Connections:
After reading the beginning excerpt, I immediately took into account the role The King in Yellow would play in the story. Just as in The Repairer of Reputations, the fictional play seems to cause a significant case of delirious paranoia. When the narrator stumbles across the play in Boris’ house, it hints that since Boris owns the play, Boris most likely read it, along with Genevieve. Not knowing how or why this play causes disturbances is unknown at this point. The ambiguity of it all definitely adds to the stories.
Mention of “The Fates,” is another connection between The Mask and The Repairer of Reputations. Besides knowing that they are a group of sculptures, one wearing a version of Boris’ face, the reader is still left …show more content…
The mask could be the marbleizing solution, covering up a living thing for a period of time. Alec says, “I thought of The King in Yellow and the Pallid Mask.” As readers, we do not know what The King in Yellow says and what the pallid mask is, or why it is even capitalized for that matter. We do know that pallid means pale, which could also be used to describe marble or someone/thing that has been transformed into marble.
When Alec is ill and having nightmares he thinks, “The mask of self-deception was no longer a mask for me, it was a part of me. Night lifted it, laying bare the stifled truth below; but there was no one to see except myself, and when the day broke the mask fell back again of its own accord.” What is this truth? Maybe Genevieve didn’t change her mind about her feelings and Alec made that up. We know how unreliable narrators can be. The mask also symbolizes the power it holds by hiding something. What that is, I am unsure at this time. Lastly, as I argue below, maybe Jack Scott is wearing a metaphorical mask. The beginning excerpt is there for a reason, so when the stranger says, “I wear no mask,” maybe it’s foreshadowing that the real villain is in plain
After reading the beginning excerpt, I immediately took into account the role The King in Yellow would play in the story. Just as in The Repairer of Reputations, the fictional play seems to cause a significant case of delirious paranoia. When the narrator stumbles across the play in Boris’ house, it hints that since Boris owns the play, Boris most likely read it, along with Genevieve. Not knowing how or why this play causes disturbances is unknown at this point. The ambiguity of it all definitely adds to the stories.
Mention of “The Fates,” is another connection between The Mask and The Repairer of Reputations. Besides knowing that they are a group of sculptures, one wearing a version of Boris’ face, the reader is still left …show more content…
The mask could be the marbleizing solution, covering up a living thing for a period of time. Alec says, “I thought of The King in Yellow and the Pallid Mask.” As readers, we do not know what The King in Yellow says and what the pallid mask is, or why it is even capitalized for that matter. We do know that pallid means pale, which could also be used to describe marble or someone/thing that has been transformed into marble.
When Alec is ill and having nightmares he thinks, “The mask of self-deception was no longer a mask for me, it was a part of me. Night lifted it, laying bare the stifled truth below; but there was no one to see except myself, and when the day broke the mask fell back again of its own accord.” What is this truth? Maybe Genevieve didn’t change her mind about her feelings and Alec made that up. We know how unreliable narrators can be. The mask also symbolizes the power it holds by hiding something. What that is, I am unsure at this time. Lastly, as I argue below, maybe Jack Scott is wearing a metaphorical mask. The beginning excerpt is there for a reason, so when the stranger says, “I wear no mask,” maybe it’s foreshadowing that the real villain is in plain