George Cable, Charles Chestnutt

Racial issues were prevalent in all of these readings. During this time period that surrounds the civil war, you can see the opinions of the authors regarding emancipation and/or the feeling of blacks and mixed races in society.


In the Goophered Grapevine the old slave that sits and tells the story of the old vineyard is obviously used as a stereotype of black Americans in the south. His dialect is very strong, and his grammar is less then on par to the white characters in the story. His story is of deviant slaves that would eat the crop of the vineyard making it difficult for the slave owner to make a profit. The slaves were then cursed on the command of the vineyard owner, not to be able to eat the grapes. When a new slave does eat one of the grapes, he is then cursed and re-cursed to have to eat the vines in order to stay alive. This slave is then sold and re-sold over and over again as a freak show (not directly stated, but that's what it resembles). The negative connotation of the slave shows the feelings of slaves and the reactions of the movers shows little indifference. This is most likely representative of this time.

In The Sheriff's Children the main twist of the story is a conflict which shows the problems many bastard children of slave owners had during this time. Tom is now in trouble for killing an old Civil war hero that the town adores. While we never know if he actually committed this crime, we know that he is doomed to hang by public opinion. The sheriff knows quickly that the young man is his son and leads him to protect him while he is in jail. The story goes on to show that while he probably was innocent, the fact that he was of black descent, he was doomed to hang. He, eventually, is shot in the arm but survives, then chooses to commit suicide as opposed to death of a slave by a hanging or worse.The reader is meant to feel a subtle pity for Tom and the sheriff to both of their actions. The sheriff made cruel decisions as to his son's fate, but the context of his decisions make sense, and the reader understands although probably disagrees.


We as readers can now see the relations between the these racial connections, but at their time of writing, these relations would probably not have been realized. The white readers of the time would most likely have read the stories at face value. It obviously would have been more obvious if the public knew that he was of mixed race.

"The Fall of the House of Usher" and "Behind a Mask"

These two stories are very different from one another and for this week will have to be discussed separately.

The Fall of the House of Usher is a more obvious gothic novel. The elements of scenery, death, and cruel intentions of the people are very obvious. The scene is located in a dilapidated house with large cracks and obvious weathering. The house itself is secluded away from the town that is located, but has become related to the inhabitants themselves. This is in fact directly stated in the story, which is somewhat uncommon compared to the other stories we have read. Generally, the gothic novels have no stated direct relationships between characters and setting, but rather leave the reader to distinguish the differences between where the characters live and what interactions they have with the world. Death is also a very obvious characteristic of this novel. The whole story is based around the fact that Roderick is going to bury his sister alive, or knows that she will come back from the dead. This goes right into the subject of the intentions of the characters. In most gothic novels, and this one is no exception, there are always main characters with cruel intentions to be placed on another.

Behind a Mask is somewhat new in its approach to gothic literature. This probably due to the source of the writing being American both in style and origin. The setting is only similar in the fact that it is secluded. It is not in the woods, the darkness, or does it give off an "eerie" feeling. What does hold true is the characterization. Jean Muir is portrayed as someone that has the will to do evil upon this family. We are not completely sure of the cause yet, but we are able to tell that there is something obviously wrong in the relationship between Muir and the primary family.

Sleepy Hollow - Hawthorne

This weeks readings were both stressed the obvious dark sides of gothic literature. The settings are apparently dreary and designed to induce horror in the reader. There are also more morbid designs of the antogonists than in the previous novels or stories.

In sleepy hollow, the setting is a "Dutch-like" community that is isolated by in a peaceful location. This "peaceful" location is portrayed in a sense that the peacefulness is more like isolationism than a place that one would venture on vacation. It states that the isolation prevents these people from living as most people do during this time. This sets the tone for the novel being in a "haunted castle of home" although this is now not a castle, but an entire town that is "haunted". As for morbid designs, the past novels we have read deal more with rape/being caught by some supernatural being. This instead puts a headless horseman as the antagonist that runs around scaring people or killing them. In previous novels, we have not had a character run around and kill people with no apparent motive.

Young Goodman Brown has a similar setting. It is set in the woods along a path that is dark and he constantly fears things being behind and around the trees until he finds the devil. The devil as a morbid character is obvious, but the devil has never been introduced directly as a character before (at least in the novels we have read). This devil tires to steal the soul of the character. In my personal opinion, while rape and imprisonment are bad things, stealing ones soul is far more morbid than previous actions.

Although these books/stories are far different from the previous novels we have encountered, they still fit into the gothic in their own ways, and no one can deny that they fit in this genera.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Ending - Midterm

This week's reading of Jekyll and Hide ended up as I predicted in the previous post. The elements of the enlightenment are prevalent in this novel on multiple levels. When Jekyll claims that every person really has two sides to their being, and that this person develops out of a centered desire to go back to his simple nature. The enlightenment era was an age of science and development and often leading away from the Church. The desire to go back to a primitive nature is meant to support the ideals set fourth by Darwin, that we have a common ancestor with our animal neighbors that share this world. If Hyde were the embodiment of scientific nature, then Jekyll would have to be the representation of the antique view of the world as viewed from the commoner. You see the original obsession of Jekyll to become Hyde, and later when Hyde becomes more prevalent the desire to return to Jekyll. This is parallel to the commoner at this time to represent the Church and Science. People would love to dabble in the sciences but then run back to the church when things could not be immediately explained. When the sciences start to take over, the public as a negative opinion of it until they are given the full account of issues on the subject. When the full truth is given, people come to terms with what they have seen, whether of not they agree with the outcome or actions taken to get to the outcome.

   We know that Stevenson is a agnostic in belief. With this knowledge, it is far more apparent the intentions of these actions taken throughout the novel. Darwinism is highly misunderstood by out common society today. This book actually does a good job of showing what evolution actually shows. Evolution in today's society has the common theory that people are the highest point of evolution and that we came from lesser beings. This is far from the truth. In all reality, Evolution is a highly justifiable theory that as defined as "a change of allele frequencies over time". This just means that as a species reproduces, certain traits are selected for under certain conditions. This relates to Jekyll and Hyde. Hyde is the divergent being being of Jekyll and the relationships with the public are in accordance.