The Image of the Big House as a Central Motif in The Real Charlotte

An analytical essay discussing the importance of setting in The Fall of the House of Usher, by Edgar Allan Poe and Where is Here, by Joyce Carol Oates.

(Krantz’s Grand Isle Hotel Picture of painting by Tracy Warhart Plaisance) (Reflechir: Vol.1. Les images des prairies tremblantes: 1840-1940 by Chénière Hurricane Centennial Committee)

It is safe to say that terror often causes negative reactions. When someone is scared, their mind can take over and will impair one's ability to reason. This is shown in two stories, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe and “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar. Imagination takes over in “The Fall of the House of Usher” when Roderick Usher realizes he buried his sister alive. The mind also takes over in “House Taken Over,” when two siblings deal with a mysterious entity. Imagination overcomes reason when characters become anxious or are isolated from society.

Alex’s spookiest experience was when she was watching a t.v. show and it actually convinced her that a women could communicate with the dead. This is related to gothic literature because they both have supernatural elements. However, it's also related to magical realism because it was realistic but also contained surreal elements. Edgar Allan Poe’s “Fall of The House of Usher” is an example of gothic literature because it resembles a dark and mysterious plot. While Julio Cotazar’s “House Taken Over” is an example of magical realism because the house gets taken over by Nazi’s, but seems as if ghost’s took over.

Gothic literature is a style characterized by multiple elements, such as fear, death, gloom, as well as romantic elements like nature, individuality, and high emotion. Magical realism, on the other hand, began as a painting style. It then evolved into the literary style associated with Latin America, which puts fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction. One of the most important elements of these genres is the setting of the stories. In The Fall of the House of Usher and House Taken Over, the setting creates atmosphere, reflects genre, and reflects characters.

“Loneliness is a common emotion when someone feels alone, separated from others or unsupported and distressed” (Kennedy). A common occurrence of many great authors is to make a theme regarding loneliness or isolation for example, “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”. “The Fall of the House of Usher”, comparatively speaking, is a very challenging read for most, whereas “The Yellow Wallpaper” is more of a relaxed read. There are many differences between “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”, however, there is a common occurrence that links the two, loneliness. Throughout the two short fiction pieces both characters, Roderick Usher from “The Fall of the House of Usher and Jane from “The Yellow Wallpaper”, are isolated from the outside world, both characters have an illness that keeps them in isolation, and both characters in some way turn to a form of literature to pass time . All of these aspects contribute significantly to loneliness.

Miss Emily's house as the setting of the story is a perfect metaphor for the events occurring during

It twas the night before Christmas and all through the house a creature was banging on the door Yolanda the magical Christmas hippo of dreams.

When a young author from New York City decides to take a trip to the southern city of Savannah, he finds himself falling in love with the town and ends up renting an apartment. He encounters many different characters, including Danny Hansford and Jim Williams, that gives the reader a good look into the aura of Savannah. The main conflict in the book occurs when a murder happens in an old mansion located in the town. The book follows the progression of the trial and the outcome following the court’s decision.

Deteriorating towns are generally filled with a mere handful of inhabitants still clinging to whatever life they used to have. Houses fall apart. Quality of life decreases. People become unstable due to their inability to provide for themselves and their families. This has been seen all over: the towns become relics and the people become charity cases. When the going gets tough the tough get going; however, those inhabitants who choose to stay rewrite their endings. Edgar Allan Poe’s use of imagery portraying decay in “The Fall of the House of Usher” serves to set up the final fate of the two main characters.

A review of the house itself suggests that an architectural hierarchy of privacy increases level by level. At first, the house seems to foster romantic sensibilities; intrigued by its architectural connotations, the narrator embarks upon its description immediately--it is the house that she wants to "talk about" (Gilman 11). Together with its landscape, the house is a "most beautiful place" that stands "quite alone . . . well back from the road, quite three miles from the village" (Gilman 11). The estate's grounds, moreover, consist of "hedges and walls and gates that lock" (Gilman 11). As such, the house and its grounds are markedly depicted as mechanisms of confinement--ancestral places situated within a legacy of control and

The primary locations in this novel is in Sweet Home, a small farm containing slaves in Kentucky, and 124 Bluestone Road on the edge of Cincinnati, Ohio. Although the novel starts out in the home of Sethe and her daughter, Denver, Sweet Home is where Sethe’s experiences to the past begins. In Sweet Home, the slave system was taken over by Mr. and Mrs. Garner, a kind couple who treated their slaves like human beings. 124 becomes personified through the paranormal activities in the house, and through the chapter names; 124 was spiteful, 124 was loud, and 124 was quiet. Mr. Bodwin, the owner of 124, tells how the house has a history of paranoia, "Women died there: his mother, grandmother, an aunt and an older sister before he was born" (259).

Edgar Allan Poe is undoubtedly one of American Literature's legendary and prolific writers, and it is normal to say that his works touched on many aspects of the human psyche and personality. While he was no psychologist, he wrote about things that could evoke the reasons behind every person's character, whether flawed or not. Some would say his works are of the horror genre, succeeding in frightening his audience into trying to finish reading the book in one sitting, but making them think beyond the story and analyze it through imagery. The "Fall of the House of Usher" is one such tale that uses such frightening imagery that one can only sigh in relief that it is just a work of fiction. However, based on the biography of Poe, events

In the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," by Edgar Allen Poe, setting is used extensively to do many things. The author uses it to convey ideas, effects, and images. It establishes a mood and foreshadows future events. Poe communicates truths about the character through setting.

Edgar Allen Poe is recognized as a great writer of Gothic. Poe stories all relate to each other in some way. Most of his short stories consist of mystery and horror. The two stories I choose was the “The Black Cat” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. They both can be compared to each other by their setting, characters, and theme.