Lucy Caldwell (b. 1981) is an Irish writer and playwright. She has won multiple awards, including the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, and the Dylan Thomas Prize. The short story “Through the Wardrobe” was published in the collection Multitudes in 2016.
Symbols
The Belle dress that the boy sees in the store becomes a “talisman” in the story, an image that helps him go on, despite the circumstances. In the beginning, the dress symbolizes something forbidden, a thing that boys are not allowed to have. Later on, when the boy tries on his sister’s gold dress, the image of the Belle dress is mentioned again:
A sudden flash comes to you of the Belle dress, from all those years ago, and you realise it’s the memory you’ve been reaching for, the thing that hovers at the edge of your dreams, and everything, all at once, makes a terrifying, intoxicating sort of sense.
Similarly, the song “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid symbolizes the boy’s desire to belong. Just like Ariel’s biggest desire is to belong in the human world, so is the boy’s desire to belong in his own body.
Lastly, the wardrobe – which also gives the story its title – is a symbol that reminds readers of author C.S. Lewis’ fantasy novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In C.S. Lewis’ book, the wardrobe can ...
