An unforgettable short tale from the pen of Uruguayan short story writer Horacio Quiroga. I have included a link at the bottom so you can read for yourself. Spoiler Alert: My analysis covers the entire story, beginning to end.

The Shock of the Coarse: “Alicia's entire honeymoon gave her hot and cold shivers. A blonde, angelic, and timid young girl, the childish fancies she had dreamed about being a bride had been chilled by her husband's rough character.” Alicia dearly loves her husband Jordan and Jordan loves Alicia, but that's “rough character” as in coarseness and dark animal passion conjoined with sexuality – not the tenderness of gentle, affectionate caresses Alicia dreamed about leading up to her wedding day.

Marital Highpoint In White: Alicia and Jordan live in bliss for three month. But their house is so white – bare white walls, white panels, white columns, white statues – giving the impression of a winter palace. All that bright glacial brilliance of white stucco would give anyone walking from room to room a distinct sense of unpleasant coldness. The whiteness in Horacio Quiroga’s story puts a reader in mind of Albert Camus' "The Stranger," the whiteness Meursault encounters at the old age home when sitting next to his mother's coffin, white as the color of existential alienation.

Retreat Into Oneself: In an attempt to ward off the white hostility of that white house, Alicia makes the decision to live like a sleeping beauty, to not so much as think of anything until Jordan arrived home in the evening. Sorry to say, Alicia’s retreat into herself is not that uncommon. There are many 19th and early 20th century tales of wives living out on stark isolated farms, miles away from friends, neighbors and family, that were driven mad by bare, white farmhouse walls.

Proposed Cure: Alicia grows thin, suffers influenza and one day, with barely the strength to venture outdoors to the garden, through sobs and tears, cries out her fears to Jordan. From this point forward Alicia is bedridden. The doctor is summoned and prescribes calm and absolute rest. I wonder how many thousands of women obliged to live in deadening isolation have likewise been prescribed calm and bed-rest. Of course, to suggest a change of scenery or even, more drastic, a change of lifestyle might upset the social order, thus much modern medicine and psychiatry is geared to maintaining the status quo and social stability, a stasis not necessarily in the best interest of the patient, particularly if the patient is a woman.

Hallucinations, One: Alicia’s health becomes progressively worse. Jordan paces back and forth outside her bedroom door and, disappointed, despondent, paces back and forth alongside the bed. Alicia begins to have hallucinations, hazy figures wafting in the air and then floating down to the carpet; opening her eyes wide, she stares at the carpet, breaks out in a sweet and screams. Jordan rushes to her side and tenderly holds Alicia’s hand. A Jungian psychologist once told me that in our modern world the defining illness is now autism; back in the 19th century and early years of the 20th century, the defining illness was hysteria.

Hallucinations, Two: The next days offer Alicia no relief, the hallucinations continue, her most recurrent hallucination: an anthropoid down on the carpet, balancing on its fingertips, staring up at her. Ahhhh! Our tale has shifted from illness to terror and horror. In a way, not all that surprising since Horacio Quiroga’s life was filled with violence, tragedy and suicides: his father was killed by a shotgun in an accident; his beloved stepfather shot himself and 17-year-old Horacio discovered the body; in his early 20s Horacio accidentally shot and killed one of his best friends; his first wife committed suicide leaving Horacio with two little children.

Monsters: There was a degree of letup during the day but at night the hallucinations became even more ferocious – Alicia felt as if her entire frail body was being squashed by a million-pound weight and she began to see monsters crawling on her bedspread. She then lost consciousness and raved for two whole days while Jordan continued his pacing. And then, mercifully, Alicia died. When a person suffers in the agony of a unceasing living hell, death can be a release and relief – a fact more people in modern society, particularly in the medical industry, are well to keep in mind.

Red Stains: Jordan approaches the bed and sees stains on the pillow he suspects are drops of blood. The servant says the stains look like punctures. Jordan orders her to raise the pillow up to the light. The servant obeys but quickly drops the pillow, trembling. The mention of blood associated with a recent death brings immediately to mind the presence of a vampire. Is it any surprise such an image spawned and entire genre?

Horror Revealed: Here are the words of Horacio Quiroga: “Jordan picked it up; it was extraordinarily heavy. He carried it out of the room, and on the dining room table he ripped open the case and the ticking with a slash. The top feathers floated away, and the servant, her mouth opened wide, gave a scream of horror and covered her face with her clenched fists: in the bottom of the pillowcase, among the feathers, slowly moving its hairy legs, was a monstrous animal, a living viscous ball. It was so swollen one could scarcely make out its mouth."

The Unspeakable: As it turn out, ever since Alicia took to her bed this hidden bloodsucker was sucking her blood. And, the author warns us directly how it is not uncommon to encounter bloodsucking monsters in a feather pillow. Such a tale of terror – the horror of the possible presence of a hidden monster that might suck our blood when we turn out the lights to go to sleep. Pleasant dreams.

Link to the story: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0606301h.html
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An unforgettable short tale from the pen of Uruguayan short story writer Horacio Quiroga. I have included a link at the bottom so you can read for yourself. Spoiler Alert: My analysis covers the entire story, beginning to end.

The Shock of the Coarse: “Alicia's entire honeymoon gave her hot and cold shivers. A blonde, angelic, and timid young girl, the childish fancies she had dreamed about being a bride had been chilled by her husband's rough character.” Alicia dearly loves her husband Jordan and Jordan loves Alicia, but that's “rough character” as in coarseness and dark animal passion conjoined with sexuality – not the tenderness of gentle, affectionate caresses Alicia dreamed about leading up to her wedding day.

Marital Highpoint In White: Alicia and Jordan live in bliss for three month. But their house is so white – bare white walls, white panels, white columns, white statues – giving the impression of a winter palace. All that bright glacial brilliance of white stucco would give anyone walking from room to room a distinct sense of unpleasant coldness. The whiteness in Horacio Quiroga’s story puts a reader in mind of Albert Camus' "The Stranger," the whiteness Meursault encounters at the old age home when sitting next to his mother's coffin, white as the color of existential alienation.

Retreat Into Oneself: In an attempt to ward off the white hostility of that white house, Alicia makes the decision to live like a sleeping beauty, to not so much as think of anything until Jordan arrived home in the evening. Sorry to say, Alicia’s retreat into herself is not that uncommon. There are many 19th and early 20th century tales of wives living out on stark isolated farms, miles away from friends, neighbors and family, that were driven mad by bare, white farmhouse walls.

Proposed Cure: Alicia grows thin, suffers influenza and one day, with barely the strength to venture outdoors to the garden, through sobs and tears, cries out her fears to Jordan. From this point forward Alicia is bedridden. The doctor is summoned and prescribes calm and absolute rest. I wonder how many thousands of women obliged to live in deadening isolation have likewise been prescribed calm and bed-rest. Of course, to suggest a change of scenery or even, more drastic, a change of lifestyle might upset the social order, thus much modern medicine and psychiatry is geared to maintaining the status quo and social stability, a stasis not necessarily in the best interest of the patient, particularly if the patient is a woman.

Hallucinations, One: Alicia’s health becomes progressively worse. Jordan paces back and forth outside her bedroom door and, disappointed, despondent, paces back and forth alongside the bed. Alicia begins to have hallucinations, hazy figures wafting in the air and then floating down to the carpet; opening her eyes wide, she stares at the carpet, breaks out in a sweet and screams. Jordan rushes to her side and tenderly holds Alicia’s hand. A Jungian psychologist once told me that in our modern world the defining illness is now autism; back in the 19th century and early years of the 20th century, the defining illness was hysteria.

Hallucinations, Two: The next days offer Alicia no relief, the hallucinations continue, her most recurrent hallucination: an anthropoid down on the carpet, balancing on its fingertips, staring up at her. Ahhhh! Our tale has shifted from illness to terror and horror. In a way, not all that surprising since Horacio Quiroga’s life was filled with violence, tragedy and suicides: his father was killed by a shotgun in an accident; his beloved stepfather shot himself and 17-year-old Horacio discovered the body; in his early 20s Horacio accidentally shot and killed one of his best friends; his first wife committed suicide leaving Horacio with two little children.

Monsters: There was a degree of letup during the day but at night the hallucinations became even more ferocious – Alicia felt as if her entire frail body was being squashed by a million-pound weight and she began to see monsters crawling on her bedspread. She then lost consciousness and raved for two whole days while Jordan continued his pacing. And then, mercifully, Alicia died. When a person suffers in the agony of a unceasing living hell, death can be a release and relief – a fact more people in modern society, particularly in the medical industry, are well to keep in mind.

Red Stains: Jordan approaches the bed and sees stains on the pillow he suspects are drops of blood. The servant says the stains look like punctures. Jordan orders her to raise the pillow up to the light. The servant obeys but quickly drops the pillow, trembling. The mention of blood associated with a recent death brings immediately to mind the presence of a vampire. Is it any surprise such an image spawned and entire genre?

Horror Revealed: Here are the words of Horacio Quiroga: “Jordan picked it up; it was extraordinarily heavy. He carried it out of the room, and on the dining room table he ripped open the case and the ticking with a slash. The top feathers floated away, and the servant, her mouth opened wide, gave a scream of horror and covered her face with her clenched fists: in the bottom of the pillowcase, among the feathers, slowly moving its hairy legs, was a monstrous animal, a living viscous ball. It was so swollen one could scarcely make out its mouth."

The Unspeakable: As it turn out, ever since Alicia took to her bed this hidden bloodsucker was sucking her blood. And, the author warns us directly how it is not uncommon to encounter bloodsucking monsters in a feather pillow. Such a tale of terror – the horror of the possible presence of a hidden monster that might suck our blood when we turn out the lights to go to sleep. Pleasant dreams.

Link to the story: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0606301h.html
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