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An analytical note on gothic fiction
An analytical note on gothic fiction
An analytical note on gothic fiction
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Squawk, squawk, screeched the Raven as Ashley walked towards the isolated tombstone which was covered in green slime and crumbled with the weathering of time. The tombstone stood in an overgrown and scruffy area of the abandoned property. The shadows distracted Ashley as they appeared to race towards her, she turned abruptly as if to retrace her steps “oh be quiet” she yelled at the black shrieking Raven. She studied the twisted branches of the trees which reached out like arms trying to grab at the darkness of the dense forest. Crack, snap she turned to the sound in a heart beat, clenching her small hands into tight fists, her nails digging into her skin. Blood dripped slowly down her small hands, she tensed her whole body as she heard the …show more content…
Her heart was racing wildly as she ran and ran her legs ached and she appeared to be running in circles with no way out of the darkness, the forest was too big, the night too dark and whatever was out there was still following her. Suddenly out of the darkness appeared a small house lit up like the 4th July. She felt a sense of relief and found some extra strength in her tired body and ran wildly towards the house. There was an overgrown path leading to the strange brightly lit house. On and on she ran along the path but the house got farther and farther away. Panic started to fill her thoughts as her body started to give in to the tiredness. She stopped abruptly as the path vanished into thin air leaving her abandoned in the middle of the eerie forest with its grey shadows reaching out around her. The path was gone and she stood on the edge of what appeared to be a large drop into the unknown with no easy way down, the noise of breaking twigs continued to get louder, whatever it was that was following her was getting closer. With her heart racing and no time to think clearly Ashley made the decision to
In today’s literature there are many types of genres that people find fascinating, all the way from fantasy to non-fiction. A very interesting genre is Gothic Fiction, where many elements are used to such as violence, ghosts, monsters and many other dark and mystical elements that make up Gothic Fiction. There are many great authors who are well known for their dark gothic style such as Edgar Poe, who has written the short story “Fall of the House of Usher” and the “Black Cat,” or Horacio Quiroga who has written “Feather Pillow” and a more recent author, Ransom Riggs who has written Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children. These three author’s stories all have gothic elements, such as psychological issues, death and fear that parallel one other which shows a common trend between gothic literatures.
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.
...wing to question not only psychological boundaries leading to paranoia in a character, Gothic fiction also deals with an existing patriarchal structure. With helping to broaden the boundaries of judgments, it also provides a new and modified model of societal taboos. Conclusively, by following a traditional Gothic pattern in their novels, both Angela Carter and Fay Weldon challenge traditional conventions of modern times and help guide one to transgress formally set boundaries. In order to “transform narrative and cultural understandings”, it is said that Carter retells stories instead of telling them for it seems that “it is only “through the revoking of these cultural understandings” that transgressions must take place. It is a fact that Carter has achieved this in her novel The Magic Toyshop as much as Weldon has achieved this point in her The Bulgari Connection.
us shall you leave this earthly abode. Oh no, you will run by my side
As the carriage stopped beneath the archway, Elizabeth Cockles jumped out and looked around her. Above her head was a tall archway of trees that edged the pathway to the house. As she got closer, Elizabeth realised that “mansion” was a more correct way to describe it.
This could just be the worst day of my life; I’ve been dreading this day for the past few months. Moving day; it was just five months ago when my family told me the awful news. I just recently finished my sophomore year in high school, became captain of the varsity basketball team and finally got the girl of my dreams, Julie. Only to have it ruined by my parents telling me that we have to move due to my father getting a new job in Astoria, Oregon. The house or ‘cemetery’ as I referred to it is called Mors Thalamum, which ironically means death chamber in Latin; how convenient I would jest my family in hopes they would change their minds. Before we had to get into the car and leave for what I though would be certain doom I walked over to Julie’s house which was right across the street. “Hey Julie” I said for what would feel like the last time, “Hey Ben” she said, I believe she was feeling the exact thing I was. “I came to say goodbye, my family and I are leaving soon.” “Oh” she said simply but her green eyes said what she couldn’t. “Ben lets go!” I groaned at my father demand. Just as I was turning around Julie called my name, “I’ll miss you Ben” “Ill miss you too Julie” I choked back too focused on trying to hide the tears in my brown eyes. “Do you think we will ever see each other again?” she asked with anticipation in her angelic yet worried voice, “I hope” was all I could say before I turned and left my blonde green-eyed girl for what felt would be the last time.
We were now at the bus stop. The sun had replenished and the sky full of glee. There was trail next to the bus stop, she started walking through it. The trees intertwined like arches and the shadows created an ominous feeling. As she walked through the forest, her whole body had a calm aura.
Southern Gothic Literature is a subgenre of Gothic fiction writing, which takes place in the American South. The Southern Gothic style is one of that employs the topics such as death, bizarre, violent, madness, and supernatural. These tools are used “to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South (Wikipedia).” The view of the South which is self-identified as the “national” or “American” view is basically a colonial Romance, with the rest of the nation identified with the forces of the light and the South with the forces of the darkness (Wacker 107).The authors of Southern Gothic typically use damaged characters to make their stories better, and to show deeper meanings of unpleasant Southern characteristics. These characters are diverse from society due to social, physical or mental disabilities. However, not all characteristics of the characters are bad; it is that a mixture of good and bad is found in most of the characters. Two authors who express the Southern Gothic writing style are William Faulkner, who wrote “A Rose for Emily,” and Flanner O Conner, the author of “Good Country People” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”
With only the moon and stars to guide her, she picked her way down to the trucks, where a few embers of the fire remained. She could hear something that sounded like wind On the ground were unidentifiable lumps that seemed to be moving in the nonexistent breeze. On the front of one of the looming vehicles was a blood stain. Emmaline crept toward it. On her way there she accidentally stepped on one of the lumps and heard a man-like squawk. She looked down and saw two eyes glistening in the moonlight and an open mouth still. She slowly turned around in a circle. The lumps that Emmaline had assumed to be tree stumps earlier were now rising from the ground and shouting. Fear was welling up inside Emmaline but she told herself to stay brave for Edgar’s sake and she let out a deafening battle cry and charged at the nearest man. He ran towards the blood-stained truck and jumped up into the cab, Emmaline close behind. The soldier shut the door in Emmaline’s face and she turned around. The other men were all packing up as fast as they could. Emmaline stayed until every truck had left, watching silently with an evil glare. Then she raced back up the hill to join her Father and
I peered around through the rain, desperately searching for some shelter, I was drowning out here. The trouble was, I wasn’t in the best part of town, and in fact it was more than a little dodgy. I know this is my home turf but even I had to be careful. At least I seemed to be the only one out here on such an awful night. The rain was so powerfully loud I couldn’t hear should anyone try and creep up on me. I also couldn’t see very far with the rain so heavy and of course there were no street lights, they’d been broken long ago. The one place I knew I could safely enter was the church, so I dashed.
Gothic storytelling is a form of writing that usually includes horror, death, and romance. People write gothic style for the thrill of having a little bit of scariness in their story. Gothic style can be shown through the imagery and themes. The Fall of the House of Usher and Crimson Peak are two stories that show gothic writing though the imagery of the houses and supernatural.
There is one known very influential writing style called Gothic Literature. It is not only considered to involve the horror or gothic element but is combined with romance, superstition, women in distress, omens, portents, vision and supernatural events to name a few (Beesly). The history and beginning of this era is not well known. From a few writers came this writing style that has impacted the world. A famous artists known for this type of writing is a man named Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote many short stories and poems that include horror, gothic, and romance just mentioned.
As we walked through the woods on the dark cold night in October we notice screaming of what we had thought to be the neighbor girl. We creep closer to the large mansion and climb the gates to get in the massive front yard. As me and my friends Kevin, Douglas, and randy reach the front door, we slowly creep open the front door, we hear screams and yells and very quickly leave the situation. We head back to the house for the night and decide that we will make a plan and return to the mansion tomorrow.
When writing gothic literature authors commonly use similar gothic elements. Main themes from these books and stories include Death, Psychological issues and a fascination with the past. The authors use these elements to draw in readers and add suspense and mystery into their stories. One of the major gothic elements used in these short stories is death and the pain that comes along with the death of a loved one. In the short story “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe the narrator experiences “sorrow for the lost Lenore” (Poe 436) and begins to presumably hallucinate as a response to what happened to him.
I looked up at the black sky. I hadn't intended to be out this late. The sun had set, and the empty road ahead had no streetlights. I knew I was in for a dark journey home. I had decided that by traveling through the forest would be the quickest way home. Minutes passed, yet it seemed like hours and days. The farther I traveled into the forest, the darker it seemed to get. I was very had to even take a breath due to the stifling air. The only sound familiar to me was the quickening beat of my own heart, which felt as though it was about to come through my chest. I began to whistled to take my mind off the eerie noises I was hearing. In this kind of darkness I was in, it was hard for me to believe that I could be seeing these long finger shaped shadows that stretched out to me. I had this gut feeling as though something was following me, but I assured myself that I was the only one in the forest. At least I had hoped that I was.