1. Read the following article on the Gothic in American literature up to the third page (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas-Bjerre/publication/346930804_Southern_Gothic_Literature/links/5fd287c245851568d154cc25/Southern-Gothic-Literature.pdf). Speculate on Gothic features - and whether they be European, American or Southern - in Twain's Huckleberry Finn, chapter 16, and in Poe's "Annabel Lee" and/or "The Cask of Amontillado"
2. Creative writing: imagine you are Emmeline Grangenford writing on the theme of "Annabel Lee" - her death and her romance with the poet who took her for the purest maiden that ever stepped the earth.
3 comments:
1) I believe that in Huck Finn's Chapter 16, we see glimpses of ALL three Gothic expressions mentioned in the question. To keep it brief, quoting the article, "H. L. Malchow defines [classic Gothic] not as a genre but a discourse, “a language of panic, of unreasoning anxiety"". Anxiety is the most suffocating theme of the chapter, with Huck's internal debate and uncertainty regarding what is right and what is wrong ("I couldn’t get that out of my conscience, no how nor no way. It got to troubling me so I couldn’t rest; I couldn’t stay still in one place. It hadn’t ever come home to me before, what this thing was that I was doing. But now it did; and it staid with me, and scorched me more and more"). Furthermore, the Gothic theme of liminality prevails, in many ways: they're hiding, Jim is *so* close to being free. They're on the very edge of the unknown. On the other hand, as far as the American Gothic goes, the article mentions themes of "paranoia, the barbaric, and taboo". We see both paranoia and barbaric behaviour in the two men that Huck encounters, that are chasing fugitive enslaved people: they want to check the raft, initially, to see if it's a white man in there, indeed. But Huck, brilliantly, scares them off by coming up with the idea of a sickness, which terrifies them, especially when it seems to be more dangerous than Huck lets on. This is where another Gothic element comes in - "the deadly climate that nurtures diseases", the rooted corruption of the earth. And, of course, the racism.
One of Faulkner's characters is quoted in the article, describing the South: "our rivers, our land: opaque, slow, violent; shaping and creating the life of man in its implacable and brooding image." The endless journey through the confusing and dangerous river has set the tone of Huckleberry Finn for many a chapter now.
In Annabel Lee, the liminality of the "kingdom by the sea" definitely resonates as Gothic, as well as the theme of this resolute and undying love - extreme feelings and their expressions are common enough in this literary tradition. Most importantly, it is the centrality of death that makes me believe this is a classic Gothic poem we're dealing with, coupled with the idea of a life's sunset, not a sun rise.
Beatriz Simões
1) While reading through chapter 16 and its many dark and wet nooks and crannies, one can't help but come into contact with the gothic state of mind (and spirit(s)). Where chapter 17 and Emmeline evoke another main pilar of the gothic literature (the monster or monstrous being, as seen for example in Frankenstein), the great and long night Huck and Jim spend so near the former's freedom, Hucks cold sweats while batting his own moral compass or even the ghastly figures that try to stray him from his path all represent, in one way or another, the grand and vast concept of Gothic.
But, as H. L. Malchow has summarised it's characteristics, the Gothic is composed by "a language of panic, of unreasoning anxiety", and also, according to Allan Lloyd-Smith "about
the return of the past, of the repressed and denied, the buried secret that subverts and
corrodes the present, whatever the culture does not want to know or admit, will not or dare
not tell itself".
While the "panic" and anxiety are, I think, universal to the Gothic narrative (How Jane Eyre was in constant fear of the creature in the attic), no panic can be as southern, and American, as the the the near crippling anxiety Huck feels when thinking about his role in Jim's freedom and almost otherworldliness he feels when Jim shares his wishes to buy his family back. There's, ultimately, a victory on the side of helping Jim, only because doing so felt less wrong than betraying him, with lends to this small episode; in my view; a certain American Gothic touch (as race was one of the four indigenous features pointed out by Allan Lloyd-Smith).
On the other hand, the ghost story the sip crew hears before Huck is found out is the representation of a past that was repressed but comes back no matter how many time it's denied a place. The ghostly baby and the death of his murderous father after he finally decides to confront his past can not only be seen as the Gothic vision of past decisions and ill deeds coming back to haunt us, but more specifically, the moroseness of the longing that William Faulkner seemed to see the South "That’s the one trouble with this country: everything, weather, all,
hangs on too long."
So, looking at these two examples, I'd argue the Gothic nature of Chapter 16 tends to be a Southern one. There are certain all American Panics (the end of slavery) but all in all, it feels as though all the characteristics of the Southern Gothic could be used to portray chapter 16.
In comparison, as I mentioned in this comment, chapter 17 and the way Emmeline interacts with Death reminds me of the way Victor Frankenstein also had a fascination with death (giving a more European Gothic touch).
As for The Cask of Amontillado, I'd say that it can't anything but Southern Gothic. I'll recuperate, for an instant, the idea that "That’s the one trouble with this country: everything, weather, all,
hangs on too long." as did Montresor's wish for vengeance, but more so than this idea, the idea of a "deadly climate that nurtured diseases" as put by Charles Reagan Wilson, the festering wish for vengeance against Fortunate that goes hand in hand with not only the idea of a "diseased climate", but also Benjamin Fisher's notion of "anxieties, fears, terrors, often in tandem with violence, brutality, rampant sexual
impulses, and death,".
Tiago Coxo Silva
Chapter 16 of Huckleberry Finn is a chapter filled of anxiety and tension. There is, however, one main episode that can be described as Gothic: Ed’s story. Throughout this sections we see a mysterious barrel stalking the crew, who believes its causing the storm and the lightning that targets them.
Across the episode there’s a sense of paranoia and anxiety amongst the crew who wait for the next to be stricken. Paranoia, as David Punter claims, is a common theme of Gothic literature and as H. L. Malchow defines the speech is filled with “unreasoning anxiety”.
At the end of the section we come to know why the barrel was following the group, unveiling the violent past of Dick Allbright. It is implied that the spirit of the child followed Dick wherever he went and tried to enact vengeance upon him. Gothic relies on a repressed or buried secret of the past as a means to further the narrative as Allan Lloyd-Smith states, which is observed in this episode.
Death - a major element of Gothic literature - follows Dick Allbright and whoever accompanies him. The mysterious action being set at night is also a common feature of the Gothic genre.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee” showcases a different side of Gothic literature. Although death is the main theme of the poem, this one is permeated with fascination for the death of the girl. The fascination for women’s dead figures is a common theme throughout literature overall, but in the Gothic genre it seems even more frequent.
After the death of Annabel Lee the voice of the poem states that nothing will separate him from his lover as “I lie down by the side / Of my darling,” (Ll. 38-39) in her “sepulchre” (l. 40) and “tomb” (l. 41). This can be read as either an obsessive love kind of love that will follow Annabel even in her death or that the lyrical voice has committed suicide in order to be reunited with his lover.
Death is mention both directly and indirectly in the poem. Words like “wind” - usually a symbol for spirituality and the human soul - and “chilling” - associated with death - are the first indicators of the tragedy of Annabel Lee. The mention of “Heaven”, “angels” and “demons” also recall the existence of another world(s) that humans can only reach after death. And lastly the mention of the moon and the realm of dreams also implies the theme of death - as it is also known as “the eternal sleep”.
Carolina Santos
Post a Comment