A Streetcar Named Desire (Video)

     A Streetcar Named Desire is a film that I had never seen before this class. It has many gothic elements that I would not have recognized if it were not for taking this class.  It was a rather dark movie that I did not exactly care for due to the abuse of women and such.  With that being said, those elements did portray deeper gothic meaning.  Stanley is seen as kind of an animal, which is untamed, and portrays the theme of animal instincts throughout the film. There is also a metaphor for the New South and Old South throughout the movie. Blanche and Stella represent the Old South and their reserved customs, while Stanley represents the New South and New America with the death of old world gentility and aristocracy. In all I did not really care for the film but I will say it did have many examples of a gothic that can be unraveled with in depth thinking.

Fight Club (Video)

     The film fight club is definitely one of my favorite movies of all time.  Before taking this class, I did not even notice the wide array of gothic elements that are present in the film. The movie is dark, grotesque, contains a doppleganger(dual nature), and very masculine.  On top of that, "Tyler Durden's" house is analogous to a run down castle, another element that is prevalent in many gothic works.  Marla is similar to a femme fatale, which is a mysterious and seductive woman, also a gothic characteristic. These elements combine in a synergistic manner to produce a very dramatic film, which keeps you on the edge of your seat, filled with mystery.

The Yellow Wallpaper and A Jury of Her Peers

      The Yellow Wallpaper was an interesting short story wrote in a stream of conciousness narration.  This type of narration was new to me and I definitely enjoyed getting an inside peak at the characters thoughts and emotions.  The character is suffering from a kind of post partum depression and is prescribed a rest cure from her doctor which is her husband.  She is prohibited from doing most intellectual stimulation and is confined to a nursery with wallpaper in which she thinks a woman lives inside of.  The narrator of the story is unreliable though so it is hard to be sure if what she tells is what actually occurs. In all though the psychological aspect of the story was rather intriguing.
     A Jury of Her Peers was a unique story that put the reader in the driver seat of an investigation involving a murder.  The story presented the reader with the clues and let the reader decipher them and form there own opinion, until the end when the true workings of the death are revealed.  This makes this novel very psychologically engaging. In the story there are two juries, one of men and one of women. Her peers in the novel are the women, they understand where she is coming from and help back her up when the men make harsh comments. In all I enjoyed playing the role of detective in the novel and thought it was an interesting story.

“A Goodman is Hard to Find” and "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been"

     In this weeks readings, there was a large amount of drama and suspense.  The books were enticing to me because they seemed like something you would watch in a movie.  In the stories, the drama would build up out of nowhere leaving the reader amidst a large amount of suspense and then finally a totally unexpected ending. 
     In "A Goodman is Hard to Find," I totally did not expect for the whole family to be killed like that. The author did foreshadow it though when she pointed out the fact that she wore a nice dress incase the family got in a car accident and she died.  In "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been," I definitely did not expect Arnold Fiend to be an old creepy man dressed in a mask, in order to trick Connie into coming with him.
     In all I enjoyed the short stories for their unique plots that keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

A Rose for Emily and the Old Gardiston

A Rose for Emily was about a girl and the trouble she had with letting individuals that had passed away actually rest in peace.  The tone of the story is relatively dark and the author adds on to this with the ending when it is revealed that Emily had been keeping her lover's dead body upstairs in her house. This was definitely an unexpected ending to the novel. Another interesting aspect was the story was read from the perspective of the town which was a new aspect im not accustomed to. The novel as a whole was an easy read and relatively short which I definitely enjoyed. In all, the story was rather intriguing and I enjoyed reading it.
The Old Gardiston is a story set during the civil war and shows the hatred that was present between the north and the south. The marriage of Gardis and Captain Newell at the end of the story represents the reunifying of the north and south into one country. Also at the end of the story personification is shown when the house starts talking about Gardis. The story is an interesting interpretation of the struggles during the civil war and I definitely enjoyed reading this short novel.

Behind a Mask (Part II), The Goopherded Grapevine, The Sherrif’s Children, & Jean-ah Poquelin

     Behind a Mask far exceeded my expectations of the novel prior to reading it. The author chose a much different ending then I would of generally expected. In most novels you expect the plot of the "antagonist" to be revealed and justice be served, in this case though, Jean got what she desired by getting married.  She manipulated people throughout the whole novel to do exactly what she wanted. This was effective in part because of the "mask" that hid her true identity.  The author L.M. Alcott wrote under another name so she would not be held responsible for her liberal views of women. This hiding of identity is the central theme of the novel and helps add to the compelling nature of the story. In all I really enjoyed this book, a lot more then I expected.
     As for the Southern Gothic short stories, The Goopherded Grapevine, The Sherrif's Children, & Jean-ah Poquelin, all made for a unique writing style, unlike any I have ever read.  The only thing I didn't like about them was the hard to understand Southern dialect used , especially in Jean-ah Poquelin. The stories included traditional gothic settings such as swamps and old plantation homes. The plots included spookie elements such as curses, sick kin, and illegitimate sons. The stories portrayed aspects of our nations history through these southern gothic novels.

The Fall of the House of Usher and Behind a Mask Part 1

The Fall of the House of Usher

     Edgar Allan Poe has been one of my favorite authors since I read some of his work in highschool.  I always knew everything he wrote had a darker tone to it but I didn't know it was considered gothic until this class. Poe does a great job painting a vivid picture for the reader with his dark imagery used throughout.  Just the description of the House of Usher and Roderick Usher himself is enough to send eerie chills down your spine. Then when the story begins to unravel and you realize that Roderick buried his sister (twin) alive in the house, it really puts the iceing on the cake as far as a creepy feeling for the reader. His sister manages to break out of her tomb and appears covered in blood, this is when Roderick dies and the author hurries out of the House of Usher. All of these elements paint a freaky picture that somehow makes the reader want more.

Behind a Mask (Part 1)

     Now when I first began to read this book I was irritated because I thought it was going to be another romance novel like one of our previous readings.  This definitely wasn't the case, there are a number of twists throughout and foreshadowing that leaves the reader on the edge of their seat. This was one of the easiest books for me to read because the dialect used by the characters is similar to that of our own.  There is a lot of irony throughout the book because the reader knows that Jean is a imposter after chapter one but the characters have no idea.  This got a little frustrating because I just wanted to tell them but it also helped keep my attention throughout the read. I'm excited to finish the book and see what Jean wants out of the family and what her story is.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Young Goodman Brown

           The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a gothic story that I have known since I was young.  Although after watching the movie when I was young, the book was definitely a let down.  I was expecting more involvement with the "Headless Horseman" throughout the novel but was let down to find out his involvement was limited to the last couple of pages. Also, in the end of the novel the protagonist dissappears and Brom Bones gets the woman Ichabod Crane (the protagonist) was chasing. This was dissappointing because I expected the protagonist to survive the novel and get the girl he was chasing. This might be because that is how the movie ended so I just expected that but I feel like almost all successful stories have a "happy ending."
            Young Goodman Brown was a very stange short story but it definitely helped trigger my imagination.  I thought the "trippy" nature of the novel was very intriguing and I enjoyed reading it as a whole.  At the end of the novel I was sure if he had fallen asleep and dreamed the whole thing or if it all really happened.  I enjoyed the short novels a lot better than the long drawn out ones, it was more straight and to the point than some of the previous novels we have read. 

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Conclusion

        After finishing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it is by far my favorite book we have read in this class so far.  It combined drama and suspense and for those who haven't heard of the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a very big twist at the end.  It was a good change from the normal romanticism we commonly read about in the female gothic novels. 
       While reading the other novels it was more like a chore to read because I wasn't really interested in the topics, but in this one I wanted to keep reading because the plot was enticing to me.  I loved the psychological aspect of the novel and how somebody had a dark side which was unknown to the public.  I believe this is how many serial killers are today, on the outside they look like normal people and even in most cases act like it in public.  Then something clicks inside them and they become some blood thirsty killer that is totally polar from their normal personality.  No matter how much Dr. Jekyll tried to control his evil side, eventually it overcame him and led to the death of his good side, Dr. Jekyll.
       In all I really enjoyed this read and look forward to more novels that are like it.

The Mortal Immortal and Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

          Both of the readings this week were rather short in comparison to our past readings but definitely some of my favorite so far. The Mortal Immortal and Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde contained may elements of the traditional gothic novel but added a hint of science to distinguish themselves from our previous readings.
         The Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley was the shortest of the two stories which made it a lot easier to read. The story as a whole had a dark undertone that was somewhat intriguing and helped keep my attention.  I enjoyed how the author played up the idea of romanticism and gave it a twist from normal Winzy drank two potions to help his love problems. One of these potions was to create perfect love between him and Bertha, the other was to give him immortality. Whether or not these potions actually helped is up for debate but as far as the narrator is concerned, he has been living for 323 years. In all the story by Mary Shelley was a much needed break from novels like Romance of the Forest which was very tedious to read.
         Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde is looking like it will turn out to be one of my favorite novels read in the class.  I am very interested in the human mind and body so the idea of transforming into a completely different person at night is very intriguing to me. It is very dark in nature and some people today suffer from diseases much like this which alter there personality completely at times. The novel is from the eyes of the Mr. Utterman, in which he tries to understand the twisted life between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It is set in London and has many gothic elements such as the architecture, darkness, and suspense that leaves the reader on the edge of their seat. I am very anxious to finish the book and see what is the root of evil between Dr. Jekyll and his alter ego Mr. Hyde.

Northanger Abbey

             The novel Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen is by far the best gothic novel I have read in this class so far.  The story as a whole was a lot easier to read then the others and it usually kept my attention.  I actually read ahead of the reading because I was eager to finish the book.
             The protagonist in the novel is Catherine Morland and the entire novel is following her maturing as an individual.  In the beginning of the narrator calls her, "inattentive , and occasionally stupid." Throughout the novel though, Catherine learns from her mistakes and becomes a better judge of character from that.  She eventually begins to lose her naive character and matures as an individual.  I believe this is what the whole book is really about, the wedding between Catherine and Henry at the end was just a way for the author to satiate the interests of her readers.  It is a book about a young girl growing up and developing into a strong woman.
             Along with that though, the whole concept of a gothic novel was not really present in the book, it was just present in the mind of Catherine. She enjoyed reading a lot of gothic novels so the whole gothic idea was imprinted into her imagination.  Her imagination would play tricks on her and form a kind of gothic atmosphere in certain situations. An example of this is when Catherine conjured up the idea that General Tilney killed his wife.
            The climax of the novel would be,in my opinion, when General Tilney forced Catherine to leave their house abruptly because John Thorpe told him that she was poor.  Following this the rest of the novel would be the falling action where the loose ends are tied up and the problem is resolved.  As a whole I thought this book was a much easier read then the previous novels and I look forward to reading more Gothic novels.
           

The Romance of the Forest (The conclusion)

          I finally finished the novel and I have to say I am somewhat pleased with the ending.  It was a long drawn out book that in some parts was not very appealing to me, but in the end all of the loose ends were tied up and it made sense of everything.  It was interesting that the skeleton and manuscript that Adeline found in the old abbey was that of her father's. Also to figure out why Adeline was at the old house on the heath in the first place was very good. Through all the loneliness and solitude Adeline has faced throughout her life it is also good to know that the Marquis is convicted of his crime and Adeline and her lover Theodore could be reunited. The novel as a whole does convey the major gothic element of a damsel in distress and a plot of opposition of good and evil.
         Still the one large down fall of the book was the intricate writing style of the author.  It got very confusing at times and I hated having to reread the sentences over and over again. On top of that the book was already a significant amount of reading so that just added to the trouble. In all though, I enjoyed the book more than the Castle of Ontrato and look forward to seeing what the next novels have in store for me.

The Romance of the Forest

             The Romance of the Forest has so far, been a lot more interesting than the Castle of Otranto.  It shows many elements of a gothic novel such as a skeleton in a chest and its set in an old abbey. In this story though, the supernatural, which is such a key part of a gothic novel, is not as far fetched as in the Castle of Otranto. In The Castle of Otranto their are huge helmets crushing people and other unrealistic features that make the novel unappealing in a sense to me.  This novel seems to have more realistic supernatural features and makes it a lot more believable. When a story is more believable it makes it easier for me to feel immersed in the story.
             The novel is a lot longer than the previous novel, Castle of Otranto, and seems to drag on uneccesarily. The novel also is a little overly romantic at times and kind of corny. At the moment though I am not completely done with the novel and I am excited to finish.  I am looking forward to clearing up the questions that are still unanswered. This makes the novel more enticing to read and I definitely have enjoyed this book more than the previous novel.

Analysis of The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

           The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole was my first taste of Gothic literature and definitely was not a good one.  The first scene starts off exciting with the death of Conrad and mass hysteria by the people, but then it dies off and becomes a slow developing story.  I feel like the book needed more substance, without it the book became difficult to follow at times. Some parts failed to capture my attention, I would read a page and forget what I read, then have to repeatedly go back and reread it.
          Another problem I had with the book was that the characters in the story were so naive and irritating, they would believe anything Manfred, the king, told them.  He told the public that Theodore was the one that killed Conrad and they instantly believed him. I hope in the next novel the characters have a much higher mental capacity so that I may have a much more intellectually stimulating experience.  In addition to this I was not a fan of the incest and other taboo actions that went on through the story.  For two old men to agree to let each other marry their daughters is sick.
          On the contrary, I did enjoy the fight between Theodore and Fredric.  I am big into action so any kind of fight is good one, but I am especially into one when the loser is a perverted old man.  Also the ending in which Theodore and Isabella were united after the sad death of Matilda made the story a little more bearable.  Some of the gothic elements in this book also added an interesting side to the book which I am not used to experiencing.  The weird hermit creature, trap doors, candles blowing out, dark rooms, blood dripping from paintings, just to name a few.
           In all, I did not really enjoy the novel as a whole but felt as though it was a good introduction to the genre of Gothic literature. I am looking forward to what other interesting tales are present in the books to come.
        
         

Introduction

          Hey guys! My name is Dustin Corbett and I am a sophomore here at TCU.  I am majoring in Movement Science and hope to one day be a physical therapist and run my own sports clinic. I am really not too much of a reader, I usually just stick to watching movies and reading the occasional magazine that happens to catch my attention.
          As far as Gothic literature, I really dont know to much about it to make an accurate judgement of it.  From what I have learned so far it does sound pretty interesting though. I am a fan of horror movies so I feel that the reading we will be doing throughout this semester will have some of the same characteristics that I enjoy in movies.
         I am really excited to get this year going and look forward to learning about a topic that is unfamiliar to me as well as very intriguing!