The Cookie Lady Theme of Horror -ISC Prism Solutions: Meaning Underneath the story

 The Cookie Lady:  As a Horror Story

Question:  Describe “The Cookie Lady” as a horror story.

Answer:  

    “The Cookie Lady” as a Horror Story 

   P. K. Dick’s short story  “The Cookie Lady” is a horror story as it instill all the elements of horror.

    The author is regarded as the master of paranoid fiction and imagination and he has created the atmosphere of horror by using psychological abnormalities of the relationship. The author creates horror by using suspense, mysterious plot and a shocking climax which left the reader dumbfounded. Dick does not bring out something specific to create horror but introduces the aspect of the unknown in hints.

    Bubber’s abnormal craving for cookies hints something disastrous to be happened. The  “wonderful warm smell” of cookies makes his  “mouth water”. His mother also describes his craving for cookies as  “He’d do anything for a plate of cookies”. Mrs. Drew knows that the cookies are his weakness and she used these cookies as a bait to trap him. This seems to be quite horrifying.

     At first sight Mrs. Drew’s appears to be a lonely, kind, old lady, longing for companionship so she bakes Bubber cookies. She urges Bubber to “stay and talk” to her  “for a while” and  “read” to her, revealing her longing for company. But there is something strange in the old lady, the author also describes her as  “she had been alone so long that she found herself saying strange things and doing strange things”. Bubber’s father Ralf Surle also don’t like their interaction. He feels  “something strange about that old lady”

    When Mrs. Drew laughs cunningly “with excitement”, gazes at her “full, rounded body” she is evil and sinister.

      In his last visit to her, Mrs. Drew asks Bubber,  “You don’t mind if I touch your arm, do you?” is a premonition of Bubber’s cursed fate.

   Mrs. Drew’s transformation gives the reader a shock, a jolt. This shock also adds in the element of horror in the story. 

   After each visit to Mrs. Drew the young and energetic Bubber is “all worn out”; ” what’s going on?” His father Ralf Surle is suspicious. The readers are also curious about it.

    When Bubber tells her that his parents forbade him to visit her and it is his “last time”. Mrs. Drew becomes furious and desperate mto become young again as soon as possible and at any cost. Her anxiety and desperation filled the readers with fear.

   The ending is bleak, the “plump” Bubber has lost his human texture and reduced to “a bundle of weeds and rags” blown away by the strong wind. While the  “dried up old lady” Mrs. Drew is “blooming again” and  “filled out with the sap of vigorous youth”. This ending is quite eerie and unbelievable. Sucking out the young boy’s life force, the cookie lady is quite scary and evokes a feeling of shock, disgust and fear in the readers. The open ending adds to psychological horror.

   The setting of the house as “shabby” and “a little grey box”, overgrown with “weeds” along the front of the house adds an eerie to the story. 

    The author compares the oldness of the lady with the  “dried up weeds”  that  “grew along the front of the house” makes it quite strange and quite mysterious. The movement of the old lady is compared with  “rustling” of the weeds also makes her suspicious and eerie.

    All these efforts makes “The Cookie Lady” a horror story.

     Meaning Underneath the story:  

Question : Does the story “The Cookie Lady” carry any meaning underneath? What is it?

   Answer:  Yes, the story carries a deep meaning underneath. Superficially “The Cookie Lady” is a paranormal – horror fantasy that can not possible in real but symbolically the story tells several things about people in our society. 

    In this story the young boy Bubber is abnormally fond of cookies. His craving for cookies represents the greed and desire in our society that leads them to a disastrous end, as in the story. The innocent young boy Bubber represents all the innocent people in our society – they may be man, women or children who are vulnerable and are victimised to exploitation by the selfish, cunning and exploitative people in the world.

    The old Lady Mrs. Drew represents the selfishness, greed and exploitative mentality in our society. Her  desire to recapture her lost youth and vitality represents the intense desire for inaccessible things by hook or crook in these unscrupulous people. Her act of draining out youth and vitality from the young boy represents the exploitation of young children physically as well as mentally.

     Bubber’s parents denied him for his favourite food cookies at home. They are failed not only in providing him his favourite food or curb his craving but also to guide and protect him against the sinister intentions of the cunning old lady. This represents their ignorance towards their children and also their preoccupancy in their own life and their work. 

      Ultimately, the young boy falls into the trap of an unethical lady who, under the pretext of providing him his favourite food, exploits his youth and sends him back, deprived of all his youth and energy. 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top