getting out of tough situations; bourgeois

We lived in Easton, where there was no city water and we were totally dependent on the well. The water table was low in Easton, so the well was quite deep.
The guilt feeling and the severity that inhabited the house were expressed by, “You better be good or I’ll push you down the well.” You see, that was the ultimate punishment. Certainly, I didn’t push anybody into the well, but look at these here, one and two…my two sons Jean-Louis and Alain. I did something wrong and, sure enough, they pushed me in. I’m not accusing them….
The figure is screaming at the bottom of the well.
We have tunnel vision and we have bottom-of-the-well vision. If you visualize yourself down there, the question is, how are you going to get out? This philosophy is an optimistic philosophy. By hook or by crook, you are going to get yourself out. And I always did. But how? By drawing.
- Louise Bourgeois, on “Untitled,” 1947