Mirroring In Edgar Allan Poe's 'Ligeia'

Nonfiction is a genre of writing in which the author reflects on actual events in history. Lucy Grealy writes about an intense part of her life in a memoir. A memoir is written by the person it is about, usually written on the topic of something the author did or witnessed. Throughout this book, the author gives off vivid imagery and themes in order to help us understand just how difficult her life was. For example, in chapter 12, “Mirrors” on pages 207 to 208, Lucy describes just how a man loving her could change her view on life. Imagery, diction and setting also help to bring Lucy’s memoir together. Although this section seems to be about Lucy finding love, it is actually about the search and acceptance of self-identity as we can see from

Since Romanticism often places emphasis on the importance of emotion, Romantics may use dream imagery to display the overflow of abundant feelings. Such is the case with Edgar Allen Poe’s “Ligeia”. While Poe’s themes are usually Romantic, “Ligeia” uses dreams to “[dramatize] the romantic's disenchantment with a world drained of its power to arouse joy and a sense of elevated being” (Gargano 338). The fine line of fantasy vs reality is blurred and bestows multiple versions of reality as the narrator slowly descends into madness. Poe’s use of dream imagery is prominent during the descriptions of the house, the narrators reminiscences of his first wife Ligeia, and his opium induced hallucinations. The use of this literary device demonstrates how the loss of Ligeia messes with the narrator's sanity and sense of fulfillment in his life. These dreams enable him to revisit Ligeia“out of [his] own self-consciousness” (Lawrence).

Throughout history, dominant ideologies have often clashed with other ideologies, causing contradictions. In Chapter 7 of A Different Mirror, Ronald Takaki writes about the contradictions found in ideologies in US history, especially those concerning the Mexicans in Texas and California. In the 1800s, the market revolution ran the country. As new inventions, such as the cotton gin, were introduced, Americans sought to make raw goods faster and cheaper. As a result, they looked for cheap labor and more land. Believing in the Manifest Destiny, they looked westward, where there was an abundance of land. In moving west, the Americans encountered Mexicans that had recently become Americans due to the change in the Mexican-American border. This

Have you ever read a story that has a significant change in the plot suddenly? A lot of thrillers/horror stories, will use the method of transformation to create fear. Transformation plays a huge role in stories meant to scare us. It causes sudden change of mood or how you feel about a certain character quickly which can create a fearful aspect in the story. Examples of writers that use this method include; Ishmeal Reed and Edgar Allen Poe.

In this paper, I will be discussing Takaki writing in chapter 5 of his novel A Different Mirror. The paper will be dived in two sections the first section being a short summary of what Takaki discusses in chapter five. The second section will be analysis of Takaki work. First beginning with that the race identities that the north and south placed on African Americans was more than just a justification for discrimination and slavery but also a tool used to placate the masses of America. Then moving on to how that both Frederik Douglas and Martin Delany both made good points on how to reach equality but how both had fundamental flaws in there reasoning.

his new home in an old abandoned abbey and even goes so far as to

Poe also uses the element of doubling to add to the vague quality of the story. The house is reflected in the tarn, but upside down, which may correlate with Roderick’s dual and opposite personality. Roderick is extremely kind and has a pleasant attitude in the beginning when the narrator shows up at his house. But this “perfect posture” slowly diminishes after he entombs his “dead” sister, who is his identical twin, essentially, his double. He changes into a deranged, out-of-control maniac, something totally opposite of what he was before.

After reading “what the mirror said”, some readers may say that this poem was not written to embrace the woman’s beauty but to explain that she is confusing and hectic. A reader with this point of view would

This essay will discuss the themes in Poe’s writing that mirror his personal life and, in addition, the fear and supernatural motivators for his characters. First, I will discuss Poe’s background and explore how he became best known as a poet for his tales of mystery and macabre.

When the narrator is a mirror, she falls in love with what she sees. The wall opposite her is “pink with speckles” and she views it as a companion. She falls in love with the wall because it is what she is seeing. She loves what she cannot reach or have. When the narrator becomes a lake, she shows a reflection of a woman yearning for her

The Reflection of Victor Frankenstein and his creation Victor Frankenstein had the ability to love, to be loved, and to be accepted. He was well educated, and found the power to give life. The life he would create would not have what Victor have. He would not be a human or have the ability to love or be loved. He would be a monster.

The mind consists of every thought and feeling a person has, so the brain is understandably a confusing place. Sometimes, people who have trouble figuring out who they are feel lost. This problem cannot be seen, only felt. Authors like Edgar Allen Poe use the theme of the mirror in their literature to try and provide a mental picture for this conflict of self. Poe creates mirrors in his short stories William Wilson and The Fall of the House of Usher. William Wilson depicts the story of a criminal on the brink of death explaining how he comes to his current position. Reflecting back on his life, Wilson describes how he excels above all his classmates at the academy except for one: a classmate who shares the same name and appearance. This other William Wilson only differs in the fact that he speaks in a low whisper. Throughout the story, the rivalry between these two grows, and Wilson sees that his shadow self beats him only in moral superiority. When Wilson begins to turn down a dark path, the other Wilson points out the real Wilson’s wrongdoings. The story ends with a confrontation between the two Wilsons in which the real Wilson stabs the other Wilson. For a moment, Wilson sees a mirror reflecting only himself spattered in blood, but he realizes that the image was not a reflection but his namesake’s mangled body. In his final words, the other Wilson says that in murdering him, Wilson has lost any chance of happiness. In Poe’s other story, The Fall of the House of Usher, an

When the narrator first encounters the girl, his friend's older sister, he can only see her silhouette in the “light from the half-opened door”. This is the beginning of his infatuation with the girl. After his discovery, he is plagued by thoughts of the girl which make his daily obligations seem like “ugly, monotonous, child's play”. He has become blinded by the light. The narrator not only fails to learn the name of his “girl”, he does not realize that his infatuation with a woman considerably older than himself is not appropriate. He relishes in his infatuation, feeling “thankful [he] could see so little” while he thinks of the distant “lamp or lighted window” that represents his girl. The narrator is engulfed by the false light that is his futile love.

The poem, "The Lady of Shalott" by Lord Alfred Tennyson tells the story of a mysterious young lady who was cursed for a reason that she does not understand to remain in one of four towers on an island called Shallot in the middle of a river near Camelot. She is cursed to continuously weave, however she is able to catch shadows and reflections of the world through a mirror that was positioned for her to see the opposite side of the tapestries that she was held captive to work on. The Lady is forbidden to stand in front of, or look directly out of the window towards Camelot, so she cleverly uses the mirror to catch glimpses of the people in and around the fields between herself and Camelot. There are many facets to this story yet one of the

Particularly, the passage preceding her tale functions as the corporeal component of the reflection that will be mirrored in the following tale that acts as tangible proof to disprove the far-fetched fairy tale interpretation. After recounting upon her