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filth teaches filth⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ / I. Margaret Atwood. II. J.B. Smith. III. Fiona Apple. IV. Kim Addonizio. V. Chantelle M. Wells. VI. Slothrust. VII. Anne Carson.
Moe is five when her father dies in a boating accident. And that is what marks the end of everything that could possibly be good and sacred in her life. From then on she learns to live perpetually in the shadow of a tragedy; for, girls like Maureen Reeves were never really meant to live out from under that shadow.
It is easy for Moe to understand that her mother blames her. But she wasn't there. She was at home with crayons and a colouring book eating apple pieces; but Ainsley blames Moe for most things. For being born even. Ainsley Reeves has never been very kind to anyone but her eldest daughter and Moe is used to this but Moe is also insurmountably angry.
If Maureen was a house and her skeleton was plaster walls and support beams, then her anger would be like a black mould. Like rot at the very core of the thing.
Black mould is nearly impossible to get rid of entirely, and the best way to make sure it stays gone is to rip out everything that it has touched. Maureen is not sure how far this analogy stretches out to fit her life— she is a house full of black mould, she is a teenage girl filled with rage. What does it mean to strip a house down to its bones just to get rid of the rot? Is that house even your house anymore when most of it is gone? Is your mother still your mother if she does not resent you? Are you still yourself if you are not angry?
