James Dufault Professor Jacobs ENC 1102 17 April, 2014 Proposal of Academic Research in the Literary Analysis For

Thing Thing in The Forest by A.S. Byatt

Dufault, 1

The Thing in The Forest is a literary perspective of the two women that were evacuated in the United Kingdom three days prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. The use of narrative perspective creates a horrific experience of two young girls being plunged into an unknown world of escapism and an alternative reality. Many of the children being hidden away in rural parts of the country during the German Blitzkrieg were fostered for up to five years. They were extremely vulnerable and ill-informed of the nature of war. A.S. Byatt stresses this with setting and biographical characters. Biographical and Jungian Criticism perspective will be the used in the research essay, considering the depth of the characters A.S. Byatt has chosen to create, as well as the symbolism of the creature representing the Nazi Regime. Byatt brilliantly created a fairy tale short story that speaks for the misshapen identities of the individuals whose lives were changed forever by the Second World War. Historical documentation of the young children that survived by staying out of sight during the Holocaust is compiled in a book called The Hidden Children by Howard Greenfeld. The term hidden children specifically has become a point of interest due to its connection to the characters Byatt created, describing the grim reality of war and its terrible long term effects.

Dufault, 2 At the core of this book, it is a unanimous cry to the world, declaring that Hitlers regime effectively destroyed the childhoods of so many people. It is essential in the research of the biographical nature of A.S. Byatts The Thing in the Forest to reiterate that the early childhood development of all the victims of World War II shaped their personal identities dramatically.