Summary

Sam Anderson begins his article “The Truth About Cocoons” by saying that all children learn about caterpillars building cocoons and emerging as butterflies. He says that the focus is always on the magical before and after and never on what happens while the caterpillar is in the cocoon, which is what he is interested in. 

Anderson says the inside of a caterpillar’s cocoon is a bleak place. Here the caterpillar turns itself into a slimy substance where only its vital internal organs remain intact. Only then does the butterfly start to grow inside the cocoon. 

Anderson recalls the children’s story of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, which he read many times growing up. He says that while rereading the story recently while in COVID-19 quarantine, he was surprised by how little the book focused on...