Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Blog Post - Elizabeth Gray

The writing below is a fictional account inspired by the story of Freda Frost, an inmate at Eastern State Penitentiary in the early 1900s.

Freda Frost-

Dust trickled down onto my fingertips. Movement, I felt movement. I glanced down and watched as a tiny spider crept its way up my arm. The first living thing I had experienced in three years, I picked up the insignificant specimen by its front two threadlike legs and watched it wriggle around, silently begging for its freedom. I smiled to myself, quietly enjoying every second of its struggle. I opened my mouth slowly and then hovered the spider over the gaping hole in my face. Then it was gone. Disappeared, just like my mind, down the many pathways of my body. Where was my mind now? I used to search for it, back in 1911, before the accide- no not accident, accident would imply that it was not purposeful, and it was. I once had a craving for sanity so severe that I resorted to the act of witchcraft. For almost two years it had seemed like the spells and herbs had finally helped heal my mind, my children no longer screamed at me in public, accusing me of rape and murder, and my husband started to sleep in the bed with me again. But somehow I still felt empty, wrong, and different from the rest of the sane world. But now, sitting in this cell alone, watching paint peel and hearing people die just beyond my thin walls, I realize that I was never broken. I was the sane one, the one with the clear conscience, the good samaritan, in a world full of monsters.

7 comments:

  1. After reading this excellent piece, I can't help but wonder: was the spider ever there at all?

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  2. Hi Lizzie;
    I think that in the writing of this fictional account that you did an excellent job of allowing the reader to experience not only the physical isolation endured by Freda but, also the mental isolation which was the result of her mental illness. I also wondered whether the Spider was real or imagined.
    Please Keep Writing I wanted to know about Freda`s Story

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  3. Elizabeth,

    Freda Frost effectively draws the reader into her world (thanks to your skill as a writer). If you flesh the story out then I could see you going a number of different ways. Perhaps you might convince the reader that she truly is the sane one.

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  4. Now I don't want to know more of Freda's story. I believe she ate the spider. There is much more of the story, you write it but I will leave it for others to read. Freda is the stuff that my nightmares are made of.

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  5. I love the ending, her voice emerges so strong and certain amidst the pain and gloom.
    This piece does such a good job of establishing a tone and mood from the outset. For example, the fact that she describes her mouth as a "gaping hole" expresses how removed she is from normalcy and adds to the weirdness of the setting. Great eeriness.

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  6. How reliable is the speaker, calling herself sane? This piece is written beautifully. The imagery is awesome and I was wondering myself, if the spider is truly there. The insane may find themselves sane as the rest of the world is clearly insane. I know I wouldn't want that type of sanity. Great writing!

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  7. How reliable is the speaker, calling herself sane? This piece is written beautifully. The imagery is awesome and I was wondering myself, if the spider is truly there. The insane may find themselves sane as the rest of the world is clearly insane. I know I wouldn't want that type of sanity. Great writing!

    ReplyDelete