Implosion: An Ode to Gilman's Wallpaper

by K. H. Ackroyd

Peeling, peeling ever peeling, your tattered sickness has me reeling
Look quick, Did you see?
I think that woman is looking at me
Can't you see her, she's just right there, why I see my face reflected in her hair
There



Hush now, do you hear?
Oh have no fear.
It's only the Dr. clomp, clomp, clomping up the steps with my cure
and I'm sure
or am I?
My nails they scratch me, no not me, I meant, the nails, they hold the bed down for me
or is it against?
Last night I laid on the FOR/AGAINST bed
and what was dancing to the right of my head?
or in it?



It moved I tell you! I touched it - it's true!
My, but this room has a lovely view
A baby is crying - I guess I should feed it  (look at watch) is it time?
or is there?
But work, work, work, work, work. I must write, as I hide, as I write
Rest, oh I should rest. But doing nothing is harder than doing something.
But I must rest
He said so
He



What is that smell? It smells like piss! It smells like stain. It smells yellow
fellow
Look!
I have the key! I won't be interrupted, I won't be interrupted
Hahahhahahhahhahhaha
Did you see? The Key! I threw it out the window!
Now, it's just me and this rope, and that woman
Did you see her?
she's just right there, why I hear my voice reflected in her hair

Somebody's knocking at the door, somebody's ringin' the bell, somebody's knockin' at the door, somebody's ringin' the bell, Do me a favor, open the door, let em in   Just ignore it 

That's only him, the Dr., John
That's  only
An axe? An AXE? A Shining Axe?
hahahhahhahahha

This room looks different
It's bare

Oh, I remember, it was that woman and me,

Did you see her?

we peeled, and peeled and peeled
Yes, we did, just her and I
Did I tell you? She broke the pattern?

She did!

Sources and References

The Morgan Library and Museum
One Hundred Years of American Women Writing, 1848-1948 An Annotated Bio-Bibliography by Jane Missner Barstow
The Charlotte Perkins Gillman Society
Women's Intellectual Contribution to the Study of Mind and Society
Norton Anthologies
Gilman's Authority with Subversive Commentary in "The Yellow Wall Paper" by K.H. Ackroyd 


IMPLOSION: An Ode to Gilman's Wallpaper by K.H. Ackroyd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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Can I Hear Your Story?

I am doing what I Love! Isn't that what we all want? How silly of me not to have been an English Major to begin with. That's OK. I learned some great technical and real world applications along the way.

This semester I have two Literature courses. I chose American Literature, well, because I'm American. And WOW! how the texts have changed since I was in school and first read our Nation's History. I am very much pleased that we begin our readings with the Native Americans instead of Christopher Columbus. I am so looking forward to future readings, that I 'thought' I knew, because now I will read them through the eyes of experience. 

Can I Hear Your Story?

Before I was of reading age, Oma, Granny in German, would read me German Fairytales in German from Das Goldene Mårchenbuch. Her contralto voice accented by varying tones and punctuated inflections gave each line of the story depth and dimension. No longer were these mere words spoken from a book. The story had now evolved to theatre and seeded well in my young and fertile imagination.

 Image Source

The authors of our Bedford Anthology text are quick to point out that the Native American Myths and Creation stories in this collection do not fare well when translated to English and imprisoned in the written word. “Words, spoken words, were the manifestations of their [The Kiowas] deepest belief, of their deepest feelings, of their deepest life” (58). Just as Oma had made ominous Hansel and Gretel’s witch by the lowering of her tone, so too does the Native American storyteller use his or her tones, dramatic pauses and accompanying sound effects to embellish the story. 

 Box turtleshell rattle made by Tommy Wildcat (Cherokee-Muscogee-Natchez)

But these are not mere embellishments; the ‘sound effects’, if you will, are part of the story. And I feel cheated. I want to hear the sounds and pauses, inflections and intonations and marvel at the wildlife mimicry. I want to see the expression on the storyteller’s face as he or she relays the drama through wise eyes and a deeply lined, tanned and weathered face. I want most of all to feel the emotions sent to me via human voice and have its timbre shudder my soul. 

I became very lost and much confused with the reading of A Tale of the Foundation of the Great Island, Now North America ~ The Two Infants Born, and the Creation of the Universe (37-40). It seems I could get the gist of the story, but that is all. I don’t know if this is caused by the inability to understand the story as it is told to the scribe, or if it is because of the language of the years 1827, 1828. I took to heart that many of these stories vary greatly both in translation and are dependent upon the individual storyteller’s style. So, I Googled ‘Native American Turtle Story’ for a translation that maybe I could better understand.

I found the site, http://www.firstpeople.us. This has a Turtle story that I could understand a bit better, but it still was not the same story as in our text. I will have to research further in order to find a translation that I can “get” and perhaps some sound bytes as well. I noticed also, thanks to the information learned from our authors, that this story would also benefit from the telling instead of just the reading of the story.

 Image Source

In answer to this paper’s title Can I Hear Your Story, no I cannot. Nor will I ever be able to hear this or any other story that can only be imparted by the seasoned storyteller. Language is a barrier as well. Just as the Bible should be read in the original Hebrew, so should any Native American tale be told in its original Language. I do not have this capability. I find myself wondering if I should add a Native American language to my Academic repertoire, or perhaps learn it on my own.

In summation, words and the way they are imparted, either spoken or written hold not only meaning, but also meta meaning. I will attempt a critical analysis of these stories and those to come. Perhaps, by either dissection or applied and learned meanings I will gain a greater understanding of what these authors and historians were trying to tell.

Works Cited

Momaday, N. Scott. "The Becoming of the Native: Man in America Before Columbus."

Belasco, Susan and Linck Johnson. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature Volume One: Beginnings to 1865. Vol. One. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 58.