s perspective. It is also an acknowledgement that children are especially ill-equipped to find the words to describe the disturbing and terrifying nature of war.

In spite of the girls’ confusion, the train journey is illuminating because it develops the narrative’s physical context and shows readers the severity of what these children are fleeing. As they travel, the girls salvage a moment of childish normalcy with their conversation about their dislikes. This lighthearted moment contrasts with the later experience the girls have with the thing in the forest. The other children find similar respite at the mansion when they are allowed outside to play before being assigned to their temporary homes. This playtime is an enormous relief after spending a difficult night in the mansion, which, because of the blackouts, exacerbates their already heightened terror. Darkness is always frightening, especially for children, but their fear of the dark goes beyond childish terror. It also represents the unknown terrors that await them nearby in the forest, as well as in the coming days, when they will be relocated.

Even before Primrose and Penny encounter the worm, the forest itself feels surreal and disturbing. This is because, having grown up in towns and cities, the girls have little knowledge of woodland life. It is a strange and unknown place that is not dissimilar to the wartime world they find themselves in. Byatt makes the worm's approach suspenseful, overwhelming the senses one after the other as it slowly creeps closer. It is a thing of unimaginable horror that destroys everything in its path, marking it as a clear allegory for the war and its destruction of the towns and countryside the girls passed on their train journey. Returning from the forest, Penny and Primrose are changed from the girls that wandered excitedly into it. They cannot see “normal” life the same way again. Here, Byatt represents a typical reaction to the experience of a traumatic event. People often question how the world at large continues as normal when their personal world has been utterly decimated. Penny and Primrose experience a similar disorientation when they see the other children playing. Penny and Primrose do not speak to each other again because, like their mothers, the girls cannot find the words to talk about the unspeakable thing they witnessed. This means that they also lose the one consolation they had found in an impossibly difficult situation and are thrust fully into the isolation they feared in those first moments on the train platform.

Penny and Primrose spend decades of their lives alone with the weight of this trauma, unable to speak about the event. The encounter with the worm is not the only source of pain, as the continued bombings and eventual loss of their fathers further devastate their lives even after they have reunited with their families. However, these shared experiences shape the girls’ lives in different ways, which illustrates the way trauma affects each individual differently. This is one of the central points that Byatt makes in “The Thing in the Forest,” and it is the reason why the story draws so many parallels between the two friends.

It is not entirely coincidental that Primrose and Penny both return to the mansion after their mothers die. Their grief over their mothers’ deaths reminds Penny and Primrose of that first separation from them. They are drawn back to the source of their very first, and undoubtedly most significant, traumatic memory—perhaps with the unconscious intention of confronting it. The legend of the Loathly Worm makes the thing the women saw more concrete and puts into words what they have struggled with all their lives. It is a pivotal moment in their traumatic recovery because with this “evidence” they can finally release their worries about madness and admit their fears for Alys, as well as the pain the experience caused them. It is a constructive encounter because it remedies some of their feelings of isolation. At the same time, they cannot bear to face each other for a second meeting because the discomfort of talking to each other about the worm is something neither relishes.

Instead, the women face the forest separately, each on her own terms. While Penny ambles around avoiding the forest, Primrose wakes and goes purposely into it. Retracing her and Penny’s childhood steps reveals a forest that is much the same, except this time Primrose notices the forest’s lushness and its signs of life and renewal. It is a reversal of the forest that seemed so terrifying and unknown when she was a girl. Seeing her namesake flower is an encouraging sign, and so is seeing the perennial selfheal herb, which has medicinal properties. These symbolize and foreshadow the healing revelations she will experience moments later. When a squirrel passes, it reminds Primrose of the fantastical stories she told herself about the toys her mother made for her. She realizes that there is something similarly magical about the forest—something that transgresses the boundaries of the real world. This triggers her to compare the realness of the comforting stories she has made up with the disappointing reality of her life. Realizing that her imagination has always seemed more real leads Primrose to discover that storytelling gives her power over her traumatic memories. She learns she already possesses the power to control how she sees and experiences the world. This is why she no longer needs to confirm the existence of the Loathly Worm and leaves the forest.

Whereas Primrose sought the forest with purpose, Penny arrives at it unintentionally, as though her subconscious mind is following a lure. Although she is in a different part of the forest, Penny retraces her sense memories of that first encounter. Unlike Primrose’s openness to experience the forest as it is, Penny, with her empirical mind, is like a detective hunting for traces of evidence—scents, sounds, and remnants of carnage—that could prove conclusively that the worm is real. By finding it, she can face a literal cause of her traumatic memories, which would theoretically be a crucial step in recovery. Like Primrose, she ponders deeply in the forest, thinking about the way that first visit has shaped her life. Penny shows a keen self-awareness, which her psychoanalytic training makes possible. She understands exactly what plagues her, but the inescapability of trauma is such that simple awareness is not enough to free herself from the occurrence of nightmares and flashbacks. The thing never appears, and Penny leaves without the reconciliation Primrose found.

When the women encounter each other after the return journey, they avoid each other again. At the mansion-turned-museum, the confirmation that they had both experienced the same thing was a comfort. Now, seeing each other is an unhappy reminder of one of the worst moments of their lives. That their faces remind them of the worm’s expression is evidence of this.

Returning to life as she knew it becomes impossible for Penny, as her unsatisfying return to the forest has amplified the effects of her trauma. The worm looms large in her present and she is compelled to return to see it. She is so desperate in her longing for it that the night spent in a nearby motel seems interminable. This time, she follows her and Primrose’s original path and finds the exact location of the clearing they saw. Again, her senses signal the worm’s approach, but unlike when she was a child, she is calm and welcomes it. It seems she is ready to come face-to-face with the creature that has cast a pall over her life. Byatt leaves their meeting to the reader's imagination and shifts the action to Primrose in the mall with an audience. The descriptions of the children of varying backgrounds and emotional states parallel the story’s beginning. These children, however, are comforted by snacks and Aunty Primrose’s warmth as she tells her own story.