Legend of sleepy Hollow

          The legend of Sleepy Hollow , by Washington Irving, is an example of romanticism, a movement in literature that sparked the imagination of readers. This story about the headless horseman captures the imagination of modern readers just as it did for those of it's time period.
          The story begins by telling us of the setting, sleepy hollow. It states that "a dreamy,drowsy influence hangs over all the land, and seems to pervade the very atmosphere." It says that the land is bewitched. This description puts a certain sense of wonder and curiosity on the story, and foreshadows what kind of events may result from these beliefs. It also states that the "dominant spirit that haunts this land...is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head...which has furnished material for a wild story in that region of shadow"
Another foreshadowing of events, and a good way to hook one's imagination. It also tells us of Ichabod Crane, a school teacher with a particular interest in scary stories. He desires to mary a young girl, the daughter of Van Tassel. Unfortunately, he has competition in the form of a man named Brom Bones.
        The story leaves us with two possibilities, either Brom ran Crane from town, or he was killed by the horseman.
           

Gothic Romanticism: Hawthorne,Poe, and Baudelaire

         Doctor Heidegger's experiment, The masque of the Red death, and The fall of The House of "Usher are all of Gothic fiction. All three stories show how Gothic writers critiqued the human race by writing about qualities such as greed and cowardice. The Fall of the house of Usher shows focuses on Usher's fear and weakness, the result of his sister being undead.
          Throughout The Fall of the House of Usher, Usher Explains at one point, that the reason for his sadness is his sister's death. But, after telling his freind of this, she is seen walking through the room. "Her disease...would leave him the last of the ancient line of Ushers. While he spoke, the Madeline passed silently through a remote portion of the apartment." This might be seen as way to say that she is a ghost, or other undead, and Usher's later explanation is a cover up. And, on the final night Usher relates that he and his friend had buried his sister alive, and that he had known of this the whole time since. He exclaims" We have put her in living tomb. Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them many days ago. Yet I dared not speak....O, Wither shall I fly? Is she not hurrying to upbraid me for my haste?" Usher knew that his sister was alive when they buried her, and since then he has feared what she would do when she escaped, because he knew she was undead.
          Usher's character is also a way in which Poe criticizes the human race. Usher is a coward, who was afraid to speak up when he knew his mistake of burying his sister, and in the end his fate is sealed by his sister's vengeance and in the fall of his house. Other stories use the same technique to show flaws in human nature, such as "Doctor Heidegger's experiment", by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In this story, the Doctor's friends were all fools in their younger lives, and now that they are old, are suffering the consequences. It is stated that" Mr. Medbourne , in the vigor of his age, had been a prosperous merchant, but had lost his all by frantic speculation... Colonel Killigrew had wasted his best years...Mr. Gascoigne was a ruined politician, a man of evil fame...Widow Wycherly, she had been a great beauty in her day,... certain scandalous stories had prejudiced the gentry of the town against her..." The Doctor's experiment is to see what would happen of they were given a second chance, if they had learned from their mistakes, so he give them water from the fountain of youth. In the end they make the same mistakes, and Doctor learns that" If the fountain gushed at my doorstep, I would not stoop to bath my lips in it...such is the lesson ye have taught me."  Hawthorne is criticizing those who don't learn from their misery. And, in The Masque of the Red Death, Poe criticizes those who try to hide from the world's problems. He does this by showing us the Prince Prospero, who takes his friends and hides in a palace from the plague. In the end, the sickness breached his walls in the form of one of his own guests, showing us that no one is untouchable, no matter where they hide.

Southern gothic fiction, The life you save may be your own

      Southern gothic fiction is a subgenre of gothic fiction, focusing on the American South. It is similar to gothic fiction. Supernatural or unusual events usually guide the plot. Unlike Gothic fiction, however, instead of there being a monster, the negative or unique characteristics of a monster are portrayed through a southern character, such as a disabled man. Also like gothic fiction, there is most always some notable structure whose decay is central to the story's plot. The character is known as a grotesque, a character set apart from the rest of the world in a negative way who induces both empathy and disgust in his appearance and actions. The character is characterized by his freakishness, and has a negative way of viewing the world. Imprisonment and violence are two major characteristics as well. And the sense of place in this style of writing helps one get a good idea of what old southern towns were like at this time period. Two examples of southern Gothic literature are "The life you save may be your own" and "A Rose for Emily".
       "The life you save may be your own" takes place on an old broken down plantation in the south. It is  quiet and droopy, with nothing particular happening. That is, until a disabled man with one arm named Tom Shiftlet shows up. He is a man of " a moral intelligence", as he states. At first,  you might feel sorry or sympathetic for him, due to the fact that he only has one arm. This disability is only one way in which he is set apart from the rest. He has a negative way of viewing the world. This is shown by his response to the question of being single, "Lady... where would you find an innocent woman today. I wouldn't have any of this trash I could just pick up."( O, Conner) He also believes that most people are not really interested in helping the world, as he is. He helps the Grandma and the disabled girl, Lucynell, by fixing their property and making their automobile run again, being handy even though he is missing an arm. Some might say that his morals take a nasty turn, though, after he marries Lucynell and ditches at the side on the road like a hitchhiker. He later picks up a hitchhiker, though, and expresses, indirectly, his regret in this choice. This person makes the story work as southern gothic, because he shows a younger version of Shiftlet that will repeat the cycle. " A rose for Emily" takes place in a southern town, and it's falling Victorian house represents the Decay of Miss Emily, like in gothic fiction. Miss Emily is another monstrous character to feel sorry for. Her husbands murder remains a mystery because she remains a mystery, never leaving her home after his death.      

Choice Short Story

Closed ended question: Where is Connie's family when Arnold Friend shows up at her house.
Answer: They are at a barbeque.
Open ended question: Why does Connie go outside in the end?
Answer: She feels powerless against Arnold Freind, " This place your in now- your daddy's house-it aint nothing but a cardboard box I can nock down anytime."
World connection: What is one method predators use to make girls do what they want.
Answer: They might threaten to hurt their family. "...I mean, your nice old bald headed daddy and your mummy and your sister in her high heels. Because listen, why bring them in this?
Universal theme: Do predators pick on the outsider of a family or group?
Answer: Predators often single out someone who is different from their freinds or family. Connie is very pretty, and prefers to have fun instead of work, which makes her very different from her mom and sister.
Friend uses this knowledge to make her feel as if he can sympathize with her.
Literary analysis Question: Does this story provide an accurate example of how a predator targets and manipulates their victims?
Answer: This story does show accurately what methods a predator might use, such as Friend pretending to be the same age as Connie.