The beginning of Myop’s journey into the woods midway through the story conveys a richly symbolic and suggestive sense of potential danger looming ahead. The woods frequently appear in literature—and especially in American literature—as a mysterious space of transformation that exists beyond and in opposition to social and moral norms. The woods are an especially dangerous symbolic space of temptation and experience for girls and young women in stories.
The reference to “snakes” here resonates with the biblical story of Adam and Eve. A serpent—typically depicted as a snake—tempts Eve to eat forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge. Her…