You might say that he Is collecting nonsense which Is Just for fun because he Is a child playing a child’s game. He Is running through a forest collecting the rubbish. In fairy tales forests are usually a place where everything can happen. It Is a place where the hero Is away from home and I not In control of things happening. It Is also a place for change. Running throughthe forestCasey meets a man. The man seems to know where Casey can find more rubbish to win the game. Casey takes his hand and follows the man in the belief that there is more rubbish to be found so that he can win over the other children.
Sticking to the idea that the rubbish he is collecting is nonsense which is just for fun as in a child’s game, Casey is following the man searching for more time to add to hischildhood. Going further and further into the forest Casey finds out that there is no more rubbish and that the man has been lying to him. Casey turns around and runs away from the man who is following him. Case’s attempt to reach the safety of the garden from which he came fails. He has passed a point of no return in his process of growing up. He is no longer allowed into the garden of safety and childhood.
When the man catches Casey he turns into a lull. ” The man was engorged, muscles ripping his clothes and meat spewing out of the torn seams. Two great horns curled out of his forehead, and his eyes filled with black ink. His shoes disintegrated as the cloven feet within split the leather” (II. 97-100). A bull is one of the shapes which the Greek mythological creature Pan is able to turn into. Pan is particularly known for having seduced several women. He is often associated with sexuality, lust and fertility: ” The bull was right over him, his enormous balls swinging between his legs” (II. 101-102).
Pan does also appear In the happen of the devil which the bull is described looking a lot like with the two curled horns on his forehead. The devil is tempting the boy into growing up, and Casey Is trying to stay a child forever. You cannot however stay a child forever, and now the bull Is forcing him to grow up by Introducing him to sexuality. Trying to make the bull let go of him, Casey pulls out his penknife key ring. This Is a symbol of his penis which at this point is very small and Ineffective, because he Is still Just a child. He has not yet grown up and experienced his own sexuality. Up until now the penis has only been for peeing.
Casey finds out that the penknife does not work the way he wants It to and therefore he pulls out his samurai sword. This phallus symbolizes that Casey has now grown up and experienced sexuality. HIS penis has grown Into a better functioning weapon to handle life with. Casey kills the bull with his samurai sword which symbolizes that he has grown up and taken over the power of sexuality. After the house and the garden from where he originally came. Casey however chooses to walk the other way symbolizing that he is now a grownup. He turns his back on childhood because no one can stay child forever.
