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Analysis of american gothic
Thesis for the american gothic
Analysis of american gothic
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis of american gothic
Thesis for the american gothic
Analysis of american gothic
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Jeannette’s family never had enough money to buy themselves a decent house, so they lived out of rugged shacks, old abandoned buildings, and even out in the desert without any form of shelter. The author would describe each new house that her family moved into in such a way that it would persuade the reader to have such strong feelings of hatred towards Jeannette’s mother and father. Neither Mr. Walls, nor Mrs. Walls could keep a job for any decent amount of time, so after living in a house for a little, the family would get behind on the payments and have to pack their things and move on to a new place. The most memorable example of these terrible houses is the house that the family bought in Welch West Virginia. On page 153, “We called the kitchen the loose-juice room, because on the rare occasion that we had paid the electricity bill and had power, we’d get a wicked electric shock if we touched any damp or metallic surface in the room.”
In Charlotte Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” she tells a horrific ghost story about symptoms of the rest cure. The “rest cure” was a treatment developed by Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell who restricted women of intellectual stimuli and condemned them to a domestic life to help their postpartum recovery. After being a victim of this treatment, Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Careful attention to the use of Gilman’s symbols in her short story allows the reader to analyze some of the themes concerning feminism and societal misogyny. Foreshadowing throughout, Gilman uses the house, the writing, and the wallpaper as symbols to show how man’s use of the “rest cure” limit women in society and offers that the solution to this issue is to persistently tear away at man’s injustice.
The previous lavishness of the “big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies…set on what had once been [the] most select street” (437) indicates that Emily came from a well-off family that was probably highly respected. The whiteness of the house can be taken to symbolize the innocence of her youth, and that as she got older her macabre habits manifested themselves and polluted that innocence, leaving the house dingy and tainted. The condition of the house when Emily dies is that of a worn down vestige to the past, “an eyesore among eyesores” (437), representing how the towns people saw her. She was a curiosity, a clandestine entity that could only be unraveled after her death when there was no one left to safe guard the dark secrets of her house. The house stands as a monument to a lost time and a testament to tradition that has no place in the modern era, much like Emily
Jessica Wylie Emily Maslam English 101 4/1/2023 Final Imagine a house with malevolent secrets lurking within its walls, where reality and imagination blur, and characters are haunted not only by external forces but also by their own inner vulnerabilities. Such is the world crafted by Shirley Jackson in her timeless novel, "The Haunting of Hill House. " Jackson's skillful use of the power of suggestion instills a psychological impact on readers as she creates scenes that leave them uncertain about the nature of the events, whether they are supernatural or psychological in nature. Furthermore, her innovative use of horror elements beyond violence or gore, such as symbolism, foreshadowing, and ambiguity, heightens the sense of unease and suspense
The house is far from town and is a set off from the main road. “The house … is enclosed ‘with red geraniums close-banked around it as high as the windows,’ and the garden where she grows her flowers is surrounded by a wire fence” (“The Chrysanthemums” 62). A random man drives up to the Allen property where Elisa is and asks for directions, but he ends up carrying on a conversation with her. Some critiques believe that ranch where Elisa lives, does not symbolize confinement. “She clearly is not always confined to the ranch, since she gives directions to the man” (“The Chrysanthemums” 62).
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, exhibits the domestic entrapment of women by society in the 19th century by adopting a naturalistic approach to the mood, tone, and other literary elements used in the short story. Naturalism is a genre of literature that started in the late nineteenth century, around the time “The Yellow Wallpaper” was published, and is originated from realism. According to literarydevices.net, naturalism focuses on “natural forces predetermining a character’s decisions” while realism is about free will and the decisions a character makes in response to a situation. The major forces that control our unnamed narrator’s actions in “The Yellow Wallpaper” are her figurative and physical environment and her relationship with John.
Dreams are often viewed as peaceful escapes, but sometimes dreams make someone's worst nightmares come true. In a excerpt from Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, The narrator describes a dream where she walks up on a abandon house that has been consumed by nature. The author uses spooky diction to describe the many setting of the story. She used words like nightmarish, tenacious, and haunting to describe the gate the trail and the house. This setting created a very dreary mood.
As Arthur experiences various paranormal situations he starts to regret his decision of staying at Eel Marsh house for the night, and even going there at all. Arthur starts to wonder how Mrs. Drablow had endured “day after day, night after night of isolation” (p.82) when he had had “enough of solitude” (p.82) after just one night. The repetition of the word “day” and “night” helps the reader understand how long this period of time might have been for Alice Drablow and helps them empathize with her despite not knowing her. Unlike when he first saw it, the isolation of the house makes him feel “insignificant” (p.85). The vocabulary combined with the long sentences Hill used to describe the marsh makes the reader feel small and powerless against such a vast landscape.
The house is really the only "character" in this story. We sympathize with the house just like we would with a human (or Martian) character, because Bradbury describes it like one: it has a skeleton, skin, and nerves . It even has a personality: it does things "carefully" and has "an old-maidenly preoccupation with self-protection". So we relate to the house as if it were a person, but do we like it?
In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the female narrator is greatly troubled by the suppression of her imagination by her husband and her ultimate isolation due to this subordination. These feelings are reflected through the author’s use of setting as the narrator’s dreary and malicious descriptions of the house and the wallpaper mirrors her emotional position. Throughout the reading, the reader is exposed to the narrator’s in-depth loss of touch with reality as she sinks further and further into her own reality. As she becomes more isolated, her descriptions of the house become more abstract as she begins to focus on the wallpaper and starts to see herself as being hidden behind it.
This is effective because it causes readers to question their own house on who lived there, what happened in the house, and was her house haunted or visited by someone that lived there. One example is when the
“ The Fall of the House of Usher “ by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story about a man named Roderick Usher who initiates some events such as evoking his friend The Narrator as a protagonist to the dreadful mansion. The images such as the house and gothic ambience are used to reinforce the idea of giving the mystery to the reader. Edgar Allan Poe uses gothic elements to show how they affect the atmosphere and the characters. In the beginning , the gothic atmosphere of the house is indicated with terrifying images such as “ dull, dark and soundless ” that the feeling of horror vaccinated into reader by the thoughts of the narrator.
Bedrooms are representative of laziness, they are a place for sleeping and are associated with not wanting to do anything. Not many activities can be done in the kitchen, it’s sole purpose is a place to make and eat food, thus it is representative of gluttony. Yet another human quality that is viewed as unideal. She continues to describe what is on the map, “In the legend are instructions on the language of the land, how it/ was we forgot to acknowledge the gift, as if we were not in it or of it” (8-9).
George and Lydia start to see the house as a problem, but on the other hand, the children are so spoiled that they see no problem with the smart home. The children come to be so dependant on the nursery, they begin to think of it as being alive. “‘Don’t let them do it!’ wailed Peter at the ceiling, as if he were talking to the house..” This is one example of the children treating the house as if it were a human being.
Here is another quote that adds feeling to the house doing “The house tried to save itself.” (line 149) I see in my head a house trying to get up and run. I didn’t know how to react. But the personification was very elegant in the way the author used it.