After close evaluation of the material presented in the previous section, I discovered four themes that revealed themselves in all six historical figures’ stories. The four themes, along with supporting examples from the figures’ biographies, will be presented in this section, as well as an exploration of the structure that binds together the fundamental themes seen with each historical figure.
Loss
Loss is a profound emotional process for everyone; it crosses cultural and gender lines. Loss can be physical, as in the death of a loved one, loss of good health from an illness, or loss of a person or thing through abandonment. All three types of loss can be seen in the stories of the historical figures presented.
Both Homer and Langley Collyer experienced loss to various degrees through - out their lifetimes. In their biographies, four losses consistently surfaced:
1 Their sister died as an infant, before they were born. This loss would have been felt by the family as a whole, even though the brothers were not born yet.
2 An additional loss for both brothers was felt when their father “abandoned his family” in 1919 and moved to another residence, visiting his family often but not residing with the brothers and their mother.
3 The brothers lost both parents: their father in 1923 and their mother 6 years later. The brothers were especially close to their mother.
4 Homer lost his eyesight and his health deteriorated, creating a need to be cared for by his brother Langley.
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Edith and Little Edie Beale faced loss as well; their attempts to cope with their loss united the pair in their grief. In their biographies, eight significant losses were identified:
1 Edie had a reoccurring respiratory illness that plagued her as a child, keeping her home from school and in bed for days and weeks at a time with acute respiratory illness.
2 Edith experienced a profound loss when Phelan left her and married his secretary. The divorce was very difficult for Edith emotionally.
3 The breakup of Edie’s first love with Julius Krug was a significant loss for her.
4 Edie’s ideals of one day getting married and finding her true love never came to fruition.
5 Edith’s lover (after her divorce) ended their relationship as well. He moved out of her residence, leaving her alone.
6 The loss of Edie’s hair to alopecia was traumatic for her.
7 For both, the death of Phelan was experienced as a loss.
8 After Phelan died, both Edith and Edie lost the income they relied on to pay for their lifestyles at Grey Gardens.
Andy Warhol experienced his own losses as well during the course of his life.
His biography tells of the various losses he had to cope with. Four noteworthy ones were identified:
1 Andy’s illness as a child created a loss because he was not able to attend school over a year and had to stay indoors resting, which in turn created the loss of a social environment that could mitigate feelings of isolation and loneliness.
2 The death of Andy’s father when he was 13 years old was a traumatic loss.
3 He experienced numerous losses when intimate relationships ended due to his awkwardness.
4 After being shot, Andy suffered a loss of security. He reported that this event forever changed the way he perceived his health and mortality.
Ida Mayfield Wood was no stranger to loss as well:
1 Six of her siblings died as infants, two before Ida was born and four after.
2 Another sibling, Louis, died at age 13 by drowning. Ida had his body exhumed and moved it to New York to be buried at the family plot.
3 Her father left her mother and moved to California, leaving her mother and siblings alone. She eventually moved them to New York.
4 Her father died unexpectedly in California.
5 Her mother died suddenly while on a trip back to their country to visit family.
Ida had her body flown back to New York for burial.
6 The loss of stability and infrastructure of banks in 1907 created a fear of losing money for Ida.
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Shame
A person’s identity and view of self can promote or hinder his or her adaptation to the environment and social norms. Feelings of not being good enough, not measuring up, and embarrassment about past history or origins were all evident in the historical figures’ biographies, as were feelings of shyness, humiliation, and inadequacy. Both external shame by others and internal shame within one’s self were significant conditions in each of their lives.
Homer and Langley Collyer’s history embodied shame in various forms, both externally from the residents in Harlem and internally through their own perceived ideals.
1 They were dishonest about their origin: they stated their ancestors came to America on the Speedwell, but in fact they arrived in America 52 years after the Mayflower.
2 Langley felt as if he was not good enough musically because Paderewski received better notices than he did.
3 Both brothers were teased by the neighborhood kids and called names like
“ghosty men” and “spooks.” A sign was posted on their house stating it was a ghost house.
4 Homer was unable to care for himself and relied on Langley’s help to conduct his daily life.
For Edith and Little Edie Beale, shame was present in many of the same contexts as it was for the Collyer brothers:
1 Edith and Edie were not supported in following their dreams of becoming a singer and actress. Both of their fathers put down their talents as a waste of their time.
2 Edie’s alopecia made her insecure about her appearance.
3 Neighbors and outsiders ridiculed the way the Beales lived.
Andy Warhol suffered greatly from his own internal shame.
1 Andy came from a poor immigrant family who lived in the slums of Pittsburgh.
2 He was ridiculed in school because his hands shook as a side effect of his illness.
3 His family made fun of him and nicknamed him “Red Nose Warhola.”
4 Andy was embarrassed by his appearance, notably his acne and red nose.
The central theme in Ida Mayfield Wood’s story is the shame she felt regarding her familial origins. Ida went to great lengths to hide her Irish background and create a fantasy upbringing with a more prominent background.
1 Ida was dishonest about her upbringing and her background growing up in Massachusetts, not New York. She was from a poor Irish immigrant family.
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2 She pretended that her sister was her daughter and hid her identity from outsiders.
Object clusters
A notable trait among the historical figures researched was the propensity to hoard objects similar in classification and function. Each person accumulated objects particular to past interests, hobbies, or history, and each one seemed to collect numerous versions of particular objects. These valued objects are mirrors of each subject’s personal myth; hoarding is a form of myth-making and myth amplifying through imagination and lifestyle, which allows an individual’s myth to come alive.
Homer and Langley Collyer both had a love for singing and playing musical instruments. Their father Herman was a prominent doctor who loved medicine.
In their collection of items discovered after their death, numerous object clusters were found.
1 Fourteen pianos and five violins were found in the hoard along with an accordion, a trombone, a clavichord, a cornet, sheet music, and an opera program.
2 Different types of medical equipment were found amid the junk, including a glass static machine, disassembled medical specimens, an X-ray machine, a machine to treat rheumatism, and a 2,500-volume medical library.
3 Expensive home decoration items were also found, such as tapestries, Victorian oil lamps and vases, 13 Oriental rugs, oil paintings, fine linens, silks, wools, damask, brocade, and dressmaking dummies that belonged to their mother Susie.
4 Numerous weapons were located inside the home as well: three revolvers, two rifles, a shotgun, ammunition, a bayonet, and a saber.
The object clusters for the Beales seemed to constellate around heirlooms from their glamorous high society past and their current hobby of breeding cats.
1 The living room and dining room was the central locale for most of the dusty, antique furniture and a grand piano. Also found were a large oil painting of a once young and vibrant Edith Beale and a letter from Phelan written on their wedding day. These two items were kept in the bedroom, in close proximity to Edith.
2 Edith and Edie bred over 300 cats and had numerous raccoons that they fed on a daily schedule.
3 Due to their hobby of breeding cats, the most hoarded item found in Grey Gardens was empty cat food cans. In the dining room alone, there was a 5- foot-high pile of empty cans.
Of particular interest is what objects presented themselves for Andy Warhol’s hoard. He had an extensive collection of items that resonated on various themes.
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Andy’s clusters of objects seemed to center around celebrities, his fame, art, and items that brought him joy.
1 Andy had a fondness for perfume bottles; he had an extensive collection of half full containers.
2 An extensive collection of biscuit jars was found in his possession.
3 He had a collection of 1,659 items of pottery, 72 Navajo blankets, and art deco furniture.
4 There were 33 pieces of artwork by various artists.
5 Tickets, flyers, invitations, and posters to parties and events were located among his items.
6 Numerous notes, cards, and pictures addressed to Andy from fans and celebrities were discovered.
7 The time capsules themselves can be seen as cluster objects; he hoarded 570 cardboard boxes full of objects that defined his life.
Ida Mayfield Wood’s hobby was playing the stock market—making money, which in turn created what she believed was an identity of stature. Additionally, her social status was very important to her, as was making a name for herself in New York’s high society.
1 Money was the most hoarded object found among Ida’s possessions. Old currency and coins in small denominations were found throughout her suite, totaling over a million dollars.
2 She also collected soap cakes from all around the world; over 5,000 pieces were discovered in both her suite and her storage.
3 Numerous pieces of jewelry and loose gems were hidden throughout her suite, totaling $900,000 in value.
4 Dusty portraits, photographs, and hundreds of letters between her and her husband Ben were hoarded.
5 Expensive dresses and imported lace from Ireland, Venice, and Spain were collected and stored inside trunks in her suite.
6 The 40 trunks that Ida used to store her items from the past can be seen as an object cluster as well.
Shadow inhabiting setting
The most prevalent theme that emerged for all six historical figures was the unconscious projection of each individual’s shadow into his or her setting. The unfavorable characteristics of each person were projected into their habitat and came alive in the darkness and murkiness of their surroundings. Death moved into each one of their dwellings, mirroring the inward experience one feels when soul dies.
Through embarrassment, shame, fear, and the rejection and judgment of onlookers, they withdrew inward, avoiding facing life and its perceived threats by creating an illusory identity and setting of safety.
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Homer and Langley Collyer felt like prisoners in their own home, and their setting became a reflection of their inward fear, a prison or fortress on lockdown.
The beauty of the home and numerous ornate objects still shone through the dust and decay of the mansion: a likeness of lives once lived by the Collyer family.
However, the mansion sat in disrepair and brokenness, a reflection of the lives of Homer and Langley.
Decay, isolation, emptiness, and brokenness also describe the Beales’ lives and their setting. Grey Gardens was described as having mostly empty rooms, decaying floorboards and ceilings, and rotting food throughout. Additionally, the decline in the beauty of Grey Gardens mirrored the Beales’ descent from high society into isolation. The lasting image of Grey Gardens shows it with dead vines strangling the once vibrant-colored home into a grey lifeless dwelling—a striking parallel to the life the Beales ended up living.
Andy Warhol’s setting was different from the previous two examples. His hoarding, for the most part, was confined to items discarded into cardboard boxes.
However, one can still see how his inward turmoil, chaos, and insecurities are reflected in the contents of the boxes. There were over 200,000 items stored in hundreds of boxes that imitated fears, death, and decay, all descriptive words that describe Andy in some fashion. From the dead bees and mummified foot found in his boxes to the decaying birthday cake, pizza dough, acne medication, and prescriptions, one can see how his life mirrored the contents of his hoard.
Andy struggled with self-ambivalence and uncertainty about himself, his art, and his fame. His acquiring and accumulation of random objects was an attempt to strengthen his certainty about his self-worth and give him a sense of security.
He wanted to be important and valued by others; therefore, he felt all of his items had importance and value. Additionally, he had a commitment to a vision of art that embraced the mundane, as if it were an attempt to raise what he found commonplace about his own background to a higher aesthetic level. In this sense, it could be seen as a redemptive act to transform the random and trivial effects of his life into compartmentalized moments of artistic consciousness.
Lies, secrecy, and fear of discovery seemed to dominate Ida Mayfield Wood’s adult life. Due to her fears, Ida isolated herself in her suite; over time her fears turned to paranoia. Her setting was a direct reflection of her fears: she was afraid of running out of money and being robbed, therefore, she lived in a barely lit room, scarcely ate, and hid her possessions throughout her suite. She hid the secret of her wealth by being a recluse and lying to hotel staff, insisting that she was poor and that her money was running out.