Joyce Carol Oates is a fantastic writer who was often compared to Edgar Allen Poe, she was once quoted saying," Horror is a fact of life. As a writer, I'm fascinated by all facets of life." How does horror fascinate her so much that she can go on writing about it? Or is she using her writing as a wakeup call often overlooked by the average eye? Gothic Fiction often involves supernatural characters, spirits, and or creatures/ humans in a dark manner. "Where is Here?" is a very dark fiction story with many characters and imagination involved. It left readers wondering many questions as to how the story could have ended or what it meant. Why did Oates use gothic styled elements to create this story? Foreshadowing and clues throughout the story …show more content…
He says it was his parents, his sister and him. Much like the current family living there, they had two children and the two parents. Apparently, the families discomfort gets much worse as the man continues. He goes from room to room mentioning things he had remembered with his parents. He suggested the window seal was his favorite place, unless his dad was home, showing that maybe they didn't have the best relationship. At a point in the story, the stranger asks why the couple had two children. It made the parents outraged, and the dad continued asking "why?" until the unknown man would give him a clear answer. The stranger then goes on to say, "But you love them of course, otherwise, it would all come to an end." Implying that maybe that is what happened to him and his family. Before meeting the son, the stranger went on reciting some riddles his mother had told him as a child, "why are we here," "Where is here?". The dad had proceeded to tell him that he hated riddles and they were pointless, maybe revealing a trait that the father had. The father was angry and decided it was time for the stranger to leave, but he had one last odd request. He wanted to sit in the basement alone and ket the family continue having dinner. That request showed that maybe the cellar was a safe place or a refuge for the boy when stuff got bad at
The castles and mansions that provide the settings for traditional Gothic tales are full of grandeur, darkness, and decay. These settings are one of the most recognizable elements of traditional Gothic fiction. Setting is equally as important in modern Gothic literature as well. While the settings in the two stories, “Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe and “Where Is Here?” by Joyce Carol Oates, are incredibly different, they are also very similar.
However, even though Christianity is a symbol that is prominent in O’Connor’s works, she still manages to pull in the grotesque theme that she is renowned for. These two themes are very contradicting but has become a well-known theme for many writers. It is often referred to as “Southern Gothic.”
Written in 1818, the latter stages of the Gothic literature movement, at face value this novel embodies all the key characteristics of the Gothic genre. It features the supernatural, ghosts and an atmosphere of horror and mystery. However a closer reading of the novel presents a multifaceted tale that explores
In the short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, many elements of fiction are used to convey subject of themes represented throughout the story, such as disguises. Throughout the story the use of characterization, detail, and allusions represents the presence evil in the modern world. Oates used these elements to capture evil that illustrates the theme that ‘Looks can be deceiving’.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a great Southern gothic because of how we, the audience, can relate to the main characters. We know people like Arnold Friend from the newspaper clippings and books about notorious serial killers like Charles Schmid, Ted Bundy, and Charles Manson. We could be an accomplice like Ellie Oscar as Milgram’s experiment, the Stanford Prison Experiment, and Susan Atkins shows us. Finally, we are Connie. Connie is a normal person, living a normal life, until it is ended by a cruel kidnapper which we know could be reality from the kidnapping stories of Elizabeth Smart, Anne Sluti, and Jaycee Dugard. Oates story is scary because it has the ability to be true and we, the audience, can identify with each character Arnold Friend, Ellie Oscar, and Connie.
In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, Oates wants to show a more intellectual and symbolic meaning in this short story. Oates has many symbolic archetypes throughout the short story along with an allegory. Oates uses these elements in her story by the selection of detail and word choice used. Oates does this because she wants to teach her audience a moral lesson.
Elements of Southern Gothic Literature Literature comes in all types of styles and one type is Southern Gothic. But what makes a story develop into this type of Southern Gothic style? There are many characteristics that are apparent in literature, so what conditions are distinct that would give them the term Southern Gothic literature? What kind of elements do we call for when trying to find this type of literature? Southern Gothic is a literature that has a style all its own.
The blending of terror and romance in Gothic Literature was used in a unique combination to attract and entice the reader into the story. The terror in the literature helps the reader explore their imagination and form their own picture setting of what is happening. Using romance in the story also keeps the reader's attention because of the unknown and the curiosity of what happens next. The Gothic writing became popular after the Romantic period because readers were still a...
Oates uses a great number of symbols in her short story "Where are you going? Where have you been? to create an aura of unease and Devilishness. Her principal symbols are Arnold Friend, his disguise, and the music Connie listens to. Oates' use of symbolism and Biblical allusions to Satan force the reader to raise an eyebrow to the character of Arnold Friend and the doomed future of Connie.
Quite often in life we wish for things bigger than ourselves. Seeming to get wrapped up in our own minds we do not pay attention to reality. As reality comes full force we are not sure how to take it, so we let it take us. In the writing “Where are you going, where have you been?” we see Oates craft archetypes and allegories into the work through detail and word choice in order to help the reader understand the shocking outdistancing of day dreams and the overshadowing sockdolager called reality. These archetypes and allegories provide a way for the reader to join Connie in the story, but also to see the danger of what Connie doesn’t see.
The setting is gothic litereature is commonly located in a Victorian-styled environment, with dull shades of black and white pointed architecture. Some of the place described in the Gothic writing are old, abdondoned house, castles, or
the elements of a gothic novel as it is not set in a remote place or a
Word by word, gothic literature is bound to be an immaculate read. Examining this genre for what it is could be essential to understanding it. “Gothic” is relating to the extinct East Germanic language, people of which known as the Goths. “Literature” is defined as a written work, usually with lasting “artistic merit.” Together, gothic literature combines the use of horror, death, and sometimes romance. Edgar Allan Poe, often honored with being called the king of horror and gothic poetry, published “The Fall of House Usher” in September of 1839. This story, along with many other works produced by Poe, is a classic in gothic literature. In paragraph nine in this story, one of our main characters by the name of Roderick Usher,
Sothern gothic literature that include Works like Flannery O’Connor’s “A Late encounter with the enemy” incorporates the idea of “investigating madness, decay and despair, and the continuing pressures of the past upon the present, particularly with respect to the lost ideals of a dispossessed Southern aristocracy and to the continuance of racial hostilities.”(Marshall 3). These ideas all share a common theme that O’Connor brings to the table in “A Late Encounter with the enemy, along with “The American South serves as the nation’s ‘other,’ becoming the repository of everything from which the nation wants to disassociate itself” (Marshall 3–4). But in true Gothic fashion, the horrors of the past continue to dominate the present.” (Marshall 12). Flannery O’Connor gives readers insight into the life of the granddaughter Sally Poker Sash and how she heavily relies on her families past lineage to shape her present and future in this southern gothic horror (O’Connor 87).
The first element Edgar used the most in his short stories is horror. Horror is an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting. As you are reading his poems his description often make so that you begin to feel the pain and sorrow that is happening. In his story “The Fall of the House o...