Here There Be Tygers

[cappeca]

Am I the only one who's got a Calvin and Hobbes vibe from this? I mean, the Tyger only appears to the kid, and the way he's desperate and paranoid, that's Calvin on sugar. And he pees in the sink! "There's a tiger there!!!!!"

[Seb Shaw]

I enjoyed the simpleness of the story. The kid doesn't wan't to go to the 'basement'. The teacher makes him call it 'the bathroom', so he gte's very angry and imagins a 'tiger' to do his bidding.
... I like to think that the tiger was real

[Pucker]

I enjoyed the simpleness of the story. The kid doesn't wan't to go to the 'basement'. The teacher makes him call it 'the bathroom', so he gte's very angry and imagins a 'tiger' to do his bidding.
... I like to think that the tiger was real

I like to think that, too, Seb.

To me the story is about how children are powerless in an adult world, and the only effective weapon at their disposal is imagination. This story reminds me a great deal of that Twilight Zone episode where Will Robinson wished everyone he didn't like into the cornfield.

[lunar]

I suppose it could be reasonable to say that the tiger was in the bathroom and the tiger was also not in the bathroom....enter Quantum Mechanics. Reminds me of Shrodinger's Cat.

[bobledrew]

I think there's an interview with King where he talks about cartoonist Gahan Wilson and how some of his images were inexplicable and horrible. I suspect that this story bounces from an image in King's head. Reminds me a bit of "The Moving Finger" in that there's something weird and totally inexplicable.

Also, I think this could be an early working out of how fear manifests itself in the real world. The boy is afraid of a tiger, so the tiger becomes real -- just like Pennywise, and like the generators in DT 7 (or is it 6) that force Jake to confront his fear of dinosaurs by trading places with Oy .

[CaseyM]

I like to think the tiger is real too. Unless the people coming to check on him are his imagination, they never come back after encountering the Tiger. Makes me think the mean old tiger ate them both up!

[Aericanwizard]

This story had a bit of a personal meaning for me. I remember once, when I was very young (3 or 4 at the oldest), and I was watching Sesame St. on TV. It was doing one of those "A is for Apple", "B is for Boogeyman" segments. When they got to "L", it was "L is for lion", and the lion looked at me, stepped out of the TV screen, and roared. I immediately dashed behind my Grandma's protective Arm Chair (if you don't have one, beware!), and when I braved the TV again, the lion was thankfully banished, and a sad-looking Zebra was on the screen.

I think the story speaks to the power of children's imagination. In High School, I read a story by Bradbury called "The Veldt", which has a similar feel to it. To children, the imaginary is the real.

Long days and pleasant nights.

[jcadams]

I just read this, then came over here to try to make sense of it. After reading all the comments, i reread it from the point of view of it all being in his mind. Only 4 people are mentioned, Miss Bird embarrased him and Kenny and Cathy laughed. I now look at it as his imagined revenge. Did anyone else notice his name is Charles? What's the short form of Charles? Charlie. Where have we met Charlie? Could Charles have been a young Charlie Decker? ( from Rage for those who haven't read it)

[Shoe]

Short story from Skeleton Crew.

I`ve read it last night three times in a row and didn`t get it - could someone please explain to me what this story is about ?

Thanks.

I think the meaning/goal of the story was just a nice and quick DT connection. I found it plain to see that the bathroom was a thinny. Something found it one day and discovered a room that contained tasty snacks ready for the chomping. The only question that still remains for me is whether or not it was actually a tiger. It could have been a tiger from another level of the tower somewhere. But I find the spelling "Tygers" to indicate perhaps there is more to it than meets the eye. It could have been something else but the only thing Charles could match it with in his mind was a tiger. Or perhaps Charles has a fear of tigers, and Pennywise (or one of It's offspring) found the thinny.

not horror? It had a tiger eating people. what can be more horror than that.

[WallSight]

Just read it for the first time, even though while reading it I experienced a huge déjà vu. I must have heard the story somewhere before, it's the only possible explanation I can think of.

When you try to read it literally, I guess you are supposed to hit some sort of brick wall. The only way I can try to understand it, is by dismissing the entire passage out of the classroom as Charles' imagination. He ventures to the bathroom (basement), a scary enterprise for a child of his age, and his mind plays tricks on him. As Aericanwizard has said somewhere above kids have a very vivid imagination. As a young child, it is not so difficult to get carried away by something you made up. Charles was scared, embarassed and made up an adventure in which he survived and the bad people got what they deserved. Then he went back to the reality of the classroom, took his textbook and the class continued.

To me it's as simple as that. I absolutely love this story.