“When you say 'fear of the unknown', that is the definition of fear; fear is the unknown, fear is what you do not know, and it's genetically within us so that we feel safe. We feel scared of the woods because we're not familiar with it, and that keeps you safe.” – M. Night Shyamalan Since the beginning of the society, the forest has been portrayed as a place filled with darkness, and inhabited by the devil and other unworldly creatures. The rumors that were formed about what could be lurking in the forest were created to fill the void of knowledge of what was in the woods and to give them something to believe in. In reality, what lurked in the forest was still unknown to most people. The mystery of the forest was what people were so scared of. …show more content…
This fear of the unknown is a very common idea in writing, because it applies to everyone.
For a long period of time the forest was the epitome of the unknown, so it was often the focus of American Gothic writing. This writing tried to demonstrate that the forest was where evil lived, and that entering would only lead to finding an unholy being and in turn being surrounded by everything that is evil. This was always set up by depicting the forest as dark and gloomy place, where evil would be at all times. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow the forest and many other areas, “were thickly shaded by overhanging trees, which cast a gloom about it, even in the daytime; but occasioned a fearful darkness at night” (Irving). These places were where the fabled Headless Horseman
roamed. The Man in the Black Suit is another example of one of many stories that tried to depict the forest as an evil sanctuary and the home of the devil. As soon as Gary, the young and innocent protagonist, entered the forest the setting immediately took an eerie turn, “ I entered the woods, where double shadow fell over the road and it was cool and fir-smelling and you could hear the wind hissing through the deep, needled groves,” (King). The chilling feel had been cast on the forest to represent entering a place of evil. Only a short time later, Gary had stumbled upon the devil himself. The devil was shown as the embodiment of all things evil and he terrified those who came near, “I was more afraid than I could ever write down, more afraid than I want to remember,” (King). Gary was terrified during this encounter with the devil. His encounter with the devil is what people assumed would happen when someone ventured into the forest. The unknown beings and activity in the forest is what the people assumed to be the devil and all the other evil entities that they believed lurked in the forest. The devil and other supernatural creature are fears of many people and it is what people use to represent the unknown, and the general fear of the forest. Fears are created because they are what is unknown to someone, not t is unknown to someone. People are only scared of what they do not know and cannot predict.
This fear of the unknown is similar to the one shown in Gordon Grice’s essay, “The Black Widow.” In his essay, Grice explains how his fear of black widow made him curious about them. He once feared black widows because most people associated black widows as deadly animals that kill people. However, once Grice said, “I fell, hands first, into a mass of young widows … In about ten minutes my arms carried nothing but old web and the husks of spiderlings eaten by their sibs. I have never been bitten” (47). This revelation for Grice shows that black widows aren’t what he had thought them to be, but in fact mostly harmless to humans. “We want the world to be an ordered room, but in a corner of that room there hangs an untidy web. Here the analytical
From the time he decides to go to the woods at night, this peaceful panorama presented in his hometown changes. Evil images like "devil, lonely thick boughs, "1 add an obscure and negative side to the story.
From its earliest significant mention in the novel, the forest is portrayed as a place of lawlessness and mystery, as demonstrated by its most frequent visitors, the witches, and the Black Man that inhabits it. Early in the book, after Hester and Pearl visit Governor Bellingham?s estate, they are accosted by Mistress Hibbins, who is referred to as a witch, and is in good company with the Black Man of the forest. Mistress Hibbins invites Hester to some sort of meeting that would take place that night in the forest, which one can only assume is of some Satanic or heretical nature. ?Wilt thou go with us tonight?? (120) she asks, but Hester refuses. The Black Man and his book are themselves symbols of heresy and dissent from puritan law. The Black Man never shows himself to anyone in the novel or enters the village, instead, he lurks in the forest?s cover until those who choose to deviate f...
Irving does this to help readers realize how caught up the society of Sleepy Hollow is with their past. Irving frequently brings up the Revolutionary war and how the headless horseman was a Hessian soldier from the war. When he writes, “The dominant spirit that haunts this enchanted region is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head. It is said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a cannonball in some nameless battle during the Revolutionary War… The specter is known, at all the country firesides, by the name of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow” (Irving 2). This is an allusion to the Revolutionary war because the headless horseman was a hessian soldier. This explains the theme of supernatural because the Headless Horseman haunts their town and the main character, Ichabod Crane, comes across the ghost of him. Another major allusion in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is Ichabod's belief in witches. The author supports this when saying, “He was, moreover, esteemed by the women as a man of great erudition, for he had read several books quite through, and was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's 'History of New England Witchcraft” (Irving 4). Ichabod also believes in the supernatural past. His belief in witches supports the theme of supernatural within the book. Referring to the past using allusion develops different themes within the
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820) by Washington Irving is a classic American tale that has evolved in contemporary media throughout the years. Irving has exemplified traditional American folklore in his characterization of Ichabod Crane, the protagonist of the tale. Ichabod Crane has remained an integral part of the tale in American contemporary media, being interpreted differently in both the film Sleepy Hollow (1999) and the television adaption Sleepy Hollow (2013). Ichabod Crane has evolved just as the story has, evolving from a fear-riddled schoolteacher to a dashing, revolutionary, time traveling hero, and throughout these adaptations he remains an exemplification of American folklore.
On a stormy night, Mr. Van Garrett is making his way through the fields in a horse drawn carriage, with a mysterious figure on horseback not far behind him. With the sound of a “swoosh” by a sword, his horseman’s head comes off, forcing Van Garrett to abandon the carriage. As he makes his way through the cornfields, he too meets his fate as the same figure slices his head clean off of his body.
Fear is a feeling no one wants to admit they have. A young child, though, will say what they are afraid of, but as one gets older the more they want to be looked as a tough person. Zack Wamp puts it perfectly, no one should be scared or afraid to go into the future, but yet be intrigued into stepping into a new light of knowledge and learning. In Chinua Achebe's book Things Fall Apart he shows the Ibo people and their fear, superstition, response to fear and the British.
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving is a tale that has many different interpretations. One interpretation, in particular, is that of the supernatural and the headless horseman. The history of the town is peculiar, there is also a history of ghosts and mischief going on in the woods. This story mainly focuses on Ichabod Crane and what really happens to him at the end of the story when he is gone suddenly one night. Through the history and setting, chaos is ensured through people leaving suddenly, which gives Sleepy Hollow a haunted essence. Irving uses the character, Ichabod Crane, to show how the supernatural and history of the town are involved with Ichabod leaving town.
The setting of the forest is that of darkness, dreariness, disillusionment, perhaps symbolizing one's path for the journey through life. Faith, Goodman Brown's wife, is a symbol of Goodman Brown's actual faith and purity at the start of his journey. Brown wants to believe he can live his life the way he wants, but investigate "sin," and then come back to Faith when he is ready. This is signified by the statement, "Well; she's a blessed angel on earth; and after this one ...
natural that, as humans, we fear what we do not entirely understand simply because we know what will
Have you ever heard of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow? It’s a wonderful story, written by Washington Irving in 1819. It was then made into a movie entitled Sleepy Hollow by the gothic film maker Tim Burton in 1999.
In conclusion, it is essential that fear is conquered in order to survive. Fear manifests when the boy’s lives are on the line, and fear of the beast confirms the nature of evil. Fear is an unpleasant emotion with the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. It is important to realize that society as it is can manifest many fears, but to survive one must conquer them. Our fears can range and vary at many different levels: from fear of the dark, and to fear for your life. To become better people, we must not let our fears consume us and instead, overcome them.
The setting of The Abominable Charles Christopher is a normal forest, with large trees and four seasons, meadows and streams. The comic strip doesn’t introduce the entire forest to the audience all at once; the setting is given in pieces that coincides the introduction
Fear of forests is very common among all human beings not only in the past, but also nowadays. First of all, it is dangerous in dark forests because there might be very dangerous animals inside. For example, wild boars and bears always appear in the forest. Sometimes they are so strong that several hunters can’t take one down. It seems to be an impossible mission for a man to go into a huge forest alone without being armed. That is why people are afraid. Secondly, people still regard forests as a place for mysterious and frightening things in lots of stories, books and movies. Those terrible pictures might resonate deeply in people’s minds, which frighten them more when they are actually in that kind of situation by themselves. Thirdly, some people that are afraid of going into dark places in forests might be because of their physical reaction. In psychology, these symptoms are called hylophobia or nyctohylophobia.
In the movie The Revenant the landscape being the wilderness, in this case, is viewed the way that people in Medieval Europe saw the wild. In Medieval Europe, the wild forest was said to be evil land which is portrayed in the movie as well. When the main character, Hugh, goes out on his own leaving his crew into the deep forest it is when the trouble all begins. At that point in the movie, you can tell that “it constituted a formidable threat to his very survival” because the scene was very gloomy and dark then, a bear comes out and attacks him threatening his ability to live (Nash, 1967). You can also tell that “there was a quality of mystery about the wilderness, particularly at night, that triggered the imagination” because when he happened