#w the number 9 johnny truant reminds me of narcon 9

[afklancelot]

recently got into HOL and my silly autism brain has taken the reigns with this book. anyways i would (capital L) Love to hear your theories/hidden symbolism notes on this book if youre willing to share

hello yea id love to! doubt it will be coherent at all cuz i didnt take notes but ill do my best

one of the more prevalent theories of HoL is that Pelafina is the true author of the book. The fact that "A Novel" text on the front page, the "First Edition" text, and the text Johnny uses just before getting into the baby story is purple, and Pelafina often being associated with purple, is definitely not a coincidence. In addition, the baby story being about a mother and her dying baby alludes to Pelafina and Johnny, implying Johnny never existed, at least as an adult (either he died as a baby/stillborn, or his mother actually succeeded in strangling him as a kid). One of Pelafina's coded letters (there's at least two if i remember correctly) also mentions Zampano, so it's plausible that Zampano was Pelafina's lover and later disappeared from her life, and Pelafina integrated him into the book she was writing.

A bit minor in terms of symbolism, but notably the word "changeling", according to the index, is only used two times: one in Johnny's section, and one in Pelafina's section. Johnny's a changeling in that he makes up stories to protect himself: pretend to be someone he's not, and he never told anyone, at least in LA, about his actual childhood. Pretty obvious, yes. Pelafina's also a changeling as well using the "Pelafina is the true author and Johnny was dead all along/never existed to begin with", in that she acts like johnny is alive by sending letters to him, when in reality he was killed by her/died in birth/never existed. She pretends to be someone she's not by acting like a mother, in other words.

That said, while I see the Pelafina author theory as the most plausible theory for HoL, i kinda ignore it cuz imagining a world w/o Johnny Truant makes me sad :,)

a connecting theme for all of HoL is obsession. Will obsesses over the house's changing architecture, Holloway obsesses over a potential beast within the labyrinth, Johnny obsesses over the manuscript of The Navidson Record, hell, even Karen expresses obsession in trying to ignore the house (through Feng Shui and whatnot). And of course, there's what happens when obsession takes hold, best seen in Will and Karen neglecting their kids and each other (Will moreso), Holloway's refusal to abandon a 'mission' and shooting Jed thinking the latter was the beast, Johnny not going outside his apartment for days on end and losing time, not seeing his friends at all, you get the drift. We the readers even emulate it, obsessing over the book, what it meant, and what actually was real or not. It's only when Will burns the book be brought, House of Leaves, that things start to take a turn for the better: he lets go of his obsession of the house, Karen rescues him, and they live a happier life away from the house. Also seen when Johnny meets the band who shows him the book as well, as the very last passage in chronological terms has him finding closure over finding the book in the band's hands ("It's going to be alright. It's going to be alright"). not rlly hidden symbolism or a theory but i always love talking bout the obsession theme and stuff.

also one more thing: Johnny thinks the number nine is connected with him, and seeing his math i can't disagree. what's interesting, and i found out only recently from going thru the eht namuh website, is that the number nine in the Bible is a symbol of finality and completeness (as a TF fan, this statement feels ironic). His musing pops up around his final chapter he actually appears in the book, where while it does leave him w an ambiguous ending, it also completes his story arc, including giving him some closure. idk where im going with this but it's just something neat.