Self-deception constantly surrounds us. To varying degrees, we are all victims of it. My interest in the topic was initially captured upon reading works in the Genre Literature course here at MICDS. Of these that lit a spark within me are The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Gilman. The idea of insanity, for reasons that I cannot explain, draws my attention unlike any other theme I have come across yet in English class. It’s just something about the deviation from reality, the incapability or reluctance to face facts that sucks me in. A bit of the darker side intrigues me: it is a break from the normal, a break from the monotonous regularity and at times dull nature of reality.

        This puny flame flickered when my class discussed the idea of insanity within those works, but it began to glow when I delved deeper into causes of insanity. Specifically in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, the insanity of the narrator is developed through her constant self-delusion that patterns existed in the wallpaper when in reality nothing was there. I did not get to further explore that realm in that class, but ALT has given me the opportunity to pursue this interest of mine. It is a pleasure to craft a multimodal site about a topic that truly grabs my attention and I hope that upon viewing my work, the viewer will leave having a greater interest in the topic than he or she did coming in.