Shadow Over Innsmouth And At The Mountains Of Madness By H. P. Lovecraft

If you shut up and bury it under ground, it will but grow (Emile Zola). This becomes the reality of a family who throughout time hid sinister truths that when uncovered the results are detrimental to one man’s mental health. The narrator is the last known person in the line of a lineage known as Delapore (de la Poer); a family ridden with heinous ancestral lore. In his attempt to become more connected with his ancestry the speaker restores the seat of his ancestors, Exham Priory, only to become plagued by the sounds of vicious flesh consuming rats slithering behind its walls. Upon further investigation the speaker uncovers a dark truth that lurks far beneath the priory’s foundation. In his horror short story, “The Rats in the Walls”, H.P. Lovecraft

Richard Wright’s short story entitled, “The Man Who Killed A Shadow” showed the reality and truth of a black man’s life and how quickly it can be jeopardized when race and sex are mixed together. When I began reading the story I felt heartbroken for the main character because he just seemed like a good human being. Saul basically grew up with no role models to guide him in his life and his parents and grandmother died when he was a young boy. Saul quickly had to adapt to these changes and began working to support himself. When Saul began working at a young age he did not understand why “the shadows” or white people saw him as inferior. This was something that he noticed that black people just seemed to accept and he began to accept it as well even though he had no idea why. Saul had to continue to work for the white shadows became increasingly unhappy with the way his life was going. The narrator states, “At the age of fifteen Saul knew that the life he was living was to be his lot, that there no way to rid himself of his plaguing sense of unreality, no way to relax and forget” (187). It was extremely depressing to me that Saul knew at the age of fifteen that this was the reality of the rest of his life. He knew he would never be happy and that he would have to work for the white shadows in order to feed himself.

Have you ever wondered what a perfect world would be like? To you it could mean no more war, no more poverty, every person of every race and gender being treated exactly the same. However, to someone else their idea of a perfect world could be the complete opposite of what you would want. In Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury the idea of a perfect world is not just an idea anymore, it becomes reality. Nevertheless, both books “perfect world” are completely different from one another. The theme of both books is to try and find that perfect world, and maintain it. While there are many may differences between the two, the underlying truth still remains the same.

The short story the dead is written by James Joyce an Irish writer who lived between 1882-1941,he is best known for his modern writing techniques, with stories such as “The Dead”, this story is well known for its deep analogy of Irish culture, history, and how the story relates to life struggles, the difficulties of time and age and dealing to forget the dead ones we have lost.

During the 18th and 19th century America expanded their writing style into a new genre called Gothic Literature. This type of genre was invented originally in Europe but became popular in America quickly. This new genre allowed authors to portray a darker side in their works. Before this style was created, the only literature written was based upon romance. The romantic appeal still shows in some of these stories but is not the main aspect of the writing. The choice of evil in any type of writing was extremely sparse and the majority considered it to be insane. A copious amount of authors had the opportunity to grow and form this new style of writing. Add one more sentence which will be the thesis.

Humans are desirous of numerous things. Money, power, pleasure, satisfaction, and surprisingly, celebrities are all things that lead to obsession. As people focus into these things, the result is utter and blatant madness, and eventually becomes the destruction of themselves and others. In the novel Misery by Stephen King, the mental instability of Annie Wilkes and the imprisonment of Paul Sheldon shows how obsession can lead to the destruction of others.

While trapped in a dark and empty dungeon, a single person cannot do much to escape. This is the sad reality for the narrator, who is the main character, in “The Pit and The Pendulum.” However, this situation helps to create an idea of independence and freedom for the reader. These are both very important to our lives on a daily basis. Freedom is something that many people around the world don’t have, but taken for granted in many countries today. Independence is seemingly simple, but can still be a challenge in our lives. In “The Pit and The Pendulum” the author Edgar Allan Poe uses the narrator’s fear, loneliness and his actions to emphasize the importance of freedom and independence.

“…All sensations appeared swallowed up in a mad rushing of the soul into Hades. Then silence, and stillness, night were the universe.” This quote from “The Pit and the Pendulum” is an excellent example of how Edgar Allen Poe is a master at using point of view, setting, and conflict to display the thematic message of fear in his short stories. This example uses all three literary strategies. The setting contributes to the theme of fear by stating that the soul was descending to Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, or hell, a place that will almost definitely draw a fear response in the reader. He uses conflict by having the reader infer that the story is about a dying person, and so on. He finds unique ways to do this with all types of literary strategies, but most prominently with point of view, setting and conflict. He especially uses point of view in a unique way, making the narrator either mentally unstable or having some other unusual ailment. Therefore, after thorough analysis of both “The Black Cat” and “The Pit and the Pendulum,” it is clear that Edgar Allen Poe is a master at using setting, conflict, and point of view to help display the unique thematic message of fear throughout almost all of his literary works. Firstly, Poe uses setting to convey the theme of fear in “The Black Cat” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”. In “The Black Cat”, the climax of the story takes place in a cellar. “At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar,” The

Water is something that is seen as solely necessary for human beings to stay hydrated, but the novels being mentioned in this paper describe water as being something more. Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall, Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat and Masters of the Dew by Jacques Roumain all depict water as being something that helps with liberation, recovery and new life.

Ghostly representations of “the other” imagine a social evil that has not been put to rest. These images reoccur in the Western canon, marking the persistence of slavery long after its abolition. Haunting, ghosts and skeletons in Benito Cereno act as a vehicle through which the suppressed return to the stage with a message. The ghosts carry with them all that the imperialists wanted to control, including emotions, and more precisely, the emotions of the oppressed. I argue that ghosts and skeletons comprise an area of tension in which the appearance of the “other” reveals that the dominant party’s control is incomplete. Yet, the presence is merely ghostly due to the constant policing and lack of respect for the Other. These ghosts also break through the boundaries of the dominant culture’s paradigms and identities (Harpham 17), signaling potential political crisis. This text signals the fear of the retaliation of the Other through ghostly representations by projecting on to the other, their own identities of brutality and irrationality. “Benito Cereno” by Herman Melville overturns the racist images of the colonized by relocating evil in the order of slavery. Hauntings carry the perspectives and powers of the slaves by preserving the dead amidst the living and the past amidst the present, they muddle up the concept of time and therefore defy the Western dream of complete control.

Furthermore, we watch horror in order to show others we are audacious. King already has his ways of giving us thrills through his twisted stories. In “Why We Crave Horror,” Stephen King explains we watch these movies “To show we can, that we are not afraid, that we can ride this roller coaster” (1). We are all prone to letting out a good scream when the roller coaster dives straight down, which is the same as as watching a scary movie. There are those who go with their friends and family to show they are not frightened by what they are watching, it’s to prove to others and themselves that they are strong willed and not weak. “We are all daring the nightmare” when we go to watch horror (King, “Why We Crave” 1). Sometimes when we get scared,

When children think of darkness they think of lack of light which causes them to become scared. As we grow older, we begin to not only realize the lack of light, but the objects inside the dark which can be more frightening. We start understanding how darkness makes us feel. Darkness makes one think of unusual scenarios that are not real, but seems so real at that moment. Once we start believing in those scenarios, they start to overcome us and we no longer stay ourselves. There are multiple definitions of darkness and they all go with these two authentic stories, Heart of Darkness and The Dead. In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, darkness is defined as: partial or total absence of light, wickedness or evil, unhappiness, secrecy and lack of spiritual or intellectual enlighten. Comparing, Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad and The Dead written by James Joyce, each author brings out darkness and the living dead into the main character and shows how much it changes them for the worse and/or for the better.

The Sleeper, by Edgar Allan Poe, was first published in the Poems of 1831; this poem has since been revised from its current version which was printed in 1845. This poem was written during the Romanticism Period. This time period is defined as a time in which poets began to “rebel against the Neoclassical restrictions and dominance of reason as poetic aim. Romantic poetry celebrated the imagination over rationality, passion, and dreams over reason and external reality, and isolated individuality over collective humankind. Romantic poetry looked to celebrate both the supernatural and elevate the commonplace.” (Henriksen) Poe’s imagination prevails in this lyric poem. The speaker of the poem experiences an internal conflict while mourning

Edgar Allan Poe would often unite elements of dreadfulness, love, and imagined aspects in his poems settings to help produce a Gothic atmosphere within his pieces. As illustrated by Poe in ”The City in the Sea" the setting takes place in an isolated city in the distant west that has no clear origins or particular placement in reality, therefore contributing a dreamy but dreary with a hint of gloomy feeling to the poem. Alternatively, "The Raven" uses the setting of a monotonous room at night, whereas the shadowy corridor outside the room and the rustling of curtains suggest the presence of a paranormal or supernatural entity in the chamber. Poe establishes the scenery as a mood that is receptive to the tensions of horror and fear within his works.

The Caribbean is known for its ghost stories, myths and haunted landscapes. Dawn of the Dread, by Geoffrey Philp, was set in rural Jamaica. Being set in the high hills of mount Airy, the author highlights the hilly and mountainous features of the Caribbean terrain. This story revealed both past and present aspects of the Caribbean culture. It revealed notions of ghost stories, corruption, religious practices, homosexuality and police brutality. It embodies love, Rastafarian beliefs and violence. It revolves around the life of Darren Lee, his girlfriend Grace and Georgie. Regardless of his contrasting beliefs, Darren was responsible for saving the town from zombies.