Ghost Story

Ghost Story employs the woods and natural imagery to represent the wildness and eerie quality of the protagonist’s central foe. The density of the woods surrounding Milburn further adds to its isolation. Don describes a “sense that the woods around the town are stronger, deeper that the little grid of streets people put in their midst” (181). This passage echoes the Chowder Society’s struggle against the shapeshifter. The monster has existed for longer than they have; it crowds around them, drawing in closer. The town can only struggle to maintain what little hold they have over their home.

The images of the woods show the growing fear and anxiety the Chowder Society experiences. In Ricky’s first walk through town of the book, he notices the trees whose branches “had turned and now black skeletal arms and fingers, the bones of trees, hung against the leaves” (44). Lewis experiences a similar vision on his run, “a vast belt of trees and vegetation, silent wealth through which moved only himself and Indians. And a few spirits” (114). Straub uses the woods as a symbol of the eternal and supernatural, a power over which man has no control.

Straub makes multiple references to movies and cinema throughout the novel. He calls on the surreal and uncanny in the movies to support the blurred lines between reality and imagination. The first cinema reference is to “Pandora’s Box,” causing the image of terrors released by curiosity to add to the mood of the novel. This movie supports the central idea of the dangers of imagination and curiosity, but also their inherent value in defeating evil. Much like hope in the box, hope stays with the Chowder Society as they fight back against the shapeshifter.

The theater in Milburn shows horror movies for months as the storm closes in around the town. This symbolizes the inescapable nature of the monsters loosed on town. The echo of Night of the Living Dead while Don, Ricky, and Peter face the Bate brothers underscores the ways to endure their attack. Straub uses the symbol of movies to show Ricky the future of the Scales family and the threat to his friends. The shapeshifter appears as an actress, underscoring her constant acting and adding to her wit. The movies allow a sense of blurring to happen between real and surreal, a place for the supernatural to meet the real.