ABSTRACT
In drawing upon the tradition in trauma theory of studying children's engagement with fairy tales in the place of trauma, the author argues that in the context of Djuna Barnes's novel, however, one can hardly assume that the love story of Beast Thingumbob is meant to provide any escape for Julie. Like most of Ryder, elements of the story of Beast Thingumbob are so preposterous that it could read as a tragic, yet dry and satiric, escape from the sexual abuses inherent in the construction of this family and its surrounding society. In Ryder, Barnes creates a small society that circulates around the anarchist theory of Wendell Ryder, based on those of Wald Barnes. In Ryder, however, storytelling and fantasy do not provide an escape from sexual trauma and abuse, but work to convince children to accept the societal parameters and rules that allow for this abuse to continue, even in the realms of fantasy.
