Lovecraft's The Music Of Erich Zann

It is significant to note how certain words like “melancholy,” “dreary,” “oppressively,” and “dull, dark, and soundless” abet the fortification of this tenebrous environment that evokes such terror within the narrator. Likewise, the imagery present in the narrator’s description of “the atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn, a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaded-hued,” contributes to the ominous mood generated by these systematically chosen words (92). This mood remains throughout the story and offers a throbbing sense of anticipation and lingering fear. Another example of how Poe’s imagery achieves this effect occurs when the narrator briefly spies Madeline in the beginning of the story: “The lady Madeline passed slowly through the remote portion of the apartment and, without having noticed my presence, disappeared. A sensation of stupor oppressed me, and my eyes followed her retreating steps” (96). Images like these contribute to the perception

Tobias Wolff’s short story, “That Room” is a very suspenseful story that has the reader on the edge of their seat while reading it. Suspense and excitement is created through the plot and theme of the story which are both developed through four main literary devices. In the story, the narrator is put into what is potentially a life or death situation and it is at this point that he becomes aware that one is never really in full control of his or her own life. Throughout this literary analysis I will discuss the plot and theme of the story in terms of how Wolff uses setting, tone, characterization, and symbolism to enhance both the theme and the plot.

Changes in the mood can affect how the reader views a story and the aura that the story gives off whether it be a calming or spooky feeling. In the short story “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar, the author conveys a change in the mood through an ordinary environment with ordinary characters that are suddenly disturbed by elements of fantasy, which builds up a feeling of uncertainty in the readers. One night, the narrator hears noises from the other side of their house as “the sound came through muted and indistinct” (39). The idea that the noises might return and take over more sections should stir an emotion of paranoia, completely different from the previous mood of tranquility; however, the narrator and Irene seem to believe that this is normal and

At the beginning of the story, the narrator creates a dark image of his journey to visit an old friend: “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn year, when the clouds hung oppressively loq in the heavens, I had been passing alone” (264). Poe creates this spooky atmosphere

He compares what he hears to a “sea that overwhelms” or basically complete silence. Edgar also wants us to imagine complete darkness, fear, and hopelessness.

Upon the opening of this setting, Remarque develops the sense of anxiety and awakening. As Paul Bäumer sits in the claustrophobic, watery hole, all he thinks of is the want of silence

The setting of the story helps you kind of understand that something is bound to happen that will not be good by the way the house is surrounded, and how the city is surrounded.

At first glance, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close may appear to simply detail the story of a young boy aimlessly searching for a reason that his father was taken from the world. Once the reader digs deeper however, the symbolic nature of Oskar’s journey really comes to fruition. At only nine years of age, Oskar Schnell experienced a tragedy that would be tough for most adults to understand. Without health problems, bad habits, or any forewarning whatsoever, Oskar’s father was gone, and as a result Oskar was mentally battered. As his relationships with friends and family began to sour and he struggled to find the meaning of his own life, Oskar desperately searched for something, or someone, to bring back the spirit of the man he adored so much. Oskar found this, in the form of a key. While finding this key’s home seemed to be the top priority for Oskar, little did he know that this small piece of metal served as a representation of his father, and all

In H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “The call of Cthulhu,” written in 1926, Lovecraft does not give his main character a name. H.P. Lovecraft does not tell the readers anything about the main character besides that his great uncle, George Gammell Angell, has died in an accident. When George Gammell Angell dies the main character goes through George’s things, finding George’s manuscript that starts the main characters investigation. The main character may not be given a name or have much development behind his character, but the main character is the narrator of the entire short story. However, there are some points of inner dialogue from the main character so the readers can understand his emotions. H.P. Lovecraft, although he does not develop the main character to a large extent, does develop the side characters to the point we know who they are and what happened to them. George Gammell Angell, as stated above, is the main characters great uncle, as well as, a professor at Brown University before his sudden accidental death. H.P. Lovecraft goes as far as describing George Gammell Angell’s death:

"We need scarcely say, that these volumes have neither principle, object, nor moral; the horror which abounds in them is too grotesque and bizarre ever to approach near the sublime, and when we did not hurry over the pages in disgust, we sometimes paused to laugh outright; and yet we suspect, that the diseased and wandering imagination, which has stepped out of all legitimate bounds, to frame these disjointed combinations and unnatural adventures, might be disciplined into something better. We heartily wish it were so, for

The nightclub is dark when the two boys arrive, except for the light that bathes the bandstand. Sonny’s music is what everyone has come to hear and seems to be everyone’s salvation, their hope. The people in the room live in Harlem and are familiar with the darkness that surrounds them. Everyone in the story from the boys’ family whose “darkness in [their] faces” (p. 39) frightened them to the woman with the tambourine whose music “brought a poison out of her” (p. 51) seems familiar with the darkness that lives in them and their town. Throughout the concluding scene, the bandstand and the music that is made there is treated with a reverence as they live in the darkness and can only touch the light, but never be in it, as the listeners in the

Allusion and the Raven One of the things that characterized Edgar Allan Poe as an author was his use of allusion, allusion is an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference. The use of allusion is now a popular thing in modern literature and even movies and tv shows. Edgar Allan Poe was characterized by his smart allusions to mythology and religion in his iconic poem "The Raven" For example, the frase "Night's Plutonian Shore" is a reference to the underworld in greek mythology. Pluto is the god of the underworld and the shore is that of the River Styx, which souls must croos to reach the underworld.

After evaluating the work of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, he utilizes with imagery to build up the feeling of terror. First of all, the passage is about an ill man, Roderick Usher, who invites his old friend of his to come meet him. In this passage both him and his sister, Madeline Usher, are the last remaining of the Usher race and is diagnosed with an unnatural illness. The narrator begins to feel terror with the supernatural things going on in the house of Usher and the illness of the Ushers. Although the narrator feels the sense of terror from the moment he entered the house, through the use of imagery, Poe is able to bring emotion to the reader. Throughout the passage, the author continues to build up the sense of terror by asserting the image and setting of both the passage and the atmosphere. For instance, he starts the passage by stating “a dull, dark, and a soundless day...clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens” (Poe 194). In relation to the previous quote, the quote illustrates the image of the atmosphere and the setting of the story. In particular, because Poe expresses the sense of terror by describing the atmosphere as dark, quiet, and gloomy, the reader can get an image of the surroundings and get the feeling of the darkness and horror. In addition, according to Poe, during the first glimpse of the house of Usher, the narrator describes it as gloomy and unpleasant. In particular, Poe states “the shades of the evening drew on… a sense of insufferable gloom” (Poe 194). Additionally, the description of the house adds on to the sense of terror that Poe established in the beginning of the story. Based on the past two quotes stated by the author, the reader can begin to picture a dark and dull day with a gloomy house adding on to the darkness. Lastly, in regards to Edgar Allan Poe, the house of Usher is

The setting presented in this story has a very dark and gloomy atmosphere which has been used as a technique to help outline the scene. It is set in the one location; a bedroom. Poe describes the room as being “black as pitch with the thick darkness,” which deepens the effect of terror. The night setting gives the text an eerie feel as it focuses on the horrors of night time. This horror creates a noticeable impact which is recognisable when the victim cried out “who’s there?” against the backdrop of frighteningly still silence. Ultimately, the way in which Poe’s story is set builds anxiety and fear in the reader.

The narrator is affected by the gloomy atmosphere of the Usher mansion. He is "sucked in" to Usher's "dream world," the world he created after living alone in his dismal house for years. Usher's house