"The Outsider"

“The Outsider” by H.P. Lovecraft is a first person narrative story that depicts the sad life of a human being who is lost inside his own conscious and does not know anything of a normal life besides his dark surroundings. It does however strongly portray a very gothic style of a short story of a lonely man who hardly recognizes himself throughout his whole life. The narrator takes the role of a very lonely person who knows nothing but of his own life locked away in a dark, eerie, lonesome castle. His memories are quite vague and non-existent as if they had taken place along time ago, when he recalls being taken care of once by someone cared. The poor man has never even seen light outside the castle, nor has he even seen another human being beside himself. The only thing he knows outside of the castle is what he reads in his collection of moldy books, which line the walls of his castle. Yet the man is curious and is full of adventure and courage and wants to see what life is like outside of his lonesome castle. So he does the unthinkable and begins to explore the old staircases of the castle, which are nothing but new to him. After searching and crawling through various openings the man discovers the moon for the very first time. He quotes that "Their came to me the purest ecstasy I have ever known”, for the very first time he had seen the wilderness and the outside of his castle.
In complete awe the lonesome individual sought to explore the outside and what seemed to appear as an intriguing distant castle for it was "maddeningly familiar". As the narrarator left his own comfort zone of his own castle, he began to follow the moon towards the other familiar, yet distant castle. Once their the narrarator crawled through one of the open windows only to be awaited by several other human beings who began to scream in disbelief as if they had just seen a terrifying glimpse of an horrific being. In little disbelief the narrator realizes why he has been kept away in a dark castle his entire life. He feels the truth when he presses his fingertips against "the polished glass" and sees that the scary creature is his reflection is himself. Once “it” realizes that it was kept away for a reason it runs in back to its home to escape the torment. The main character then also understands that he can now ride with the "friendly ghouls", and accept his "new wilderness and freedom" and that he will always be an “outsider” to the rest of the world. That his life will continue be nothing more then it was before, which was unlimited moldy books and decaying castle walls.
In this short story I will use the convention known as point of view. Point of view is the position of the narrator in relation to the story, as indicated by the narrator's outlook from which the events are depicted and by the attitude toward the characters. The position of the narrator throughout the story in relation to it is that he does not know a single thing about himself. Not even at the end of the story does he understand his position when he is staring at his decaying self in the mirror. The narrator felt that by exploring his surroundings outside his comfort zone he might be able to start a new life. Having to stay in the castle for his entire life known is the relation to the character of the story. A being that has been kept away in darkness his entire life and is simply decaying and horrific looking cannot just expect life outside of there home to be welcoming. Therefore it is sad that narrator may never know anything outside the castle besides stories in dark moldy books that align a dark, lonesome castle.

"Allal" Close Reading

In this short story, the main character, Allal, grew up at a hotel where his mom gave birth to him and left him a few months later. When he was old enough to go to work in the town he was laughed at and called the “son of sin” because his mother had left him behind. He earned enough money to live in a small house where no one was nearby. One day in town he watched an older man struggle to gather up his snakes that he had dropped while the other townspeople yell at him that they don’t want snakes in their town and to get them out. Allal helped the man gather his snakes and offered for him to stay the night. While the man is sleeping, Allal lures one reddish-gold serpent, which he finds particularly beautiful, out of the sack with milk and kif paste and hides it outside. After the man leaves for the next town Allal trains the snake to come out whenever he wants it to. One night, he summons the snake again with milk and kif paste after he has also taken a few spoonfuls of the paste and washed it down with tea. By the time the kif paste had taken over Allal’s mind, the snake was rested between his head and shoulder so Allal fell asleep looking into the snake’s eyes. The next morning when he wakes up he realizes he switched bodies with the snake.

One paragraph that I found to be significant is on page 226-227, particularly when it says, “It seemed to him that in this way they hoped to make him into a shadow, in order to have to think of him as real and alive” (227). It seemed to Allal that by the townspeople calling him the “son of sin” and laughing at him would make him a shadow to them. A shadow is real, but also something that is just there. He was trying to go about his days unnoticed by being in town as little as possible and avoiding the townspeople as much as possible. Therefore, he turned into a shadow to the townspeople; he didn’t have a life to them, he was just there. This paragraph sets up Allal’s role in the town as an outsider and sets up perhaps why he agreed so easily to allow the man with the snakes to stay with him for the night. The man was also instantly out casted as much as Allal because he brought snakes into the town. In the end, when Allal switched bodies with the snake, he probably wanted to experience what it would be like to be someone else since he was made fun of and excluded from society almost his whole life.

Close Reading of "Allal"

In the story, Allal is a boy who was left behind by his mother as a baby. He grows up being an outcast. Everyone considers him a sin since his mother left him. As Allal himself says in paragraph 5 and page 227, they want to make him into a shadow so they don't have to recognize him as a person. I think him saying this has an important significance because on that same page in paragraph 7, Allal describes the snakes coming out of the bags as two dark forms. He's already kind of comparing himself to the snakes-he's a shadow and they're a dark form. This also illustrates the way the people view the snakes and him, as both being outcasts and not wanted into the town. Allal compares himself to the snakes without even knowing it, before he even has the idea of taking the one snake for his own. Having that subconscious connection right in the beginning of the story makes it easier to believe what happens at the end when he actually turns into the snake.

Allal

Allal is a story about a boy who lives his life as an outcast. He is known as the "son of sin" because he was born to a very young woman and abandoned at a young age. He grew up on his own and didn't have a family to live with. He feels more comfortable away from the people of the town and eventually moves to the outskirts of the village. At one point, Allal meets a man carrying a sack full of snakes around town. The man and Allal become friends when Allal helps him recapture his snakes after he drops the bag. Allal eventually decides that he wants one of the snakes and steals it from the man. Allal and the snake then become so close that Allal turns into the snake and lives his life in the snakes body before being killed.
I found great importance in the paragraph where the townspeople yell "Find your snakes and get them out of here! Why are they here? We don't want snakes in this town!" (p. 227). This paragraph develops the theme of people being unwanted. It establishes a connection between Allal and the snakes because Allal has been an outcast all his life, and now the snakes are being rejected also. In a way, it is comparing Allal to a snake and foreshadowing what happens at the end of the story when Allal becomes the snake. It works as foreshadowing because it occurs at the beginning of the story before any of the major events take place or any conflict is resolved. This paragraph In essence, it states that Allal and the snakes are very similar because they are outcasts and not wanted in the town. When Allal turns into the snake, this is displayed fully as the townspeople get so annoyed that they eventually kill what they don't want.

Close Reading of "Allal"

In the short story “Allal”, the main character, Allal, is an outcast in the town. He was known as the “son of sin” because his mother abandoned him after giving birth to him at the hotel she worked at. He was put to work at the hotel by the owner as soon as he was able to move around. When he became older, he decided to leave the hotel and move into town to find a job that paid him. After he moved into town, he ran into an old guy who carried two snakes around with him. He brought the old guy to his small house after the people of the town were yelling at him to get the old man out of town. While the old man was at Allal’s house, he let out his two snakes. Allal took notice of the red and gold one and instantly became fascinated with it. He decided he wanted it and when the old man fell asleep, Allal used milk paste and a sack made out of a blanket to catch the snake and hide it. When the old man left his house, Allal brings the snake out of its hiding place and starts to summon it out of the sack. One night after taking some kif, Allal fell asleep with the snake laying on him. When he woke up, he realized him and the snake had switched bodies.

The paragraph I thought was most important in this story is when the old man tells Allal that “Snakes are like people. You have to get to know them. Then you can be their friends,” (page 228). This line stood out because it points to the issue that something is going to happen with Allal and the snakes. It also compares snakes and people together. A snake is the biblical symbol of sin. The old man could have also been comparing them together because people commit sin and by the end of the story, the people of the town commit the worse of all sins by murdering Allal, which was the snake by then. Also, Allal spent months trying to get to know the snake. He tries to summon it by telling it to “come here”. After the snake finally responds to Allal’s command and they “get to know” each other, Allal ends up becoming the snake and not really its friend.

"The Outsider" Narrative Convention

The biggest Gothic convention of this story is the characteriztion of the other. The narrarator is the other in this story. He shows this when he says that he was alone all of his life and only vaguely remembers the person who raised him and that the person who raised him was as grotesque and filthyas he was. Secondly, when he hears human voices he cannot understand them because he never heard human voices. The third indication was when he came into the room in the castle and all of the people began to panic at his grotesque appearance. This obviously shows that he truly is an outsider. Lastly, he isolates himself further as he learns that normal humans are only scared of him.

This same convention is seen in "The Temple". The woman is obviously an outsider. She lives by herself and goes as far as to dig up these bones for some type of companionship. She also does not want anybody to see her doing this, indicating that she is a loner. The fact that she digs up these bones expresses that she has an element of lonliness.

In "The Outsider", it is evident that the narrarator is looking for some type of companionship when he tries to go to the neighboring castle. This proves that he is lonely. It is also evident that he is a loner because he has never heard anybody speak and people are just appalled by his appearance.

"Nevermore"

"The Outsider", by H.P. Lovecraft is a perfect example of what gothic fiction is all about. The story starts off with the narrator suffering from complete isolation. He has resided in the castle for many unknown years, and does not recall any form of contact with another being. However, he assumes that someone, at some point in time, did care for him. Unfortunately, he does not know when he was born, or even how long he has been living in the decaying castle that is located in the natural wilderness. He wastes his days away by creating another life in his mind from the mouldy books he reads. The narrator is constantly questioning his identity, and just cannot find any peace of mind because of all the secrets that surround his past life. Then, he finally reaches his breaking point, and escapes the castle to discover the mysterious other, or light. After he climbs out of the home, the "purest ecstasy" that he ever knew shined brightly in the night sky was "the radiant full moon". He starts to wonder around for about two hours in search of more light. While on his journey, some memory starts to develop again, but is still coming out fuzzy in his mind. He finally reaches his "goal", which is a castle that is "maddening familiar", and strange to the character. He witnesses the aesthetic of sublime, when he saw the people outside. Their language, and looks were very awe-like to the narrator. However, the deviant aspect comes into play, when he joins the party. The people inside are terrified of him, and is trying to escape. He sees a creature that "is not of this world-or no longer of this world". The subjective and objective view points shows in this scene. The narrator realizes the truth when he presses his fingertips against "the polished glass" and comprehends that the scary creature is his reflection. He escaped to go back to his home, but could not get in. The main character did not mind one bit because he can now ride with the "friendly ghouls", and accept his "new wilderness and freedom". Even if alienage is part of it. He claims that nepenthe, which is "anything that induces a pleasurable sensation of forgetfulness. epically anything that causes trouble" to help him calm down. He now finally understands the truth that he is and always will be an outsider.
For the story, I will use the convention called characterization. Characterization is a way for the writer to "develop a character"; For instance, by appearance, actions, language, thoughts, and thorugh other people's reactions. It is easy to see from the beginning that the character is ignorant of everything about himself. He does not even know that he is looking at his own decaying, frightening reflection in the mirror at the end of the story. We do, however, see how his thought process changes in the story. In the beginning, he wonders what "the other" is exactly. It reaches to a point where he leaves his comfort zone, instead of wondering around, and dreaming about another life. He becomes brave, and ventures out to find more light. The narrator does find the moon light fasinacting, but needs more, which is at another castle. Sad to say, he sees that his appearance or form of existence, a ghost, to be unwelcoming by the mortals. Now he is worse off then before because he understands why he is alienated. He comes to terms with the facts by bothering with others of his kind, and finds ways of suppressing the loneliness. His mind finally gains knowledge of what he truly is as a being, the "outsider".

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nepenthe
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/characterization.html