The Thief of Always is an incredibly chilling tale, consisting of the monsters and demons that you only ever see in your worst nightmares. A boy, named Harvey, engulfed in the mundane abyss of the GREAT gray beast February, is charmed by the welcoming, tantalizing excitement provided by the Holiday House, a chocolate covered knife. However, Harvey becomes suspicious about the strange happenings that he observes around the House. The seasons change in a matter of hours and Christmas and Halloween occur every single day. The environment is full of mystery and Harvey begins to suspect that something fishy is in play. Speaking of fishy, Harvey encounters an ominous, extremely eerie lake that consists of a multitude of spooky looking fish and is the complete opposite of what the rest of the Holiday House strives to be. When he realizes that the House and Hood, its master, have stolen years and years from many lives, he attempts to get them back and, in the process, is able to completely eradicate Hood and his despicable, unscrupulous minions.
After reading all that, you must be asking, how can this be related to science, let alone ecology? Well, don't get so impatient and you'll see how! Firstly, the Holiday House's tale proves that something unnatural that changes the way that the natural environment works results in terrible ramifications, and the catalyst usually brings about disastrous, almost unfixable changes to numerous lives. As proof of this, Harvey, Wendell, Lulu (his friends), and hundreds of other beguiled children lost several years in their lives, and some even lost all of them due to the unnatural magic that was being used. Similarly, in ecology, when one type of animal becomes extinct or lacking in great population because of an outside source, the whole food chain is unstable. This carries on to make a change in the entire ecosystem. The animals that were not meant to be taken away but have been, due to the unnatural source, would have been prey to other animals who now do not have as much food as they would have. This would lead some to starve and die, which would further disrupt the ecosystem. As you can clearly see, the Holiday House and its damaging ways can be related to the unsteady balance of the ecosystem.
Some other, smaller ways in which The Thief of Always can be shown to relate directly to ecology are stated subsequently. When Harvey transformed into a horrifying, believable vampire with the assistance of Marr, a body sculpting minion, he was tempted to take a bite out of his friend, Wendell. Thankfully, Harvey regained his self-control and left it at that, but if he had decided to act on his urge, Wendell would have been the prey and Harvey, the predator. Additionally, the strange lake is home to wide-eyed fish who are all apart of a population. A population is a group of a specific species in one area. When the Holiday House was finally demolished, all the children went back to their time to gain all their lost moments. Harvey, wanting to show his parents and see himself where the House had been, discovers that the whole area is covered by lush grass and no former part of the House is seen at all. Harvey also attempts to dig to see if he can find some proof that the House existed, however, he does not find any. When the House was destroyed, the rubble that came from it was scattered all over the ground. Overtime, the wood that had held up the Holiday House could have decomposed and become part of the fertile soil that allows the world a new beginning.
As I have tried my best to prove, the tale of Holiday House and Harvey Swick can clearly be related to several aspects of ecology. All in all, The Thief of Always definitely includes a multitude of examples of ecology.
~ Starflower794!
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