Final Review of the Class

I truly enjoyed learning lots of interesting information about gothic literature. I knew nothing about gothic literature when I entered the course and now I feel that I have learned and am knowledgeable about many aspects on the topic. I feel like now when I read any type of gothic fiction I will now be able to recognize and be much more interested in the symbolism and the aspects of the gothic elements in the story, not just in the plot. I really liked learning about the doppelganger in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", "Fight Club", and many more of the novellas where the doppelganger was less evident but could be interpreted. I also liked learning about a lot of the female gothic. It was interesting to learn about the perspective of females at different time periods. It was really cool to be able to see the connection between the female gothic and a coming of age or bildungsroman. Each one of the stories we read were really good, and I usually never wanted to quit reading or put down the book. Some of the stories were hard to read and understand at first, but once things were explained it was more clear. I really enjoyed the class and feel that I benefitted from it

Assignment 11: The Yellow Wallpaper

When reading the short story the "Yellow Wallpaper" I was unsure about what was going on and then I began to pick up on the madness of the women's disease through her repetitive descriptions of the yellow wallpaper which begins her development of far-fetched ideas and obsession. After reading, I went back and read some historical information on Charlotte Perkins Gilman and realized that she herself went insane. The short story almost completely mocks or imitates Gilman's own life. After marrying and becoming a mother, Gilman felt as if she had been robbed of her freedom. She went insane over this, and was sent to Doctor S. Weir Mitchell, whom she also mentions in her short story as one of the best doctors but he is much like her husband but only worse. Gilman believed that he did not take her case seriously and gave her simple orders to live as much of a domestic life as possible. Although, we see that the domestic lifestyle is what was truly making Gilman and her character in her short story insane. Alot of the story lines up with Gilman's life. In the story her husband's remedies resemble Dr. Mitchell's advice to Gilman. We see that her confinement leads to her obsession over the wallpaper. The character in the story goes insane over her boring and domestic lifestyle which is what truly happened to Gilman in real life. It was interesting and pretty creepy to find out this piece mocked the writer's life and experiences.

Assignment 10: "Jean-Ah Poquelin"

In the short story, "Jean-ah Poquelin", Cable describes two brothers, one of which mysteriously disappears. The two characters are Jean and Jacques, who one might argue could be a doppelganger? Jean's younger half brother, Jacques, is described at the very beginning as gentle. The reader finds out that the once strong, Jean, is now a recluse and his brother, Jacques, has disappeared 7 years prior to the setting. We see qoutations around the descriptions of Jacques at the beginning of the story when he is being described by his older brother as good, wise, just, far-sighted..etc. At the beginning we see that this could possibly indicate some hostility from Jean towards Jacques or maybe Jean the "recluse" is trying to hide something. The two brothers are very opposite but seem to make one person. Whereas Jacques seems good, but weak, his older brother Jean is strong, but appears to have some mysterious qualities about him. The narrator even tells us that these very different qualities in the two men led to the estate's decay. It makes the reader wonder at first if it is one person with a double? Anwyay, the reader sees a lot of Jacques' meagerness portrayed as a characterisitic in White, when White tries to stop the angry mob from going to Jean's estate. He is able to subdue the crowd at first, but later in the night the crowd overpowers White's authority. But, we do see some of White's authority and strength described before he decides to privately "investigate" Jean Poquelin's property. It seems at this point that White loses his strength and becomes completely weak as he flees from the terrible scene at the estate. I feel as if Jean and Jacques could maybe be two-sides to White's personality.

Assignment 9: Charle's Chesnutt's "Goopherd Grapevine"

As we discussed today in class, sometimes pieces of fiction tend to intice the reader more than an autobiography or biography on someone's life. I think having the story start out with the present and "real life" was an interesting way to capture the audience's attention but the fact that the story switched from the present to the past intrigued me. At the beginning we find out that someone (the narrator) is looking to purchase an old vineyard. This already begins to make the reader's mind wonder about what happened to the vineyard and why the last owner was no longer living on the plantation. Then as the mysterious character of Julius appears, and tells the new comers to not move onto the plantation, we see the gothic element begin to become more prominent. At this point I really wanted to know what had happened and really wanted to know the story that Julius had to tell so I was glad when he proceeded into the story of the vineyard. I feel like the set up of the short story was done in this particular manner in order to grasp and hold the reader's attention to the very end when we find out that Julius was somewhat unreliable due to the fact that he was prospering living off the property without an owner. Adding Julius and his story to the novel brought in the gothic aspect and made a form of suspense. Blacks were very much played as a commodity throughout this novella. We see through Julius's story that the blacks on the plantation and surrounding plantations are not allowed to eat the grapes. This portrays them as unequal and shows that they are merely on their plantations to work and not expect much else from their owners. We also see Julius describe Mars' Dugal' McAdoo's behavior toward Henry as flakey. Mars' Dugal only wants Henry when he is able to provide him with hard labor and money. Whenever Henry does well in the spring he keeps him around, but then quickly disposes him to another family in the fall when he knows Henry will become useless and sick because he does not care to deal with Henry when he is in this state. Even at the end of the story, we see the narrator describe Julius as a commodity when he defines him as unreliable and ends the story discussing how he should be more than satisfied even though he moved onto the plantation because he pays him well. He takes no consideration for Julius's feelings.

Assignment 8 "Our Nig"

This book was very different in the setting and characters but still maintained manyh qualities of the gothic novel. It was interesting because I don't think thus far that we have read a novel or short story that contained anything but white people. This could be do to the time and setting and the societal issues that had occured up until this point. As for the gothic elements we see a lot of the female gothic. Frado has been orphaned by her parents and the reader sees the typical stock character through Mrs. Bellmont and Mary who could represent the evil step mom and daughter if you look at the book from a cinderella point of view. The fact that Frado attempts to run away from the Bellmont home shows her path to self discovery which the reader also sees through her interest in christianity. Eventually Frado escapes the Bellmont home after years of abuse, and the story has a "cinderella" ending as well when Frado finally escapes, finds love, begins a family of her own, and escapes from the wicked Bellmont family, who at the end of the novella all end up dying except for Aunt Abbey.

Assignment 7: "The House of Usher"

So far, I think I've had the most trouble understanding and following this short story over all of the others. The reader at first believes that Madeline is dead when she is placed in the coffin, along with the narrator of the story. We later find out as Roderick Usher's strange behavior grows and the tension builds that something is not right. Eventually, Usher confesses in some kind of mad rage that Madeline is alive and that the noises he has been hearin are coming from the coffin down below from which she is trying to escape. I feel as if Usher confessed to knowing she was alive because of the story that the narrator is reading. He confesses at the part of the story that is being read where the hermit's door is broken down and there is the death cry from the dragon and the clangor of the shield because the story is coming to life in the sense that all of these things are happening downstairs where Madeline is locked in the dungeon. I'm not sure exactly if she is alive or if Usher feels guilty for possibly killing her and is being haunted by this sin?? In the end the narrator says that the door is busted down and Madeline pulls Usher to her and takes him to death along with her? So does Usher die with her due to his possible murder and guilt??

Assignment 6: Young Goodman Brown

I feel as if Goodman Brown's fellow traveler is represented throughout the story as as the evil side of Brown. When Brown is joined by this fellow traveler, the author describes him as looking almost similar to Brown, and that this follower looks like he could be related to him, and maybe even his father? I was noticing many similarities between this novella, and "Jekyll and Hyde". I'm not sure if I'm missing the point of the story completely here, but it seems to me that this strange character that joins Brown on his journey is somewhat mysterious and it is almost as if he is physically non-existent but exists within Brown himself?? I think that the fellow traveler could be another side to Brown, almost like Jekyll's split personality. The traveler seems to represent the evil part of Goodman Brown's personality and Goodman Brown (like his name) represents innocence and good. Also, like Jekyll, Brown chases after evil. For example, Jekyll eventually could not stop himself from becoming Hyde, and doing evil and was drawn to his sinful nature and Brown chases after the evil laughter and horrible noises he hears, he is drawn to them as well. In both stories, you could say that it ends badly for the main characters. Jekyll's evil ways and up leading to his suicide and Brown's chasing after evil leads him to witness a horrific site (whether he truly experienced it physically or emotionally/spiritually?) and he can never again feel the same about his wife and the others throughout town that he cared for and the story ends in his unhappiness.