The Damned Thing- Cultural Context

In, “The Damned Thing”, by Ambrose Bierce, he demonstrates the cultural fears of the unknown. In the story, Hugh Morgan was experiencing things out of this nature. He wrote in a diary that something must be out there. Stars disappear in the sky as if something was moving in front of them, he found evidence of “it” and he has a feeling of wanting to be pushed out of his land, home, and world. He started to think that this thing was making him mad, or that he already has been due to his obsession of trying to solve this mystery. He had William Harker visit him so that he could see if he thought he was mad or not. While Harker’s visit, Morgan took him quail hunting. It turned out to be something bigger then a quail, it was “that damned thing”. This mysterious creature would lead to Morgan’s demise.

The fear of the unknown has been around since the beginning of time. It is hard believe that out of all the space outside of the world, we are the only living things around. It is common for people to believe in ghost, aliens, and other things to try to make sense of the strange phenomenons. Today there are still stories and tv shows of how different people are encountering aliens, and seeing ghost. In this story, despite Morgan's diary entries, the jury explained his death caused my a moutian lion. It was clear in his diary that there was something else out there, haunting him. Bierce conveyed how the unfamiliar can make people go mad. “We so rely upon the orderly operation of familiar natural laws that any seeming suspension of them is noted as a menace to our safety, a warning of unthinkable calamity.” (Pg 124)

"The Reach"

In “The Reach” written by the author, Stephen King, the main character of the story is Stella Flanders who is celebrating her 95th birthday with her family. She has never been on the mainland because she has felt that she never had to go there. This is why she never has crossed the reach to go from the island to the mainland. In the beginning of the story, the author sets the story by saying that it takes place in the Autumn season where the weather is cold, and the tree leaves were colorless.

The dark and depressing Autumn setting is what makes this story of the gothic genre. The story takes place in Maine which is in the New England area which is where the author Stephen King grew up, and that he tries to bring those elements of his life into the story. This setting also sets up the main theme of the story, death. Stella is very ill, and is near the end of her life as she sees ghosts of people who were in her life. When she finally accepts her death, Stella finally crosses the Reach to meet her loved ones that are already deceased.

Subsoil.

In the story subsoil has no point of view from any of the characters involved. This is a different technique then most of the stories we have already read. The story was told by what seems to me to be a person that is just watching and is not part of this bazaar potato story,just like us,the reader. Instead I feel like I was just reading a story that was as if I was watching it on TV or in a movie. I was only able to know what the writer told me about and I was in much suspense. The readers do not know what any characters thoughts were through out. I suppose this does keep the ending more of a surprise and more or less, less predictable because we can't see into the characters way of thinking. The potato's seem to really bother Nyle, though we really do not understand why or what he is thinking. However, I think I would be pretty bothered after I just saw an old gross potato in a mr. potato head box. You think someone would have done something with it or even the smell would have came into the picture. Even after dinner the people who owned the house showed Nyle the cabinet filled with potato's. This seemed very strange to me because why on earth would two people need so many potato's, they do not last very long and from what it seems, its not a very busy bed and breakfast.
Needless to say, I really didn't see this ending coming the way it did. The potato sprouts attacking a guest in the middle of the night is a nice touch.

Subsiol by Nicholson Baker

In the story “Subsoil” by Nicholson Baker, it is being told to us by an outside source. I think that this is an important aspect to this story because we are only able to see what everyone else can see. We aren’t able to hear his thoughts, so we don’t know the reasons behind what is happening. An example of this is how focused Nyle was on the open door.
After eating soup with the Taits, Nyle is shown where all of the old, shriveling potatoes are kept. Before going back to his room he notices that one of the doors is left open. This is something he thought about before going to sleep. This bothered him so much that he couldn’t fall asleep until something else occupied his mind. Even after falling asleep, when he woke up again, he thought about the open door. He was about to go downstairs and close the door himself when he noticed the potato sprout coming through the keyhole.
If Subsoil had been told from Nyle’s point of view, I think Baker would have been giving away too much information. We are unable to hear Nyle’s exact thoughts, so we can’t really be sure why he was so interested in the cabinet door, and all of the potatoes inside. Potatoes aren’t something I would automatically assume someone would be afraid of, but from the beginning the narrator gives a sense of life and feeling to them. Nyle was bothered because he had never been hated by a potato before, but we aren’t told why he would think that it hated him, leaving us to think about it on our own. With the limited information the story held more suspense than it would have otherwise.

Exhange Value: some loot for your life

While reading this story, quite a few thoughts began to swirl around in my head. Among the most curious was the fact that this took place in what appeared to be New Orleans. Or at least somewhere in Louisiana. That notion quickly led me to wondering if the setting was pre or post Hurricaine Katrina. Although I don't recall seeing any direct references to it, the overall theme of the story (money, and the unique "prison" it creates) can certainly be applied to the Katrina tragedy. The poor, the put-upon, and the destitute need the freedom of having money to rebuild their lives. But how far should one go to get that money, and when it comes to $$ do words like "enough" and "too much" even exist? I think they should, but they do not. It took more than just money to revitalize New Orleans. I think that love, spirituality, the company of friends, family, and inner-peace were also just as important.

The central fear in this story is the fear of loss. Specifically, we don't know how much we can truly lose until we have a lot of stuff to lose. Early in the story Cooter refers to the riches they have found in the old woman's apartment as being 'cursed', and he could not possibly be more correct. But not in the sense that the items themselves were cursed. Owning her riches is the true curse. Even though it is most pleasant to have a life of a certain amount of fortune, along with that fortune comes the responsibility of what to do with it: spend it? A very fun thought, but isn't it true that we should $ave our money? Invest it, perhaps? That is not exactly the wisest thing to do with money these days, is it? In a strange way, it seems as though money can confuse a soul and make it stop caring. There is so much prestiege placed on having nice things and lots of money, but the truth is that $$ indeed does not buy happiness. It buys stress, paranoia, and more often than not the desire to have even moooore of it. And the money that the old lady/Cooter/Loftis procured is tainted in the sense that it has not been earned. However I find that to be a strange notion, since the old lady worked for the person who willed her the money. Therefore, didn't the old lady technically work for the money?

All their lives Cooter and Loftis were poor. They dreamed of the "big $core", and didn't seem to care how they got it. To them the solution to all of life's puzzling twists and turns could be solved with money. But soon after discovering their new riches, they began to feel the emptiness of owning "stuff". There was no true substantial inner value in what they had. Self-satisfaction and self-indulgence were no longer the glowing flames of warmth and comfort. I think that perhaps everything would have turned out alright for these two if Loftis never sold his ring for candy. He did not see the true value in the ring, only the value in a yummy Clark bar.

Every penny of their new loot that was spent was money they didn't have anymore. And they were desperate to keep it, much like the way the old lady was. Having money was the ultimate, the pinnacle of achievement in life. And they had it, and they were very apprehensive about giving it up. Money is also revered this way in real life. Actually, even moreso. There is an overwhelming, dreadful fear of not having it. I found it interesting in this story that we were given a somewhat different perspective: the complicated fear of having it.

Here is an abstract thought, but one that I feel passionately about nonetheless: I hate money. I have absolutely zero respect for it. In one way or another it hurts every man, woman, and child on the planet. "But Jamie, we need money to survive." Yes, we do. And I hate that. It is a prison.
Cooter and Loomis finally got their big score, and they are liable to lock themselves inside their apartment with it forever and waste away.
Cooter and Loomis will be dead...mere rotting meat...yet the ca$h and pianos and the tree will still have value long after they are gone.

Well, that was certainly uplifting (sigh)

**some pretty nifty and horrific dead-old-lady-gore, though

Exchange Value

Loftis and Cooter are two brothers living in an apartment building working just to get by. Miss Bailey an older woman lives in the same apartment and has been missing for some time. Loftis and Cooter thinking she is an easy victim for robbery discover her decaying in her apartment surrounded by an abundance of wealth. Which the boys later discover has been willed down to her by a previous employer. After surveying all the wealth in the apartment Loftis decides that the total wealth of Miss Bailey's stash is worth approximately $879,543 dollars.

When Loftis and Cooter finally transfer Miss Bailey's stash into their apartment. I immediately noticed a difference in perspective in both Loftis and Cooter. Cooter starts to daydream about the endless possibilities that Miss Bailey has just willed down to him. He says that he could now afford a trip to tijuana if he so choosed. Cooter describes Miss Bailey's wealth as "Raw energy, and Loftis and me, like wizards could transform her stuff into anything at all". The two brothers see this wealth as a new lease on life. Loftis goes out an buys a "boss silk necktie, cashmere socks, and a whistle-slick maxi leather jacket". This mood however shifts very quickly after the landlord discovers Miss Bailey's death and an eerie mood sets in. Loftis and Cooter go from very optimistic about their future to fearful of its opportunities. Loftis remembers back to a point where he sold his mother's ring for a few pieces of candy. Loftis says that "As asoon as you buy something you lose the power to buy something". I believe this is a perfect description of how the brothers feel about spending the money. There is a definite mood swing from unparalleled excitement and trips to tijauna to a feeling of fear. Loftis leaves Cooter in the house alone while he goes to work and disappears nearly a week. Cooter refuses to spend any of the money to feed himself or to fix the broken a toilet. Which I couldn't help to relate back to Miss Bailey storing her fecal matter in cans due to a broken toilet. I feel that Miss Bailey felt very similarly to Loftis and Cooter when she acquired this unknown wealth. The wealth and fear of opportunity I believe was the demise of Miss Bailey and ultimately Loftis and Cooter.

"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.