Clicking Through the Hypertext

     Through all of the electronic literatures, hypertext was the most confusing and time consuming.  Within each hypertext there are multiple links to click, which will take you in different directions through a story.  “George P. Landow’s definition of hypertext is regarded as canonical: ‘[T]ext 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” (Carazo 116).  We worked mainly with one piece of hypertext, as well as these shorter versions.  But by spending the majority of our time on “Patchwork Girl” by Shelley Jackson it was easier to see how complex hypertext can truly be.  At the very beginning of the story you are already given options of where to go from.  “Jackson’s hypertext seems to originate in different authors: Mary Shelley, Shelley Jackson, and the monster ‘herself’” (Carazo 120).  There is not one spot to click on to bring you to one lexia but there are multiple options: graveyard, journal, quilt, story, broken accents, and sources.  Each lexia leads to a different part or aspect of the story of Patchwork Girl.  The reader is taken on a journey but decide the course.  He or she can choose to start with graveyard or story and are taken though different paths of the hypertext.  I chose to go to the lexia of “graveyard” first.

     “Graveyard” brought me the image of patchwork girl as “hercut 4.”  The body parts are in disarray and there are only two available options.  By clicking on any of the pieces of Patchwork Girl’s body, the reader is directed to a text that 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.”  These two sentences represent different parts of this story because as the reader later finds out, “sew me together” can refer to the idea that Patchwork Girl is like a quilt.  She is created by different body parts constructed together.  Continuing beyond this text, the reader can click on any of the words to be brought to another set of text.  In the blue title it states this lexia is labeled “headstone.”  With each body part mentioned (head, trunk, arms, legs, and organs) there are new directions to head in.  New details arise through clicking on these body parts but to learn about the arms and legs, the reader must choose between the left or right one to learn about.  Some give two options: look at an image or read text.  It’s difficult to understand all the pieces of the story given within a vast array of lexias.  What I found to be unique in this section was how clicking on the word ‘organs’ gives the list of organs placed within Patchwork Girl from other people like a heart, liver, lungs, stomach, guts and veins.  My initial reaction was that it seemed odd to have different organs and body parts coming from different individuals but as I read each description of the people’s stories it made more sense. 

Patchwork girl is a blend of different pieces that don’t mesh well but can still create a whole.  “Trunk” is an example of the description of the body part for the previous owner, in this instance the owner was a dance named Angela.  This specific lexia is from Patchwork Girl’s point of view.  One of the elements of this hypertext is how the story is told through more than one set of eyes.

     Most stories have one perspective, even when it’s within third person, but this hypertext is unique in its ability to tell the story of Patchwork Girl through different witnesses; hence the list of authors on the title page.  Many sections are through the voice of Patchwork Girl or Shelley Jackson.  The best way to find each section is through the lexia called

Storyspace Map, which is also presented once the Patchwork Girl CD-Rom is started.  By keeping this open in the background it helps with the confusion and gives the ability to jump to different parts of the story whenever the reader wants to.  By clicking on the white within story, the reader is shown a list of different areas that are within this section.  The reader can start wherever he or she may like.  Each lexia has its own role within the hypertext; it does get very confusing with all the available options without a set starting and ending point.  I chose to examine the falling apart section, which is written through Patchwork Girl’s perspective.  Within this area each available lexia describes an incident that occurred to Patchwork girl like her foot falling off.  Other instances, the voice shifts to another. 

     Within the section labeled journal, it is spoken by the creator of Patchwork Girl, otherwise known as Shelley Jackson.  Jackson is the creator of this monster and this section is her account of the interaction between her and Patchwork girl after creating her.  It’s interesting to envision this through the eyes of a female creator because everyone already knows the story of Frankenstein and how it was a male who created the creature.  I’ve never read Frankenstein but I think there are obvious differences especially through the eyes of a woman.

     A different section I found to be interesting is the lexia’s of ‘crazy quilt.’  I mentioned before how Patchwork Girl is like a quilt because she is constructed through an array of pieces.  There is also a specific section dedicated to the idea of a quilt.  This is the one section that is very colorful; each lexia of text is written in a different color and they are all separate pieces of information that form a story line.  Everything is placed within a sequence in this section and most of the story is the creation of Patchwork Girl.  By looking at the list of lexias for this section, the reader can visually interpret the ideas of a crazy quilt due to the use of different colors scattered through the pieces.  This can be a reflection of Patchwork Girl herself since she is just different body parts put together; there are ways to distinguish how each part is different on her like a quilt.

     Everything about Patchwork Girl is very elaborate and difficult to form a proper grasp. There is no clear root to take, leaving the reader the advantage of going in any direction he or she finds first.  Everyone may start at the same image of the Patchwork Girl body all together and the storyspace map but that doesn’t mean everyone will experience things exactly the same.  From hours spent trying to understand and see everything within this hypertext, I still feel that I’ve missed a lot.  It was a frustrating process because sometimes I would feel like I wasn’t going the right way to understand the story.  I knew that nothing was in a straight order like a novel you’d pick off the shelf at a library but that didn’t matter; I would’ve felt more comfortable if there was a clear cut way to walk through this hypertext.  I did like how I was able to decide my own course on occasion but in that way you might also miss important lexias.  I’m sure if I kept working with this hypertext, I could form a solid understanding of Patchwork Girl.  If anyone was interesting in reading Patchwork Girl and asked my opinion, I’m sure they wouldn’t be purchasing that CD-Rom.  Not on the basis of the story’s plot but because of the frustration and confusion since most people desire a clear ending and feel a sense of purpose to everything told.  This doesn’t mean my experience with hypertext will end here; someday I’m sure a hypertext will cross my path and be the one I read through over and over again.

Works Cited

Jackson, Shelley. Patchwork Girl. Watertown, MA: Eastgate Systems, 1995. CD-Rom.

Sanchez-Palencia Carazo, Carolina, and Manuel Almagro Jimenez. "Gathering the Limbs of the Text in Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl." Atlantis 28.1 (June 2006): 115-129. Web. 29 Nov 2010. http://vista.csus.ct.edu/webct/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct.