Misery, trauma and isolation all have connections to the war settings in 'The Thing in the Forest'. In the short story, AS Byatt depicts elements captured in both the fairy tale and wartime horror genres. During the Second World War, the two young girls Penny and Primrose endure the Blitz of the 1940s together but in different psychological ways. From childhood, they learn to use gas masks and carry their belongings in oversized suitcases. Both Penny and Primrose suffer psychological effects from being isolated from their families before and after the war. Byatt depicts the haunting effects in her short story by placing graphic details on the girls' childhood experiences. Maria Margaronis, author of a critical essay titled "Where the Wild Things Are," states that "Byatt's supernatural tales depend on almost hallucinatory precision for their haunting effects." The hallucinatory details that Byatt lays out in her story have an almost unbelievable psychological reality for girls. Penny and Primrose endure the psychological consequences and horrific moments of the Blitz as well as the magical ideas they encounter as children. As adults, they must return to the forest of their childhood and as individuals and take separate paths to confront the Thing, recognize its importance in their childhood and free themselves from the grip of the psychological trauma of war . The events of childhood during wartime, Penny and Meeting Primrose result in psychological trauma such as parental abandonment. These two girls in particular experience psychological trauma from isolation, neglect, and displacement that begins when they begin walking with the other children to board the train. The two young friends leave in... middle of paper ...... psychologically distressing their lives. The death of their mother is the time when they both try to deal with their psychological struggles. The two girls find themselves in the forest with a new outlook on life. Primrose and Penny, for the first time in their lives, are relieved of the burden the war has placed on them. Work cited Bell, Amy Helen. London Was Ours: Diaries and Memoirs of the London Blitz. London: IB Tauris, 2008. Electronic Book Collection (EBSCOhost). Internet. March 24, 2014. Byatt, AS “The Thing in the Forest.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. 11th ed. New York: Norton, 2013. 352-67. Margaronis, Maria. “Where are the wild things.” The Nation 278.23 (June 14, 2004): 24-28. Rep. in News Criticism. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Jelena O. Krstovic. Flight. 91. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Information Resource Center. Internet. March 24. 2014.