Oh how to begin such a well written story. "The Paperhanger" was truly one of the best stories I have ever been assigned to read in college. When it comes to Southern Gothic literature, William Gay knows exactly what he is doing. William Gay, a native of Tennessee, began his writing career when he was only fifteen. Gay's fiction is normally set in the rural South during the 1940s and 1950s. The reason I chose to talk about "The Paperhanger" is because it is one of the best at portraying Gay's ability to write about the dark, violent kinds of characters. From the very first line of the story, it has you hooked and makes you want to continue reading. "The vanishing of the doctor's wife's child in broad daylight was an event so cataclysmic that it forever divided time into the then and the now, and before and the after". The ungrateful doctor's wife and her daughter are the characters at the beginning of the story. They are getting a brand new home built for their family, and she is overseeing what the workers are doing and how well it is being done. She insults the Paperhanger, and walks off in a spit of anger due to him not doing exactly what she wanted. It is then her daughter, who had just been standing right beside her, who went missing and was never seen again. The story winds on about the town searching, the marriage breaking apart, and the house construction coming to an end. It's like the disappearance of the child made everything come to stand still, even the love between the couple. After some time, and some great events that lead up to it, both wife and husband split, and go their separate ways. The paperhanger remains in town, with no emotion really ever shown, and going about his business. Upon the return of the wife some time later, who had since turned into an alcoholic, she asks the paperhanger to take her to the woods believing that her daughter IS out there somewhere. While there, the paperhanger makes some nasty confessions, but not about her daughter, about his family he had before. Even after this, he seduces the woman, and they go to bed together. Upon awakening, the wife finds what she had been searching for all along. While she was sleeping, the Paperhanger had placed her daughters dead body beside her, and left. This story is one true definition of brutal irony.
Friday, April 16, 2010
"The Paperhanger", by William Gay
Oh how to begin such a well written story. "The Paperhanger" was truly one of the best stories I have ever been assigned to read in college. When it comes to Southern Gothic literature, William Gay knows exactly what he is doing. William Gay, a native of Tennessee, began his writing career when he was only fifteen. Gay's fiction is normally set in the rural South during the 1940s and 1950s. The reason I chose to talk about "The Paperhanger" is because it is one of the best at portraying Gay's ability to write about the dark, violent kinds of characters. From the very first line of the story, it has you hooked and makes you want to continue reading. "The vanishing of the doctor's wife's child in broad daylight was an event so cataclysmic that it forever divided time into the then and the now, and before and the after". The ungrateful doctor's wife and her daughter are the characters at the beginning of the story. They are getting a brand new home built for their family, and she is overseeing what the workers are doing and how well it is being done. She insults the Paperhanger, and walks off in a spit of anger due to him not doing exactly what she wanted. It is then her daughter, who had just been standing right beside her, who went missing and was never seen again. The story winds on about the town searching, the marriage breaking apart, and the house construction coming to an end. It's like the disappearance of the child made everything come to stand still, even the love between the couple. After some time, and some great events that lead up to it, both wife and husband split, and go their separate ways. The paperhanger remains in town, with no emotion really ever shown, and going about his business. Upon the return of the wife some time later, who had since turned into an alcoholic, she asks the paperhanger to take her to the woods believing that her daughter IS out there somewhere. While there, the paperhanger makes some nasty confessions, but not about her daughter, about his family he had before. Even after this, he seduces the woman, and they go to bed together. Upon awakening, the wife finds what she had been searching for all along. While she was sleeping, the Paperhanger had placed her daughters dead body beside her, and left. This story is one true definition of brutal irony.
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ReplyDeletelove this story and regularly discuss it with the real Doctor in Hohenwald TN He was unaware that Gay had written the story using him and his wife and daughter as the characters until I told him about it a few years ago .He read it and he laughs everytime we talk about it. It's a wonderful story and is even better when you know the good doctor and his wife and family. I'm very lucky! The Paperhanger is a must read.... Over and over again.
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