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.

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?

What we're NOT gonna do is mock & shame people for reading dark romance novels during a time when Republicans are actively banning books and trying to jail librarians for putting certain books on their shelves. https://t.co/GjLbZ9a20P

— discourse catharsis | trying to self-care💜 (@lizcourserants) November 12, 2024

Literal fascist trash

"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Alfred said calmly, continuing to walk towards Thomas as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit—"

Is it a r*pe joke?

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

Post is late because I broke up with my girlfriend.

!bookworms

@Merryvann can I get a pin?

https://t.co/nEujpOm4Y0

— 🙏🌧🌍 (@godblesstoto) October 28, 2024

Clarification to the Archive Warning for underage sexual content

The "Underage" warning has always meant, and been intended to mean, that the work may contain descriptions or depictions of underage sexual activities. However, PAC and Support have found that many users find the label "Underage" confusingly ambiguous. Some users interpret it as having a much broader meaning, and believe that it pertains to underage drinking, underage dating activities such as kissing, or other content featuring characters who are not adults. Other users interpret it as indicating that the work is suitable for underage persons to access. To make the meaning of this warning clearer, we will be renaming the "Underage" warning to "Underage S*x". The meaning of the warning will not change. The label adjustment will apply to all current and future uses of this warning, meaning that all works currently tagged with the "Underage" Archive Warning will be automatically recategorized to be tagged "Underage S*x". The current "Underage S*x" Additional tag will gain a suffix to become "Underage S*x - Freeform".

If your work is currently tagged "Underage", there's no action you need to take – the change will be automatic. If you do not want your work to carry the label "Underage S*x", then you can replace the "Underage" label with the "Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings" label. If you have a work labeled "Underage" that does not feature any descriptions or depictions of underage sexual activities, you may remove the "Underage" or "Underage S*x" label without replacing it with the "Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings" label. If you don't remove it, don't worry – your work is not in violation of the TOS for carrying an extra warning.

!bookworms fanfiction fandoms are mentally ill exhibit ad infinitum.

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

@nuclearshill is busy (more like bussy) so I'm running this for a month

!bookworms

The foid is making me read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

@Mummyvann pls

So we have this guy and a girl sent together in Heck. But as soon as they get there, Heck freezes over and not even Satan knows why. They are set on a quest to figure out why. Anyway,

RELATIONSHIP DRAMA

RELATIONSHIP DRAMA

ONE CHAPTER DESCRIBES S*X IN GREAT DETAIL

RELATIONSHIP DRAMA

RELATIONSHIP DRAMA

SATAN IS GAY NOW

RELATIONSHIP DRAMA

RELATIONSHIP DRAMA

Heck unfreezes and the story is over I dunno