How Does Ransom Riggs Use Gothic Elements In Gothic Literature

How Bram Stoker Uses Gothic Conventions to Create an Atmosphere of Suspense and Fear for the Reader

In “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” and “A Rose for Emily” a occurring gothic element shared between

Gothic can be defined as “literature dealing with the strange, mysterious, and supernatural designed to invoke suspense and terror in the reader.” (Pickering, 2004, p. 1425) Gothic literature generally presents the same themes and motifs: love lost, hidden secrets, love and death hand in hand, beauty, youth, grotesque characters, macabre eroticism, etc. Gothic literature also explores taboo subjects such as murder, suicide and incest. “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, is representative of the Southern Gothic stories since the themes of love lost, death, and murder are present in it. There are many elements that hint at the Gothic nature of the story: Emily’s description, her house, the poison she bought, and finally the ending.

Gothic writers are well known for their works that induce grotesque and demented images to enter a reader’s brain. However, blood and gore is not the only way that Gothic writers can make your skin crawl, and the hair on the back of your neck rise. Gothic literary works contain themes of supernatural occurrences, and entrapment to induce feelings of fear, and mystery into the reader.

While reading “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I couldn’t help but feel a constant overwhelming sense of dread. The root of this could have come from the story’s dark setting deep within an “haunted forest” or from Brown’s mysterious “Devil”-esque companion. While I read, another story came into my mind; the story of the “Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe. In Poe’s tale the same heart pounding emotion can be felt as he describes the reunion of two friends within “the House of Usher.” With the manors “eye-like windows” and “sorrowful impression,” Poe wastes no time in setting the Gothic mood. Through their distinct writing styles Hawthorne and Poe establish a common Gothic theme within their stories.

Gothic literature is a style of writing dating back to 1764, some of the most important elements of this writing style are of an eerie setting and mental decay, stories that made great use of these elements are: “The Raven”, “Black Cat”, “The House of Usher”, and “The Devil and Tom Walker”. The authors use the gothic element of eerie setting so that they can enhance the mood of the story and of mental decay to highlight what the conflict in the characters’ lives is causing.

The single most important aspect that defines southern gothic writing is the use of macabre, or malformed, events. These distinguished events are easy identified in both of these short stories. Faulkner’s story, “A Rose for Emily,” was told

In the novel Tangerine by Edward Bloor, a dysfunctional family that went through many hardships decides to move to Florida to pursue their eldest son Erik’s football dream. Meanwhile, Erik’s younger brother Paul, who has been living under his brother’s shadow his whole life, looks forward to his new life to seek for who he really is. Bloor uses many gothic elements like dysfunctional family and predatory overtones, to amplify the reader’s understanding towards the atmosphere and character development of the story. The author also uses strong, expressive, language and gothic elements to describe a dark theme to the novel. This illustrates a frightening and eerie atmosphere as well as a vivid character development. This essay will be discussing some gothic elements such as dysfunctional family and predatory overtones.

All three stories have at least one character that encounters a supernatural figure that, at first seems harmless but is soon discovered to be the complete opposite. For example in Poe’s story “for another pet of the same species, and of somewhat similar appearance, with which to supply its place” (Poe 3). Another brilliant writer ounce said

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, a new literary genre sprung up, the Gothic story. In the United States, the most prominent exponent of Gothic fiction was Edgar Allen Poe, whose “horror” tales conjure up the dark side that many of us at least half-believe is hidden just beneath the surface of the most conventional lives. In this paper we will discuss the Gothic in light of two of Poe’s stories, “Ligeia”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and contrast Poe’s story with a somewhat dark tale of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, “The Minister’s Black Veil.” We will also analyze why Poe’s stories are Gothic’s and Hawthorne’s is not.

Through both “The Fall of the House of Usher” written by Edgar Allan Poe and “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, we see common themes of a gothic genre filled with rhetorical twists and turns. The dynamics in each work are elaborately depicted through the eyes of two narrators who are watching these pieces unfold. Many similar themes experienced in both Poe and Faulkner’s work deal with the ideology of death and preservation in regard to the one’s loved and lovers. Roderick Usher is the main character in “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Emily Grierson is the main character in “A Rose for Emily”. In a thorough examination of both short stories, it is

E d g a r A . P o e , a n d M​ i s s P e r e g r i n e ’ s H o m e F o r P e c u l i a r C h i l d r e n ​b y R a n s o m R i g g s a l l i n c o r p o r a t e t h e thrilling elements of Gothic literature to captivate the reader.

Gothic literature has a different way of captivating the reader. Page by Page, gothic themes are present that create mystery and evoke suspense. The Night Circus, a novel by Eric Morgenstern, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, by Washington Irving, and “The Oval Portrait”, by Edgar Allan Poe share two important themes: eerie setting and isolation. All the stories connect through a lesson that passion can become harmful.

Gothic elements are utilized in short stories to emphasize the literal and nonliteral meaning and to allow the reader to use their imagination. In the short stories, “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, and “Prey” by Richard Matheson, the following gothic elements are commonly seen: supernatural forces and entrapment. The authors implement these elements in order to allow the reader to use their imagination and to show the internal and external conflicts the character feels.

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner takes place a few years after the Civil War in a town called Jefferson. The action of the story is centered in Miss Emily's home. The narrator of the story is a townsperson who recalls Miss Emily’s life through a series of flashbacks. The story has many elements of Gothic because the themes of love lost, death, and murder are all present in it. Other elements that suggest about the Gothic nature of the story are Emily’s description, her house, the poison she bought, and ultimately the ending. Some aspects in the story deviate from the norm of Gothic literature because Emily and Homer can be perceived as a traditional love story that every Gothic has, but it follows another path of doom. Emily ends the love between her and Homer when she takes his life, which in return dooms her for a life without love and a life of isolation. “A Rose for Emily” emphasized larger implications of straying from the traditional elements such as marriage can lead to insanity and isolation.