Both Sylvia Plath and Penelope Lively e

Both Sylvia Plath and Penelope Lively explore situations that evoke the primal fear in all of us. They use various images and different symbols to explore these fears through neurosis, nightmares and hallucinations. “The blue capes all dissolved and vanished”, just like their childhood’s innocence. The whole dreamy fantasy world of the two main characters (Sandra, from ‘The Darkness Out there’ and the little girl from ‘Superman and Paula Brown’s New Snowsuit’) burnt into ashes by the antagonist. They both go through harsh rite of passage as they realize the world isn’t as shining and simple as they thought. Both stories start with fantasy worlds created by the protagonist- naive hallucinations without any sign of the real evil. In ‘Darkness’, Sandra, just another innocent girl with great expectation of life, was part of the good neighbor’s craze-“Come and have fun giving a helping hand to the old folks”, helping these old folks seem like a safe and fun way to make contributions to the neighborhood. Sandra had always had a sheltered and protected life. She and Kerry, the annoying childish boy nobody thinks much of, discover the real darkness out there at Packer’s End hidden in the old lady’s hideous heart. At first, helping the old lady and doing various things around her house only seem to enhance the illusion of innocence and carefree life. The old lady even gave them chocolates. But, as the old lady started telling her story about the German plane, the ugliness and darkness inside her became more apparent. The realization of the evil that she was capable of was enough to make them leave with their innocence, lost forever. Sandra and Kerry would never be the same again. Just like Sandra had been all wrong about Kerry, they had been all wrong about this “sweet” old lady. “In your head for ever like lines from a song”, it’s like the lyrics of the song that never gets out of your mind. The neurosis develops into hallucination and imprinted in their head as a