“The House of Asterion” and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” both share some of the same Gothic elements such as a mysterious character. In “The House of Asterion” the mysterious character is Asterion himself. In the beginning of the story he seems to just be a mad man living in solitude but the end of the story raises the question as to if Asterion is a Minotaur and therefore a villain? It’s unclear to the readers who Asterion really is thus making him a mysterious character. Similarly, in “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” the old man is the mysterious character because it’s unclear of who he is. In the story he is described as a decrepit old man with wings, the other characters in the story assume he is an angel but it is neither confirmed nor denied. And again at the end of the story the question of who he really is still remains because the old man ends up regaining his strength and flying away.

Another Gothic element that is in both stories is death. In “The House of Asterion” it seems that some of the nine men who came into the house end up dying or being near death. And Asterion mentions falling from buildings that could but never do result in death. In “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” I think the old man himself is a representation of death of course until be regains his strength and flies away. Throughout the story he is dragging himself about, has only a few feathers on his wings and overall looks sickly. The dead crabs can also be an omen of darkness or a bad event about to take place.

The last Gothic element is setting. “The House of Asterion” takes place in a castle. What makes the castle creepy is the fact that it’s always quiet, there’s no furniture, you can be in complete solitude and the doors are always open. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” firsts opens up after a storm that lasted 3 days and that killed and washed up an abundance of crab along with the old man. There are more storms throughout the story, one ends up knocking down the chicken coop and the old man had to move into the shed. Was the storm a natural occurrence or was it the doing of a high power in order to get the angel in better conditions so he can regain his strength faster?