This story reminds me of a fairy tale. There are many direct references in the story to a fairy tales most of us have read in the past such as Hansel and Gretel. Of course this fairy tale is a little bit darker than most that we know from our childhood. Penny and Primrose meet while being swept away from their homes to safety. They became orphans together along with another little girl named Alys. When Primrose and Penny decide to take a trip in to the forest, they leave Alys behind. Now we have to decide whether we choose to believe that the girls did indeed see the monster that they claim to have seen, or if they made up this game in their minds? I believe that they did see this worm-like monster, who they deem is the reason for the disappearance of Alys. They never speak to anyone of this, but they carry it with them for the rest of their lives, and they end up choosing careers that keep them devoted to helping children.
Now, when Penny and Primrose meet up again by chance later in life, Penny (now a psychologist) states that she has never questioned whether she really saw the monster or not after Primrose posed the question. They decided that the monster was real, as children, but not to tell anyone for fear of their disbelief. As adults, they make the same decision, as they sit in silence, soon to part again.
I really liked this story, it was interesting, it never got boring to me. Byatt's story contains many allusions. She references so many things from past literatures if you just take a second to look for the references after you realize that they are there, which I did not at first.
No comments:
Post a Comment