The Very Hungry Caterpillar is, on a the surface, merely a sweet story about a very hungry caterpillar and his journey of consumption and metamorphosis.

The author had an entirely different meaning in mind.

TVHC is a story about the author's struggle with their sexual and gender identity, preceded by years of substance abuse and high-risk sexual encounters.

The story begins with the caterpillar hatching from an egg. The Egg is both vaginal and penile, resulting from the combination of ovum and sperm. Within the author, they realized their own sense of vagina and peepee, causing a cognitive dissonance in their own identity.

TVHC's insatiable hunger for food can be seen as a metaphor for a deep longing to explore and understand one's own identity. It reflects the desire to consume knowledge about gender and self-discovery.

TVHC starts by eating through one red apple. This symbolizes the early stages of puberty, menstrual blood, and singular s*x (masturbation). The fact that future foods continue to grow in number and frequency shows the author's increasing libido, but also a shame cycle that is both calmed and exacerbated by continued high-risk exploration.

When TVHC eats through two pears, this symbolizes their first sexual encounter with two people. The green color of the pears symbolizes marijuana abuse, as well as the color of young, supple growth of a plant and the loss of the author's innocence. Since this is the second day of TVHC's life, it can be inferred that this sexual encounter occurred early in life, most likely in abuse as a minor, setting the stage for a life of sexual confusion and impulsiveness.

As the numbers of food increase, so too do the sexual partners. As visualized in the artwork, the penetration of TVHC through food symbolizes the penetration the author experienced as the sexually receiving partner, and the resulting holes in the food represent the continued diminishing of their psyche and worth.

After the numerical scaling of partners achieves maximum, TVHC binges in many different singular foods, much like the author's series of promiscuous encounters. The pace of the text is at a crescendo, the sexual encounters frequent and fleeting.

The Cocoon is not a transformative moment, but one of death and burial. Death of the Soul. Death of the Vagina. Death of the Peepee. Death of the Self.

The emergence of The Butterfly is the emergence of Denialism. Unable to face the damage to his body and soul from illicit drugs and STDs, the author adopted a new persona in order to dissociate from their true self. It is too late however, and so a short-lived life of denialism is all that is possible, until TVHC lays a new egg for the cycle of abuse to continue.

Luigi Mangione’s last quote he liked on Goodreads, bro had enough pic.twitter.com/KilMIoMXwd

— ⏾ (@frxzenwave) December 9, 2024

When he was 42, Cormac McCarthy fell in love with a 16-year-old girl he met by a motel pool. Augusta Britt would go on to become one of the most significant—and secret—inspirations in literary history, giving life to many of McCarthy's most iconic characters across his celebrated novels and Hollywood films. For 47 years, Britt closely guarded her identity and her story. Until now.

>Bullet Journal Method

>Objective-C Programming

>The Lorax

>Steve-O's memoir

>Hawaii travel guides

>The Back Mechanic

>Harry Potter

>Gary Paulsen (baby's first Edward Abbey)

>The Ender's Game sequels about psychic alien seance shit

>Spelunky Bosses

>Lots of self-help slop

>Industrial Society and Its Future

To be clear, I welcome the end of male dominance in literature. Men ruled the roost for far too long, too often at the expense of great women writers who ought to have been read instead. I also don't think that men deserve to be better represented in literary fiction; they don't suffer from the same kind of prejudice that women have long endured. Furthermore, young men should be reading Sally Rooney and Elena Ferrante. Male readers don't need to be paired with male writers.

litchuds discuss

https://boards.4chan.org/lit/thread/24016716

To discuss your weekly readings of books, textbooks and papers.

I'm reading The Metamorphosis

!bookworms

@Merryvann pls

!bookworms let's read this one for the book club, literal bugman is very relevant to our times

!chuds I have been scammed by the wily jeets again

would you !poll_voters

https://boards.4chan.org/lit/thread/24004559

Dr. Ally Louks's PhD thesis is set to be one of the most influential theses of 21st century. Puts forward an original argument with remarkable clarity.

Already has 85M+ views on X/Twitter.

Most people criticizing her don't understand her argument at all.

I have a PhD in… pic.twitter.com/uNCfYax2Be

— Mushtaq Bilal, PhD (@MushtaqBilalPhD) December 3, 2024

!bookworms !chuds

To discuss your weekly readings of books, textbooks and papers.

!bookworms

I'm back at reading "Metropolis" by Ben Wilson and I had left it unfinished months ago.

@Merryvann pls

@nuclearshill I can't ping the bookworms

the rizzler in french is apparently le charismeur pic.twitter.com/JWTUJqIpwW

— cam 🪼 (@evilwaveform15) November 28, 2024

I rest my case. pic.twitter.com/aZ4hcOFWkb

— Jane Greer (@NorthDakotaJane) November 26, 2024

It would be just as ambiguous with a comma before the 'and'.

I don't care if it's used or not, but there are certain group of people who feel very strongly about the Oxford comma.

To discuss your weekly readings of books, textbooks and papers.

!bookworms

@Turkeyvann can you pls?

!bookworms !redscarepod Do audiobooks count as reading? Do you listen to audiobooks?

Exclusive: Augusta Britt is one of the most significant—and secret—inspirations in literary history, giving life to dozens of Cormac McCarthy’s characters across his celebrated novels and Hollywood films.

For 47 years, Britt closely guarded her identity and her story—until now.… pic.twitter.com/yj69iYGJRy

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) November 20, 2024

https://old.reddit.com/r/cormacmccarthy/comments/1gvplut/vanity_fair_cormac_mccarthys_secret_muse_breaks/

Bit of hope here

Smh fortunately my favourite authors aren't problematic like George Bernard Shaw and Louis-Ferdinand celine

fundamental collections of books to have read in order to call yourself a reader. pic.twitter.com/vZbU9T0PCJ

— blue (@bluewmist) November 18, 2024

@JoyceCarolOates

To discuss your weekly readings of books, textbooks and papers.

!bookworms

@Turkeyvann can I get a pin?