Necrophilia: How often do you fondle the dead's hair?

"I was alone, of course.  Yet I couldn't go back to sleep; and after tossing and

turning in a feverish insomnia, I got our of bed to touch my talisman.  It seemed to me to be in a more gentle humour than usual, and more full of life.  Do teh dead come back?  The kisses I lavished on it almost caused me to faint with euphoria; and I carried it back to bed with me, where I lay iwth my lips pressed against it like a mistress one is about to possess." -"The Head of Hair", by Guy de Maupassant

 

I was very pleased both before and after reading this piece because as I hoped, it was a story about a monmanic obsession (one of my favorite plots)!  I was instantly captivated by the first paragraph of the story where Maupassant described the crazed man in his cell very vividly. It made me want to keep reading the piece because of the scene it portrayed and the curiousity that it instilled; I had to know what had happened to this man! At first, I pictured Hannibal Lecture positioned in his cell waiting for Clarece, but after continuing some more, it seemed that the man had a more weathered face, and disheveled appearance. I particularly liked the last line of the paragraph "...his obsession was undermining his flesh, sucking his blood, destroying him by inches."  Great writing; he describes his plunge into death with such emotion, as if a vampire is draining him as we continue to read.

I also enjoyed that the piece was mostly written in the form of a diary (some what).  I am a fan of that style of writing, and I always have been.  I think that when it comes to the genre of horror, this gives us a more chilling and horrid representation of our character because we are hearing his intermost thoughts and opinions on the worldj; we're getting into his head and as we all know, in horror, that is normally the scariest place to be.  Because of this, I thought that it was interesting that I both pitied and respected the man at the same time.  I found myself almost liking the crazed at some points in the story, and I think it was the very strong connection that I felt with the protagonist because of the diary insert. -- I also found myself drawn to the paragraph about why the hair was left in the hidden compartment.  Great writing!  It shows how obsessive our character really is but also, how he rashions himself sane -- my particular favorite!  

Towards the end of the story, I felt as if I was the doctor evaluating the situation at hand.  I personally think that this is a good thing, because it lets the reader take part in the story, and helps each of us come to our own conclusions about the piece.