Henry James referred to TTOTS as a potboiler. In light of this comment, explore the establishment of a simple ghost story in the prologue and first five chapters.
Henry James referred to ‘TTOTS’ as a potboiler. In light of this comment, explore the establishment of a simple ghost story in the prologue and first five chapters. Henry James stated that ‘TTOTS’ was a potboiler, meant only to be perceived as a simple ghost story which in the Victorian era was how it was originally accepted. However a more modern audience ay interpret the novella as something more. Relating back to the idea of a simple ghost story, the novella starts with a typical ghost story setting – ‘The story had held us, round the fire’ emphasised by the description of the house being ‘gruesome’ and it being ‘Christmas Eve’ informing us that it is night time. All are contributing factors to an ideal ghost story and all of these points start to build the tension and suspense up already within the first few lines. ‘Held us, round the fire’ tells us how they are clinging to this materialistic substance for comfort and warmth, typical connotations of fire. Use of language such as ‘dreadful’ and ‘terror’ increases this sense of a greater impending ghost story – that of which we hear about the Governess. Moreover this sets the mood and creates the atmosphere for the audience to fully appreciate the ‘horror’ of this ghost story. In addition, the idea of them telling ghost stories gives us an immediate impression that there is a ghost
In the Fall Of The House of Usher, how does Edgar Allan Poe lend the Narrator the qualities of a character like the others? To what extent is he reliable as a narrator?
In the "Fall Of The House of Usher", how does Edgar Allan Poe lend the Narrator the qualities of a character like the others? To what extent is he reliable as a narrator? A characteristic of short stories is the omission of introductions. We, as the Reader, are dropped right into the middle of the story and expected to deduce parts of the story and make assumptions for ourselves. In 'The Fall of the House of Usher', the reader is tossed into the Narrator's world and has to find his/her way around. We are given very little or no information about the Narrator, not even a name. This vagueness adds to the uncertainty of the story, hence enhancing its Gothic, 'gloomy' and 'myster(ious)' qualities. The 'desolate' 'landscape' brings about a sense of loneliness, and we find ourselves forming a bond with the narrator, as no one wants to experience a horrific tragedy alone. The Narrator finds 'the House of Usher' a 'mystery all insoluble' and nor could he 'grapple with the shadowy fancies that crowded upon' him. We are drawn along with the Narrator into the mystery of the House of Usher, which acts as a hook to lure us in. From the beginning, there is a sense of an atmosphere of 'decay' and 'insufferable gloom' and even the Narrator is not entirely sure why he is there, except for the heartfelt plea from his childhood friend. The house is described as having 'vacant eye-like
A Literary Analysis of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass represent the importance of change in society: Old habits and customs can harbor a nation's growth culturally and politically. Lewis Carroll wrote his two famous novels with this underlying message to advise his fellow Victorians to change their ways of life, and recognize the wrongdoings of society in order to bring about a more modern view of life. By employing allegorical characters, creating parodies of common Victorian traditions, and deriding the church, Carroll is able to present a scornful and mocking view of society to his readers, with the hopes of change. Furthermore, Alice's frugal attempts to civilize the animal world by means of Victorian rules further intensify Carroll's mockery of nineteenth-century English ways of life. Various symbolic characters arise and develop during Alice's adventures. Among these, include her interaction with the Duchess and her baby. This scene mocks the civilized, somewhat robotic lifestyle of Victorians. They ran their households orderly, much unlike the duchess', in which the chaotic lifestyle represents the imperfection of humans. Nina Auerbach exclaims, "With baby and pepper flung about indiscriminately, pastoral tranquility is inverted into a whirlwind of savage sexuality" (2). This "pastoral tranquility" is the ideal lifestyle for which the Victorians
The Age of Innocence - Ultimately a study of failure and frustration
"Ultimately a study of failure and frustration" How far and in what ways do you agree? "Ultimately a study of failure and frustration" implies that our views of the novel as a study of failure are only truly revealed at the end of the novel. This lays a heavy importance on the final sections of the novel and the consequences of the book over the actual actions. One can argue that due to Archer's suppression throughout the novel, and his apparent difference compared to other members of New York society, that the novel is effectively studying Newland Archer's failure of life and his frustration caused by the constraints of society. However, it can also be argued that society as a whole in New York did indeed have its place. After all, it was accepted by the majority and an aristocracy still exists in America today. This constitutes the fact that Newland's choices were not ones of frustration, but rational choices that can be defended. Newland Archer defends the right of divorced women to make a new life with another man, and condemns the hypocrisy that allowed men, but not women to seek sexual fulfilment outside of a failed marriage: "I'm sick of the hypocrisy that would bury alive a woman of her age if her husband prefers to live with harlots... Women ought to be free - as free as we are." Such a strong statement seems to represent a frustration towards his fellow New
The £1,000,000 Bank Note by Mark Twain - summary
The £1,000,000 Bank Note (1893) By Mark Twain The book I have chosen to do is The £1,000,000 pound Bank-Note, it's a classic book written in 1893. The reason I read this book was because it was written by Mark Twain a world renown author and also I enjoyed a movie which was slightly based on this book (Trading Places, staring Eddie Murphy and Dan Acroyd)(1983). It is quite a popular story which has been reproduced in movie form many times. This book is slightly cofusing because at one stage it says the man has 5 one million pound note but at all other occasions he only has one. the main characters name is not given until near the end of the book. Entry 1 This story is a recount it is being recounted by the main character of the story, who is currently nameless. In the first paragraph he explains that he is alone in the world and is bound to sucsess because of his wits and clean reputation. He then goes on saying that every Saturday he would spend his time sailing in a small boat but one day he had traveled to far and got lost. Luckily a boat had picked him up and took him to London (from USA). When he arrived in England he had only one dollar which kept him alive for a day but the next 24 hours he ramained in the street. The when he was on the streets, a butler asksed him to come into a house, there he met two old rich brothers who gave him an envelope, the old men tell
Presentation of Arkady as One-Dimensional
Characters in plays and novels are usually multi-dimensional. Discuss to what extent this is true of important characters you have studied and comment on the techniques of characterisation used by the author. Within the text Turgenev's 'Fathers and Sons' Arkady's personality loses some of its dimension as Turgenev values his impact upon the plot over developing upon his character. As such, he becomes a particularly one-dimensional character. From the very beginning of the text, Turgenev spends less time building him up and he is largely a slightly blurry figurehead. While this blur lends itself rather well to Arkady's slightly bumbling and complacent mannerisms, we are nonetheless left with the impression that Arkady is more a tool within Turgenev's writing than a personality in his own right. Arkady is important within the text as it is only through interaction with him that the other significant characters eventually reach their end; he is necessary in the progression of Bazarov, Anna and Katya. Apart from this, Turgenev also uses him as a symbol for equilibrium. While Bazarov is ranting and raging and generally exercising the liberty that nihilism provides him with, Arkady shies from conflict and overall does little other than follow Bazarov with initial absolute loyalty. Though it is true that, like Bazarov and Anna, Arkady experiences a rite of passage and is forced
Social outsiders are often treated in a cruel and unjust way. Explore the presentation of outsiders in the light of this statement. In your response, you should focus on Wuthering Heights to establish your argument and refer to t
Task: "Social outsiders are often treated in a cruel and unjust way." Explore the presentation of "outsiders" in the light of this statement. In your response, you should focus on Wuthering Heights to establish your argument and refer to the second text you have read to support and develop your line of argument. Outsiders is a big theme in both novels Wuthering Heights and The Color Purple. Wuthering Heights is described as a gothic novel and outsider is a key figure in the Gothic novel. An outsider lives beyond the bounds of conventional society or on the borderlands of it, he or she is seen as a suspicious and threatening entity, someone who must be excluded for the safety of society at large. Bront?'s Wuthering height explores outsiders in three different ways. The first and obvious example is of Heathcliff, the character that was an outsider until his death. The second is of Isabella Linton, whom has been taken from Thrushcross Grange to be become an outsider in Wuthering Heights. Finally but not least the third main outsider is Hareton, where Bront? here explores how a character being an outsider could transform into an insider. From the moment Heathcliff was introduced to the Earnshaw family, as an orphan that was found in the streets of Liverpool, Heathcliff was claimed to be an outsider and treated as one. In her description of Heathcliff, Nelly Dean, narrating
The ending of The Yellow Wallpaper. Breakdown or Breakthrough
'The Yellow Wallpaper' is a document of the mental breakdown of a middle class Victorian woman, but beneath this, is the portrayal of her breakthrough that women are being treated as inferior by men, and her discovery in her insane and insecure state of mind, that woman are chained to a patriarchal society where men are the ones who have the majority of the power and control. But to what extent is it a breakthrough rather than breakdown? The narrator's insanity increases throughout the novel and the reader becomes aware of this by her language; her short and choppy sentences show her agitated state of mind and the fact that she is 'forbidden to "work" until she is well again' gives us more of an insight into her illness. The whole story is a record of her descending to insanity and depression, a document of her thought patterns as her mind becomes clouded as her vivid imagination unravels her strange and confused thoughts (or unravels the true allegory of her obsessive examination of the wallpaper). The end is ultimately a culmination of all her insane (yet allegorically relevant) thinking as she tries to find a 'conclusion' to the 'pointless pattern' that symbolizes the rules of society. As the story progresses, the mysterious yellow wallpaper becomes mentioned increasingly, and the reader is made aware of how unreliable the narrator actually is in this state of mind as
How does Pearl embody the purpose of the Scarlet Letter?
Bunni_cute 0/10/2004 How does Pearl embody the purpose of the Scarlet Letter? Hawthorne's characters personify certain concepts in The Scarlet Letter. Dimmesdale could be said to personify human nature because of the fact that he hid sins from other people for the sake of appearance, just as Chillingworth could be said to personify the obsession of vengeance. His character, Pearl, embodies the purpose of the scarlet letter, especially through her actions to punish her mother, her ability to save her mother's soul, and her ability to bring certain truths to light. Pearl, much like the scarlet letter, is a constant reminder and punishment to Hester for the sins she has committed. As a baby, her fascination with the bright red letter adorning her mother's chest as well as her tendency to throw things at it when she grew older brought constant agony to the mother just as the letter was intended to do. The letter symbolizes the sinful act of adultery, and is also to outcast Hester from society - to punish her. Thus Pearl embodies the purpose of the scarlet letter because, just like the letter, she punishes her mother. As Pearl grows older and is able to coherently string sentences along, she asks her mother questions of her own identity, just like what children do nowadays. "Who am I" and "Where do I come from" are not uncommon questions coming from children, but Pearl's
Sherriff wrote Journey(TM)s End to show the destruction of war. To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Ilhem Ramdan English Literature Sherriff wrote Journey's End to show the destruction of war. To what extent do you agree with this statement? Journey's End is a play by R.C Sherriff that focuses on the realities of World War I, it highlights the sort of lives that people led throughout this period and the destruction it caused. However to some extant it can be argued that Journey's End doesn't only show the destruction of war but it also shows in some aspects the positive impacts of the war. One of Sherriff's main intentions in the play is to show the importance of the anti-war views he has and attempt to make the audience relate to this. This essay will discuss to what extent the play Journey's End shows the destruction of war based on the characters' morals and wellbeing. In terms of agreeing with the statement that Journey's End is written to show the destruction of the war, Sherriff does this by showing the audience the mental state of the characters. As the play progresses Sherriff shows the deterioration of the mental state of one the main characters, Stanhope who is a well respected and high status soldier. He entered the war young and full of hope but clearly not knowing the reality he will have to face, when we are first introduced to Stanhope he comes across as a corrupted drinker yet also as being praised for his bravery. The following quote suggests this; "When