essential questions

1. How are the Romantics' beliefs of optimism and individualism reflected in their writing?
2. What is Romanticism, Gothic Romanticism and Southern Gothic Romanticism? How are they similar how are they different?
3. How is the Southern Gothic movement a response to literary movements that have preceded it as well as a manipulation of Romantic literary conventions?
4. How did the American culture prompt the dark sides of Romanticism (think Gothic and Southern Gothic)?
5. How do the writings of these time periods influence the writings of today?

1. The Romantics' beliefs of optimism and individualism is reflected in their writing by the way they express a story and a theme. For example Classicism is expressed with Clarity, order and reason. Romanticism on the other hand is expressed through Nature, Human Nature, and feelings. The optimism is expressed by the love, just like Ichabod expressing his love for food for example. The individualism is expressed by the feelings, showing the different emotions of a character or even the writer. For example, each person has different feelings, and thoughts, God created us all different, thus individual.
2. Romanticism is again that love of Human Nature, Nature, and feelings. Southern Gothic is a type of literature that specifically takes place in the American South. It would be expressed more in the Setting such as with porches, and rocking chairs, and having a Grotesque. Gothic Romanicism, on the other hand, is a type of literature that combines Fiction, Horror, and Romanticism. It is romanticism; it expresses feelings, but it usually has dreary, downcast, dark, feelings. This is one way these two types of literature are different. There are numerous ways they are the same though. One way is their references to nature, though each might have a different sight of nature, they still have that reference to it. Another way would be with Romanticism and Irony. Each have it, but are expressed in different way, and different outcomes, depending on the story.
3. The southern Gothic Movement is a response to literary movements that have proceeded it. For example Sothern Gothic is just a little bit more specific than Gothic Romanticism, or just Romanticism. For example, Southern Gothic Romanticism has a specific setting, while Gothic Romanticism, usually in a Dark setting is not limited to a certain place as the American South, as Southern Gothic is. America has expanded bit by bit. For example we started with Classicism. This is reason and clarity. When then later after the age of reason, and revolutionary war, got into Romanticism, expanding our ideas. This was more nature, past, and human nature. We then added to that to create Gothic Romanticism. This has that dark side to the elements of Romanticism, as stated earlier. Finally, we come to Southern Gothic Romanticism, in times when America was separated more, this is set in the American South.
4. American culture prompted the dark side of Romanticism by expanding our ideas. People started to express their emotions a lot more when we came to Romanticism. People have a dark side, and by expressing our good emotions, there will also be bad and dark emotions as well. Either way it will (and did) as expressed by Gothic Literature.
5. The writings of this time period influenced the writings today by being able to expand on to the past, and their literature. With out these types of literature, we would be right back to the beginning, to Classicism and we may never have the same types of literature again. With other writings we are able to expand, and  maybe someday create another type of literature.

Gothic Romanticism

In The Fall of the House of Usher one interpretation suggests that Usher's nervousness and weakness is due to Madaline Usher being a vampire. There are many quotes that could support this theory. For example DeBerenger writes,
"Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant" (1).This quote is talking about Madaline Usher. The coffin helps support the idea of her being a vampire. It continues on to describe how she looked saying,
"The disease which had thus entombed the lady in the maturity of youth, had left, as usual in all maladies of a strictly cataleptical character, the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is so terrible in death" (Deberenger 1). This description describes the idea that in fact Madaline was a vampire, seeming as if she were just asleep. Another detail that supports Madaline being a vampire was how she was wearing a white bloody robe when she killed her brother. This is because vampires usually wear robes. The blood also can help support the fact that she had killed something/someone before she came to get her brother.

The Gothic Fiction writers express human nature in many ways, usually more indirectly through a character. For example in Dr. Heidegger's Experiment, there is a pessimistic view on human nature. The story basically argues of how people for the most part are fools. For example all the patients in the story basically want to become younger. They want it more and more and are always unsatisfied with what they have, never happy. In the Masque of red death, there is also this same theme. For example the story basically is about fools who believe they can avoid death. There is the same view on human nature in both pieces. They show that people are fools, each in their different story line, without stating it out right, it is still obvious.

Southern Gothic Romantisicm

Southern Gothic Romanticism is a type of Gothic Romanticism with the setting of the Southern Part of America. Many times this would include details of Old Houses, Southern, Bigger and older style, with porches and rocking chairs. The Southern Gothic Stories many times also include a Grotesque. Both stories illustrate each of these aspects of Southern Gothic Romanticism. For example in "A Rose for Emily" it states, "That was when people had begun to feel really sorry for her" (Faulkner 3). This demonstrates a Grotesque in the story, because people felt sorry for her as shown, but also hated her at the same time, thinking that she smelled, and didn't pay her taxes. There is also a Grotesque in "The Life you save may be your Own". The Grotesque in this story is Mr. Shiftlet. For example the older woman at the beginning the story first doesn't know if she likes or dislikes him. He is odd and is missing an arm. At one point in the story though the lady says to Mr. Shiftlet, "you and her and me can drive into town and get married" (O'Connor 1). This quote illustrates how the lady has come to like Mr. Shiftlet, even enough to marry her one and only daughter that she dearly loves. There are also parts of the setting that display Southern Gothic Romanticism. One quote that illustrates this is when O'Connor states, "In the evenings he sat on the steps and talked while the old woman and Lucynell rocked violently in their chairs on either side of him" (1). The quote describes how the old lady are sitting in rocking chairs on their front porch, which are very important aspects to Southern Gothic Romanticism. This type of literature has many different aspects to it compared to other types of literature like Gothic Romanticism and just Romanticism. This would be the aspects of the house, while both in Gothic and Southern Gothic, are old and worn down, Southern Gothic displays that image of Porches, and big Southern looking houses. There also isn't always a Grotesque in Gothic and Regular Romanticism, when is Southern Gothic there almost always is. There are parts that are alike, they still have the Gloomy aspect, and that a tale of Romance, or an ironic fate. Either way Southern Gothic Romanticism is a immensely important part of literature without it we would not have books like To Kill a Mocking Bird, or Beautiful Creatures!


In a "Rose for Emily", Ms. Emily's Crime goes undetected until she dies. One reason for this is the status of her family. For example Faulkner writes, "We were glad because the two female cousins were even more Grierson than Miss Emily had ever been" (6). This quote supports the fact that the Grierson name, was valued very highly, and people that were of this name were thought of to be respectable people. Another reason why people probably didn't suspect Miss Emily was that they felt sorry for her. When the narrator tells of when the townspeople saw her they would say, "Poor Emily" (Faulkner 4). This quote describes how the townspeople felt sorry for her. Another contributing fact of Miss Emily not being detected was that no person (other than her manservant) had gone into her house in many, many years. This is supported by the quote,"...the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant--a combined gardener and cook--had seen in at least ten years" (Faulkner 1). No one would be able to find it or suspect Miss Emily because they never saw any suspicious signs (apparently they didn't think of the smells and the poison). These are three reasons why Ms. Emily was never suspected for a crime like this.

In the end of The Life you save may be your own, a Hitch Hiker is picked up on the side of the road by Mr. Shiftlet. This Hitch Hiker does tie the story together, but just in an unusual way. Shiftlet is speaking to the Hitch Hiker in a very odd way which would freak anyone out. Shiftlet says to the hitch hiker at one point, " He took her from heaven and giver to me and I left her" (O'Connor 1). This quote first of all shows how Mr. Shiftlet is immensely distraught. He is telling a random stranger about his "Mother" and what an "Angel of Gawd" she was. Personally I view Shiftlet talking about his mother, as basically relating and talking about  Lucynell, so she was an "Angel of Gawd" because of her innocence. The second reason why this hitchhiker is important is because he symbolizes an act of redemption for Mr. Shiftlet. He left Lucynell sleeping in a restaurant, where she had no communications or any one she would know when she would awake, and yet he is being a hipocrit, telling the hitchhiker what he should do and teach him a lesson. He says, " Son," he said, "I never rued a day in my life like the one I rued when I left that old mother of mine"(O'Connor 1). Mr. Shiftlet though, doesn't truly realize what he has said and done until the hitchhiker yells at him and jumps out of the car. The sting of all his guilt now comes back to bite him. He yells at one point,  "Oh Lord!" he prayed. "Break forth and wash the slime from this earth!" (O'Connor 1).  At this point the hitch hiker has given Shiftlet a moment of redemption (to do what's right/ try to fix what he has done), he can either choose to ignore or accept it. He could choose to go back and get Lucynell or to keep going without fixing his problems. The story ends with no true way to tell what he will chose in the end though. Either way, because of the hitchhiker Mr. Shiftlet fully understands what he has done, and with that moment of redemption, he now has to decide what he will do with it.

   

Socratic Questions: A good man is hard to find- O'Connor

1. CLOSE-ENDED QUESTION:  What was the old lady wearing on the trip to Florida?
2. OPEN-ENDED QUESTION: Why does the old lady continue to tell the "Misfit" about Jesus?
3. WORLD CONNECTION QUESTION: Is the world better or worse than it was in the time of the old lady and her family?
4. UNIVERSAL THEME/ CORE QUESTION: What causes people to be harsh and cruel?
5. LITERARY ANALYSIS QUESTION: What is the syntax of the story and how does it affect the mood and anticipation of it?


1. The old lady was wearing  "...a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet" (O'Connor 2). This quote basically describes exactly what the old lady was wearing.

2. The old lady continues to tell the misfit about Jesus thinking that he is a good man on the inside, and she doesn't want him to kill her. She is also very lost at some points she can't even remember what she was thinking or talking about. For example O'Connor writes at one point, "Maybe He didn't raise the dead, the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her"( O'Connor 13). This is the quote showing that half the time she didn't know what she was saying and how she is talking about Jesus. 

3. The world could be a better or worse place depending on how you see it. There are many people that would say it is a lot worse today, that something like the family being killed is no big deal.
For example in one point of the story O'Connor writes,"A good man is hard to find," Red Sammy said. "Everything is getting terrible. I remember the day you could go off and leave your screen door unlatched. Not no more"(5).Others would say that this is worse than today. That there are more rules and more precautions to keep people from doing bad things. So it just depends on how a person views life.  4. There are many reasons that cause people to be harsh and cruel. One way is people do what they have seen before. Just like the "Misfit" in the story who told the lady of all the horrible things he had seen when he says
"seen a man burnt alive oncet" (O'Connor 11). This quote demonstrates how the misfit had been through some bad events. This causes people to have these awful thoughts in their minds, and many times causes them to act in the same way.   5. The syntax of the story is written in a way that the reader reads line by line, little scripts to see what is happening. It is all in little pieces which causes that anticipation for the reader to see what is happening, and gives a larger affect on the script and what the character is saying. For example O'Connor writes...

"Because you're a good man!" the grandmother said at once.

"Yes'm, I suppose so," Red Sam said as if he were struck with this answer" (4).

This shows how the author writes to emphasize important things like what the character is saying. It also helps the reader tell what each character is saying and how they say it which helps to cause more anticipation for the story.

The Legends of Sleep Hollow Response

This story captures the Imagination of readers today by displaying that "Romanticism" that we have been learning about. This has to deal with the Parts of love that Ichabod has for Katrina and the growing competition. For example it tells how Ichabod, "... busy fancy already presented to him the blooming Katrina, with a whole family of children.."(Irving 7). Another way that it displays the Romanticism is the supernatural things that happen like the headless horseman, and the stories that the old country-wives would tell Ichabod. There are also many parts that talk of Ichabod's love of nature and food (which is part of nature). Irving writes in one part, " Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, and the yellow pumpkins lying beneath them, turning up their fair round bellies to the sun. He passed the fragrant buckwheat fields, and as he beheld them, soft anticipations stole over his mind of dainty slapjacks, well buttered and garnished with honey by the delicate little dimpled hand of Katrina Van Tassel"(9).This all requires the readers imagination to visualize these things, and to have that imagery in their mind. One other way that this story catches the readers attention and their imagination is the way it ends. For examples there are many "thoughts" of different characters in the end of what happened to Ichabod, but the reader can choose whatever they think what truly happened.

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Swing low, Sweet Chariot is a song sung by slaves. It is based on a story in the Book of Kings of the Bible. It is about a man named Elijah, who based on his good deeds, and doing what is right was picked up on a chariot of fire. This is supported by the quote, "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, [there appeared] a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (2 Kings 2:11 KJV). "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" talks of this chariot of fire in it's title. This is how it relates to that spiritual hope and faith. Slaves sung this song, that talks of their hope of being free one day, escaping slavery, in a spiritual sense. The song shows their faith in Christ, looking forward to a better day when they would be "Home" spiritually stated in the quote, "Comin for to carry me home" (Willis 1). Again the song is based on going home spiritually, but there is a way for the slaves to escape slavery physically. This is through death. They are basically singing of dying, which will end that slavery, and hopefully send them to a better place, and we can infer that they are dying because (as we have already concluded) that they are going to heaven, and we know that you have to die before you go to heaven (except for unusual circumstances such as end of the world, Elijah, Enoch, and Moses). There is one other way that this song could be seen in a physical sense of escaping slavery. This could be tied to the Underground railroad. The "Sweet Chariot" (Willis 1), talked of in the song could be referred to and symbolizing the Underground railroad, which as we all know was one way for slaves to escape slavery. This solution ties to and supports the time period it was written in (times of slavery in the south). Since it was most likely sung for the use of the Underground railroad, we must conclude that its time period was more for times of slavery. Yet, many people sing it today such as Beyoncé, Elvis, and Paul Robison. So why is this? This is because it relates to people today as well. Even though we do not have slavery, will still have many times of strife, and the song symbolizes hope for us, just as it did for others in times past. The song especially relates to Christians today. Even though it is about the Old Testament, it symbolizes our heavenly home someday. Such a short and simple song can mean so much. Sometimes people don't listen enough to what it is saying to recognize the true meaning of it all, and why it is so important to history.