Patchwork Girl by Shelley Jackson is a hypertext, which is a piece of electronic literature that is composed of lexias (which are boxes/screens that have text within them) and images. The reader can open different lexias by clicking on links within the text or within an image, which may be random words within the text. Also, within a box of text there may be numerous words that act as links to different lexias. Hence, the word the reader decides to click determines the pieces of the story he/she ends up reading. In “Gathering The Limbs of the Text in Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl,” George Landow’s definition of hypertext is referred to, which states : “Text composed of blocks of words (or images) linked electronically by multiple paths, chains, or trails in an open-ended, perpetually unfinished textuality described by the terms link, node, network, web, and path’(1997:3)” (Carazo and Jimenez 116). In hypertexts there are numerous paths for a reader to take due to the links within the text. As the reader clicks from link to link, he/she creates a sort of web and, as a result, creates his/her own story with the text he/she views. Also, there may be no distinct ending in a piece of hypertext and it may just be an ongoing web of text. The possibilities are endless and there are always more links to find on your journey.
Patchwork Girl is a piece of hypertext which recreates Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein. “On a first reading, Patchwork Girl can be defined as a work that is essentially a re-writing of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a novel in which two of the dominant themes are fragmentation and resurrection”(Carazo and Jimenez 116). The monster in Frankenstein and Patchwork Girl are both unnatural creations that are made out of the pieces of other human beings. Hence, there is a shared theme of fragmentation in both of these stories because the monsters are constructed of numerous pieces, which are stitched together to make a whole. Also, they share the theme of resurrection/life because both Victor (in Frankenstein) and Mary Shelley (in Patchwork Girl) use the pieces of dead humans to create life. Furthermore, the fact that Patchwork Girl is a hypertext highlights the theme of technological development within Frankenstein. “However, Patchwork Girl’s most outstanding quality lies in the fact that it is organized as a special kind of text, which, just like Victor’s creatures, is the end result of certain technological developments”(Carazo and Jimenez 116). Hypertext is a product of the technological development of literature. Both Patchwork Girl and the monster in Frankenstein are results of technological development in science. These monsters may be seen as mutations and unnatural results produced by the advancement of science. Similarly, hypertext is also a form of literature that resulted from the advancement of technology and also can be described as a type of ‘mutation’ and unnatural. A hypertext has the ability to mutate a story by separating it into pieces rather than keeping it in a linear form. Jackson wants to highlight the advantages and opportunities of the results of technological development rather than shun them. She saw the beauty and potential in the monster in Frankenstein and used that insight provided in Shelley’s creation to make her own story using a form of media which also highlighted the power of technological advancement. This new arena for literature provides numerous opportunities to the author and new experiences for the reader. “Not only does hypertext, by its very nature, resist closure and allow play, it also partakes of a condition of mutability, as the product leaves room for changes in format, colour, fonts, cascade, etc. in this sense also, Patchwork Girl is not simply one more text that reflects the aesthetics of fragmentation and hybridity; it is a hypertext that allows for material and technological possibilities that would be unthinkable in a printed version”(Carazo and Jimenez 116).The reader is able to interact with the text and choose links within the story which will help the reader follow his/her own path within the story. Hence, technological developments have allowed reading literature to become more of an interactive and creative process. By using hypertext to create her story, Jackson emphasizes the good in technological advancement and, as a result, she also highlights the positive aspects of the monster Victor creates in Frankenstein.
The reader has the option to either delve into the story or click on links to move from lexia to lexia or to go in order by using the chart view links.
However, there are a large number of links and sections within this chart and it is much easier to navigate from the “title page” and go on a more chaotic and random path. In “Reading Hypertext: Reading Blue Hyacinth,” the author states that, “There is something fascinating about one’s own reactions to the unfamiliar and having the opportunity to find spatial and place-specific pattern”(Ersinghaus1). Hypertext provides you with the opportunity to be sporadic and create your own web within the text rather than reading the long story in order by clicking on the chart view. The reader should embrace this unique opportunity and embrace the creative process in which he/she can find his/her own way through the jungle of lexias and create his/her own web. You can be in one specific section reading about Patchwork Girl’s journey in America and then you can click a link within the text and go to a lexia about Jackson’s creative writing process. Hence, you can jump from one narrator to the next and one story to the next. “In the case of Patchwork Girl, reading appeals to our demiurgic power and turns readers into a sort of Dr. Frankenstein putting together the different pieces of the textual corpus, and thus creating our own monstrous, aberrant reading”(Carazo and Jimenez 116). Your reading of Patchwork Girl may be very choppy because you are jumping inbetween different sections and none of the texts are really linear to one another. However, you have the power to create connections between these texts because they are all in the same hypertext for a reason and you are given the opportunity to link them together with your mind. You create your own order within the hypertext, your own web of lexia, and, as a result, your own story. The story may seem fragmented and not normal but it becomes a whole to you as you piece/link it together. You find the beauty within the fragmentation of the story like Mary Shelley in Patchwork Girl finds the beauty within Patchwork Girl’s unique build. The opportunity that hypertext provides the reader to become a sort of ‘creator’ emphasizes a major theme in Jackson’s piece. The theme is that every author creates with the ideas of other previous people’s philosophies, thoughts, or creations in mind. A creator builds a masterpiece based off the pieces of other creators. An artist must at first get some sort of inspiration before he/she begins a painting or a piece of literature and this inspiration comes from an already established idea or piece of art. Hence, the fact that the reader is able to create his/her own story within and with the material in Jackson’s hypertext emphasizes this theme.
Patchwork Girl is setup so that when you open the program, you see an image of a woman’s body.
The image of the body has little lines within it and you can tell that it is meant to look like it is stitched together. When you click on any part of the image a screen pops up, which is the title page. The title page has five links on it- the graveyard, the journal, the quilt, the story, and the broken accents.
You can click on any of these links to begin the story and each one will take you to a different image. Patchwork Girl is about a woman, Mary Shelley, who creates a “monster” out of various parts from numerous different people. When you click on “graveyard” on the title page, it brings you to an image of body parts separated in different boxes and the top left corner box is a set of text.
The reader may click on any box and it will lead him/her to a set of text. Then you have to click on a part of the image in order to start the story and receive a set of text. Once you receive your first lexia (pop-up box/screen with text within it), you then click on words within the text to go to another lexia and continue the story. Each different word you can click on will bring you to a different set of text, which tells a different part of the story. No matter which box you decide to choose it brings you to the same set of text, which reads “I am buried here. You can resurrect me, but only piecemeal. If you want to see the whole, you will have to sew me together yourself.” Then after you click on a link within that text, it leads you to a lexia which reads “Here Lies a Head, Trunk, Arms (Right and Left) as well as drivers Organs appropriately Disposed. May they Rest in Piece.”
You then have the option to click on of these links, but when you click one of the words which represents a body part, such as the “trunk,” it will lead you to a link box and you must press ‘follow link’. Then Patchwork Girl (as the narrator of the text in the graveyard section) will tell you about the person her ‘trunk’ came from. For example, her trunk came from a woman named Angela and she goes on to tell the reader about how Angela was a dancer. She speaks of the characteristics of Angela's dancer body, which now she has acquired through the possession of her trunk.
Furthermore, you can click on the links within this text and it will lead you to more text about the people from which pieces of her ‘trunk’ came from, such as her breasts from Charlotte and Aspasia. After you read all three of these lexias under the “Trunk” link, when you click on a word on the last one about Apasia, it will lead you back to the lexia with the body parts on it so you may follow the link of another one. The fact that Mary tells the reader in detail about each person she acquired a body part from reveals that Jackson finds it important that the reader knows the history of these people as well as the characteristics Patchwork Girl has taken from them. This continues to emphasize her theme about how people are influenced by the ideas, actions, or thoughts of others. For example, when a child is growing up he/she is influenced by the people around him/her such as teachers, adults, and other kids. The actions, beliefs, and way of thinking of these people influence the personality the child develops throughout his/her childhood. He/she is a product of his/her social environment. Patchwork Girl is actually made up of different people and Jackson goes out of the way to tell us about each contribution every person made to Patchwork Girl because she wants the reader to realize that every person's personality is the product of other peoples' personalities, actions, and ideas.
The Journal section, which is one of the five links provided on the title page, brings you to an image of a dismembered woman’s body with a hand in the middle and leg with a head placed above it.
Once again, you must click on a part of the body in order to get to a lexia of new text and continue your reading. The narrator in the Journal section is Mary Shelley (the creator of Patchwork Girl in the story) and she talks about her relationship with her creation. She tells about how she progressively grows more and more fond of her creation. She develops a deep sense of compassion towards her and she even views her as beautiful.
She compares her to the different colors of Autumn leaves and finds the beauty within her contrast and variety of skin tones.Like the yellow,green, orange, and red leaves that come together to create beautiful images in nature during Autumn, Patchwork's contrasting skin tones create a uniquely beautiful complexion. However, Shelley also reveals that she is scared of the monster she has created because she knows how powerful she is and, hence, what a danger she poses.
She can go from a happy girl playing to an angry and dangerous monster. But Shelley believes that she owes her guidance in learning how to embrace her 'manifold' personality. She is extremely impressed with what she has created and how much Patchwork Girl develops as a being. She reveals that she believes Patchwork Girl has made the skin,of the others from which she was formed, her own. She emphasizes how the dead skin came alive again so that it could be used to register the thoughts and sensations of Patchwork Girl.
When Shelley speaks of her relationship with Patchwork Girl, she always goes out of the way to emphasize the beauty and life within her creation. Hence, she is highlighting the beauty in life itself which is the process of creation and the process of creation is a result of both a human's thoughts and sensations. Therefore, Jackson uses Shelley's admirable view of Patchwork Girl to emphasize that the opportunity to live is so precious. Shelley was able to create life out of death and to her that is a very beautiful thing. Now Patchwork Girl has the opportunity to live and create through her feelings and thoughts- to create her own identity. Therefore, there is a theme of resurrection and life within Patchwork Girl and the beauty of the creative process that comes along with the opportunity of life.
Furthermore, Patchwork Girl becomes a part of Shelley and she feels herself changing the more she is around Patchwork Girl. This change and influence reinforces the theme that people's personalities are influenced by the other people in their lives. When Patchwork Girl enters Shelley's life, she begins to change over time and Patchwork Girl becomes a part of her. This connection with patchwork Girl on her life is made clear when she conducts a surgery before Patchwork Girl leaves for America in which she sews on a piece of her skin to Patchwork Girl and a piece of Patchwork Girl's skin onto her own body.
When you click on this image, it leads you to a lexia where Patchwork Girl is talking. She begins describing herself such as how physically awkward she is and how she feels as if she belongs nowhere. Yet, she also does reveal that even though she does not belong anywhere, she has still established a feeling of comfort in the world and accepts the fact that her place in the world is nowhere exact- but everywhere.
She does not settle but she continues to go on and is able to ‘take long strides’ and ‘strip and walk unencumbered.’ Hence, Patchwork girl expresses that she has discovered a sense of freedom and identity even though she is still not accepted within society and does not fit in. But she has welcomed her status as a misfit like her ‘brother’ (the monster in Frankenstein) and she openly accepts it. Then you have to find words within the lexia that serve as link in order to get to another lexia. Also, there are excerpts from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein one in which the monster begs Victor to create a friend for him because no human being will associate with him. The monster expresses that her just wants a partner that is like him in order for him to be able to experience affection and, as a result, be more like a human. However, Victor refuses to create another wicked monster and struggles within himself when he attempts to.
The difference between the monster in Frankenstein and Patchwork Girl is that Patchwork Girl goes out into the world looking for her identity and accepts the fact that she is different. While Victor's monster, can not handle being in the world and goes mad/crazy and begs from a companion.
Patchwork Girl left Mary to go to America and create her own special identity through experience. She needed to go out into the world and create her own unique experiences which would mold her personality and give her sort of a background/history. Patchwork Girl goes to America and meets different people and has emotional experiences with these people. For example, she first meets a man named Chancy (who she finds out is really a woman) and she becomes very attached and close to Chancy. It was clear that they developed a deep affection, a form of love for one another. However, when Chancy found out what Patchwork Girl really was, it was clear that this love was not probable. As a result, Patchwork Girl would experience an emotional tide and hurt and sadness.
Through this experience with Chancy, Patchwork Girl learns more about herself. She learns that she is too prideful and she expected to have Chancy's trust without earning it. She realizes that if she had told her what she really was in the first and openly trusted her, that they would not have to end their relationship. Therefore, Patchwork Girl was able to go through an emotional experience with another person and learn and grow from it. Hence, she was indeed using her experience in America to construct her own individual identity.
When you click on the Quilt section on the title page, it leads you to the same image of a woman’s body as the one when you click on the Journal section. However, the foot is still in the middle of the body but the leg and the head are separated from the body and placed in two opposite corners of the image box. When you click on any part of this image, it leads you to a lexia in which Mary talks about all the various sources she had to collect or refer to in order to create her girl. Also, there is a list of cited documents underneath the main text from Mary Shelley, Frank Baum, and a book about Enlightenment Art and Medicine.
These references reveal that Jackson did not create her story Patchwork Girl from just her own ideas and creative instinct. She used other sources and ideas in order to ‘patch’ together her own story. Hence, this lexia also highlights that Mary Shelley (the character in Patchwork Girl), like Jackson, had to refer to ‘philosophical documents, machines, geometry, dreams, and even ‘magic lanterns’ when creating her own monster. Therefore, Shelley’s creation reflects science, philosophy, the imagination, and, most importantly, the unlimited possibilities these sources hold. Mary Shelley combined and explored the endless possibilities provided by each each of these ways of creation and of viewing life and made her own creation. Furthermore, when you click on a word within the main text, it leads you to the same main text without the cited documents underneath and a dotted line instead. Therefore, you must click on a section of the dotted line in order to go to a different box of text. “Another case in point would be the lexia dotted line. Because of its border-like quality (“a permeable membrane”), the image of the dotted line is used to explore the interaction between connectedness and separation…”(Carazo and Jimenez 118). A very important theme presented in Patchwork Girl is that of fragmentation and connectedness which is represented by the symbol of a quilt and Patchwork Girl’s body itself. The first set of text that was displayed when I first clicked on the dotted line told about how Shelley collected pieces and consulted books when trying to create her girl. Yet, she did not know exactly what to make of her until she observed her grandmother’s old quilt.
The next time I clicked on the dotted line it lead me to a lexia which continued the story from the last text I read. It told about how a quilt was a good object to base her creation off of, because the girl would not be too proud due to the fact that she was made of many different colors that did not mix well together.
She sees this process of creating life similar to the process of creating a form of art or of literature. For example, in a set of text she discusses how instead of putting all her text in one space, she spread it out into more ‘manageable’ sections.
Each part of Patchwork Girl is a paragraph, a different piece of writing, placed in its own section rather than with the other pieces. Yet, they are all placed in the same writing space (her body) but they still maintain their own identities. Mary reveals that being able to construct her piece of art in this way allowed her to create a very ‘well-shaped girl’. She has many dimensions, many paragraphs, and she is not simply just one long boring story. Yet, she is a collection of individual stories that each is special and can be combined with the others to create one amazing story even though they all are strong stories on their own. When you observe a quilt, you look at each little patch one by one and want to know the specific story and history of each patch. However, by the time you have heard all the interesting biographies behind these patches; you have already combined the stories into one whole. You will remember them all as the combined story of the quilt. Yet, each story adds a different quality to the quilt and you put all these qualities together to create a general personality of the quilt as a whole. After a while of clicking on the dotted line, you begin to come to lexia which do not exactly make sense to you. They go along with the basic story of the creation of a patchwork girl, but characters you do not know begin to appear. However, you begin to realize that some of this text must be from the documents cited in the beginning of the section. For example, the character of the Glass Cat comes in and the cat speaks about the basic requirements for beauty and how patchwork girl will hate herself for being made of patches.
Unless you have read all the cited documents, you may not know where this text is originally from. “This is made up of two parts in which the same content is repeated, the only difference being that in the second part the quotes are not documented or presented with different typographies as they are in the first part. It indicates a further step in the idea of “unceremonious appropriation” which questions the notion of literary property”(Carazo and Jimenez 117). The fact that the reader does not know where the text is from emphasizes the theme that when someone creates something whether it is art or literature, they incorporate ideas that are not exactly their own during the process. However, they do not put a citation next to every idea that came from another author or a piece of art because they have made it into their own creation. Jackson uses the quilt section to highlight that all new ideas and advancements in technology or art come from an idea or inspiration found in a former idea/piece of work/ or piece of technology. One must take the time to observe current ideas, technology, or art in order to find something within it which has the potential to be transformed into something even greater. Therefore, truly advancement in this world whether it is in technology, science, or art is a web of ideas. These ideas are all connected and built off of one another. Hence, it is just like hypertext because hypertext also forms a web of lexia through the process of clicking from one link to the next. Also, Jackson emphasizes that a single creation may be based off inspirations found within numerous arenas. For example, she references a document about art and philosophy as well as Frankenstein which is science fiction and other literature. Hence, she reveals that her influences for her hypertext came from art, philosophy, science, and other literary pieces. Inspiration and ideas are everywhere to be seen and people must use their imagination to discover them and not limit the places they look but instead, just never stop looking.
