There has been many ghost stories told over the years, but the same question remains… are ghosts real or not? The book Ruined, by Paula Morris, is inspired by the history and culture of New Orleans. Fifteen year old Rebecca, is suddenly shipped off to New Orleans, a year after hurricane Katrina. She is forced to go there when her dad leaves for a business trip in China for six months.
This is where Rebecca will meet a real life ghost named Lissette.
In the Garden district, in New Orleans, Rebecca must live with her family-friend Aunt Claudia who is a crazy gypsy, who reads tarot cards for a living. She also had a 12 year old daughter, named Aurelia. When Aunt Claudia specifically tells Rebecca not to go into the graveyard next to their house, Rebecca thinks there is something suspicious going on. Rebecca then decides to sneak out at night and goes inside the graveyard. If I moved into a new house, and to a place that was unfamiliar to me, I would be really shy and want to listen to my new guardian, especially if she sounded so worried and frightened as Aunt Claudia did. A few girls from Temple Mead and a couple of boys from the neighboring boy school are meeting in the graveyard, and Rebecca decides to go in and spy on them.
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Upon entering the graveyard, Rebecca realizes that the two most popular girls from Temple Mead are in the graveyard. Thier names are Helena Bowman and Marianne Sutton. Helena and Marianne both come from very rich, long lines of families. In the graveyard, when Rebecca thinks she is going to get caught, she runs and hides, and ends up meeting Lissette. Rebecca later learns that her new friend is a ghost, who seems to disappear all the time, and she is invisible to nearly everyone. “People aren’t invisible, living people that is, ghosts are invisible”(76). Lissette tells Rebecca that roaming around New Orleans, there are numerous ghosts that died from the yellow fever. Rebecca asks Lissette to let her see all of the ghosts, and then when Rebecca holds onto Lissette’s hand, she is able to see all of the ghosts that are haunting New Orleans. I think that it would be really cool to have a ghost friend. It would also be amazing to be able to see all of the other ghosts, even though it might be scary and nerve-racking at first. When you become a ghost you would have had to die when you weren’t supposed to. Rebecca is very curious as to how Lissette died, and to how she became a ghost. When Rebecca finally asks Lissette, Lissette says that she was working as a servant in the Bowman mansion the summer of 1853. When her master got upset with her she pushed Lissette down a long flight of stairs, and then Lissette bled out, and then she died. She was only 16 years old. That’s when Lissette’s Mom, put a curse on the Bowman family. I think that how Lissette died was a really terrible way to die, and it was really sad. The curse states that every Bowman daughter will die when they turn sixteen.
Right before the daughter dies they will see Lissette. “Whenever one of the girls sees her, it means she only has a few months left to live” (176). This has happened to every Bowman daughter since the curse began. Then Helena Bowman turns very sick right before her sixteenth birthday. She then sees Lissette, but the scary thing is, is that Rebecca is able to see Lissette too. Is Rebecca part of the Bowman curse? Only one girl can be the one to die. If I was in Rebecca’s place, and if I would have found out about the curse and realized the girls see Lissette right before their deaths, I would be really scared, and I would want to leave New Orleans and never come
back. I thought this book was really good. I loved the twist at the end, and it made the book really exciting to read. If you like books with horror and a hint of romance this is a great read! Rebecca will find out the truth but will she save herself? Or will she go down with the curse?
In the story “Listening to Ghosts” Malea Powell talks about the native Americans on challenges and educational practices. The story is about the native American living in America before the British came to ruin their lives. This effect caused the Native Americans to disappear for good and became shadows. Afterwards there were different theories about the beliefs such as white guy philosopher's theory and western culture theory.The white guy’s philosopher's theory states that the stories were special and central civilized.Western culture, people thought that they were “savages” and “civilized”.
The book “In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction” was published in the year 2008 on the 12th of February by Knopf Canada. The author of this book is Dr. Gabor Mate who has worked for twelve years in the eastside Vancouver with patients suffering from addiction, mental illness and HIV. He is also a renowned speaker and a bestselling author. He also received the Hubert Evans Prize for Literary Non-Fiction and the 2012 Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award for his work. (….)
Chinese culture has many interpretations ghosts. One way they are seen as is people who have disgraced their family or country. An example of this in the novel is Maxine's aunt. She is considered a ghost because she disgraced her family by having a baby outside of marriage. They call her "Ghost! Dead ghost! Ghost! You have never been born." (Kinston 14) She drowns herself in the well to become one of the most feared ghost, the Shui Gui or watery ghost. These ghosts are said to be waiting for their victims, to pull them into the water to take the drowned ones place. In the novel another example of what the Chinese consider ghosts are American people. Sometimes they feel haunted by this unfamiliar culture, just as a ghost would haunt. "But America has been full of machines and ghosts- Taxi Ghosts, Bus Ghosts, Police Ghosts, Fire Ghosts, Meter Reader Ghosts, Tree Trimming Ghosts, Five-and-Dime Ghosts." (Kong 96) These examples are American people of any ethnicity. They are called ghosts because the Chinese are not familiar with the culture. Another example of the unfamiliarity is when, "Her husband looked like one of the ghosts passing the car wind...
The particular story I collected takes place in Philadelphia, where ghost stories are plentiful. Philadelphia is an old city with a rich cultural heritage, and our founding fathers made history in the place that was once our nation’s capital (Eidmann). Many believe that their spirits and spirits of those from colonial times still lurk around. It is easy to feel like spirits are around when in a place where many people have lived and died before, and in a place that is filled with old buildings and landmarks. All of these factors make this city a perfect place for a ghost story.
There was this rundown, old split-level on the edge of the town owned and inhabited by a young couple. This young couple did not have much money so they had to rent out the basement. The tenant that lived in the basement was a short, old man by the name of Louis. Louis lived there for about a year, but he NEVER came out of the basement. He NEVER answered the door during rent collection but just slid it through the mail slot. After a year, the couple was considering evicting Louis, mostly because they had a fear of Louis and his shady activities in the basement. Also, the couple was due for a baby in the upcoming year and they felt it was best for Louis to go. Louis did not respond well to the eviction however. So, when the couple was cleaning out the apartment, for another tenant, a skeleton fell out of the closet and landed on the floor with a loud CRASH! The couple ran out and called the police. After the whole thing with the police was sorted out, the couple moved out. More families would move in, but on the anniversary of the eviction, the Ghost of Louis would appear and haunt the inhabitants of the house, causing them to move out. The cycle continues today, and no one has seen Louis ever again, but rumor is he died after that eviction.
In Avery Gordon’s Ghostly Matters, haunting is a method of sociological research. She argues, “To study social life one must confront the ghostly aspects of it” (7). Ghostly Matters is her attempt to understand the puzzling facts of social life through an analysis of the hauntings surrounding Sabina Spielrein, the desaparecido of Argentina and the lingering impact of racial slavery during the Reconstruction period in the United States.
While Rebecca was with her mom she was portrayed as an African American young women, living in a lower class home, and attending an underprivileged school. Rebecca’s mom is preoccupied with work so much so, that she fails to notice how alone and miserable Rebecca really is. She then turns to her friends for the love and affection that she is not receiving at home. In an article Rebecca states “As a little girl, I wasn 't even allowed to
Pictured on the back cover of the comic book "Ghost World," by Daniel Clowes, are the two main characters of the book in full color. This strikingly significant image, surely shrugged off by most Clowes' readers, represents worlds of diversity within the frames of the book. Sporting pink spandex pants underneath her goldfinch yellow skirt and a blue t-shirt to match perfectly, Enid seems to live her life outside the bubble. She's a very dynamic girl, especially interested in her surroundings and people around her. On the other hand, Becky is dressed like a "typical" girl, with a long black skirt and a white blouse, thus representing her conforming presence in the world. Becky is much more passive than Enid, going with the flow of things just living life. The contrasting personalities of Enid and Becky come ironically, being best friends. However, it brings out their defining qualities in the comic book while quietly calling attention to the values of life, what is real and what is not.
The third paragraph describes how the house looks and how things have changed that may suggest she is lurking around. " He had left the candle burning the bedchamber…now, there was no light in it…the house door…he remembered to have closed it…he found it open…" This frightens the reader into thinking that Rebecca could have turned out the light so that she can lurk in the dark waiting for him or she could have left the house in search of him. In the final paragraph Wilkie Collins begins to use the dashes again to break up the sentences.
Through out the short novella, 'The Turn of the Screw,' by Henry James, the governess continually has encounters with apparitions that seem to only appear to her. As Miles' behavior in school worsens so that he is prevented from returning, and as Flora becomes ill with a fever, the governess blames these ghosts for corrupting the children, Miles and Flora, and labels them as evil and manipulative forces in their lives. But why is it that these ghosts only seem to appear to the governess even when the children are present at the time of the sightings by the governess? Evidence from the short story leads the reader to believe that the ghosts are not real but are merely the evidence of the fragmenting sanity of the governess.
The Nelly Butler hauntings is referred to as the first recorded ghost story in American history (LiBrizzi 5), and possibly the most exciting hauntings to date as there are still many unsolved mysteries. The apparition appeared on more than 30 separate occasions to over 100 witnesses in Sullivan, Maine, just over fifteen years after the American Revolution (5-6). Although the Nelly Butler apparition is one of the most convincing ghosts of all time, it was subject to suspicions of fraud. These claims turn out to be groundless as the evidence reveals the ghost to be genuine.
By letting her insecurity get the best of her, the governess allows distrust to engulf her. When a candle goes out during the night, she thinks “I felt an instant certainty that Flora had extinguished it” (174). The continuous self doubt leads the Governess to subconsciously augment her mistrust of others. Unabating mistrust throughout the whole story leaves a portentous effect hanging over with story. With the Governess constantly unsure of who to trust, the reader is kept on edge in regard of the characters different relationships. When questioned about Flora’s witnessing of Miss Jessel, she exclaims “No, for God’s sake don’t! She’ll say she isn’t--- she’ll lie!” (157). This quick retort underscores the innate suspicion which was driven by insecurity. The governess doesn’t even want to be associated with Flora out of the fear that she’ll undermine her credibility. This idea isn’t as frightening is the physical state as it is when one thinks about it. The Governess was pushed to a point where the couldn’t trust anyone, even an eight year old girl. Though Miles and Flora could have caught sight of the ghosts, the Governess overthought the dynamic of the siblings and drove herself into a crazed frenzy. This section of the book was demonstrating how themes in a story could influence through the mind rather than a physical scare of a
From the very beginning of the narrator's vacation, the surroundings seem not right. There is "something queer" about the mansion where she resides it becomes obvious that her attempt to rest from her untold illness will not follow as planned. The house is an "ancestral" and "hereditary estate...long untenanted" invoking fanciful gothic images of a "haunted house" (3). The house they choose to reside in for the three...
For many years, people have debated whether or not spirits are real. Some people get scared at the fact that there might be something unknown lurking in their house in the middle of the night making their footsteps known to everyone in it. Maybe that person feels watched upon or feel some kind of presence in their home, or even sees shadows moving their way through rooms. Different people around the world have their own opinions based on religion and experiences when talking about angels, demons, and the spirits that have life after death. New technology is getting closer to detecting these energies happening in the world today. The history of haunting dates back many years, and more people want to get involved because of the new technology.
The Dilemma of a Ghost is a short play written by the Ghanaian writer, Ama Ata Aidoo. The story is about a young Ghanaian man, Ato, currently studying in America. Here, he meets and falls in love with Eulalie; an African-American girl who lives in America. When he returns home with his new bride, Ato is torn between his family’s traditional custom against his wife’s western culture. His marriage and his wife’s behaviour become sources of great criticism from both family members and the Ghanaian community at large. The writer uses various scenarios to point out the difference between the African traditional culture and the modern western culture.