The book part 2: Electric Boogaloo.
I finished House of Leaves last night.
I read through the whole thing at night, in varying states of exhaustion. Serin tells me that he read it mostly while drinking. I assume they both enhance the experience in similar ways.
***SPOILER*** THEORIES THAT GIVE AWAY LARGE PARTS OF THE ENDING(S) OF THE BOOK ***SPOILER***
If you haven't read it yet and don't want to know the ending(s) ahead of time, DON'T CLICK THE TAG.
I sure hope this LJ cut thing works. Never tried it before.
Anyway. on to the theories.
1. The events in the book have a curious cause and effect relationship. Events earlier in the book cause effects later in the book that are chronologically earlier. Johnny assembling and adding notes to the book causes the labyrinth in the house to expand and grow more malevolent. Further exploration into the house causes Johnny's mental state to deteriorate. Despite these events canonically taking place several years apart (and the movie not technically existing).
2. Johnny is the Minotaur. I've read other theories that claim that his mother is the monster, but I think this fits better. It certainly sticks to the accepted mythos that the Minotaur is less a half-man half-bull monstrosity and more a deformed child who was sacrificed for the parent's continued well-being. That the child becomes a monster is certainly no surprise at that point.
3. The house is the book is the house is the labyrinth. When Navy eventually burns the book (how he got a copy is somewhat explained by point 1), the labyrinth eventually ceases to exist, leaving him floating in nothingness for days or even weeks.
OK. Tying it all together. Let's see if any of this makes sense.
Serin has suggested to me that the sections directly referencing the Minotaur have been linedout (lineouted? Spellcheck seems to like that one better.) were done by Zampano (still can't manage the thing above the o. If you know how to manage it, I'd appreciate a quick tutorial) in the hopes that by not talking about a thing, one can avoid its attention. This seems to be at least somewhat successful, as Johnny only conciously notices Zampano after he's dead. I say somewhat, as there is evidence that he subconciously (as the Minotaur) was with Zampano when he died (or shortly after). I like this theory, as the two characters that we see addressing the monster directly end up dying.
Johnny as the Minotaur. His mother's name (I don't have the book here with me. Left it out in the car, and I can't be bothered to go fetch it right now) is the same as the Greek queen who birthed the original Minotaur. At least, I hope they have the same name. If not, then that was a really shitty reveal. Again, no book to check against, and I can't be fucked to try to look it up. Johnny was born with a brain defect that had him on life support for the first 4 days of his life. That his mother ordered the plug pulled is symbolic of sacrificing him to the uncertainty of darkness and cold and pain and death, all defining attributes of our labyrinth. How did he live? I don't know. I would guess that at that moment when his mother sacrificed him, he became the creature, and it kept him alive. This theme of abandonment and sacrifice continues as he ages, first with his father, who is gone for long periods of time and then dies, and later with his mother, who adds physical deformity (the burns on his arms) to the disfigurement begun with his brain defect. After this, his father orders him separated from his mother (again, a repeat from the original Minotaur myth). All this reinforces the monster that he has within him. It doesn't really come to light (light, ha ha) until he finds Zampano's trunk. Later, once the book/labyrinth have been burned by Navy, he finally begins remembering his dreams, which again mirror the original Minotaur myth.
I think that's all I've got for now. Poke holes and get back to me. Or applaud my clever untangling of this monstrous work. Whatevs.
In closing, a few things.
1. I decoded the letter. It was well and truly fucked up. To make reading it easier, I wrote it down as I was decoding. Left that in the car. I'll transcribe it here later.
2. God, god, god, do I wish I could've (NOT could of, jackass. Grr!) put footnotes in all that mess above instead of parenthesis.
I read through the whole thing at night, in varying states of exhaustion. Serin tells me that he read it mostly while drinking. I assume they both enhance the experience in similar ways.
***SPOILER*** THEORIES THAT GIVE AWAY LARGE PARTS OF THE ENDING(S) OF THE BOOK ***SPOILER***
If you haven't read it yet and don't want to know the ending(s) ahead of time, DON'T CLICK THE TAG.
I sure hope this LJ cut thing works. Never tried it before.
Anyway. on to the theories.
1. The events in the book have a curious cause and effect relationship. Events earlier in the book cause effects later in the book that are chronologically earlier. Johnny assembling and adding notes to the book causes the labyrinth in the house to expand and grow more malevolent. Further exploration into the house causes Johnny's mental state to deteriorate. Despite these events canonically taking place several years apart (and the movie not technically existing).
2. Johnny is the Minotaur. I've read other theories that claim that his mother is the monster, but I think this fits better. It certainly sticks to the accepted mythos that the Minotaur is less a half-man half-bull monstrosity and more a deformed child who was sacrificed for the parent's continued well-being. That the child becomes a monster is certainly no surprise at that point.
3. The house is the book is the house is the labyrinth. When Navy eventually burns the book (how he got a copy is somewhat explained by point 1), the labyrinth eventually ceases to exist, leaving him floating in nothingness for days or even weeks.
OK. Tying it all together. Let's see if any of this makes sense.
Serin has suggested to me that the sections directly referencing the Minotaur have been linedout (lineouted? Spellcheck seems to like that one better.) were done by Zampano (still can't manage the thing above the o. If you know how to manage it, I'd appreciate a quick tutorial) in the hopes that by not talking about a thing, one can avoid its attention. This seems to be at least somewhat successful, as Johnny only conciously notices Zampano after he's dead. I say somewhat, as there is evidence that he subconciously (as the Minotaur) was with Zampano when he died (or shortly after). I like this theory, as the two characters that we see addressing the monster directly end up dying.
Johnny as the Minotaur. His mother's name (I don't have the book here with me. Left it out in the car, and I can't be bothered to go fetch it right now) is the same as the Greek queen who birthed the original Minotaur. At least, I hope they have the same name. If not, then that was a really shitty reveal. Again, no book to check against, and I can't be fucked to try to look it up. Johnny was born with a brain defect that had him on life support for the first 4 days of his life. That his mother ordered the plug pulled is symbolic of sacrificing him to the uncertainty of darkness and cold and pain and death, all defining attributes of our labyrinth. How did he live? I don't know. I would guess that at that moment when his mother sacrificed him, he became the creature, and it kept him alive. This theme of abandonment and sacrifice continues as he ages, first with his father, who is gone for long periods of time and then dies, and later with his mother, who adds physical deformity (the burns on his arms) to the disfigurement begun with his brain defect. After this, his father orders him separated from his mother (again, a repeat from the original Minotaur myth). All this reinforces the monster that he has within him. It doesn't really come to light (light, ha ha) until he finds Zampano's trunk. Later, once the book/labyrinth have been burned by Navy, he finally begins remembering his dreams, which again mirror the original Minotaur myth.
I think that's all I've got for now. Poke holes and get back to me. Or applaud my clever untangling of this monstrous work. Whatevs.
In closing, a few things.
1. I decoded the letter. It was well and truly fucked up. To make reading it easier, I wrote it down as I was decoding. Left that in the car. I'll transcribe it here later.
2. God, god, god, do I wish I could've (NOT could of, jackass. Grr!) put footnotes in all that mess above instead of parenthesis.