The Under Toad

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at the overtones of anxiety in John Irving's "The World According to Garp." The paper explains how an imaginary monster dubbed the "Under Toad" personifies this theme.

From the Paper:

"John Irving's novel, The World According to Garp, is permeated with an acute sense of anxiety. This apprehension and vague premonition of death - or worse - is personified by an imaginary monster called "the Under Toad"(341). For the main character, T.S. Garp, and his wife Helen Garp, "the Under Toad [becomes] their code phrase for anxiety"(341). Many times throughout the story "Garp and Helen [evoke] the beast as a way of referring to their own sense of danger"(341). This monster continues to disturb the family until it claims its ultimate prize, Garp himself."

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