The Thing in the Forest

While exploring the forest, Primrose and Penny encounter a terrifying creature. Years later and well into adulthood, Penny and Primrose learn that this anguished-looking, centipede-like creature is a being of legend called the Loathly Worm. There is power in this naming, especially for Penny, who afterwards refers to it as “the Thing,” capitalized. Whereas Primrose describes the worm as a general, unspecific terror, for Penny it is a more immediate presence and holds an almost revered position in her life.

In Primrose and Penny’s first encounter with the worm, the narrator describes it as smelling of the most nauseating odors and making a loud and equally disturbing commotion. Most notably, the language that describes it is violent, indicating that the worm is a manifestation of the world’s violence. The worm makes “threshing and thrashing” sounds (8), evoking images of a struggle, as well as explosions and wailings that create an overwhelming cacophony reminiscent of a war zone. This makes the worm a symbol for the war itself as well as the trauma it causes Penny and Primrose, which includes the loss of their fathers. The memory of the worm stays with the girls, symbolizing the inescapability of the war even in the “safe” countryside. The worm is therefore also a symbol of traumatic memory, which the girls must revisit and navigate in order to achieve some level of recovery.