It's Time To Wash Your Bedding.

We're back with another spooky story and literary analysis! This story gave me such whiplash and some terrifying imagery that I can't get out of my mind in the best way possible. Our class discussed a lot of different interpretations, so I'm sharing my take now.  

The Feather Pillow by Horacio Quiroga was a thrilling and macabre tale with so many possible meanings. I had never heard of it before we read in class, so the ending was a whip-lash-level shock that I did not see coming. What seems like a story of a young couple, Alicia and Jordan who were recently wed, quickly dissolves into a tragic and then horrifying story about death and a blood-sucking pillow monster. We discussed whether the monster at the end that kills Alicia is meant to be figurative (what does it stand for? Is there a bigger meaning behind it?) or literal (it’s just a weird monster.).

My figurative take is Jordan, the husband, is described as having a “rough character” and that he “loved her profoundly but never let it be seen.” believes he must be stoic, impassive, and masculine to the point of not showing emotions towards his wife. Alicia, on the other hand, is described as having “dreamed about being a bride” and “she would have wished less severity in the rigorous sky of love” when her husband’s macho characteristics shut down her romantic fantasies. However, as Alicia’s health declines, we see Jordan’s hard shell start to crack and his love starts to show through, as in this scene “Suddenly, Jordan, with deep tenderness, ran his hand very slowly over her head, and Alicia instantly burst into sobs, throwing her arms around his neck. For a long time, she cried out all the dears she had kept silent, redoubling her weeping at Jordan’s slightest caress.”. The change in Alicia’s health changes Jordan’s attitude but it’s too late and Alicia is soon beyond saving, having her very lifeblood sucked away by a parasite hidden in her bed. If the parasite is to represent anything, I think it would be Jordan’s rough, “manly” attitude. Horacio Quiroga is often compared to Edgar Allan Poe and referred as “Latin America’s Poe”. In many Latin American countries, there is a strong culture of how men should act. Machismo is the term to describe the toxic expectations placed on men in society to not show feelings, be tough and stern and avoid anything perceived as “girly”. I think that the monster represents that machismo persona; the lack of attention and love Alicia receives in the beginning is what starts her decline and once Jordan lets go of that uncaring expectation, it manifests into the, possibly physical, form of the monster that finishes Alicia off and leaves Jordan to suffer the loss of his wife that he did love but wasn’t allowed to express by society.

 My proof for this is in the scene where Alicia is starting to hallucinate, and she sees a creature advancing towards her bed ““Jordan! Jordan!” she clamored, rigid with fright, still staring at the carpet; she looked at him once again; and after a long moment of her stupefied confrontation, she regained her senses. She smiled and took her husband’s hand in hers, caressing it, trembling, for half an hour”. I believe that the creature advancing on her is the toxic exterior of Jordan, so it looks like her kind husband and so when “she looked at him once again” it’s the confusion of being unable to tell the difference of which side of her husband she is seeing; the kind man she married or the harsh exterior he’s expected to maintain, and it’s the toxic masculinity that kills her, crushing her dreams of romance and emotional connection. 

Or it’s simply just a nasty nasty vampire boy who likes to be comfy while he sucks blood and there was no extra meaning. It’s just a scary story to warn us about bedbugs and to make sure we clean our bedding on a regular basis. I like that version better. 

The Feather Pillow by falconieri on Deviant Art

There's also a stop-motion adaptation from 2018 that has it's own thrilling take on the story!