Welcome to Week 4!
This week, we are going to:
Demonstrate an understanding of literature that addresses the supernatural and strange, the changing roles of women, and exploration of culture.
Analyze, interpret, and evaluate a variety of texts for the ethical and logical uses of evidence
Respond to literature with rational judgments supported by evidence
Complete these readings from the textbook (some read in previous modules – pick 2 or 3 that you like – I will talk about bolded):
Young Goodman Brown
A Rose for Emily
The Black Cat by Poe
The Story of an Hour
The Yellow Wall-Paper ( Why I Wrote the Yellow Wall-Paper) Resource to accompany Yellow Wall-PaperLinks to an external site.
Still I Rise
Daystar
The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica
Content sections:
Critical Approaches A1 to A3 (read this one)
Emphasis on the text A4-A9
Remember that academic reading is a skill you develop over time.
Textbook:
The Norton Introduction to Literature: Shorter 13th Edition by Kelly J. Mays
Week 4 Discussion Topic Replies
After writing your post, be sure to review and edit before clicking “Submit.” Then, respond to 2-3 classmates with a substantive reply… You can ask questions, agree or disagree, expand on their ideas, or make connections between their post and yours. Replies should be 4 sentences each.
Post from Tracy:
One example of a gothic fiction story that I’ve read is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s famous literary works called The Tell-Tale Heart. It is a short fiction story that describes the declining sane mentality of a man who has just committed murder. An important literary device that allows readers to understand its gruesome state is the narrator’s use of simile in the beginning. He compares the victim’s eyes to a vulture, further describing the look as “…the eye of one of those terrible birds that watch and wait while an animal dies, and then fall upon the dead body and pull it to pieces to eat it.” (Poe 3). This vulgar comparison of the old man’s eyes to a vulture’s horrid nature of survival emphasizes the goth aspect as well as sets an inference for readers to expect a horrifying turn of events. This short story also includes many disturbing adjectives that clearly signify horror such as “cold”, “dead”, “blood”, “dark”, etc. These phrases help create that mysterious and thrilling mood. In addition, Poe illustrates how the narrator orchestrated his murder of the old man revealing his process step by step stating, “First I cut off the head, then the arms and the legs.” (Poe 13). and continues on until he buries the body parts underneath his floorboards. The mention of his killing process establishes the seriousness of the situation and incites fear within readers. The setting is important because his neighbors were able to hear the victim’s cry since the murder took place in his own home which ultimately created the rising action; when official police authorities arrived at his doorstep.
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan PoeLinks to an external site.
Post from Britney:
In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman gives the readers a thorough detailed description of the setting, the narrative, and the main characters mental state. The setting is one of the most important aspects of setting the mood and tone of the story. The setting is described as a secluded and almost claustrophobic like room with barred windows and yellow wallpaper, giving the reader an unsettling feeling to the story. The main symbol that is presented in this story is the yellow wallpaper, as it represents the oppression of women in society during that specific time period. The main character shows great frustration towards the yellow wallpaper as she spends her whole day staring at the walls trying to understand the pattern but is unable to. The yellow wallpaper reflects on the oppression that women face, so when the protagonist rips down the wallpaper, it is to symbolize that she is freeing herself from the societal oppression that her husband has put her through. The story shows foreshadowing by following the main character’s perspective on the house, as she mentions that it feels strange in the beginning of the story. The short story contains words like creepy, gloomily, and angry to show the tone of the story.
Post from Sam:
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…” (Poe, 1845) is line from Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven”. Originally published in 1845, the work forms eighteen stanzas that detail a mourning man’s descent into madness. It’s a work of Gothic Fiction, and satisfies a number of loose quotas held by the genre. Firstly, it is set in an ominous and dreading forbearance, established by the first few lines of the poem, and secondly, it involves supernatural elements – in this work’s particular case, the Raven that can speak verbally. The protagonist is a tormented soul who is grieving over the loss of his sweet Lenore. Additionally, there is some amount of symbolism that can be derived from the work. The Raven bears with it something akin to a connotation of death. Superstitious folk throughout history have long considered Ravens the ‘omen of death’ or something akin to that. At the end of the poem, Poe notes that the Raven hangs over the protagonists soul. It’s a clear symbol for such deep despair that it’s some kind of death or spiritual death – meaning that his soul is no longer within him and he is purely mad.
The setting and mood of the opening stanza set the expectation of this poem. It is a tragedy, and ensures you feel that intensity from the beginning, and there is certainly some foreshadowing in the work, due to the symbolism involved with the Raven. In that superstition is the expectation of death.
*********PLEASE USE AMERICAN ENGLISH.************** DOUBLE CHECK YOUR WORK BEFORE UPLOADING.
