shirley jackson t-shirts

Does anyone want 2 beta a fic i wrote 🙏🙏🙏

what’s the general consensus on why Henry killed himself? asking bc i have a pretty concrete theory but idk if it’s a new one or not so pls Lmk!!!

hi i took your uquiz the other day & im still thinking about it. something about the phrasing of the questions && your little writing excerpts was so nice to read idk i loved it

this is so sweet…Omg thank u

bro i had the clearest most greatest analysis of Henry’s suicide that i was all ready to write out and then i forgot it…god hates me and wishes i was dead

licherally following for the reference to Hangsaman in ur uquiz... thank you for spreading the good word

ANOTHER HANGSAMAN FAN 😧😧😧literally pleaseeee dm me if u wanna talk more abt it one of my favs oat. Also check out my analysis if u scroll a little down if u want!!!

ohhh my god I just took the “falling in love and I’ll diagnose you w/ a problem” quiz and bro your writing about that girl and the word lovely? you’re a genius. you’re literally a genius. i admire how you write.

This is toooo sweet 😭😭😭this ask literally made my month <3333

rereading tsh…possible judy poovey essay coming soon 🤭 look out 4 faux-intellectual pretension and mb even a deeper dive into classism and racism thru glamorization of the western literary canon all thru the lens of richards condescension toward judy vs his idolization of henry. also richards own internal struggles with class and how he tries to escape them by intellectualizing himself…Maybe even a look at the “academia aesthetics” that are so pervasive online…

should be a fun time!!!

IVE BEEN SAYINGGGG IT WAS ALWAYS PIPPA

where is my pippa and boris gossiping over evening drinks content. where is my brother/sister pippa and theo sleepover content. where is my boreo uncles looking after pippa’s kids content. WHERE IS IT

Fuck personality tests. Who comes to your mind when I say "Michael"

for @sneakydraws who wanted to see some dad decker!

Another thing that I at first felt was left unfinished was the Arthur Langdon storyline, but I don’t think that anymore bc of the way I interpret it:

Arthur is in many ways a version of Natalie’s own father: he too brings out her desire for male intellectual validation. I kind of want to do a whole analysis of her character and her relation to men (that quote about daughters bonding with fathers against mothers in the hopes of being spared the same fate comes to mind) but that’s irrelevant here so.

The way I interpreted Arthur and Elizabeth’s storyline was that it’s meant to be an exploration and explanation of what Natalie’s own parents relationship was like before she came into being, and how it soured. In Natalie’s mother’s monologue, she warns Natalie against men like her father, because they are condescending and untrustworthy. Natalie sees her father with an arm around a much younger woman at the garden party, which echoes Arthur’s nonchalance and even encouragement towards his female students’ flirtations.

The Arthur storyline seems to end very abruptly; the last time we see him, he mentions that he and Elizabeth are having a child together, and he’s unhappy about it. I think the reason why we don’t get any more development of his storyline past this point is because we know what happens now: this is the part where he and Elizabeth become Natalie’s own parents: bitter and discontent, bound together by a child.

My overall interpretation of the book:

What I struggled with and what I believe a lot of people struggle with is that Hangsaman seems not to really have a narrative arc; rather, it’s fragmented, and each part feels unfinished. The more I reread it, though, the more common threads I discover throughout each act that tie the whole story together and show Natalie’s development as a character.

The whole book has two major themes: Natalie’s (lack of) sense of self, and her experience with and around girlhood and womanhood. Part of her dissociation from herself I think stems from the trauma she experiences in the first act, but more I think comes from her disconnection to the role she will be expected to play as a wife and mother. Whether consciously or not, she’s absorbed her mother’s sadness, and despite going against her advice by falling for Arthur Langdon (aka a man only distinguishable from Natalie’s own father by his age) she ends the book content in her isolation. She’s belittled and condescended to a lot in the first two acts, either by men for trying and failing to be like them, or by women (like Vickie and Anne), for failing to fit the role of the demure and attractive girl. In the third act, she rejects both her dream of being a renowned and respected writer like her father, and of being the beautiful wife of someone like Arthur Langdon. Instead, she chooses to retreat into her own mind: she rebels against the unfair and rigid rules set for her by going to the only place where she can make her own.

Throughout the book, Natalie tries to conceptualize herself through others’ eyes, confusing her reflection with others’ imagining that she is not in fact herself but a character in someone else’s dream. In the end, she realizes she alone decides who she is. Ultimately, Hangsaman is a subversion of the coming of age trope: Natalie sees her options for the future, watches the women around her live them, and refuses them all, taking agency and coming into her own as a woman defined only by herself.

i saw ur post about how u've been very into shirley jackson recently, and i just finished hangsaman and was wondering what ur general thoughts on it are? i loved we have always lived in the castle and the haunting of hill house, but i found hangsaman quite different in its structure and was left feeling a little confused. idk i just wanted to know other people's thoughts on it, as i did think it was interesting and am intrigued!

AGH i'm so glad u asked bc i looooooove love love hangsaman i think it might be my fav shirley jackson book (mb second to whalitc) and i have so many thoughts on it! mostly i absolutely adored all its observations abt life as a woman (one of my fav things abt shirley jacksons writing is the way she articulates thoughts and feelings in such a fantastic and cutting way). so it would help if i knew a little more abt what particularly confused u but i'm gonna assume it was the third act? with the whole forest scene & such

analysis below (TW mention of SA)

so the way i interpreted it is that throughout the book natalie has been going a little crazy? she was always a little out of it (esp with all her fantasies in the beginning of the book with the detective and all) but i think her breakdown was definitely accelerated by the SA she probably experienced at the end of act 1 (i say probably only bc the book is pretty vague abt it). we get a few clues that she's spiraling, like the insights into her private diary ("dearest darling most precious natalie, it's me, your most darling precious special natalie" & such) and her strange experiences with the whole stealing thing. i think she's unsure of her place in the world but instead of trying to find it she retreats into the place where she's most comfortable: her mind. i think the climax of the forest scene with tony harkens back to the SA scene in the forest at home—except this time, natalie takes control of the situation and tony disappears (i agree with the theory that tony is Natalie’s imaginary friend, an amalgamation of both her desires and her trauma. Tony allows her to be close to someone without compromising her privacy or safety). When she leaves the forest, natalie feels mature, unafraid, and comfortable in her isolation, having finally faced her past and conquered it.

i saw ur post about how u've been very into shirley jackson recently, and i just finished hangsaman and was wondering what ur general thoughts on it are? i loved we have always lived in the castle and the haunting of hill house, but i found hangsaman quite different in its structure and was left feeling a little confused. idk i just wanted to know other people's thoughts on it, as i did think it was interesting and am intrigued!

AGH i'm so glad u asked bc i looooooove love love hangsaman i think it might be my fav shirley jackson book (mb second to whalitc) and i have so many thoughts on it! mostly i absolutely adored all its observations abt life as a woman (one of my fav things abt shirley jacksons writing is the way she articulates thoughts and feelings in such a fantastic and cutting way). so it would help if i knew a little more abt what particularly confused u but i'm gonna assume it was the third act? with the whole forest scene & such

analysis below (TW mention of SA)

so the way i interpreted it is that throughout the book natalie has been going a little crazy? she was always a little out of it (esp with all her fantasies in the beginning of the book with the detective and all) but i think her breakdown was definitely accelerated by the SA she probably experienced at the end of act 1 (i say probably only bc the book is pretty vague abt it). we get a few clues that she's spiraling, like the insights into her private diary ("dearest darling most precious natalie, it's me, your most darling precious special natalie" & such) and her strange experiences with the whole stealing thing. i think she's unsure of her place in the world but instead of trying to find it she retreats into the place where she's most comfortable: her mind. i think the climax of the forest scene with tony harkens back to the SA scene in the forest at home—except this time, natalie takes control of the situation and tony disappears (i agree with the theory that tony is Natalie’s imaginary friend, an amalgamation of both her desires and her trauma. Tony allows her to be close to someone without compromising her privacy or safety). When she leaves the forest, natalie feels mature, unafraid, and comfortable in her isolation, having finally faced her past and conquered it.

trying 2 write a kitsey/pippa fic would anyone read it…

if so can one of u help me what year would kitsey have been 14-15 i could do the math but I don’t want to <3

what if i am just fundamentally a mean person

you read through responses you get in the text box questions on your uquizzes? if so do you have any responses you particularly like?

yes i looooove looking thru i actually cant see what ppl picked for the multiple choice ones anymore coz like 11k ppl took it which is crazy...mostly i just love reading abt the things that ppl love and the things that r on their mind it makes me feel weirdly connected. here r some of my fav text box answers!!! (the prompt is tell me abt someone or something you love)

"lukas"--who is lukas?? i think it's lovely that this person thought of lukas when taking my uquiz. i hope someday someone talks abt me in a uquiz text box.

"YOUR WRITING IS GORGEOUS and it makes me envious ?" -- literally nothing makes me happier

"I LIKE HIM A LOT"--relatable.

"I know(or so it is said) that your partner/boyfriend is supposed to be your soulmate, but my best friend is. I think we share the same soul and I cry sometimes thinking if something happened to her, if I’d be able to go on with a fractured soul ( insert horcrux joke to make it less sad)" -- there is something so special about best friends having one is the luckiest thing on earth this made me want to cry

"My girlfriend and I are about to have our 8th anniversary!" -- it is amazing to me that someone with such a nice stable relationship (8 years!!!!) is taking my uquiz. one day i hope that is me!!!!

just all the ones that are love letters to their friends/lovers/partners/family it makes me happy that all these ppl have found who makes them whole

"balls" -- cant rlly relate but someone has to ig!!

"he looks just like a dream, he's the prettiest boy I've ever seen he looks just like an arctic monkeys song he's the prettiest boy ever his hands are perfect his smile makes me faint he makes me so happy i could stare at him for hours he's just perfect but he makes me feel gross he makes me feel infinitely unworthy and undesirable and even though we barely know eachother it still hurts watching him fade away he doesn't make me feel gross, i do, i make myself feel gross," -- i love this one coz it feels like it's ripped out of my own thoughts and i find comfort in knowing that there are other people who would understand me completely

"Me" --self explanatory

"dead fish" -- hm.

"i was writing so much on here but it was not coherent at all so i just stopped writing ? sorry"

"He’s an ass" --yeah he is.

all the ones that r literally so me...why do we all have the same life

anyway im sure theres a shit ton of absolute bangers in there that i missed but