Final Paper Proposal

For my paper I will be focusing on Bernice and William Wilson both by Poe, as well as The Birthmark by Hawthorne. I intend to discuss the use of monomania that is prevalent in both Bernice and The Birthmark.  I find it particularly interesting how Poe in Bernice uses monomania to focus on the one thing that his wife Bernice contains that he finds beauty and perfection in - her teeth.  While in The Birthmark, Hawthorne’s character focus’ on the one thing he finds imperfect about his wife- her birthmark. I plan to incorporate William Wilson by arguing that this story is not only about the figure of the doppelganger, but that the doppelganger is a fixation caused by monomania which I will argue is related to William Wilson’s extreme narcissism. I will touch on the fact that William Wilson is a short story focusing on the psychological self-splitting which results from Wilson’s inability to body and mind. Wilson’s inability to escape his own demons perpetually draws his thoughts in to focus on him self as the text goes on.  It is his deep attachment and focus on himself that I believe can be related to monomania. These texts will be linked together through the genre of the short story and the themes of the gothic, and dark romanticism. I have not completely worked out my argument but so far these were some of my favorite reading from this course. I have been doing some researching today but it is proving to be more difficult than expected. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Works cited

Moldenenhauer, J.J. “From Murder as a Fine Art: Connections between Poe’s Aesthetics, Psychology, and Moral Vision.” The selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. G.R. Thompson. New York, 2004. 829-844. Print.

Kennedy, G.J. “ From Phantasms of Death in Poe’s Fiction.” The selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. G.R. Thompson. New York, 2004. 896-904. Print.

Armstrong, L. “The Shadow’s Shadow: The Motif of the Double in Edgar Allan Poe’s “ The Purloined Letter”.” The selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. G.R. Thompson. New York, 2004. 863-873. Print.

Crews, C.F. “The Logic of Compulsion.” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York. 1987. 380-389.

McWilliams, JR.P.J. “Hawthorne and the Puritan Revolution of 1776.” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York. 1987. 371-379.

Incompatibility

Eva St. Clare is the idealized character to represent the incompatibility of slavery and Christianity. She is a completely moral being, devout Christian and laments the existence of slavery. Although her family owns slaves she does the best she can to make the slaves feel that they are valuable human beings and are loved. Eva sprouts a friendship with Tom and asks that her father buy him in order to look out for him. Eva’s father is not a Christian, and although he is a fairly decent master as far as slavery goes he is not the moral being that she is. Eva assists Tom in writing letters because he is illiterate; this is an example of Eva’s moralistic value. By helping Tom have a voice she is using her voice/love as an agent for change. Although Eva is surrounded by racist individuals (ie. St. Clare, Marie and Ophelia) her purity and anti-slavery stance eventually trickle down and seep I to their own beliefs. Although it takes Eva’s eventual death for racist Ophelia’s transformation, her death is what initially sparks her father’s realization that slavery is wrong as well. On her death bed she requests her father release all of their slaves and by the time he comes to understand that this is the right thing to do, it is too late and her father passes away as well. However, even though her father may have been too late to have the slaves released he did manage to find religion. Eva’s character is used to display that true, pure, devout Christians and slavery do not mix. It is either you are a Christian or you do not believe in religion but you do believe in owning and selling slaves. Stow uses Eva to be at the farthest end of the spectrum away form slavery.

Something to take my mind off of school

I just le love this photo

yessssss

ya ya ya I know...but  I just love her

hate her...love her style. ah.

The Doppelganger

William Wilson insane? I think so. I don’t even know how you could argue he was not insane unless this was a super natural tale, and then of course we could argue anything to be true. However, I am interested to see how people come up with an argument to claim William’s sanity.

William early on in the story (pg. 217) mentions how he is a descendant of a family with strong imagination and easily excitable temperament. He also mentions these traits effected him from an early age. William admits to a history of mental illness in his family and that he has not escaped it. It is clear he suffers from some sort of delusions as he mentions that during his stay at the boarding school the location of his sleeping apartment was never clear. It seems to me unless he is describing a dream he is living in some sort of altered mental state.

William mentions his superiority to his schoolmates, and how no student could rival him scholastically or his popularity among the other students, besides the other William Wilson. William states on pg. 220 “ I secretly feared him, and could not help thinking the equality he maintained do easily with myself, a proof of his true superiority”.  Although the two Williams are rivals, if what William said earlier about not having competition at his school was true, he could have created the second William Wilson in order to engage in some challenge or competition at school.

Similarities between the two Williams become more convoluted as now all of the sudden it is stated that they were born on the same day, they began to look more alike, and the second Williams voice although could only be heard at a whisper resembled that of the first William perfectly.  William states on pg. 224 “ I could with difficulty shake off the belief of my having been acquainted with the being who stood before me, at some epoch very long ago”.  It seems as though William has been dealing with the illusion of his double since a very young age and that it is just staying with him longer now, as he gets older. It is common for people who suffer from mental illnesses to have the traits come out, as they get older. This is especially common among males who suffer from schizophrenia. The second William Wilson could be a conscious of the first William Wilson. William tends to get himself into trouble especially when he steals money from Lord Glendinning’s while playing cards. If the second William was used as a conscious it would make sense that he was the one to draw attention to the first Williams cheating.

It is clear to me that William Wilson is in fact insane when at the very end of the story he attempts to kill his doppelganger but instead realizes he has killed himself. It seems that he could only evade his insanity for so long. Who knows if anything in the tale happened the way it was told as we can’t tell how far Williams delusions were stretched.  

The Ladies

Hope Leslie and Magawisca are both a strong and positive representation of women, which would seem uncommon for female characters at that time. Magawisca’s strong morals are displayed not only to her own race but to the white people as well. She saves Everell, sacrificing her own arm, and again puts herself at risk by connecting Hope Leslie and her sister back together. Magawisca is described as strong, confident and beautiful. Similarly Hope Leslie is described in the same manor. Hope Leslie and Magawisca are sort of the same character except one lives in a white persons world and one lives in an Indian persons world. Both characters cross the racial divide in order to fight for what they believe to be right. Hope Leslie also has strong inner morals and relies on this inner instinct to guide her choices in life. She has a strong connection to Magawisca and feels she can trust her when she says she will reconnect Hope and her sister. Hope also helps to free Nelema from the accusations of witchcraft and also facilitates Magawisca’s escape from prison.

The female characters that Cooper represents in his novel are not as strong or as interesting as Sedgwick’s. Cora and Alice are much more submissive and powerless. Everything is very frightening for them and they need men to come to their rescue. Alice is much more of the weak, scared women. Cora is the stronger of the two and offers to sacrifice herself and her sister to the savages so that the others can escape. Cora is confident that they would not harm her or her sister. 

Both authors use two females as the main representation of women in their novels. Cooper has only two women in the novel while Sedgwick’s main female characters are two of many. Another similarity is that both authors have one main white female lead and one other. Sedgwick has both her main female roles represented equally whereas there is a string imbalance between Cooper’s Cora and Alice.

Twains bark is as big as his bite.

Twain does seem like quite the crotchety old bastard but I have to agree with him.

4. They require that the personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there. But this detail also has been overlooked in the "Deerslayer" tale.

When reflecting rule number four onto The Last of the Mohicans I think the best example of a character displaying no real reason for being there is David Gamut. Besides trying to spread Christianity his character does not really accomplish much. He becomes slightly more useful or manly under the charge of Hawkeye but I think the novel could have done without him. Cooper appears to want to show how the white man would have adjusted to the wilderness with Gamut’s character. If this is so Cooper might be trying to show how the white man is out of place in the wilderness but I don’t even think that is the reason. Cooper still has Hawkeye who has transformed himself into a hybrid man; he looks white and is white but has all of the skills of surviving in the wilderness that is essential to the natives’ livelihood. To me he was just another character I had to figure out in this already confusing novel that could have been left out in order to develop other characters in the novel better which would help the reader feel more connected to the novel. Which leads us into the next rule I found related to The Last of the Mohicans.

11. They require that the characters in a tale shall be so clearly defined that the reader can tell beforehand what each will do in a given emergency. But in the "Deerslayer" tale, this rule is vacated.

I agree with Twain %100 on this one. Trying to figure out what was happening with all of the characters was very troublesome. I was thinking maybe it was because Cooper had already written two novels using these characters that to understand them completely you would have to read those novels first.  But according to Twain, Cooper did not do this in the previous novels either. He just starts writing as if he was in the middle of a story and expects the reader can piece everything together. As the novel goes on we do not really get to know these characters any better. Maybe it is just the long boring writing style that prevents this but nevertheless Coopers characters did not draw me into this book in any way.

Last of the Mohicans was very painful. Let’s hope the next novel is better.

Blonde Ambition

if i had blonde hair I would want it to look like this...

or this...

and i would dress like this...

and this.

I love all of these blondes. I go through phases where I desire to lighten my locks but I know that

me and blonde do not mix so I will live vicariously through these gals.

fairies and indians

Well, go thy way; thou shalt not from this grove,

Till I torment thee for this injury.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. II.i. 47-8

The epigraph from chapter four is taken from A Midsummer Night’s Dream where Oberon and Titania are arguing over the Indian boy Titania is taking care of since the child’s mother died while giving birth. Oberon is jealous of the affection Titania show’s the boy and tries to insist that she hand him over to Oberon so that he can use him as one of his servants. Titania denies Oberon his requests so he vows to get even with her. Oberon is furious and instructs Puck to put a potion on Tatiana’s eyelids that will have her fall in love with some sort of hideous creature. Oberon plans to humiliate Titania and says he will not give Titania the antidote for the potion until she hands over the Indian boy. There are some underlying issues regarding jealousy between Oberon and Titania that adds to this feud.

Chapter four in The last of the Mohicans is the point where Magua pretends to be taking the group to Fort William Henry via a short cut with underlying intentions to get the group off track. He then acts as tough he has lost his way and they all believe to be lost in the woods. Hawkeye comes upon them and is suspicious of Magua, as he believes it is unnatural for an Indian to be lost in the woods. Hawkeye then learns that Magua is a Huron and all his suspicions are confirmed, as he believes that the Huron are an untrustworthy tribe. They concoct a plan to capture Magua but their plain is foiled when Magua becomes suspicious and takes off into the woods.

The rage that Oberon is feeling when saying “thou shalt not from this grove” mirrors the rage of Hawkeye when he realizes the dirty tricks that Magua is up too. I believe the use of the epigraph in this chapter is not necessarily to replicate the motives that Oberon has but instead to use this chapter to set the tone for upcoming battles in the future.

The Cave

The threat of the wilderness and what the wilderness hides plays a huge role in

Edgar Huntly or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker. One of the parts I found most interesting was at the beginning of chapter 17. Edgar seemed to finally feel as though luck was on his side after his terrifying experience in the cave in chapter 16.

Thus I was delivered form my prison and restored to the enjoyment of the air and the light. (164)

In any other direction, I might have involved myself in an inextricable maze, and rendered my destruction sure: but now what remained to place me in absolute security? (164)

These previous passages allow the reader to feel that Edgar has some time to get himself sorted out. He appears to have found a safe cavern where he can possibly get rest and nourishment. But in the next few sentences with little description to illuminate what has come to light we understand that all of this has changed. Edgar realizes there are Indians in the cave with him.

Had some mysterious power snatched me from the earth, and cast me, in a moment, into the heart of the wilderness? (164)

The realization that he is in a cave with the natives immediately fills Edgar with dread and fear. He now feels as though instead of narrowly escaping an inextricable maze he has ended up buried in the center of one. For Edgar the Indians represent the vast terrifying wilderness. He now feels as though he is back in a nightmare with nothing tangible to ensure his safety. He appears to be completely lost in time and space.

Was I still in the vicinity of my paternal habitation or was I thousands of miles distant? (164)

By writing with little emphasis of the description of the cave Brown is able to quickly change our and Edgars feelings of the cave within a few sentences. When Edgar originally finds this cave it is somewhat of a relief to know he has somewhere safe to hide. But as quickly as that relief came it is gone with the revealing of the Indians sleeping within it. I don’t necessarily think he does this on purpose it seems to just flow with the inconsistency of his writing.

If an author more orientated toward the picturesque wrote these passages they may have put more description in the appearance of the cave. Possibly describing the walls and perhaps some images found on the walls of the cave.  I think the quick change from security to despair would have been lost in this passage had it been written by an author more orientated toward the picturesque.

Terror and Horror. What is the dif?

Watching the movie "Copycat" was probably the single most terrifying moment of my life. I was fifteen years old at the time and it was movie night with my girlfriends. We all curled up on the single bed my mother had turned into a couch and settled in with blankets, popcorn, ect. From the moment the first serial killer corners Dr. Helen Hudson in the washroom a cold sweat covered my body. A paralyzing fear swept over me and all I could do to make it through the film was to cover myself completely in a blanket with only a small eye and nose hole. My body actually felt paralyzed and it took the only sense I had left to just remember to breath. It was that feeling you have when your dreaming and you need to move because a train or car or something is going to run over you but you cannot for some reason move any of your limbs. The intense fear the movie created for me was so real. I could not move my body at all even go to the washroom. I just sat there frozen, sweating and hardly able to speak besides the odd barely audible squeak. The fact that Dr. Helen Hudson was an agoraphobic probably did not help matters. I have never watched a scary movie since that night. The terror i feel when watching them is just not worth it for me.

 I know for some people this movie was probably comical at best. This is why the distinction between terror and horror can be subjective. Terror is the anticipation of something "bad or scary or gruesome" happening and horror is  actually witnessing or experiencing  this "bad, scary or gruesome"thing. A horror film for example which is all blood and guts is just that for some people for myself however it is absolutely terrifying. Horror to me is driving or walking around ring round and seeing the blood and guts of some poor bunny that has now become road kill. Terror is said to precede horror. That being said there is terror without horror. Which to me is probably worse in the case of a book or film because just never knowing is the worst. In real life if the horror never comes that is just fine with me. I guess you can have horror without terror but that seems more tricky.  A lack of build up to a horrific occurrence could be a case of horror minus the terror. The example of the bunny cold be horror without terror... unless there was a witness to the build up of the roadkill.

this is me

Hi my name is Noelle and this is my first ever blog. I am kind of excited about it. I actually read a lot of fashion blogs and have often thought about starting my own blog but have just never got started. So I thought I would start off by posting some things that have interested me lately but do not in any way relate to our class.