Wirts’ Inferno: Harsh Realities Tucked into a Cartoon
- horseshoemag
- Dec 21, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 28
Abigail Riggins
Nov. 7 2024
“Over the Garden Wall” is a Cartoon Network miniseries created by Patrick McHale, aired Nov. 3, 2014. This miniseries follows the journey of the two main characters, Wirt and Greg as they miraculously wind up lost in the forested world of “The Unknown” during Halloween.
The main setting of this series takes place in the woods which is referred to as “The Unknown” by the characters. In the last episode, it is revealed that Wirt and Greg were not lost in a real forest but drowning; they were actively dying.
What their journey symbolized was never specified in the show. However, the miniseries as a whole alludes to the realities of mental health issues and death, all wrapped up in a digestible childlike manner.
The Fear of Living and The Burden of Holding on:
Wirt, at surface level, is the older step-brother to Greg. He is full of teenage angst and melodramatics; Wirt is the average angsty pre-teen who laments over the difficulties in his life.
Wirt uses poetry to convey his feelings of loneliness, feeling out of place, and out of control over himself.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m just a boat upon a winding river, twisting towards an endless black sea, further and further drifting away from where I want to be, who I want to be.”
(Elijah Wood, voicing Wirt in “Over the Garden Wall”).
While his wording seems theatrical and dramatic, Wirt’s character is a representation of the struggles many young adults feel about growing up. Wirt has no specified age, but he can be inferred to be around 17-18 years old; he is on the cusp of adulthood.
The National Library of Medicine published an article stating high school junior and senior adolescents are highly susceptible to develop depressive thoughts and tendencies. Wirt, as an estimated upperclassman resembles the mental struggles and fears many young adults have for their future. His melancholic attitude increases when he is reminded that he and Greg are lost in “The Unknown”. His sadness and anger over his situation is increasingly common in adolescence his age due to the uncertainty… or the unknown, their future holds.
Wirt is not only depicted as a young adult, but a male, furthers the symbolization of the depressive mental state in teenagers. The Journal of Adolescence Health supports that suicide is the leading cause of death in young men. Societal standards lead boys to struggle or never share their feelings. Wirt using poetry: a complex form of storytelling, to express his feelings, represents the difficulty many young men have explaining themselves and the struggle for society to understand their mental struggles.
In the miniseries Wirt humors that staying in “The Unknown” seems better than going home. Taking into account the idea he represents the depression and poor mental health in young adults, Wirt is deciding that giving into the mental battle is less scary than fighting and confronting the changes and situations happening in his life.
The Woodsman is a tortured man; he is stuck listening to The Beast's rules as he attempts to cling onto the past where his daughter was alive. His refusal to let go, and instead chase after the impossible of bringing his daughter back, is direct representation of the real struggle many people face to let go.
Many people can relate to the struggle of the inability to let go of the past, whether it be a past situation, an old job, or a relationship. For many it is easier to cling to the past rather than face the change that is their new way of life.
There is a sense of safety that clinging to old memories provides. You don’t have to process what you’ve lost and accept what you have left. The Woodsman listens to The Beast against his better judgment for the belief that is keeping his daughter by his side, rather than accepting her death until the very end.
The Only Thing You Have to Fear is… :
In contrast, Greg is the physical embodiment of the fearlessness and sense of invulnerability that young children, pre-puberty, harbor. He treats the journey he and Wirt are to embark on as a field trip and in many cases a fun game.
The gravity of their situation does not sit on his shoulders like it does for Wirt. A study conducted by researcher Patrick Hill, states that this sense of fearlessness young adolescents have can be beneficial when it is time to make important life decisions, because they do not overthink the situation. Greg’s character is representative of the unfiltered enjoyment and the courageous attitude of young children before they fully understand their surroundings and the emotions attached to serious situations.
This can be further supported when Greg attempts to sacrifice his own life without care if it meant Wirt wouldn’t be upset anymore. It’s reminiscent of young children trying to grasp why someone is sad. It is similar to Greg trying to understand Wirt’s symptoms of depression.
McHale refers to Greg’s personal heaven, where he decides to sacrifice himself, as his pure essence during an interview with Eliza Brooke in The Scumbler. Greg is the embodiment of the young mind before it is burdened with the fears and responsibility of adulthood.
Greg and Wirt are symbols for the two different stages of growing up and the significant changes that life experience and maturity creates, and the decline of joy and confidence due to mental health struggles.
The Most Difficult Journey:
Death is a natural topic many young children have questions for. “Over the Garden Wall” expertly introduces death in an age appropriate manner for young minds, and serves as a gentle reassurance for the older, more knowing, audience.
“Over the Garden Wall” packs a punch of symbolism that correlates with the concept of death and spirituality. The placement of the oncoming train used as the force that sends the boys to their near death feels intentional.
Trains as a whole, symbolize a warning of a difficult journey one is about to embark on. Using the train and coloring it black, alters the meaning. The use of a black train in media is an allusion for the journey to the afterlife or the process of dying. The act of a black train pushing Wirt and Greg off of the tracks and falling to their pending death, reveals that the weird and silly journey we the viewers witnessed, was actually the journey through the inbetween of living and dying.
Death is a common topic that intrigues young children. As they grow, they strive for answers to difficult topics. Greg does not shy away from the situation he is in, but embraces the journey and in some cases seeks out the experiences in “The Unknown”.
Wirt contrasts Greg’s approach. Teenagers and young adults have more fear and apprehension when confronted with death. The unanswerable questions strike dread rather than curiosity, and mortality becomes much too real and imminent. Wirt’s journey is filled with uncertainty and great fear for their situation.
The cartoon uses the song, “Old Black Train” composed by The Blasting Company, during the train scene. The implications of the song are easier to view when breaking it down.
[Verse One]
The usage of “take” in this context provides the sense that this train ride, no matter what, is inevitable. There is no need for a ticket because when you are ready, the train will be there for you to board for free. This is direct symbolism for the act of dying.
Death is one of the few universal experiences everyone and everything will go through at some point in time. Death is a topic that is deemed too taboo to talk or think about, but is still important to understand as eventually everyone will experience it.
[Verse 5]
This verse has two meanings linked together. Life flashing before your eyes during a near fatal incident is common. The imagery of staring out the train window watching the scenes pass by provides the connection to the idea of evaluating your life before you die.
There is also a gentler meaning behind this verse. This verse serves not only as an allusion to dying, but provides the gentle reassurance that while death is terrifying, it makes living sweeter.
Life, not death, is the longest journey many will take. Rather than being young and living in fear, enjoying your journey is the most important thing to put your energy into.
In other lines there are strong allusions to the point that there is no need to rush to death. In a religious sense it is reassurance that you and your soul will be taken care of in the end. In an atheist perspective, it is reassurance that your body and your belongings will be cared for in the end.
Both views provide the importance to live, because in the end, there is no need to worry, you will be taken care of.
We see this many times with the boys while they are lost. As they enter Pottsfield, a resting place for the dead, many townsfolk tell them they aren’t ready to be there yet, or it doesn’t seem to be their time to join the town.
The Beast:
As expected of a villain, The Beast acts as a force pursuing to hinder Wirt and Greg and stop them from getting back home. He, however, has a deeper meaning than being The Devil in the afterlife.
If Wirt is symbolism for declined mental health and The Woodsman is symbolism for the struggle of holding onto the past, The Beast is depression and failure personified.
Throughout the show He, The Beast, puts all his efforts into straying Wirt off the path home, and keeping The Woodsman chasing the dream of his daughter. He is what makes these two characters spiral into either giving up or straying on the edge of madness doing what he commands.
The National Institute of Mental Health defines major depression as a severe mood disorder that causes the suffering person to have prolonged bouts of sadness, extreme disinterest, and irritable moods.
The Beast’s influence on Wirt causes him to lash out on Greg, and lose all hope and motivation he had for getting home. The animators go as far as to show Wirt becoming overtaken by the forest: The Beasts domain, after he laid down in defeat. The Beast actively seeped the joy and faith out of Wirt, the same way depression does to the affected person.
The Beast forces The Woodsman to grasp onto the seemingly last moments of happiness he had, forcing him to feel stuck in place unable to move on, much like symptoms of depression making people feel hopeless and compare their life to the past where things were seemingly better.
One Small Step:
The specific choices for Wirt’s symbolism and the carefully curated music feel intentional. The consistent battle of mental health due to depression and struggling to live is shown as a winnable war.
The last episode of this miniseries shows Wirt pushing forward. This character symbolizes the mental struggle and the exhaustion depression causes, yet he refuses to give in and thus brings he and Greg back to life to live another day.
While many dark themes were touched upon, “Over the Garden Wall” sends the message that while many aspects of life are harsh and hard to swallow, there is always a reason to keep pressing forward and seek out the joy in life.
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