LRJ House of Leaves
1) Johnny is one of the major characters in the House of leaves, he acts as a reader of
Zampanò’s book ”The Navidson Record.” We follow him as he tries to organize and
understand the contradictory statements and confusing footnotes found in the book.
John himself is an interesting character, he had a troubled childhood as he bounced
around the system and dealt with the abuse he was given from the people given care of
him.
Based on the letters we see from his mother, not only is there a family history of
mental health issues but he seems to have the characteristics of either schizophrenia or
another type of psychosis mixed with derealization. The letters help explain why he acts
the way he does, with his obsessive and addictive nature, the pathological lying and the
hallucinations he experiences whether he is sober or not. He mentions many times
during his rambling stories, and off hand comments that his hallucinations are normally
accompanied by a strong feeling of paranoia that he attributes to the monster from “The
Navidson Record.” But this feeling of paranoia is extremely similar to his mother during
her final years, as she deteriorated she spoke of how the workers at the The Three Attic
Whalestone Institute were constantly against her and were willing to do anything to
“keep her from her son”
But this may also factor into the fact that he was so drawn to reading a blind dead
man's book. The way that Zampanò wrote about Karen's slow descent into madness due
to her past traumas being mixed with the derealization she starts to experience because
of the pure impossibility of the house. Johnny mentions the fact that his symptoms
exacerbate when Karen starts to close herself off from her husband and her family as a
side effect of completely denying the hallway’s existence. This is interesting because
during the prologue he mentions the fact that by the end of the book he has closed
himself off from the outside world, almost going so far as to seal the windows and doors
so that nothing would be able to get it.
While Karen uses the study of feng shui as an escapism from the house, John
manages to not only use the book but he also abuses drugs and alcohol in order to
escape from his childhood and the fate that he has found himself facing the inevitable
deterioration of his mind/mental state. It is a terrible situation to be in and he doesn’t take
it well.