Gothic Fiction As A Whole

When I first signed up for "Intro to Fiction" I wasn't expecting to be studying gothic fiction. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I found myself enjoying the novels and letting my imagination run wild. These dark stories of corruption, terror and violence were really appealing to me. It's true that we as humans are interested in the gruesome stuff even though we don't want to be. The suspenseful stories kept me wanting to know more and I liked seeing how gothic fiction evolved throughout time. I have to say that my favorite stories were probably the first ones we read. I enjoyed Castle of Otranto and Jekyll and Hyde the most. COO appealed to me because it was your typical gothic story with castles, heros, and the supernatural. I enjoyed Jekyll and Hyde because it's a classic and has a deep underlying meaning. The newer gothic stories were still interesting but they didn't have the same feel as the older ones. If I were to teach the class again I wouldn't change much. The movies were nice and kept the class from getting bored. The novels weren't terribly long and the reading assignments were reasonable. Overall, I enjoyed the class much more than I expected.

The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and was a response to a "rest cure" that was assigned to her by her doctor. The story suggests that women were treated unequal to men and it's clear that Gilman believed she had been given an incorrect diagnosis. In the story, the narrator's insanity reaches its climax when she identifies completely with the woman in the wallpaper. She believes that not only has the other woman come out of the wallpaper, but so has she. The symbolic meaning is that both she and the woman have liberated themselves from masculine opression. They have torn themselves from the domesticated prison that is the wallpaper and they are now free. The women are free at midnight under the moonlight which can be seen as a motif for freedom from the masculine sunshine. The narrator obviously goes insane in this story. In A Rose for Emily, the main character does some borderline insane things but they could be viewed more as grotesque. When she finds out that he is a homosexual, Emily poisons her love interest and keeps his dead body locked upstairs. She permits no one to enter her house and never leaves. We later find out that she constantly layed next to his body. This inspires disgust and revulsion but I believe that Emily knew what she was doing all along. Therefore she wasn't technically insane unlike the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper who slowly slipped into psychosis as she remained locked in her room.

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.

The Goophered Grapevine and Sheriff's Children

"What is a White Man"? Well The Sheriff is a powerful white character in The Sheriff's Children. A typical white person during this time was well educated and respected by his peers. The sheriff boasts an above average education and holds the respect of just about every one of his fellow townsmen. He is noted to have held many slaves in his day. This is why that it came as quite a surprise when Chesnutt revealed that the black prisoner was the sheriff's son. These unexpected twists and turns kept the entire story very interesting. I'm sure this issue of miscegenation wasn't recieved well at all during this time period. The Goophered Grapevine does indeed use masking to address racial stereotypes. For example, it's a story within a story so there is double the protection for Chesnutt. He has Julius' character mention watermelons and chicken and other stereotypical foods that African Americans are said to love. He has the main tale told by Julius' point of view which ends up being unreliable. His story isn't reliable because he has personal profit to gain by keeping the vineyard abandoned. If it sells to the original narrator from Ohio then he would no longer profit off of the remaining vines. We see that the vineyard is indeed profitable and that the "goopher" is no longer in effect (if it ever was). I think a theme that we see in both stories is the willingness of the white owner to sell off their slaves in order to profit for themselves. Henry is sold off every summer and bought back for cheaper in the winter. The master doesn't care about him personally, he just wants his money. He is viewed as property and that's why he is compared to an extension of the grapevine which is used to gain profit for the plantation. The Sheriff also sold his own son because he got a deal too good to pass up and the money was needed. He wasn't viewed as a son but rather as property. Another theme we see to a certain extent is how far both African American characters were willing to go in order to get free. The prisoner in The Sheriff's Children is willing to kill his own father in order to gain his own freedom. While Julius is not necessarily a slave or trapped in any way, he gets to enjoy a profitable life while the vineyard remains abandoned. He is willing to lie about a perfectly good vineyard in order to gain profit for himself.

Motherhood in Our Nig by Harriet Wilson

There are two mother figures present in Our Nig by Harriet Wilson. However, you could still view this novel as fitting into the "missing mother trope" that is so common in the female gothic. The missing mother trope is used to allow the female to come of age independently and allow her to go on a journey. Frado doesn't get much of an adventure. Her original mom abandons her (just like in real life) and leaves her with another family. So mom number one is out of the picture. The other mother figure she is left with is very abusive and treats her like an animal. She beats Frado constantly and makes her feel like a pathetic person. She doesn't mature by going out on an adventure, rather she matures through her spirituality and with the help of the few good people in her life. Poor Frado has extremely bad luck with mother figures. I feel like she would have been better off without a mother like the typical female heroine. 

The Fall Of The House of Usher

Poe's stories are generally told from the first person point of view. The Fall of the House of Usher is told from a narrator's perspective. The narrator is a character that we don't know much about. This lack of information makes him more relatable to the reader. It allows us to jump into his body and use our imagination to experience the story for ourselves. The narrator has not seen Roderick since his childhood but still makes the journey to see him when he senses the urgency in his letter. He recounts memories from his childhood in order to prepare himself for his reunion with his old friend but nothing can prepare him for his friend's decaying state. Since he is Roderick's only living friend, he is a reliable and believable source.

Young Goodman Brown

The guide in Young Goodman Brown takes a similar form to Brown himself. This makes him more appealing and relatable to Goodman Brown then some random stranger. This guide is Satan and uses his sly ways to lure Brown to a witch meeting. Brown encounters several people along the way. First he sees Goody Cloyse who he has always thought of as a good Christian woman. He watches from the forest as the devil converses with her like they are good friends. Next he sees the Deacon and the Minister heading in the same direction. All of these characters are either holy figures, or known Christ followers. The devil uses these figures in his persuasive vision in order to undermine Goodman's faith in the holy institutions and men he used to respect. Last but not least, he sees his beloved wife Faith at the meeting. This is the greatest temptation for Goodman Brown but he resists the evil and the vision is ended.