Category: Midterm Essay (Page 1 of 2)

Teresa Lopez Ramos

Eng 2001

December 14, 2020

            At the beginning of the semester, we have learned what is, Gothic. We have defined it as writing, film, art, music, or other cultural object that creates an atmosphere of transgressive and excessive emotions and actions. Relating to nightmares, mysteries, terror, decay, death, and madness. Examples of Gothic writing or in this case Gothic literature is of the two stories that I have grown fond of “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner and “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, which have two prominent characters that demonstrate not only the definition of what is Gothic in literature but also their emotions that are portrayed, but an example of extreme fear, cruelty, passion, violence, lust, degradation, dread, suspense, and shock in their stories. However, both “A Rose for Emily” and “The Lottery,” Tessie Hutchinson and Emily Grierson are faced to react to the questions when it comes to the dangers of blindly following traditions in their stories. 

“A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner  a story begins with Emily Grierson’s funeral. Which is attended by many of the people of the town who really know nothing about her, other than Emily’s family house is the last of a once, elegant, and upscale neighborhood. In present day, board members of the town tries to get Emily to pay the taxes (that her father had made agreement to the town)  that hasn’t been paid since the death of her father. It’s her emotion’s that has made her unable to communicate about the death of her father, still in shock and unable to give up her father’s body but also it has made the town ridicule her for being unmarried at the age thirty. Homer Barron enters the picture as a potentially romantic relationship for Emily – that the town begins to gossip about. Though the relationship grows – the town’s people begin to fear that she will try to kill herself after being seen to have bought arsenic. However, years have passed by and Emily grows old and Homer is not seen again; after unsealing an upstairs room many enter to see Homer Barron’s body completely decomposed and a long strand of Emily’s gray hair on the pillow.  

 In the story “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson; small town villagers are gathered in the square on 27^th, a beautiful day for the event, taking place is know as “The Lottery”. Mr. Summers arrived with an important black box that has not been used for many years that will be filled of slips of papers. As Mr. Summers began to mix up the slips of paper in the black box  Tessie Hutchinson is described to be flustered because she had forgotten an important day to this village. As “The Lottery” is happening the Hutchison family is reported “got it” – Tessie argues that it wasn’t fair because her husband didn’t have enough time to select a paper. Mr. Summers asked whether or not there are any household member of the Hutchison family, and Bill Hutchison say no because his married daughter draws with her husband. Mr. Summers continues to question how many children does Bill have, and he answers with three. Again, Tessie protests that the lottery isn’t fair. Once, the Hutchison draws their slips of papers and opens them, they find that Tessie had drawn the paper with the black dot. The villages grab their stones and throw them at Tessie (who is standing in the middle of the crowd) who again not only protesting that “The Lottery” isn’t fair, but also pleading for her life.  

As stated before in these stories there are two prominent characters that share the same emotions when it comes extreme fear, violence, degradation, and shock; when death becomes an important and dangerous factor when following and dismantling traditions. Tessie Hutchison, am important character from Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” a wife and a mother of three who draws a second black dot and is stoned to death by those in the community in the village. Tessie Hutchison is interpreted as a rebel and nothing more than a helpless victim of “The Lottery”. As the rest of the villagers comes bright and early to participate in this annual event, Tessie comes late and saying “Wouldn’t have me leave m’dishes in the sink, now would you, Joe?”(Jackson 2)  – showing not only a protest, but a disrespect to this formal and serious event. However, once Tessie is chosen as the lottery winner, she is denied sympathy or compassion not of the town but also from her husband and children, “Be a good sport, Tessie,” Mrs. Delacroix called, and Mrs. Graves said “All of us took the same chance.” “Shut up Tessie,” Bill Hutchinson said” (Jackson 4). Ostracized and forced to face her death alone;Tessie Hutchison is the only person to openly criticize the lottery. Her death is not a punishment of a crime, but rather a ritualized killing; “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right, Mrs. Hutchison screamed” – this makes the reader questions whether or not this tradition leading to unnecessary violence is worth it. 

            A Rose for Emily – written by William Faulkner writes about Emily Grierson, a southern bell, who is the last surviving member of an aristocratic family. A mysterious and muted with eccentric, unbalanced, tragic, bizarre behavior. “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.”(Faulkner 1930). A remnant of the traditional southern social stratification  that no longer exist in the wake of the Civil War. Her high class status has made her in the eyes of the people of Jefferson – resentful and respected. This is because of this that has made Emily demand not only special treatment, but a social barrier between herself and the people of Jefferson. Emily doesn’t not allow herself to become more modern by clinging to the past and her traditional values. Examples, of not paying the tax and refusing to plant a mailbox outside her house, the people of Jefferson are traditional already enable her behavior. The narrator mentions another important family member of the Grierson clan, Old Lady Wyatt. “That was when people had begun to feel really sorry for her. People in our town, remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great-aunt had gone completely crazy at last, believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were.” (Faulkner 3) It indicates that this rich and successful family has mental instability, Emily had a sheltered childhood and was unable to process the death of her own father; an effect of her poor emotional development. At the end of the story, she decides to poison Homer an act to keep the only man she opened up to; makes him stay. The position of his body was “in the attitude of an embrace” suggests her emotions of loneliness, desperation, and her inability of fantasy and reality. Emily Grierson is much of a complex character to cast a judgment against, her complexity of the traditions of the Old South creates her own tragedies. 

 The Lottery is described as an event taken place annually, however before the reader gets a full picture of what the lottery is; there is an assumption of a quaint and hopeful event. As families gather around the host (Mr.Summers) and a black box that even the author herself express that the villagers don’t even know much about The Lottery’s origin, but nevertheless they try to preserve this tradition. It also the blind acceptance to the tradition to allow murder to be a part of the towns history, “Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box.” (Jackson 1) A revealing demonstration on how firmly the villagers are and always will be entrenched to the lottery’s traditions. Even though the villager’s don’t have a good reason for wanting to keep the black box  when it’s not included in the origin story of this towns lottery. Their strident belief that this box can and must not change is a suggestion of fear itself towards societal change. Allegory; a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden message (morally or politically). “A Rose for Emily” – more specifically its representation of the death of the Old South and its tradition; more specifically Emily and her father. Emily, an aged southern bell is unable to integrate to the now modernized Jefferson, decides to isolated to keep her own traditions alive. Homer Barron, loud and youthful is her representation of what she detest a more modern South. Once Emily poisons Homer and his corpse; this create a symbolic desire to maintain the fading traditions of the Old South. 

One character desires to change traditions and the other wants to maintain traditions. The reader is able to understand that both traditions and change have their consequences especially in these stories. However, death is the only danger to blindly following traditions. 

Diana Castillo

Professor Scanlan

English 2001

29 October 2020

Redemption

Gothic literature is a style of writing that encompasses many elements of horror and death. The overall mood of this writing is gloomy for the most part, but it can also include romance within natural events, individuality and intense emotion of fear and suspense. A major theme of gothic literature that I noticed was redemption. Redemption is present in the character of Emily Grierson in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and character Bartleby in Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street.” 

Emily Grierson is the main character in “A Rose for Emily”. It is a short story about a woman who appeared to be in denial over the death of her father, who was in complete dominance over her life. An example of this is, “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such.” (Faulkner 3) This death causes a stir of events towards her redemption.   The particular type of redemption Emily Grierson sought out was absolution to redeem her character. Her redemption was sought through killing her husband, Homer. The towns people had already begun to pity her after her father’s death and when she married Homer, then everyone knew she was marrying beneath her and she appeared not of sound mind. She bought arsenic and the townspeople’s reaction indicated she may have been suffering from mental illness. “She will kill herself… and we said it would be the best thing. When she has first begun to be seen with Homer Barron…” (Faulkner 5) On the contrary, she had intended to use on her husband to keep him forever. He had no intention of staying with her so it drove her to such a rash decision. Emily stated “What was left of hum, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay; and upon hum and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding dust.”

Another example of redemption seen in the gothic literature stories is that of Bartleby in Herman Melville’s “Bartleby: The Scrivener.” In this story, Bartleby is a copyist for a real estate lawyer who began the job with excellence and slowly drove the other employees crazy. Similar to “A Rose for Emily,” Bartleby appears to have sought out redemption when he refused to examine a document when asked by the lawyer by stating “I would prefer not to”. The second example of his attempt to redeem his character was his response of “I would rather not” during a meeting at his work to a request to make copies. This makes it clear that he was not a very motivated employee and may have had a goal and could possibly have been religious. In another instance, Bartleby also had refused to eat while he was in jail. This was the most serious of his attempts at redeeming his character because it ultimately caused his death. He had shown multiple attempts to seek something other than his complacent position in life. 

In conclusion, redemption was a common theme between the two main characters Emily Grierson and Bartleby of “A Rose for Emily” and “Bartley’s Scrivener.”  Both of these characters presented an absolution type of redemption. Emily Grierson did so through the murder of her husband, Homer. Bartleby may have desired a new life as he was not content with how he was living his current one and did so through his attitude in his job and eventually with his in his final times in a jail cell.  Although not a lot of information is given by the narrator on Bartleby, so we can only assume he may have sought out to redeem his character. 

Jose Flores

Midterm Essay, English 2001

Oct 17, 2020

Loneliness is Pretty Bad

A lot of people are afraid of being alone. Loneliness can bring mental illness, such as depression, madness, and thoughts of suicide. These ideas can be associated with gothic literature. Gothic literature are pieces of literature where the main ideas are acts of death or madness. “The House of Asterion” by Jorge Luis Borges has elements of gothic literature that portray loneliness that lead the main character to madness. Another piece of literature that portrays these elements is the prologue to “The Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison. These two gothic literatures have characters that go through madness and maybe even death.

The Minotaur, who is also the narrator, from “The House of Asterion” is trapped in a labyrinth all by himself. He tells us his story, but for all we know he is telling himself this story because he is alone. As stated in the story “I crouch in the shadow of a pool or around a corner and pretend I am being followed.”, here you can see that him being alone has brought him to pretend things so he doesn’t feel alone. This leads to him say “that some day my redeemer would come”. He comes to the realization that his life isn’t worth much and that could be due to the fact that he is alone. The idea of someone making up imaginary people is for the insane, which is caused by the Minotaur’s loneliness. Even though in the story it is mentioned that the Minotaur can leave the labyrinth, people are afraid of him and run away from him, and this can make anyone feel alone. 

The narrator from “The Invisible Man” is in the same situation as the Minotaur from “The House of Asterion”. The Invisible Man himself states that he to others is invisible, “When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination – – indeed, everything and anything except me.” Here the narrator is clearly conscious that he is indeed invisible to everyone, and if one is invisible to everyone then you are indeed alone. Due to his loneliness, he takes to violence. One night he bumped into someone and when the stranger cursed at him the narrator attacked him. Later, the narrator realized that the stranger had not seen him by saying “when it occurred to me that the man had not seen me, actually”. The narrator had attacked someone without realizing that the person he attacked never noticed the narrator. The narrator is also isolated by himself. The narrator lives in a lonesome basement, to add to his loneliness he has lights all over his basement. The narrator’s reason for all these lights is, “Light confirms my reality, gives birth to my form.” The narrator needs something to prove to himself that he is alive, which seems to be an effect of his isolation and loneliness.

These two characters/narrators both are isolated and alone. They both have something that tells them that they are alive. The narrator from “The Invisible Man” has his whole basement filled with lights just so that he himself knows that he is real. The narrator from “The House of Asterion” has been imprisoned in the labyrinth by the Queen. Both of these characters have been isolated and because of this isolation they have been driven to madness. Another example of the Minotaur’s madness is when he says “ But of all the games, I prefer the one about the other Asterion. I pretend that he comes to visit me and that I show him my house.” This is another prime example of the Minotaur going insane. Like the Minotaur, the Invisible needs contact with something/someone to feel like he is real. Along with the all lights he has in his basement, is also freeloading from the electric company “Monopolated Light & Power”. He had been using their services prior to moving to the basement, but the prices were absurdly high. Now he is freeloading as a way of fighting them but also as he says “It allows me to feel my vital aliveness.” These two characters need the feeling of “company” be it made up or from a distance to satiate their loneliness. 

Redemption is when one wants to redeem themselves by doing actions to satisfy themselves or someone else. In “The House of Asterion” the Minotaur is trying to redeem himself by waiting for the one “that some day my redeemer would come.” The person/entity he is trying to redeem himself for is his mother, the Queen. He was most likely placed in the labyrinth by his mother and his death would be his redemption for his mother. Like the Minotaur, the Invisible Man is trying to redeem himself too. The Invisible Man is not seen by others and he has all those lights in his apartment and “steals” from the electric company so that he can redeem himself to himself. He does all of this so that he can himself know that he in fact is not invisible. 

These pieces of gothic literature show us that isolation and loneliness and entrapment can cause one to go insane. Not only this, it makes one want to try to redeem themselves.

Sajeevan Rangeswaran

Midterm Essay, English 2001

October 26, 2020

                                                            Black Cat Narrator vs Emily

            Gothic is writing that creates excessive emotions and actions related to nightmares, mysteries, terror, death, and madness. We have read so many Gothic fictions this semester and most of them have a different gothic element in the story. There were two stories in which I felt the character has some similarities. The two stories were “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. What are some of the similarities and differences between the narrator from “The Black Cat” and Emily from “A Rose for Emily” in their gothic fiction? 

           In the story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe; the narrator is the main character, and he is an alcoholic who gets angry at everyone and beats his wife. One day he hanged his cat Pluto and after that, his house was destroyed by the fire. After that, he found a cat that looks like his cat Pluto. That cat followed the narrator even though the narrator did not like it. One day he could not tolerate the cat, so he decided to kill the cat with the knife, but his wife came in the middle, and instead of the cat he kills his own wife. Then he hides her body inside the wall where the cat will also get stuck. When the police came to his house, he got caught because the cat made noise from the wall. In the end, he was arrested for killing his wife and he is going to die now because of that. Spirit of perverseness has been discussed in “The Black Cat” when the narrator talked about how it’s human nature to commit a mistake and it happens to everyone. According to the Black Cat “Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or silly action for no other reason than because he knows he should not? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such?” Here the narrator talks about how people know they should not break the law, but they decide to ignore it because of their nature.     

           In the story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Emily is the main character who lives with her father in the southern united states. One day her father dies, and she lives alone in the house. One time she meets Homer Barron, who she falls in love with. Homer Barron told everyone in the area that he slept with Emily, which made Emily so angry. Emily decided to kill Homer Barron because of that. Even though she killed him; she kept Homer Barron dead body with her in the house. After a few years, she dies also because of aging. “A Rose for Emily” is told from a lot of different perspectives. It has been told from the first, second- and third-person points of view. An example from “A Rose for Emily” is “I want some poison,” she said to the druggist. She was over thirty then, still a slight woman, though thinner than usual, with cold, haughty black eyes in a face the flesh of which was strained across the temples and about the eye sockets as you imagine a lighthouse-keeper’s face ought to look.” Here they told from the first person and third-person point of view.  

           There have been a lot of differences between the Black Cat narrator and Emily from “A Rose for Emily”, but they have some similarities also. Uncanny is when gothic fiction shows some things that are close to reality. Both “The black cat” and “A Rose for Emily” showed some incidence that can happen in real life. For instance, the Black cat narrator kills the person he loves his wife and Emily kills the person who she loves Homer Barron. Even though Black Cat narrator didn’t mean to kill his wife, but in the end he killed her. Also, how they both kept their loved ones dead body with them in their house. Black Cat narrator buried his wife in the wall and Emily kept Homer Barron dead body in her bed. An example from “The Black Cat” is “And in this calculation I was not deceived. By means of a crowbar I easily dislodged the bricks, and, having carefully deposited the body against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while with little trouble, I re-laid the whole structure as it originally stood.” Here the narrator talks about how he used the crowbar to open the wall and put the body inside the wall. An example from “A Rose for Emily” is “What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay; and upon him and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding dust.” Here Emily neighbors find Homer Barron dead body after Emily dies and they talked about what happened to his dead body.                

To sum it up I never thought there will be similarities between two characters from two different gothic fiction, but now I have written an essay about it. There are a lot of stories that will have some similarities between the two different stories. Even though Emily and the Black cat had some similarities, but differences outweigh the similarities.

Enderson Filpo

Midterm Essay, English 2001

Oct 26, 2020

ENG 2001 O525

The Black Cat and The Yellow Wallpaper

            To Begin with, what do one expect when they read a gothic story? Irony. Without Irony the word gothic would not mean a thing within the story. Gothic stories can relate to the real world as death and mysteries are bound to occur. The stories, “The Black Cat” by Edgar Ellen Poe and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman demonstrates gothic and relate to one another as the characters can be compared and contrasted, both stories expresses mysteries and terror. In “The Black Cat” the narrator is known for loving his cat and wife but resulted in a denouement ending. The story reflects to Poe’s word perverse in which “makes people do things they know will be bad for themselves”, the narrator was an alcoholic who murdered his cat who he thought was avoiding him this falls under self-destruction as being an alcoholic causes mood swings even if their friendship was good. The narrator’s childhood must have been devastating. Was it possible for the narrator to get some sort of help at some point? Or did the alcohol has already taken advantage of him which it did as it resulted for him to go from this lovely and caring person to a killer. This can be compared to “The Yellow Wallpaper” which falls under the Spirit of perverseness as well dealing with terror. The narrator is a woman diagnoses with mental illness which is going under treatment for depression. Her sanity is lost as she refuses to get treated as she keeps her journal hidden from her husband. This reflects to self-destruction as her mental illness has already gotten worst by being obsessed with the wallpaper in her room as she sees a woman trapped behind bars. This resulted in her starting to feel the wallpaper and kept it all to herself instead of informing her husband, which then led to her loss of sanity as it was too late. Afterall, I will be discussing the story, “The Black Cat” gothic emotions and compare/contrast it to the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”.

            In the story, “The Black Cat”, the narrator is an alcoholic. The narrator’s alcoholism led to his mood swings though he truly loved his wife and animals (cats). As he decides to abuse his body with alcohol and is addicted to it, he does not realize the amount of harm he is doing to himself and his surroundings (his wife and cat). He kills his cat for thinking that Pluto (his cat) was avoiding him. According to the story, “The Black Cat” Poe states, “I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limp of a tree hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with bitterest remorse at my heart hung it because I knew it had had loved me”.  (6) He regretted killing his cat which then led to more madness as it led towards the house burning. The narrator was following a pattern in which his alcoholism was not stopping him whatsoever, it is like he is an addict to murdering now. This can relate to the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman which also shows gothic emotions as in terror and fear. The narrator mental illness has taken over life as her imagination has gotten worst. According to the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman states, “It used to disturb me at first. I thought seriously of burning the house—to reach the smell. But now I am used to it. The only thing I can think of that it is like is the color of the paper—a yellow smell!” (143) The narrator feels trapped as she can barely do anything but stay obsessed with the yellow wallpaper as she is able to smell it. So, addiction and obsession are linked to each other therefore both narrators have something in common.

            Furthermore, there are differences within both stories. In the story, “The Black Cat” by Edgar Ellen Poe, the narrator went insane when a cat that looked just like pluto (his cat in which he murdered) was following him to his old house where him and his wife moved into. So as the wife tries to prevent him from killing the cat, he kills the wife instead. According to the story, “The Black Cat” states, “Goaded by the interference into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp n and buried the axe in her brain.” (11) His addiction has gotten worst leading him to murder his own wife. The audience expected the wife to change his life around but was not able to. Being an alcoholic possessed the narrator as he knew his addiction would only get worse and keep on making him do horrifying things. The ending was denouement as I least expected the wife to die and did not expect the police to find the cat on top of her head making it so puzzling. Now this can be differed to the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman as the narrator didn’t let her husband know what was going on at all which led a denouement ending as well as the husband was expecting her to be in good condition but wasn’t. According to the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman states, “he said—very quietly indeed, “Open the door, my darling!” “I can’t,” said I. “The key is down by the front door, under a plantain leaf!” And then I said it again, several times, very gently and slowly, and said it so often that he had to go and see, and he got it, of course, and came in. He stopped short by the door. “What is the matter?” he cried. “For God’s sake, what are you doing?” I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder.” (146-147) The ending on this story is different from the “The Black Cat” as there is no actual terror going on just the loss of sanity in which didn’t led to any death unlike the narrator in “The Black Cat” where the narrator used his alcoholism and was unaware of what was going on therefore killed.

            To conclude, both stories, “The Black Cat” by Edger Ellen Poe and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman conveyed gothic emotions such as terror and fear which led to self-destruction or worst-case scenario death. In “The Black Cat”, the narrator was an alcoholic with a terrible childhood which resulted in the deaths of his wife and cat. In the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” the narrator suffers from mental illness and is obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her room which caused the loss of her sanity. Her obsession keeps her from telling her husband what is going on which eventually he found out and fainted. I compared and differed both stories in which are linked to “The Spirit of perverseness” which refers to people doing things they know will be bad for themselves.

Angela Vargas

Midterm essay 

October 26,2020

The spirit of perverse vs Mental Illness

Mental illness plays an important part when the spirit of perverse arrives in a situation or the action of a person. The narrators for the story “The black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The yellow wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s are known to practice using a lot of perverse actions due to their mental illness. Their mental illness converts them into aggravated and careless character in many parts of the story. 

The spirit of perverse and mental illness is shown in the story “The yellow wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins due to the narrators not listening to her husband John about not writing through her illness. The narrator shows a lot of mental illness throughout the story in one part the narrator explains how she feels more angrier than ever “ I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I’m sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition.” Also being inside a room she doesn’t enjoy brings the worst of her and not being able to write too. The spirit of perverse begins by her not agreeing that she’s sick and has a mental illness which her husband John practices a lot of unnecessary remedies for her. The need to do what’s right is important for her since she knows she’s sick but doesn’t trust her husband to cure her. Writing helps with her illness because she feels relieved when she writes but her husband John doesn’t allow her because it is not going to help her. In that matter she goes behind his back and writes about the yellow wallpaper in her room and begins to hallucinate about it. 

The story “The black cat” narrator plays a character with many issues surrounding him and making him into this monster of a person. The narrator explains how he never had an issue with his family but throughout his life things change which lead him to become an alcoholic. The narrator’s anger and pulse intuition got him to harm his wife and cat pluto. The narrator suffered from trust issues and believed his cat was his worst enemy and wanted to harm him. Due to the alcohol issues his illness began to be servere and took a lot of action as to even tried to murder the cat just by a simple look. “I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself using intemperate language to my wife.” The narrator couldn’t control the need for his high temperament which made him lose his mind whenever he felt the need to harm those he loved. 

The narrators of both “The black cat” and “the yellow wallpaper” suffer from mental health which creates a lot of violence and actions that harm themselves and their surroundings. Both of the narrators couldn’t control their emotions and had a high impulse to take actions upon themselve.  The narrator of “The yellow wallpaper” had a break point where she couldn’t control this anxiety and depression about the yellow wallpaper and she began to rip it off due to her anger and despair of being locked in the room. “I tried to lift and push it until I was lame, and then I got so angry I bit off a little piece at one corner—but it hurt my teeth.” She knew she couldn’t go outside the room since John didn’t allow her but her impulses and her need to be heard got her to her limits. This scene can be compare to the narrator of “The black cat” when he tried to get rid off pluto one night after coming home drunk because pluto was ignoring him “My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin- nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame.” The narrator suffers an anxiety and temperament attack which lead him to just see anger. The narrator felt as if Pluto wasn’t there to support him as much. Both of the narrator wanted to be heard about what was happening with them and their illness. In both of the stories the narrators are shown to take actions and tried to be heard but they take this action violently towards the other characters. 

The spirit of perverse played a huge role with the mental illness because both of the narrators know they are doing the wrong but had the need to harm and take action. For example in the story “The yellow wallpaper” when John didn’t allow her(The narrator) to write she felt the need to go behind his back and do it since she felt it was curing her. As well with the narrator of “The black cat” he felt as if nobody was watching him struggle with his illness of alcoholism and high temperament. Both of the characters took actions with their own hands not caring who they hurt or if they hurt themselves. 

Delandre Boyd

Midterm Essay, ENG 2001 O525

10/26/20

Perverseness & Corruption

In Gothic literature, there are a myriad of elements contained within each narrative that enhances the depth of not only the narrative itself, but the depth within each character. However, the defining element in Gothic literature is the Spirit of Perverseness. In summary, the Spirit of Perverseness is described as a person doing what is unacceptable, for the sake of doing so, even if the behavior proves to be self-destructive. But what significance does the Spirit of Perverseness have on Gothic literature? In this essay, I will analyze how the Spirit of Perverseness affects the once peaceful-turned-sadistic narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” and the once trusting-turned-paranoid Goodman Brown in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and examine how the underlying theme of corruption furthers our understanding behind the characters and their actions.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat”, the unnamed narrator undergoes a series of drastic, depraved and seemingly sociopathic personality changes, transforming from a benevolent, caring child and growing to be a violent, murderous sadist who willingly inflicts pain on a harmless black cat that he once cared for, even going as far as killing and concealing the body of his own wife. What stands out however, is his rationalization behind his violent acts towards others: the Spirit of Perverseness, which makes him “do wrong for the wrong’s sake only” (Poe 4). The vile acts inflicted upon his cat were committed with evil intentions and self-awareness, as his embracing of the Spirit of Perverseness demonstrated his complete acceptance of his apparent moral corruption, as the narrator is completely self-aware and unfazed by his actions, while being unconcerned of the consequences, and goes as far as considering his act of depravity a normal human act.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” , a once trusting, righteously spiritual man of faith goes out on a journey into the night, seemingly leading to the revelation of the righteous townspeople being devil worshippers, including his beloved wife, Faith. These events appear to be somewhat misleading as the events of the story might have been a figment of Goodman Brown’s imagination, but seemed to be enough to convince Goodman Brown to distrust everyone in his community, isolating himself from even his own wife, until his grim death. The Spirit of Perverseness is apparent within this Gothic story as well, as Goodman Brown is  seemingly willing to abandon his own faith, by attending the ceremony, in a distraught yet, completely self-aware moment of delusion when it was state that he was “… maddened with despair, … with the instinct that guides mortal man to evil. ” (Hawthorne, 53). This demonstrates Goodman Brown’s apparent lapse of discernment that drives him to embrace the Spirit of Perverseness, attending the ceremony to his own moral corruption  and religious detriment. 

With the Spirit of Perverseness being prevalent in both stories, the two stories share similarities revolving around the underlying theme of corruption in both “The Black Cat” and “Young Goodman Brown”, as both characters experience corruption that not only alter their outlook on life and society, but completely transform them as individuals. Both the narrator and Goodman Brown were kind individuals before succumbing to corruption.  They both, as a result of corruption, suffer grim fates at the end of their respective stories. Due to their experiences corrupting their societal and personal outlook, they end up abandoning/betraying those they once cared for.

As the underlying theme of corruption acted as a common link between these two particular pieces of Gothic literature, the catalyst behind their corruptive aspects  differ. In Poe’s “The Black Cat, one of the catalysts behind his corruption and perverse acts of depravity seem to be a result of his alcoholism when he states, “ returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him” (Poe, 5),  demonstrating that the narrators’ behavior toward the black cat grew excessively violent as the narrator mutilated the harmless and defenseless cat in a drunken rage. But while alcoholism seems to be more tangible of a catalyst, another origin behind his corruption is time, when the narrator himself states, “I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings.. even offered her personal violence.” (Poe, 4), showing the disdain he felt for his wife as the days progressed and demonstrated how time factored into the narrator’s callous behavior as his compassion for life in general seemed to have diminished, becoming a shadow of his former self, showing that a more intangible, conceptual catalyst had such an immense on the narrator’s behavior, greatly different from how he was in adolescent  years. With that said however, the main corruptive element in “Young Goodman Brown”, seems to be Goodman Brown’s own mind, or more specifically, his fear. As stated before, the catalyst behind Goodman Brown’s corruption can be easily mistaken, as the events behind the encounters transpired within the woods could’ve possibly been a mere hallucination as Goodman Brown’s awakening alone in the woods. With that said, however, Goodman Brown possibly imagining the townspeople, along with his wife Faith, taking part in a demonic ritual/ceremony shows that Goodman Brown is his own corruptive element. The prospect of his own mind being a corruptive element becomes truer when the story states , “Be it so, if you will… from the night of that fearful dream”  (Hawthorne, 71-72), it shows that whether or not the events did happen, the mere prospect of it happening was enough to corrupt Goodman Brown, and change who he is completely.

The Spirit of Perverseness and corruption are two very divisive elements of human nature, which further the reason why humans are such complex beings. But by delving into both elements, we enhance our understanding behind certain actions people take and the reason why people behave the way they do. Two prime examples of this are, “The Black Cat” narrator and “Young Goodman Brown”’s Goodman Brown, as understanding the root of their respective corruptions and analyzing them and establishing the moment when they encounter/embrace the Spirit of Perverseness, we can understanding why the kind, softhearted individuals became the antithesis of who they once were, thus making gothic literature exponentially more enjoyable to readers.

Melanie Alvarado

Midterm essay, English 2001

Oct 26, 2020
                                                                  Remorse

            Something natural in human beings is to feel guilt or remorse when you act negatively towards another. But what happens when that feeling of remorse is not present? How does a person stop the feeling of guilt from eating them? The writer Edgar Allan Poe, author of the story “The black cat” and the writer William Faulkner author of “A rose for Emily” manifest two Gothic stories that present examples of people not feeling remorse despite their actions.

            In the story “The black cat”, the narrator as the main character, because of the alcohol, has a violent behavior towards his cat and wife, ending in the end with the life of his wife, by an act of spontaneous rage. To later bury it in the wall of his basement. This Gothic and macabre story presents an act of irony, throughout the story we can witness how the narrator expresses an unconditional love towards animals, however he also acts violently with his cat, until he ends up killing it. The irony is present when he ends up killing his cat when he expressed his love for animals. The narrator when killed his cat “I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched” developing the spirit of perverseness. This actively illustrates that the narrator commits an act where he knows it is wrong, regardless he does it anyway, because he does not care about the consequences, because of his lack of remorse.

            The story “A rose for Emily” Emily as the main character, possess a difficulty in overcoming or accepting the death of a loved one, since in the story we see when her father dies, she denies his death for three days. Thus, the conclusion of that memory makes her to avoid going through the same situation, in consequences she killed her fiancé so that he would be with her forever. According to the story “- I want arsenic. The druggist looked down at her. She looked back at him, erect, her face like a strained flag. -Why, of course- the druggist said. -If that’s what you want. But the law requires you to tell what you are going to use it for.- Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic and wrapped it up”. The reason for this occurrence is to show how Emily knew that she could not tell her true reasons for buying poison, because her intentions were to kill her fiancé. Therefore, Emily shows the spirit of perverseness by killing out of selfishness and without feeling guilt.

            Both stories as it has been possible to read in the previous paragraphs, the main characters lack remorse. However, a significant contrast between the two is the reasons why they commit their actions. Emily killed her fiancé as a symbolic act of undying love. As death for her did not make people leave, on the contrary death for her meant that he would always remain by her side, for that reason she wanted to keep the body of her beloved in bed with her. “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” this quote proves that the strand of hair is a reminder of love lost and the often perverse things people do in their pursuit of happiness. On the other hand, the main character of “The black cat” killed his wife for an act of rage blaming his cat, without expressing love for his wife, an example of this is how he quickly looked for a way to get rid of the body of his wife. “Goaded by the interference into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot without a groan. This hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body” This quote proves it. Making in contrast both murders, one for love and another for rage.

            Another contrast is how in the story “A Rose for Emily” Emily planned in advance the death of her fiancé, she knew how and when she was going to kill him. With cold blood she poisoned her husband to keep his love, a counterproductive fact, because Emily wants his eternal love, when in real life you cannot have a romantic relationship with a dead person. On the other hand, the story “The black cat” the narrator did not think to kill his wife, it was a spontaneous act, a situation in which you act first and then you think. One murderer was planned and another spontaneous.

            To sum up everything that has been stated, the lack of remorse in the characters causes them to commit incoherent or heinous acts that have devastating consequences for the surrounding people. The spirit of perverseness is present in every story.