Johnny's Pelafinan Sparknotes

The page that I chose to “remix” was a letter from Johnny Truant’s mother, Pelafina, on page 627. Pelafina is writing to Johnny from The Three Attic Whalestoe Institute, a mental institution in which she has been residing for several years. The book alludes to Johnny’s clinically insane mother several times throughout the story, and this collection of letters, spanning 58 pages, serves to confirm the reader’s suspicion. The page, dated January 3, 1988, recounts details of an accident that occurred during Johnny’s childhood, when he was four. The mother blames her own ineptitude in the kitchen for what transpired, stating that it was an accident —she didn’t mean to burn/mark him —while repeatedly imploring Johnny for forgiveness. The words on the page do not explicitly provide content that is relevant to the narrative of the story; but rather, the presentation, organization, and repetition of phrases serve a greater purpose —exposing Pelafina’s progressing mental deterioration.

The letter begins relatively coherent as Pelafina addresses Johnny and provides context for her apology; however, the letter soon becomes irrational as she begins to incessantly repeat her apology. The remainder of the page is a composed of a slew of words, all connected, repeating the phrase “please forgive me.” The string of words continues until it reaches the bottom of the page where paragraphs of the same statement are repeated and overlapped in multiple directions, resulting in an illegible jumbled mess of ink. While the entirety of House of Leaves tracks the progression of Johnny’s madness, Pelafina’s letters show her own mental deterioration, and her letter on page 627 presents a one page representation of the book as a whole —psychological degradation, leading to irrationality, darkness, and ultimately