Genre Assignment

Short horror stories

 

Kelly Cornejo

English 1121

 

1 Short horror stories are stories focused on creating a feeling of fear. Some examples of this type of writing are “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe a famous American writer. “IT” and “Pet Sematary” by Stephen King an American Writer, and  “Sandkings” by George R.R Martin also an American writer. These type of stories could include ghosts, witches, vampires and more. A lot of these stories are also showed in films. “IT” for example, is a story about a child killing clown. They have created two films about it, an old (1990) and a new (2017) modernized version. It has called a lot of people’s attention throughout years. It has become one of the best horror stories of all time.

 

2 This genre is important in our society and even in our lives because is not just  entertaining but sends the reader a message about real life tough situations. These stories tend to have the best way to transmit a message to their audience with a dark storyline. Horror stories are about killing, ghost and all sorts of dark situations and can be interpreted in many different ways to learn something from them. Yes they are fictional stories but hide and important meaning. The Story “IT” talks about a clown that eats kids. Clowns are meant to be for happiness and fun. In this case is basically a monster dressed as a clown. This is teaching us a very important message, that you can’t always trust everyone. Even the one with the nicest smile could betray you. They show happiness but in reality they could become your worst nightmare. These messages could make people change in the way they make decisions.

The most well known people to have written this genre are Stephen King Stephen Edwin King an American author of contemporary horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy, along with Edgar Allen Poe, H.P Lovecraft, R. L. Stine and Bram Stoker. These tales are of ancient origin and form a substantial part of the body of folk literature.  Horace Walpole was the one who wrote the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto in 1764, initiating a new literary genre. The concept of a ghost, also known as a specter. Is based on the ancient idea that a person’s spirit exists separately from his or her body, and may continue to exist after that person dies. They are famous everywhere in the country and entertaining to great amount of people and connecting it to the discourse community of teenagers and young adults interested in horror.This genre is directed to people that like the feeling of fear. These are curious people that always want to know more about the dark side of everything.

A lot of people have reacted to the stories Stephen King wrote. Journalists wrote an article naming him the master of horror saying “Stephen King’s writing spans more than 40 years and more than 60 books, and while the content of his fiction varies widely, lying underneath it is a picture of the contemporary world that his “constant readers” He is one of the most successful writers in the world. One of the stories that has become the most famous is “IT” the 22nd story by Stephen King. The films inspired by this story have caused an impact to society. Everyone in Halloween wants to dress as a clown for example. Some kids or even adults are afraid of clowns because of the image this story and film portray. This story was published September 15, 1986 and had been growing fame ever since then.

 

3 To write a short horror story you need to describe something that scares you in detail. This creates more emotion and helps the reader picture the story in their head. The more details you include, the scarier it gets. The examples I chose of this genre are “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” both by Edgar Allan Poe, “IT” and “Pet Sematary” both by Stephen King  and “Sandkings” by George R.R Martin. They all portray different messages with a dark story. The stories by Edgar Allan Poe both include murder. In “The Tell Tale Heart” the narrator kills an old man and through the story his conscience kills him. This means that guilt caught up to him eventually as well as it does with majority of people in the real world. “The Black Cat” the narrator as well tells the story and says he killed him pet and wife. This story portrays violence. Both of these stories have a similarities in their message. They seem to show guiltiness in the characters of the story. “IT” by Stephen King sends the message of trust. You can’t always trust everyone. IT the clown shows a smile to the kids and ends up eating them. Just like “IT”  “Pet Sematary“ also had an old and a modernized film. This story is about Louis Creed, his wife and their two children. They move to a rural home where they are welcomed and enlightened about the eerie ‘Pet Sematary’ located near their home. After the tragedy of their cat being killed by a truck, he buries it in a mysterious pet cemetery, which is definitely not as it seems. Creeds think that sometimes, dead is better.The message that this sends is the strong emotions of letting go of something you love. Lastly “Sandkings” by George R.R Martin. This horror story is one of the crispiest stories ever written. Sandkings are small insect like creatures, though they aren’t insects. They build castles in the sand and war with each other. The character of the story owns them as pets. Every story of any genre always leaves a message which is how they connect with the reader. All these stories have killing in common, which is one of the best tools to create horror.

4 “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. The narrator tells the story of his hatred for an old man and how it finally drove him to commit murder.  As the story goes on, it reveals the narrator’s guilt. The major themes in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is the effects of guilt or conscience becoming into madness. This short story sends the message that tells the reader that whatever mistake, crime, u commit, guilt would kill your conscience and the truth always comes out. The story begins by him telling us what he did and why he did it. “I could hear sounds I had never heard before. I heard sounds from heaven; and heard sounds from hell…There was no reason for what I did. I did not hate the old; I even loved him… I think it was his evil eye” The way he describes this, we can conclude that he is not right in the head. He appears to talk as a crazy man that committed a crime of passion. Since this is the beginning of his story, we can assume he became crazy after committing murder. The way the author shows his guilty is shown in the story towards the end. “I pushed my chair across the floor to make more noise, to cover that terrible sound. I talked even louder. And still the men sat and talked, and smiled. Was it possible that they could not hear?…suddenly I couldn’t bear it no longer. I pointed at the boards and cried, Yes I killed him”. This quote says that, the police showed up to his house to check if everything was alright. He was able to handle the situation and even talk and laugh with the officers. Out of nowhere he started hearing a sound in which he later says it was the dead old man’s heart beating. This was a noise only in his head. Without the officers even asking him, he told them the truth. This reveals the guilt this man had in his head in which ate him alive making him confess.

This was directed to the people that carry guilt in their heart because of a lie or something wrong the have done. This is very important to society because people lie every day, and people make mistakes every time. They need to realize that the truth will someday come out. They can’t hide from the truth with a guilt being carried. Personally I find this story very significant because anyone that reads it can connect to the message. I was able to connect in a personal way to this story in a different scenario, just like everyone else can.          

 

5Model of the text

Black Widow

By: Kelly Cornejo

I know you want to know the truth. Yes, I was angry, very very angry. It was 1am when I received the text “I am no longer interested in you, I got someone else”. I loved him, but he gave me no choice. I left my house right away and drove in the wild killing storm. No soul was found anywhere outside, and there I was, in Front of his big green house. He was living alone and of course I knew where the extra hidden keys were outside. I knew he would be sleeping by that time so I entered slowly and quiet on my tippy toes. My heart would beat faster and faster with every step I was gave. No, I wasn’t scared at all. In fact I was excited to see him go away to the other world alone. If I couldn’t have him than NO ONE else could. My anger was vibrant in my heart and I was NOT going to fall back. I slowly opened the door of his bedroom and stared at him as he slept for a good five minutes. How cute? He was breathing in peace thinking everything was going to be fine. He was facing upwards, the perfect position as if he knew,  that would make it easier for me to kill him. 3.15am I kissed him and said goodbye. I put a knife in his throat and watched him die and swim in a wine red pool of blood. “I declare you, forever mine” He was cuter dressed in red. His bed smelled better and he looked more peaceful. It was time for me to go to bed. It was late and I needed some sleep. At a speed of 200 mph I was heading home with a cold cold face. The rain was heavier and heavier. I felt as if drowning. I stopped in the middle of nowhere and froze for a minute. I couldn’t believe I had killed a person. I get out of the car and there it was. The police station. I opened the door and gave myself in. No one understood why. The blood dripping off my shirt said it all.    Message : (jealousy kills

Works cited

 

The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

http://http//ecsa.citytech.cuny.edu

 

The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe

https://1.cdn.edl.io/UES8xDAPQ6iY8WKqilckr3Rn2JPN2wXKfLVMSPkTbmSbZDYo.pdf

 

The Sandkings by George R.R Martin

https://forwearemany.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/sandkings.pdf

 

Stephen King based article

https://theconversation.com/stephen-king-a-master-of-horror-who-finds-terror-in-the-everyday-83758