Genre Study of "Afterward"

The story “Afterward” by Edith Wharton is about a lady named Mary who is reminiscing on the time right before her husband, Ned, disappeared. The story is told in five parts and each part is a different memory. The first part is Mary’s memory of a conversation with Alida and Ned about finding a new house. Mary discusses how she wants a house that is haunted and Alida tells them about the legend of the Lyng house. The legend is that there is a ghost in Lyng, but no one knows they have encountered it until “long afterward”. Mary also remembers the day her and Ned saw a stranger in the garden and Ned chased after him, but the stranger disappeared. In the second part, Mary recalls the day someone sent her an article in the mail of the suit that was being brought up against Ned by someone named Elwell. He tells her it has been withdrawn and not to worry about it. Part three takes place the next day when a stranger comes looking for Ned. Mary escorts him to the library and later finds out that Ned has disappeared with the stranger with the only clue being a letter addressed to someone named Parvis. In part four, Mary contacts Parvis and he claims to know nothing of the letter. In part five, Mary finds Parvis and after he explains the business deal that went bad between Ned and Elwell, she puts the pieces together. After Parvis tells her Elwell is dead and shows her a picture of him, Mary realizes Elwell was both the ghost and stranger and he took Ned away.
One of the gothic conventions displayed in this story was the supernatural subject matter. The supernatural can be defined as something that is non-existent in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws. In “Afterward”, the supernatural subject is the ghost in the legend of the Lyng house. According to Mary’s cousin, Alida, there is a ghost in Lyng, but you do not know it until “long long afterward”. At the end of the story, Mary realizes that she encountered the ghost more than once and it was the ghost who was responsible for her husband’s disappearance. It was the ghost who was in the garden that Ned chased after and it was the ghost who Mary led to the library the one morning. The ghost in Mary’s legend was Elwell, the guy who tried to bring the suit up against Ned. Mary explains that the reason the ghost disappeared the first time they saw him was because he was not fully dead yet. He was waiting to die so he could take Ned away. When he finally died, he came back and took Ned away.
Another story that has a supernatural subject is “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. The supernatural element was the legend of the Headless Horseman. The Headless Horseman was supposedly a ghost who rode on a horse through the town of Sleepy Hollow and beheaded people during the night. Although they were unsure if it was really the Headless Horseman or Brom who chased Ichabod out of town, it is still believed that a Headless Horseman really did exist in the story.
The television series Twin Peaks also contained supernatural elements. Even though we did not watch the full series, they did mention a spirit that lived in the woods. Another supernatural subject was the giant that appeared in Agent Cooper’s dream. The giant was not real and could have been a ghost. During the second visit he made, he took Cooper’s ring. That is a sign of supernatural because it cannot be explained by natural laws.

"Afterward" Genre Study

Afterward is a story about a couple named Ned and Mary Boyne. While talking to their friend Alida Stair, they find that there is a haunted house in Lyng, Dorsetshire. The couple being very intrigued wants to move in immediately. The only thing is, is that Alida Stiar said that they would not know that they even encountered the ghost until long after. When asked what she means by this Alida just says that's how the story goes. The couple move in and everything seems fine at first. They have yet to see the ghost, but Mary notices that Ned is acting weird. At one point in the story Mary and Ned were on a secret spot on the roof. Ned noticed someone and ran down the stairs without even waiting for Mary. Mary, thinking that he saw the ghost, hurries after him. She finds him in his office just looking through papers. Ned says that the person he thought he saw was Peters and he just wanted to ask him a question, but couldn't get to him in time. Mary finds that Ned is having a suit brought against him by an associate of his. This worries Mary, but Ned tells her he has it under control. One day while Mary is out in the garden a man comes and asks to speak to her husband. At first she tells him that he cannot because her husband is working, she then feels sorry for the man and tells him what room her husband is in. She then finds later that her husband has disappeared. She goes through many months without knowing what could have happened to her husband. A man her husband knew named Parvis stops at the house to offer Mary his condolences. In the conversation he shows her a newspaper clipping that has both pictures of her husband and the man named Bob Elwell who was the one who brought the suit, Bob was also dead at this point from trying to kill himself. Mary then realizes that Bob Elwell was the man Ned had seen on the roof and the man in the garden she had spoken to. She puts everything together and realizes what has happened, the ghost of Bob Elwell came for her husband and he went with him. Mary then realizes what Alida had meant when she said you would never know it was the ghost until “long, long afterward”.
This story shows a lot of fear of the unknown, which is the whole reason why they moved into the house in the first place. They were trying to look for a ghost without even knowing what they were looking for. Mary even at one point tells her husband that she has given up looking for the ghost and asks him the same thing. It’s not that they are actually scared of seeing the ghost, but I think the fact that they might not know what it is frightens them or Mary at least. Mary at one point thinks that Ned has seen the ghost and just isn’t telling her about it, because it did something to him. That’s why Mary thinks Ned is acting weird. Mary is fearful that is unknown ghost did something to her husband.
We see the fear of the unknown in many of the stories we’ve read. The Lonesome place is one that expresses fear of the unknown very clearly. The two young boys in the story are terrified of what they can’t see on a dark part of the street at night. Their fear takes over their imagination and runs wild.
The Veldt may even be considered as fear of the unknown. The parents are afraid of the unknown future of their children’s minds. They’re not sure what the children will think up in this futuristic house that they have. Or how not being able to do anything for themselves will affect them when they are older.

"Afterward" Genre Study

“Afterward”, by Edith Wharton is a story that is divided into five parts and explores the memories of the central character, Mary Boyne, from a six month period. Her and her husband, Ned Boyne, move into the Lyng house in Dorsetshire, England after their cousin, Alida Stair, tells them it’s haunted by a ghost. They only wanted the house if it was truly haunted, but according to Alida, anyone who lives in Lyng does not know they have encountered the ghost until long afterward.

One of the conventions of Gothic displayed in this story was the uncanny. The uncanny is the idea that not everything is what it seems; it is something that is familiar, but foreign at the same time that results in a feeling of strangeness. In “Afterward” the uncanny is shown when Mary realizes that she didn’t really know her husband. He has been something familiar to her and someone she is comfortable with until the ghost starts showing up and she sees the look of perplexity and anxiety on his face. She suddenly becomes interested in her husband’s business which was always a mystery to her and leads to her discovering that the stranger who visited was really a man who had made a bad business deal with Ned that ended up destroying his life. Ned was comforting and reassuring her about his business only to let her down when she finds out what’s really underneath.

Another story that we see the uncanny is in “The Enormous Radio”. When Irene’s husband, Jim, brings home an old radio Irene is able to hear conversations and other stuff that goes on in their neighbor’s apartments. She sits home and listens to these people’s lives so her whole perception that she had of her neighbors changes so now when she sees them, she sees them for their problems. It also brings out that Irene and Jim, who had seemed to have a happy marriage and rarely ever argued, aren’t the perfect couple with the perfect family either.

Yet another story is “The Lovely House”. When Margaret goes to stay with her friend Carla at her house she is swept away by how lovely her house is. As she stays longer and becomes more familiar with the house and Carla’s family, Carla’s brother, Paul, comes home and Margaret finally goes up to the tower to see if there’s really a Great Aunt living there. From the tower, she sees the house as it really is; the house is aging and the grounds are not as taken care of as she initially sees. Through the story we are led on to believe that Paul is really there only to come to the possible conclusion that he’s really a ghost and the old Great Aunt living in the tower may be Margaret when she’s old.

“Twin Peaks” also shows us the uncanny. We are introduced to this town that seems to be a perfectly normal small town. As the season goes on we get a view of the secret lives of the townspeople; their affairs, their sneaking behind people’s backs, plots to kill each other and get money, drug trade, and sex scandals.

"A Short Guide to the City" Genre Study

“A Short Guide to the City” written by Peter Straub is a depicting short story that describes several different locations from suburbs, to ghettos, to wealthy developments that are all very different from one another. Yet several criminal homicides have occurred and the only thing known of the mystery is the nickname of the murderer called the “Viaduct Killer” who has already killed several innocent people. Yet where in fact does the Viaduct Killer live, it could be from any of the surrounding locations, no one knows?

Presumptions have been made of a few different areas concerning the killers home, which are all different from one another. The first area is called The East Side which is where the yuppies and wealthy live. The second area is called the valley, which is perhaps best seen in the dead of winter and is full of factories and buildings ran by middle class people working to make a living. Another important thing about the valley is that it is in fact home to the viaduct and has much history from wolf-ranches to polish immigration. The next important spot is known as “the city’s heart” the south side, which holds a profound relationship to violence and is never implied to be the home of the viaduct killer. Finally the last location is the Ghetto or the inner city, which is comfortable with crime and is home to the lower class citizens.

Yet this story exemplifies and depicts several different genres of the gothic culture. One of the clearer depictions of gothic culture is fear of the unknown. Another is the fear of something new and misunderstood. As in The Replacements one is uncomfortable to the unknown. A man killed an innocent creature just because it made him feel out of place and unimportant. He didn’t try to learn about the creature or why he felt this way about it, he just killed it and lacked any sympathy towards its purpose and chance at life. This shows how a common person can commit heinous acts for no reason besides its own misunderstood feelings.

Prejudice and labeling is another important issue and theme in “A Short Guide to the City”. The City’s and or ordinances are clearly separated into different backgrounds and are ranked by which one is more prone to murder. The ghetto has the poor and less respected citizens, the East side is home to the wealthy and the south side is home to the polish and Lithuanians who work for a living in factories. This is a clear sign of stereotyping even if one group is statistically more prone to crime it doesn’t mean that murder cannot take place in a less expected area. As in “The Outsider” and in “Twin Peaks” people do judge a book by its cover. Just how they judged the outsider when he approached the group, they ran away in fear due to his appearance. We cannot judge one by the way they look at first sight. And in Twin Peaks when Dale Coopers work associate Albert comes to work the case in Twin Peaks and does nothing but stereotype them and treats them as if they are illiterate and deprived from intelligence when in fact they are not.

Yet the fear of the unknown is the most important or fear of violence in general. The community has shown a clear sign of deprivation concerning the murders in acted by a killer who may as well be a part of the community. “We assume that the viaduct killer is a resident of the city, a voter, a renter, or perhaps even a parent of children who even now attend one the thirteen existing schools in the area”. Yet the city fails to acknowledge the severity of the situation, instead they grow eerie of the situation and remain afraid of the reoccurring violence. This is a clear sign that the community is in “denial mode” someone has broken the simple life manner and brought upon evil acts which is foreign to the community. They lack protection and instead deny the situation and even become outright stupid which can possibly jeopardize their lives.

Violence is gothic and is reoccurring in today’s society and needs to be addressed immediately even if it is new to a group or individual for the sake of ones safety. This is comparable to the story “Strawberry Spring” because everyone acts as if it is a group of for told murders. That these murders are going to keep happening and there really is nothing to do to prevent it, instead everyone is just scared and doesn’t do much. The fact of the matter is that it wasn’t a ghost or someone expected. It was an individual of the community who had no idea he was the killer until he woke up one morning to a girl stuffed in the own trunk of his car. The point is not to be in denial but to seek out the violence and the obvious because the killer may even be next door or might even be you.

A Short Guide to the City (Genre Study)

Peter Straub’s, “A Short Guide to the City,” is a tourist brochure that describes a Midwestern town, but mentions from time to time the viaduct killer. In this pamphlet, he illustrates four areas that possess different kinds of lifestyles. The first one, the East Side, is where all the wealthy people live. Another is The Valley which contains much of the area’s history and the viaduct. Then, there is The South Side or “the city’s heart.” And finally, are the low life areas which are called “children cities” and the ghetto.

This story has many elements of the gothic genre; for example, the city is portrayed in the narrator’s eyes. Everything is based on interpretation. Just like in “Death in the Woods,” the little boy created a made up a life for Mrs. Grimes. The narrator, in this story, states in the beginning, “our society folks keep to themselves, and what we know of them we learn chiefly from the newspapers.” Stories have been passed down from many years ago, which can give a “telephone” effect of what the truth really is.

Another big issue in “A Short Guide to the City” is the citizens lost touch of the imagination. The narrator told a story of how the children witnessed a winged man crawl out of the lake. When they saw him, they chucked some rocks at him because he was eerie and not normal. He was “as cold as cancer-into their bones and bedrooms, which gave them earaches and chilblains, which in the summer bred rats and mosquitoes.” The children were the only ones who saw him as a threat. Maybe this man is the killer of the six murders? Also, the people in the ghetto are considered low lives, but are very artistic people. In this city, it appears that the more ordinary are you, the more accepted you’ll be. This idea is just like the one in “The Lonesome Place.” After the two young boys grew up, they lost sight of their childhood fear. Then, they felt guilty for not saving the fat boy from the “monster” that haunted them.

Segregation is another theme in this story. Even though the narrator says there are no prejudices in the city, it is pretty obvious there is. The neighborhoods are divided into sections. The East Side has the rich, respected citizens. The South Side has the Polish, Estonians, and Lithuanians. Finally, in their decaying dwellings, are the children cities and the ghetto. The narrator could not even comment on the “violent status” of the ghetto area. It seems that if you live in a certain area that is where you stay. The citizens only go and mingle with their own kind. Social separation is also seen in “Death in the Woods.” The townspeople looked down their noses at Mrs. Grimes, even though she was just a fragile woman. In “The Outsider,” when everyone saw the ghost at the party, they all ran away from him. So, in return, he bothered with “ghosts of the night,” or creatures of his own kind. Finally, in “Allal,” Allal never had a friend because he was a bastard child. Everyone is enslaved by their own physical attributes and environments. There really is no unity in this community other than the fact that violence is not tolerated.

In the story, violence parallels a lot of themes. The first one is domestic abjection. Violence is an “internal matter, to be resolved within or exercised upon one’s own body and soul or those of one’s immediate family.” The South Side even goes to the extreme of using a family member as a human sacrifice. “The outsider can only hope to imagine, that the whole family must die-(be sacrificed).” “The Yellow Wallpaper” showed domestic abjection by leaving a mentally sick woman locked in a room to solve her problems instead of getting her the proper care she needed. Violence also was the duality of the city. The people tried so hard to steer away from it, but in the end, there was a nut on the loose that killed people anyways. Violence is good in a sense to the South Side to cleanse evil, but yet violence killed six innocent people. Another duality could be that the narrator is the killer. We are not sure of if, but how he describes his yearnings and what type of people walk across the viaduct just raised questions in my mind. He says, “(mainly men) come with their lunches in paper bags, walking slowly along the cement walkway, not looking down over the edge of the viaduct, looking away, dawdling, finally leaning like fishermen against the railing, waiting until they can no longer delay going to their jobs.” How does he know this? In “Strawberry Springs,” the reader finds out in the end that the narrator was the killer all along. Which strikes the question, do we really know ourselves? In “The Replacements,” the main focus of the story is to keep balance in your life. Stewart’s wife should have given attention to the creature and her husband. Having violence in the world keeps the balance between good and evil. In the city, the people are very judgmental. Like in, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” deals with how people relate to humanity. Having the grandmother say these racist comments without knowing the person is as bad as having the Misfit kill people out of the sense of killing someone. Both characters do not care about humanity. It is just ironic that in “A Short Guide to the City” have citizens that are so judgmental, but cannot be violent. Both acts do not value humanity, so what is the big deal?

The most important theme from this story that is reflected in other stories is how we handle our fears. The community is frightened by violence, but why? What is the secret that makes these citizens scared of a little violence? As the reader, we cannot conclude what aggressive actions took place to cause the community’s precautions. The narrator states that the area is in “denial mode.” The city is known for its modesty-“it cherishes the ordinary, or what it sees as ordinary, which is not.” The unfinished “Broken Span” bridge parallels the cities denial to possess reality. They would rather lie to themselves to be “protected” from the truth. I believe the narrator is yearning to seek realness. He feels that the bridge lacks completion just like his city. Violence may not be the most pleasant way to deal with issues, but at times, it is just a natural instinct, or to him, “sensitivity.” The killer, in the narrator’s eyes, is the one who is revealing how the world really is. In “The Enormous Radio,” the family lived a lifestyle that had to keep up with the Jones. Everything was according to statistics even to the point on how many times the family attended the movies. When the husband bought a radio for the family, strange things began to happen. They could hear conversations of other residence’s lives. She thought everyone else had problems, but her. Actually, her biggest fear, not being perfect, was concealed because of her denial to accept the truth. Another example comes from the short story called “A Rose for Emily.” The question here is, “What is wrong with the South?” (Sorry Dr. Little) Are the people growing for the better or staying at a plateau? In “A Short Guide to the City,” we do not know what happened before violence was forbidden, but what is important is how history affects us in the present time. Last but not least, Stewart, in “The Replacements”, killed an innocent creature because he did not understand what it was. This just goes to show how people kill someone because they are afraid of it. Instead of trying to understand our fears, we destroy it and try to forget about it.

Genre Study for "A Short Guide to the City"

A big theme in Gothic fiction is the idea of the imp of the perverse. The imp of the perverse is a metahpor for the tendency of a person to do exactly the wrong thing in a given situation. The concept is that the misbehavior is due to an imp (a small demon) leading an otherwise decent person into mischief. It is when somebody's thinking is seriously wrong. It could be the way that they think. The imp of the perverse was originally used and popularized in Gothic fiction by Edgar Allan Poe. In using this convention, the author is trying to show what can happen when the thinking of an individual goes bad. It is a big convention in Gothic fiction and is found in many Gothic stories, including some of the stories we have read this semester.

The imp of the perverse is seen in "Strawberry Spring". The narrarator seems to be a normal person. It turns out that he is a ruthless serial killer. The thing is that he does not remember doing any of these murders unitl the end of the story when he figures out that he isa serial killer. There is somehing seriously wrong with his thought pattern.

The imp of the perverse also appears in "The Black Cat". The narrator orginally loves all animals. Then, they get a black cat and he begins to hate the cat so much that he wants to kill the cat. He ends up hanging the cat. This behavior is not normal especially because he was orignally a normal animal-loving person. What is even less normal is that he eventually kills his wife (even though he did not mean to) in an attempt to kill the cat and he buries his wife in the wall. This is a classic example of the imp of the perverse, especially because it was written by Poe.

Yet, another example is found in "The Yellow Wallpaper". She was not always insane and is using the rest cure possibly for post-pardun depression. She ends up destroying her room after her fall into complete insanity.

There are a few examples of the imp of the perverse in "Twin Peaks". Firstly, many of the characters are using ulterior motives to get what they want including Josie. Secondly, there is cocaine being sold in the town to students. Both of these things leads to several murders. Bobby also frames James by putting cocaine in the gas tank of his motorcycle.

Another big example of the imp of the perverse occurs in "A Rose for Emily". Emily Grierson kills her new husband and sleeps with his corpse for the rest of her life. The imp of the perverse can be found being employed in almost any and every Gothic fiction story..

In "A Short Guide to the City", there are several examples of the imp of the perverse. One can be found on page 363, where people in the Polish district practice self-mutilation. Also on page 363, the narrator explains that once a decade, people of the family decide that the whole family must be sacrificed. Another example occurs on page 365, where the children that live in the "children's cities" practice violence by tattooing themselves and raiding rival tribes. The last example is on page 367 when the narrator explains how two or three citizens each year elect to commit thier suicides by leaping into the electric fence.

The big difference between "A Guide to the City" and the other stories is that in "A Guide to the City" the imp of the perverse is shown by groups of people in society and in the other stories in is shown in the psychology of the individuals. The imp of the perverse almost always shows some type of malevolent behavior. This is the case in all of the stories I have discussed except for "The Yellow Wallpaper". The fact that "A Short Guide to the City" shows the imp of the perverse in the society of the city rather than the psychology of the individual makes it a unique story.

Ever since Edgar Allan Poe used it, the imp of the perverse is a huge theme in Gothic stories. It shows what can happen when something goes wrong with the thought pattern of an individual. "A Short Guide to the City" is an exception to this. Because of its uniqueness, it is a truly great work of art.

"Nevermore"

The Replacements

The Replacements revolves around the insecurities of what seems to be an average male by the name of Stuart. Stuart has a typical male mentality when stumbling onto this creature of his walk home from work. Stuart was not particularly fond of this creature and quickly decided that "It was something that should not exist, a mistake, something alien. It did not belong in his world" I found it almost comical that he mentions that this creature is living in "his world" after finishing the story. It is obvious that the world that Stuart lives in isn't his world at all. Jenny, Stuart's wife wears the pants in the relationship and calls the shots in Stuart's life. Jenny believed that this creature that "didn't belong in the world in Stuart's world" belonged in their home. At one point in the story Stuart realizes that "he was not afraid of a creature no bigger than a football and less likely to hurt him; rather, he was afraid that he might hurt it". This statements reflects Stuarts undeniable fear of upsetting Jenny and the consequences that may follow. As the story progresses Stuart is more and more neglected by his wife until Jenny stops offering to drive him to work at all. The creature slowly begins to replace Stuart in every day activities. Towards the end of the story, the creature seems to be trying to flee the house but is trapped.

I believe that the story is reflecting a woman's desire to nurture whether it be a child, pet, or alien creature. I think the fact that it becomes more about the woman's desire rather than the creature's actual need shows an aspect of feminism. Showing that not only do women not need men, but men can be replaced as well. I strongly agree with the theory that the creature is a metaphor for what happens to a relationship with the birth of a child. Although, I believe that there is a reason that it is a creature and not a baby. The fact that the creature is repulsive affects how acceptable the neglect of Stuart is. If Jenny were to be nurturing a child and neglecting Stuart it would be a fact of life that he had to deal with but, a alien creature is not a ordinary occurrence making the neglect more personal.