Blog Set #12

The medical condition in which Poe’s describe in the story is one where he refers to it as catalepsy, which is in fact, a true medical condition but before even knowing about its name it seems plausible. I had heard stories from my father about people in his village in Colombia that this has happened to. There have been many stories, mostly urban legends, where this kind of thing has happened. It does seem believable from how he describes it in the story when he uses the details that sound like somewhat medical. It doesn’t make it seem like it is something unnatural to our reality, very much so it is something we can find to be true. We could see it to be true that someone’s muscles could tense up and they couldn’t be able to move. This is something that could be seen in even sleep paralysis where you cannot move at all. This in itself is something scary to think that could happen to us and we have no control over it.

In the Monkey’s Paw we can see clearly many supernatural instances, the whole story in itself seems to be a supernatural event. There were too many things that happened for it to be a “coincidence”. Oddly enough when the son died they got the EXACT amount of money they asked for. Even more odd was when the mother pleaded to bring her son back to life and within a few minutes of there was a loud knock on the door and by the time she went down to open the door her husband had wished against it. So when she went to open the door there was no one there, strange isn’t it? After all these things happen it wouldn’t make sense for this to all be coincidence, it had to be supernatural of some sorts.

Blog 13

I chose to have American Psycho as my reader’s choice because personally it was one of my favorite novels during adolescences. I feel like the novel encompasses many ideas we have learned throughout the course of this class. I also was a huge fan of the novel. I read the book in 8^th grade but really couldn’t understand what was going on at the time and some of the vocabulary was a little too advanced for my age at the time which was 14 but I still found what I understood fascinating. Eventually I saw the movie I was senior in high school and it made me fall in love with the story all over again and I decided to read the book again. I didn’t actually end up reading it until my freshman year in college. Now that I have read it again with a better understanding of some of the vocabulary I saw it in a different light.

The novel encompasses many themes that I feel relate to horror. I feel like it touched more on the idea of hysteria and mental illness which I feel should have maybe been a section for us in our readings, preferably during horror. There are horror elements to the story and I wish we could have gotten into some stories like this! I feel like the novel reflects back unto humanity through many different ways. One of the themes in it includes the idea of a materialistic and capitalist mindset, which drives people crazy. It shows how no matter what we have and how much we have of it we can still be unhappy and hurting deep down inside. Another is the idea of if we lost touch with reality what would happen to us and how would others perceive it. All around this story really means a lot to me and that’s why I chose it.

Blog #11

         If I had to interview Egaeus, I would more or so be curious of the certain things he said or did. I would ask, “What do you think your cousin Berenice?” which he would reply with “she has gorgeous yet fantastic beauty”. I would also ask, “What is your favorite feature of her?” which I feel he would reply with “Her beautiful teeth which do not have a single “speck on their surface --not a shade on their enamel --not an indenture on their edges”. I would also ask what happened to her but then again seeing his mental condition I’m afraid of the outcome.

         I don’t really understand this question after reading the story because I’m getting another themes from it. I guess mainly his view is him traveling to different houses in search of the woman he is in love with and the quest which involves drama in order to find her. I see this attitude change towards the end when he has yet to find his answer of whether she said in the room or not, and then he gets sad and kills himself. Little did he know that she too killed herself in the room. I’m more interested in the idea of the room as a symbol of melancholy and dreariness.

         I really don’t believe anything supernatural happened hear because from what I read in this story it may have been a case where she may have just been unconscious or passed out for a few hours. From the description of what happens to him as he is waking up from his nap I feel maybe it was her making the noises and pushing him. There were sounds of bare feet, this could have possibly been her and all this came together to me when he said she had the panther’s ear in between her teeth. She must have been fighting alive and conscious with this panther.
 

Blog Set #10

In The Fall of the House of Usher, I feel we as the reader are supposed to not take it as a realistic tale and more into a journey of the human imagination. I mean there are some items in the story that can happen but more than likely didn’t happen. The idea of the sister coming back from being buried alive seems possible but unlikely. The psychological encounter I see in this story could be when the brother says he is hearing voices. This could have been intuition in feeling that he buried his sister alive, but when she actually comes and attacks seems a bit much. I feel this is left more to be interpreted as a symbolic tale.

The stereotypes of the haunted house I see in this story for a “haunted house” can include the gloomy and grey feeling the house is described as. Also the fact that is it mentioned that the house is slightly decaying. Over all I enjoyed this story more than the other one.

In Afterward I couldn’t really understand what was going on until I read it over and over. I feel like I have a grasp of what the story is but if not, please help me understand. I would say this story could conform to the definition of gothic style writing by the idea of it being romanticized. Also the fact that it can be none realistic because she is able to see her husband even after he is dead. This is also a very a dark and melancholy story gives it into the Gothic theme. I guess one way in the fact that would not make it conform to the typical gothic style of writing; it seems to be a “haunted house”. They are told there will be a ghost in the house they want to move into and that gives it a haunted vibe.