GOTHIC ROMANTICISM:

In The Fall of the House of Usher the narrator's childhood friend, Roderick Usher, has invited him to stay at the Usher manor. The Usher manor is a dark and creepy place, there a disturbing images of he sees of desolated trees this makes it a very disturbing place for the narrator. Roderick wrote him that he was feeling ill and would love to be in the presence of his old boy hood friend. The man narrating states that Roderick looks pale and has a loss of energy. Roderick plays a song to the narrator with his guitar and one of the verses states, "But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
Assailed the monarch's high estate;
(Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow
Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)
And, round about his home, the glory That blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.", (TFOHU pg 10), this verse can resemble the feelings Roderick truly has inside about where he is living and the things that go on in his house. The last key point of Roderick is that he is noted to be afraid in his own house. This may be because his sister is a vampire...... just sayin'. Madeline, Roderick's sister, is said to have been diagnosed with an in-curable illness that can not be reversed. Later in the short story Madeline dies, Roderick buries her under the house temporarily because he fears the doctors will dig her body up out of the ground to do tests. While Roderick and the narrator is putting Madeline in the tomb the narrator notices Madeline's rosy cheeks, he also notices then that Roderick and Madeline are twins. One night after the burial of his sister Roderick and the narrator find themselves uneasy and un able to sleep, so the narrator read "Mad Trist” by Sir Launcelot Canning to the two of them. As he is reading this story he find himself hearing the noises that are extremely similar to the noises that would be happening in the book. Roderick has passed out by now and is muttering that he has heard these sounds for days now. The most essential part to the theory that Madeline is a vampire is when the narrator believes Madeline was buried alive and as he came to the proclamation his old friend Roderick screams the "she is behind the door!!" at that instance the wind blows the door open and there stands Madeline covered in blood and the evidence of her struggle is very apparent on her appearance. She attacks Roderick and as she does this the life slowly drains out of both of them. T he narrator runs to the entrance of the house trying to escape but just as he is doing so the house begins to crack and the foundation breaks and the whole structure that was once a house collapsed. The fact that Madeline had the rosy cheeks that happens, in most cases, to a person freshly pronounced dead, and that fact that Madeline was presumed dead and buried but yet was alive and attacking her brother and chasing the narrator at the end makes it pretty clear that she was a vampire. 

Gothic writers like to express their dislike for human nature by indirectly stating it. In most of the stories we have read there is always one antagonist that has a personality to fit most humans. This person usually starts off showing that they are a good person but by the end of the story they are usually proven to be a manipulative and displeasing person. In The Life You Save May Be Your Own Mr. Shiftlet has the ability of showing that he is a good person in the beginning and that he is a man who believes he only serves God, as many people I know do, but by the end his true colors are revealed. In A Rose For Emily the towns people project that they care for Miss Emily and feel sorry for, yet they are disappointed when her engagement doesn't have a huge blow-off they can all witness and gossip about. These are two prime examples of how these writers project that they feel human nature is using a cover that you are a good person but as you read on to their souls that people as a whole are deceitful. In The Fall Of The House Of Usher Edgar Allen Poe shows a different interpretation of human nature. He shows that people have a soft side for their old friends that they care deeply about and will help them in their time of need. He does this by having the narrator go to help comfort his childhood friend in his time of need, this childhood friend he hasn't seen in many years. Although, Poe also expresses a dislike for human nature in  The Black Cat because in this story Poe shows people have a tendency to fall off the right path and go to the darker side of their emotions. He also shows that once that person is off his or hers path that they cant redeem themselves because when they try they cause greater devastation to the ones they originally loved. So, no writers express their feelings towards human nature in many different aspects and they each have individual feelings towards human nature.

 

HONORS SOPHOMORE ENGLISH

SOUTHERN GOTHIC ROMANTICISM: THE LIFE YOU SAVE MAY BE YOUR OWN &A ROSE FOR EMILY

        Southern gothic romanticism is a type of writing that is placed in American South, it typically involves a unusual or supernatural ironic event that is the underlying plot of the story. It will take classic prime examples of Gothic characters such as a knight in shining armor and will in turn change to exemplify a common southern character while leaving the same nature or personality to the attribute. An example of this would be changing a knight in shining armor to a spiteful, wise talking lawyer. Another quality a story must have to be labeled a Southern Gothic Romanticism is that it must include one particular building, either a farm or a house, that is falling apart and often frightening to the characters. There must be at least one character that is grotesque and can be used as a negative influence on the southern culture. This persona will have a disgusting appearance and will usually turn everyone else away due to its nasty image. There will also be one individual that will stand apart from the rest of the cast by exhibiting a disability in a gross manor. There are four main  themes to a Southern Gothic Romanticism -FREAKISHNESS -IMPRISONMENT-VIOLENCE-SENSE OF PLACE each of these key aspects are the things that fully contribute to making a truly magnificent story.

    In A Life You Save May Be Your Own   Flannery O'Connor exhibits a great understanding of what Southern Gothic writing really is. The story is placed in Southern America and Mr. Shiftlet is the "Grotesque" factor to the story because he is missing one of his forearms. While Lucynell, the old woman he comes across, could be seen as a king taking in a servant because she will allow him to stay there so he can preform task of high labor levels, such as fixing a roof or fixing up pipes in her yard. The building in which the setting is taking place is Lucynell's house which can give off an eary appeal on an outside perspective due to it's many faults. One of which is stated as a pipe that is left out straggly to the corner of the house, there are also the messed up roofs on the garden house and on her house. This story can compare to Dark Romanticism because Shiftlet and Lucynell are both characters that can be relates to a gothic characters such as Lucynell being a king in a castle hiring a servant because she takes Shiftlet in only for the mere purpose of him doing strained household chores such as fixing roofs on her house and the garden house. Shiftlet could be compared to a medieval servant working for a place to stay. In the end of the story the hitchhiker Shiftlet picks up makes the story work because it shows that Shiftlet still has regrets about leaving his home and he is trying to help any man he sees fix the mistake they are about to make. When the hitchhiker tells Shiftlet,"To go to the Devil" which naturally surprises Shiftlet which in turn makes Shiftlet ask God to cleanse the world of the evil sinners expressing his disappointment with humanity, that point makes Shiftlet look like a hypocrite because he left Lucynell Jr. at a diner when she is deaf and had fallen asleep. This whole scene shows that with one right there are always going to be a wrong that will follow. Lucynell takes in a hitchhiker who is supposed to help her, he then as a backlash marries her daughter. Which, in this never ending cycle, makes him want to take her out, after that he leaves his deaf wife at a diner, comes across a hitchhiker and preaches to him the same things he was doing.

       In A Rose for Emily  Emily's crime goes undetected because the townspeople felt sorry for her and excuses were always made as to why things were different in her house. One of the contributing factors to this statement is when all her neighbors starting complaining about the smell protruding from her house. After many complaints the town's workers came and simply squirted lime juice about the building and everyone felt sorry for her for having accusations against her and her household. Another reason her crime may have gone undetected id the fact that no one has seen the inside of her house for many years and the last time anyone was ever inside was when Miss Emily was giving lessons in China painting. The last reason was that her upstairs in her home was extremely secluded and she may have even closed it off. The fact that she had passed away was the only reason the people of the town were able to bust through the door on her upstairs area and only then were they able to find the body of Mr. Homer Barren. William Faulkner does a remarkable job at illustrating the traits for a Southern Gothic style writing. He uses the fact the storyline takes place in a very rural area in Southern America. He also describes that Miss Emily's appearance starts to change. It changes in the way that she starts to look heavier, her hair starts to turn a bright silver, lastly he describes her appearance as starting to look sick. The last way he shows his ability to write in Southern Gothic form is by how he made the ending dark and at the same time it has a romantic feeling, in the way that Miss Emily's hair was found next to Homer's bod. This feature gives off the sense that she may have killed herself next to her dead husband so they can live together eternally, another theory that comes to mind is that maybe she poisoned him and herself so that they could die together. In that aspect she seems to be a person full of passion and love but with the wrong idea of how to show it. All of these events show that he is fantastic at writing. This writing compares to Romanticism and Dark Romanticism the same way that the other story compared to those styles of writing.

Essential Questions:

1. Romantics' beliefs of optimism is shown through their writings by the way they express that there is always a place further down the road that will be positive and will have a good outcome no matter what has been done.

2. ROMANTICISM: Was a form of writing during the romantic era and it points emotional feelings over logic or experience. Uses nature, human nature, and the past.

  GOTHIC ROMANTICISM: Is the type of writing that uses gloomy feelings and grotesque characters. Uses mystery, the supernatural, and the dark feelings. Still uses medieval literature like a damsel in distress.

  SOUTHERN GOTHIC ROMANTICISM: Takes place in Southern America. It takes classic Gothic characters and transforms their image to match the rural setting the story would take place in. --- ---

They are similar because they each use nature and unexplainable events to relate with the audience. They each have an element of appeal to a variety of audiences and they all use religion in one way or another. They are different because Romanticism is not dark and is happy, it also uses the past to shape the story. Gothic Romanticism is dark and uses the supernatural to help form the story. Lastly, Southern Gothic Romanticism uses each of the previous styles but turns them in a way to match Southern America.

4. The Southern Gothic movement is a response to the literary movement of the Gothic movement. This is because Southern Gothic is a subgenre to Gothic writing, it takes the writing style of Gothic but changes it to match Southern America. It is a manipulated version of Romantic style of writing because it uses all the key aspects of it but converts it, as I have previously stated, to match Southern America.

5. American culture prompted the dark side to Romanticism because people started craving the dark and mysterious side to the usual love stories they were given.

6.  The writings of that time period influenced todays writings by giving the authors of todays society more leeway on what romanticism is. Many of todays top sellers involve a love story, and some supernatural event that should keep the main characters apart but doesn't. A prime example of this is Twilight or The Hunger Games. Twilight shows this by Bella and Edward falling in love even though Edward is a vampire, Hunger Games shows this by Katniss and Peeta falling in love and both winning the games even though the odds were definitely NOT in their favor. Each of these books may not have been possible if the authors were writing in the style prior to these major literary movements.

  

Legend Of Sleepy Hollow:

The story The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow captures the imagination of todays reader by giving a tale of mystery and also has a scary element to it. In todays world people love thrill and they also love to solve the mystery behind stories, the guessing is intriguing. They scary aspect to the story the whole haunted forest with the headless horseman. The major mystery to the story to the story is figuring out who the headless horseman is and why he is doing what he is doing. The imaginations of todays youth could say that he is a ghost haunting a forest or he is a man who impeccably lived through a beheading. The guessing leads the reader in and the twists and turns make it impossible to put the story down.

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot:

This song has a verse that states, "There was a band of angels comin' for to carry me home" this verse speaks to me as to say that he is almost to death and can see the angels from heaven coming to bring him to God. This song reflects religious beliefs because it is a song about angels and it keeps the slaves, or anybody for that matter, singing this song that hard times happen and that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel no matter how bad life gets there will always be a better outcome if you truly believe. The time period this song was written was during a extremely religious time period and this song shows it because it is about heaven and the God above. This was also written during a time of slavery for our nation and this song also shows that because it was song by slaves to get through their hard times. It can be reflected to our time period because even now people have rough lives and need to look to God for help and hope to get through it.

 

"THE BLACK CAT" BY EDGAR ALLEN POE

SOCRATIC QUESTIONS:

CLOSED ENDED QUESTION:

    HOW DOES THE MAN DESCRIBE HIMSELF DURING HIS CHILDHOOD?

ANSWER:

  In "The Black Cat" the man describes himself as having "docility and humanity for his disposition". He states that he had a kind heart that made him favorable between his friends. He mentions that he was fond of animals and enjoyed nurturing them.

OPENED ENDED QUESTION:

 HOW DOES HIS PERSONALITY DEFER FROM WHEN HE WAS A CHILD TO HIS ADULTHOOD?

ANSWER:

 In the beginning he says that as a child he was kind and joyous. He even goes deep enough to say he loved animals and the best part was nurturing them and caressing them. When he became an adult he married a woman who had a same fondness for animals and together they had many different animals varying from a small monkey to a cat, they also had a gold-fish, a dog, and some birds. He soon fell into a deep depression he cured with alcohol and began to abuse his wife and malnourish his animals. He even got so lost in his fall to the bottom the he even killed his favorite animal their cat Pluto, not before cutting out the poor things eye. He changed so drastically from being a kind and gentle, animal loving kid, to a animal tormenter and killer, adult.

 

WORLD CONNECTION QUESTION:

 LIVING IN TODAY'S WORLD, DO YOU BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE CAN ABUSE THEIR ANIMALS THAT DEVISTATINGLY EVEN KNOWING THE SCIENCE THAT ANIMALS HAVE FEELINGS? 

ANSWER:

 Yes, upon reading this story my eyes were opened a little wider t the abuse inflicted upon animals. I soon went around telling my friends about the brutal story I had just read and confessed with them that it made me want to cry that someone can do that to their own animal. After hearing my reaction people began to say that they would kill a cat because e they are useless and give no benefit to the household. I even heard a story about someone killing kittens because they wanted them gone and it was to much trouble to give them away apparently.

UNIVERSAL THEME:

 IF THE STORY WAS BASED IN OUR GENERATIONS WHAT ASPECTS MAY HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT AND WHAT ASPECTS MAY BE KEPT THE SAME?

ANSWER:

  In today's generation people have less of a respect towards animals as when they did back then. The aspects that would be changed would have been the part when he hung his cat on a tree by his house, in today's world most would have either shot it or they would have ran it over. The majority of the descriptions and details about how he treated his wife and animals would have been the same because today's society has a lack of dignity towards anything or anyone who is not them. People mistreat their animals by not feeding them on a day to day basis, also if someone in the 21st century were to kill their wife they would have no remorse and would cover it up as quickly as possible and sleep soundly through the night.

LITERARY ANALISYS QUESTION:

 DOES POE USE ENOUGH BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND SENTENCE STRUCTURE TO PROVE THE THESIS OF HOW A MURDER MAY ORIGINALLY START OFF AS A LOST SOUL TRYING TO RECOVER COMPARED TO SOMEONE SET ON KILLING THEIR LOVED ONES?

ANSWER:

 Poe uses the background knowledge of what alcoholism effects a persons change in attitude towards others and he does a good job of setting up the structure to lead the reader in from an innocent young boy who is kind and loving. To an angry, depressed, lost middle-aged man who slowly looses his sanity which leads him to murder. He also sets it up from the man starting off with neglecting his animal, to physically harming them, to murdering the animal. Even from there it leads on and goes from a cat murder, to a man looking for a savior in a new look alike cat found at his apartment, to someone who was once again lead off the right path, and lastly becomes a human murder. Poe shows that maybe not all murders start with someone who is crazy to begin with, but maybe they start with someone that fell off their path and was never able to find the right road that leads back to it.