Scary Stories for Young Foxes

As is sometimes also the case between young human friends, Mia, who has been spared the terror and torment that Uly has experienced, initially views Uly’s warnings about his father with skepticism and doubt. Mia has learned during this early stage of their friendship that Uly is perpetually afraid and riddled with anxiety over all the possible ways that things could go wrong for them, but she does not yet understand the trauma that underlies this timid approach to life. Mia’s cursory knowledge of Uly’s overcautious perspective causes her to overlook his attempts to warn her, but she is also doubtful because her own supportive family experiences make it impossible for her to realize that some parents can be sadistic or mean. The only adult Mia has ever had to fear was Miss Vix, and only because her teacher had become compromised by a disease she could not control and that did not reflect her true nature. Mia has not yet fully accepted her mother’s abandonment, she is hurt that her mother left her behind, but she remains optimistic. It is not until Mr. Scratch and Mercy facilitate her understanding of the complex priorities of adult foxes that Mia starts to reflect on her mother’s departure with a fresh sense of hurt and betrayal.

Mia cannot appreciate the degree to which those who are supposed to love and protect a young fox might deviate from the expectations of that role. She dismisses Uly’s concerns while respecting his desire to remain beyond Mr. Scratch’s dominion. As a con and a liar, Mr. Scratch manages to temporarily dispel any reservations Mia might have about his true nature, but Mia’s innate precociousness and exceptional powers of observation soon allow her to realize the truth. She begrudgingly recognizes that the safety and comfort of the Lilac Kingdom are not worth the sacrifices that must be made and the indignities that must be endured in order to remain there. Unlike Mercy and Odette, Mia challenges Mr. Scratch, who soon reveals himself to be an abusive tyrant at heart. Heidicker does not explore this concept in depth, and indeed, there can be no meaningful comparisons made between a fox’s age consent and that of a young human, but by addressing the suggestive advances that Mr. Scratch plans to make toward Mia and frequently highlighting Mia’s age as below that of maturity, he does introduce to the story an element of sexually oriented horror that some young readers may pick up on. Like all sophisticated horror stories, Scary Stories for Young Foxes insinuates that the most frightening tales contain a kernel of truth. Thus, Mr. Scratch’s unhealthy interest in grooming the young Mia is meant to reflect the very real danger that sexual predators pose to young people who may not have the experience to recognize such a threat or the ability to escape it. Similarly, hints of traumatic domestic abuse and control—both physical and emotional—are heavily portrayed in the dynamic between Mr. Scratch and his two captive vixens, Odette and Mercy; this pattern becomes particularly toxic when Mr. Scratch goes so far as to use Mercy’s love of her children to manipulate her for the purpose of inducing emotional trauma.