Friday, July 24, 2009
Jean-Ah Poquelin
George Washington Cable does a good job of describing the setting and using symbolism. He uses dark imagery and descriptive words like "murky" to create an eerie scene. He describes the old colonial plantation-house as "half in ruin" which can be seen as foreshadowing. Just like in The Fall of the House Of Usher, the house mirrors the characters. In Jean-Ah Poquelin, the decaying plantation represents Jean's health. Describing it "half in ruin" is mirroring Jacques condition because it's slowly eating away at his body and he can be viewed as "ruined". Since the african mute and Jacques disappeared and were never seen again, we can assume that the house was taken over by the government and turned into something more marketable. Both characters lose their houses in Jean-Ah Poquelin and The Fall of the House of Usher.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I hadn't even thought about how similar this story was to "The Fall of the House of Usher,' but you're absolutely right. I think that this idea of the houses and the surroundings matching the characters (whether it be in health, personality, or looks) is a pretty common theme throughout gothic literature. Great post
ReplyDeleteYes there is a lot of imagery and symbolism in this story. A lot of it describes the southern gothic like we talked about in class. The classic house in each of them and the eerie feeling that it gives helps convey the message of opression or depression.
ReplyDelete