The industrial age gave birth to a secret world of monsters
In short: Beneath the streets of a fictional English town, a hidden society of boxtrolls and cabbageheads thrives. In Alan Snow's 'Here Be Monsters!', the industrial revolution didn't just build factories; it created a subterranean world where cardboard boxes, mechanical wings, and secret technologies form the backbone of a monstrous civilization.
Set in the fictional town of Ratbridge, which mirrors the Wiltshire town of Trowbridge, the narrative exists in a strange chronological overlap. While the setting evokes the year 1803 with its period clothing and wigs, the town is already heavily industrialized. It features mid-19th-century electric generators, 1880s bicycles, and 1850s cardboard recycling programs. Most strikingly, the world possesses secret technologies for radio, television, and even virtual reality, suggesting a world where human progress has branched into hidden, clandestine paths.
This underground ecosystem is populated by 'Underlings'—creatures like the boxtrolls, a subspecies of common trolls who live in cardboard boxes and maintain the tunnels. They are joined by cabbageheads, human-like creatures with a bee-like social structure, and freshwater sea cows. These creatures are not merely mythical; they are integrated into the economy. They are hunted for cheese, sold as miniaturized fashion trends to the town's women, and are even subjected to size-transference experiments by a corrupt Cheese Guild.
The story serves as a profound exploration of how human invention shapes the environment. The 'monsters' are defined by their relationship to human waste and technology—living in boxes and fascinated by mechanics. This theme of industrial monsters is echoed in the broader art world, such as Salvador Dalí's 1937 work 'Inventions of the Monsters,' which used surrealist imagery to reflect the anxiety of a world undergoing violent political and technological upheaval. In both the novel and the painting, monsters represent the 'monstrous' consequences of a world turned inside out by human progress.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Here Be Monsters!
- Also: Art Institute of Chicago — Formation of the Monsters · CC0 (data); description CC BY 4.0
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