As we continue our second reading of Slade House by David Mitchell, we decided to try to spot our own dead cats, as mentioned in Blog 1. The protagonist of the first chapter, Nathan, often spots the out of the ordinary, like a dead cat in an alleyway. So as readers, we challenged ourselves to go back and pick out sections of the text we found odd. By reading these sections closely, maybe we discovered perspectives he had not seen before.
During her second time reading Slade House, Brittany noticed images that were repeated numerous time. Each chapter someone is lured into Slade House. For example, Nathan’s mother goes because she hopes it would help her music career and Detective Inspector Gordon Edmonds is lured by Norah disguised as an attractive woman in need of help. Brittany also noticed that each time, the victims passed through “a small black iron door, set into the brick wall” (9) that leads into a beautiful garden. Also while in Slade House, every victim eats a special substance, which the Grayer twins call banjax. And finally, each victim, with the exception of the last, gets their soul devoured. When examining the basic structure of each chapter and the motifs within, Brittany realized that you could draw multiple parallels to the biblical Garden of Eden story. Both stories feature humans tempted with something they desire by a sinister trickster(s) figure (It wouldn’t be far stretch to call the Grayer Twins snakes) while in a grand garden. They partake in a food offered by the trickster(s), whether it be an apple of a cup of coffee, and lose their immortal soul. Adam and Eve lost their place in Heaven and the victims of Slade House have their souls devoured by the Grayer twins. Alex also picked up on a biblical reference. Jonah Grayer shares his name with the prophet who was eaten by a whale. While Jonah is the one doing the eating, instead of being eaten, Alex found out through some research that due to the biblical story, sailors traditionally use the name “Jonah” to personify someone who brings bad luck. The Jonah from Slade House brings bad luck to Nathan and the other victims. After closely reading the characters interactions with the garden and the Grayer twins, Brittany revised her controlling ideas of Slade House. Viewed through this lens, the book is about giving into temptations and the effect it has on your soul, or sense of self. As discussed in Blog 1, Nathan does die because he distrusts himself.
Speaking of Nathan, Alex decided to dig into the seemingly hapless narrator of the first chapter. One reference that really stuck with him was about Asterix, a popular French comic. Nathan mentions, “For me, Valium’s like Asterix’s magic potion, but it makes Mum dopey” (8). In the Asterix stories, Asterix’s village hasn’t been conquered by Julius Caesar thanks to a secret magic potion created by the village’s wise old druid (known as Getafix in English), which gives whoever drinks it temporary superhuman strength, agility, and senses (almost like a super powerful adrenaline shot). Nathan mentions the comic series because it was very popular in Europe in the ’70s and ’80s, and Valium is his magic potion, giving him a sense of high in which he can accomplish his best. The first time Alex, and the rest of us, read the chapter we doubted Nathan’s experiences because he was on Valium. Like Nathan, we assumed that he was hallucinating rather than actually experiencing the garden dissolving or Jonah turning into a Mastiff. But if we look at it with the perspective that Nathan is like Asterix, than Nathan’s perception of events (or at least perception of the Grayer’s Orison) was more accurate than a normal person’s. That would explain why Nathan saw so many more warning signs than the second victim Gordon Edmonds. Prephaps if we had trusted in our narrator more the first time, we would have seen the Grayer twin’s plan earlier.
In an attempt to close read, Nicole decided to also look at what Nathan notices. Nathan notices that “Seven Magpies fly by. Seven’s good” (3). The Magpie is a clever bird that constructs the best nests and is one of the only mammals that can recognize themselves in a mirror (Wikipedia.com). Norah and Jonah can be likened to the magpie in their detailed construction of their illusions for their victims as well as the use of the mirrors, which the victims see themselves in. As the English Fairy tale about magpies explains, the magpie tries to teach the other birds how to build nests but none stay till the end, and at which point the magpie is fed up and refuses to teach anymore (surlalunefairytales.com). To Nicole this shows a sense of pride in the creation of the nest, and the illusion, which may lead to too much pride. Which is a downfall for Norah and Jonah later on. Furthermore, Nathan sees the seven magpies and decides that it is a good sign, which ultimately isn’t so for him. In most cultures the number seven is a lucky, pleasing mathematical iteration. There are seven days of the week, seven continents, seven seas, seven wonders of the world, and don’t forget the winning lucky sevens in every casino. But it isn’t so in all cultures. In Chinese culture the number signifies not just bad luck, but death (psychiclibrary.com). Which in Nathan’s case ends up making the most sense.
Something everyone noticed was the repeated mentions of The Fox and Hounds tavern that every victim sees when they try to find Slade House. Brittany researched the name and found a game by the name where the objective is for the fox piece to cross to the other side of a chest board without being stopped by the hound pieces, which parallels the Slade House victims trying to escape the Grayer Twins. Nicole noticed that Nathan says, “She’s wearing her dark blue concert outfit and her hair up with the silver fox-head hairpin”(4) which she had originally forgotten that the hairpin came from his mother. The fox hairpin is one of the things that lead to the ultimate demise of the Grayer twins. It is a symbol of cunning, cleverness, and adaptability (whats-your-sign.com). With this aiding in the the downfall of the Norah and Jonah, the symbol is well used. The mention of, “[A] pub called The Fox and Hounds” (3) implies that the fox is cornered (like in the game) and will not survive. But the use of the fox hairpin proves that the foxes strategy and cleverness wins out over brutality.
All of these insights produced by close reading gave us some new perspectives to consider. When we stopped and noticed the odd, we could begin to peal back the layers of the text. Controlling ideas and even plot points of the novel can shift and transform based on what perspective you choose to view the story from. New information, like biblical parallels, name meanings, comic titles, folklore, and games shifted how we looked at the text. Perhaps going forward, we will continue to see these connections and see how they alter our perception of of the text.
How Writers Read 
You guys brought up a lot of great points! I think the most interesting was how you mentioned the audience’s tendency to doubt Nathan as a narrator. You guys argue that if the audience had trusted Nathan in the first section, they would be more likely to notice some of the details and thus figure out the operandi. This brings up the question of if an audience should trust a narrator. Even if we know that narrator is on drugs, aren’t they our only access to contextual truth? Furthermore, if what makes any of the later narrators more reliable than Nathan? As we start to think about this question in terms of reading, we must also bring into account how little we can trust ourselves as readers. As we learned in class, we are constantly projecting onto the text. Between unreliable narrators and unreliable readers, how can we read and understand well enough to not only notice the details as aforementioned, but also to discern greater meaning?
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