Helen Ellis writes “American Housewife,” a collection of short stories full of witty and dark humor. Out of the twelve stories in this book, “The Wainscoting War” intrigued me the most. The passive aggressiveness in this story is remarkable. The fact Ellis chooses to use email exchanges instead of the traditional writing style is captivating by itself. It makes you feel like you are reading something you shouldn’t be, which makes things more thrilling. In the real world, things would typically not escalate to these levels. Women Write About Comics’ Christa Seeley writes, “From insults, to vandalism, to threats, to cat murder, this story took a dark turn that I wasn’t expecting, but that I couldn’t get enough of.” This is the perfect description of the way Ellis chose to portray this short story. The emails start off polite and innocent, then turn to something much darker. …show more content…
Most people would agree to some sort of change, being that they both should get a say in it. Right away Gail does not want anything to do with Angela’s idea to change the wallpaper to wainscoting. This is where Ellis takes the first turning point in the story, going from passive aggressive to just plain aggressive. As Angela’s ideas are shot down, she decides that taking matters into her own hands is the best idea. She starts to peel away at the wallpaper, which causes Gail to retaliate by stealing her doorknob. Gail then begins to complain about a party, in which the guests Angela invites over get drunk and damage the items in the common hallway. It’s interesting the way Ellis has this escalate, from small, petty vandalism to something more threatening. As a reader, you do not expect things to turn so