The Project

Identify and Explain:

Romanticism: Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe in the late 1800's. It showed the importance of individualism, and how people think, feel, live, and act. It also expressed emotional values of the individual. The Romantics were different from it's preceding genres because it focused on these things rather than facts and knowledge, and this is what caused it to spark the interest of people. Instead of reading the classics, people enjoyed reading about feelings and emotions, as well as stories that recognized how everyone is their own person, and should live life as they want to.

Gothic Romanticism:  Originating in the second half of the 18th century in England, Gothic Romanticism is a genre that combines elements of horror and romance. It takes the ideas of emotion and individualism that are shown in Romanticism, and puts them with horror. People could still read the romantics they loved, but with a Gothic twist, effecting in a pleasing sort of terror.

Southern Gothic Romanticism: Southern Gothic Romanticism is a sub genre of Gothic fiction that takes place exclusively in the American South. It is unique to American literature, common themes of deeply flawed, disturbing or eccentric characters, decayed of derelict settings, grotesque situations, and more. It uses ironic situations to examine the American South, as well as humor and situations common to the area to create stories that were more personalized to the lifestyle of the area.

Washington Irving: Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, and more in the early 19th century. Some of his most famous works were "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle." He wrote biographies over George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith, and Muhammad. He wrote some letters under a fake name of Johnathan Oldstyle, and after moving to England he became famous after publishing  The Scetch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Washington Irving encouraged  American authors such as Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and inspired many others. He was America's first genuine international best-selling author, and fought for stronger laws to protect American authors against copyright infringement.

        





Edgar Allan Poe: Part of the American Romantic movement, Edgar Allan Poe was a well-famous author, poet, literary critic, and editor. He is best known for his tales of mystery and macabre, some of his works being "The Raven," "The Fall of the House of Usher," and the "Masque of the Red Death." He was the first well known American writer to use only his writing to make a living, resulting in a very difficult life and career.

 

Charles Baudelaire: Charles Baudelaire was a French poet and art critic, who was also a pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work was Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), in which he writes of the changing of nature and beauty in Paris. This work was important to the Gothic Romantic era, and caused Baudelaire to influence many other poets.

 

Nathaniel Hawthorne: Nathaniel Hawthorne is a well known American novelist and short story writer. Many of his works centered on New England, and featured moral allegories and Puritanism. Some of his famous works are "The Scarlett Letter," and "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment." His works are known for being part of the Romantic movement, and more specifically, Dark romanticism. Some common themes he focuses on is the sin and evil of humanity, and his stories often teach moral lessons.

 

Flannery O'Connor: Mary Flannery O'Conner was an American writer and essayist. She was a Southern Gothic writer, who used many regional settings and grotesque characters. Speaking of her emphasis of grotesque, she said, ""anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic." She often questioned morals in her stories, as she does in one of her short stories, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find."

 

William Faulkner: William Faulkner was an American writer who wrote a variety of novels, plays, short stories, poems, and more. Many of his novels and short stories are set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, which was based off of Lafayette county, where he spent most of his life, and Holly Springs/Marshall County. He is very important to the Southern literature, and received many awards. Some of his works are, "As I Lay Dying" and "A Rose for Emily."

 

Wallis Willis: A Choctaw freedman, Wallis Willis lived on Indian territory, and is credited for writing many negro spirituals. Reverend Alexander Reid heard him and his wife singing one day, and thought they were so good he furnished them to a group of Jubilee Singers, which performed in the United States and Europe. Some of his works were "Sing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Steal Away To Jesus."

 

Negro Spiritual: Negro spirituals are songs that were created and sung by the enslaved Africans in the United States. These songs, usually Christian, were sang of the freedom slaves wanted from slavery, and also of their faith and hope they had in God. Slaves were allowed to sing while working, so they would make spirituals and sing them as they worked for encouragement and an outward showing of their religious faith. A well known example of a spiritual is "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" by Wallis Willis.

Call and Response: The musical practice of a leader calling out a line of music (sung or played on an instrument) and others responding. An example is the children's book, "Nappy Hair."

Motif: A motif is a reoccurring symbol within a story. A motif can set theme, mood, or other literary aspects. A motif in Hawthorne's, "The Scarlet Letter" is the letter 'A.'m

 

Genre: A genre is a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. Gothic fiction and Romanticism are genres.

 

Situational Irony: Situational Irony is when something happens and a reversal of expectations occurs. Some examples are a police officer getting arrested, or a fire station burning down.

 

Dramatic Irony: Dramatic Irony is used in a narrative when an event occurs whose significance the audience understands but the characters don't. For example in "Romeo and Juliet," Romeo finds Juliet and thinks she is dead, but the audience knows she has just taken a sleeping potion.

 

Verbal Irony: Verbal Irony is when a speaker says one thing but means another. Some people say it is very similar to sarcasm. An example is when someone is asked to do something unappealing, and they say, "I'd love to..." They probably wouldn't really love to do that task.

 

Determining Theme: A major theme of this unit is the importance of individualism, and being different allows change. This theme is part of what makes up Romanticism, and can be found in most Romanticism works. It connects to the world by showing that if there weren't people who broke away from the crowd and followed what they believed was right, the world would never have any ways of improving and growing. If you look at the new technologies the world has today, they would have never been possible if their creators had never branched off and been an individual. This theme can teach everybody this lesson, and they can apply it to their lives and continue to make the world and their lives better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Essential Questions for this Unit:

1.  How are the Romantics' beliefs of optimism and individualism reflected in their writing?

 A: The romantics celebrated individualism, focusing more people's emotions and imagination rather than facts and logic. They recognised outcasts, and mainly set their stories on them. They encouraged optimism and thinking positive, although their stories usually ended with the opposite of a happy ending.
    2. What is Romanticism, Gothic Romanticism and Southern Gothic Romanticism? How are they similar how are they different?
A: Romanticism is the movement originating in the late 18th century that encouraged individualism and inspiration. Gothic Romanticism is a genre that combines the elements of horror and romanticism to give off the effect of a pleasing sort of terror. Southern Gothic Romanticism is a sub genre of Gothic Romanticism that takes place in the American South, including some common themes and acting unique to American literature.
   3.How is the Southern Gothic movement a response to literary movements that have preceded it as well as a manipulation of Romantic literary conventions?
A: The Southern Gothic movement was America's reaction to Romanticism. Romanticism was a revolt against the classics, and America responded to it by creating Southern Gothic fiction; which is unique to American literature, taking place in the American south. The Gothic genre is much more dark than those that came before it, and America made it it's own.
  4. How did the American culture prompt the dark sides of Romanticism (think Gothic and Southern Gothic)?
A: Romanticism was and entirely new and different genre, focusing on personal emotions and individualism rather than facts and logic. The American culture prompted the dark sides of Romanticism by creating Southern Gothic Romanticism, their way of making this genre unique to them and the American south.

  5. How do the writings of these time periods influence the writings of today?

A: Writings today are influenced by the writings of the Romantic era by using the ideas, themes, and techniques that were prevelent then, and using them to fit today's world to give off the same satisfying horror effect.

 

 

Romanticism: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Swing Low Sweet Chariot"

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving still captures the imagination of it's readers today. Many of the adults in the town share stories at the Van Tassel's party of  ghosts, goblins, and the headless horseman. By setting the story in the same place these stories are said to have happened, the author sets off the reader's imagination, making them wonder if the characters will encounter some of the supernatural things from the stories. This imagination is brought to life when IchabodCrane meets the headless horseman that night soon after the storytellings, and disappears from Sleepy Hollow.
 
 The song "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" is an old religious song sung by negro slaves. The song is about them escaping slavery, by God coming to save them and take them to thier heavenly home. The slaves expressed their religious faith and hope through the lyrics, such as:

"If you get there before I do
Coming for to carry me home
Tell all my friends I coming too
Coming for to carry me home"

 

 This song is reflective of it's time period because the slaves didn't have much to hope for besides thier freedom. They knew that no matter what they had to endure on earth, God would take care of them and they would recieve their reward one day in Heaven. The song is reflective of the world today beacause although there is no more slavery in America, people can have the same attitude and hope as the slaves sang of in this song.



 

Gothic Romanticism: Hawthorne, Poe, Baudelaire

There are different interpretations of the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," by Edgar Allen Poe. One states that Roderick Usher's nervousness and weakness are what causes his sister Madeline to be a vampire. One way of explaining this interpretation is by understanding vampires. Original vampires are known for feeding off people, particularly their blood. Looking at Madeline Usher, her and Roderick are twins, and the last of the Ushers in their family. Their old family house has an eerie presence, that the narrator first noticed approaching the house, saying, "...but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit." This "gloom" or presence, the narrator later on suggests, could be making Roderick sick. This presence is also most likely partly Madeline, and some of it possibly their family tree who may have also had this familiar "illness." Perhaps Madeline is not feeding off Roderick's blood, but rather just his spirit, and Roderick becomes mentally and physically ill because his sister is draining him. Roderick and Madeline being twins is important to this part of the story, their special bond allowing them to be closer than regular relatives, and allowing their closeness to be used against Roderick; his twin sister able to have a special controlling effect over him. When Madeline escapes from her coffin and falls on Roderick, he dies of shock. He may have known she was a vampire, thus most likely the reason he knowingly buried her alive. As he says to the narrator that stormy night, "Not hear it?—yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long—long—long—many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it—yet I dared not—oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am!—I dared not— I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them—many, many days ago—yet I dared not—I dared not speak! And now—to-night—Ethelred—ha! ha!—the breaking of the hermit's door, and the death-cry of the dragon, and the clangour of the shield!—say, rather, the rending of her coffin, and the grating of the iron hinges of her prison, and her struggles within the coppered archway of the vault! Oh whither shall I fly? Will she not be here anon? Is she not hurrying to upbraid me for my haste? Have I not heard her footstep on the stair? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart? Madman!” here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul—“Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door!” " Madeline knew Roderick was weak and nervous after burying her, and this allowed her the opportunity to come back with somewhat of an advantage over him.
 The Gothic Romanticism authors, Hawthorne, Poe, and Baudelaire express criticism of human nature in some of their short stories. In Hawthorne's story, " Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," he explains the old Dr.'s experiment of the fountain of youth. When the doctor gives some of the water to his aged friends, they grow young again, and when the water gets spilled, they are ashamed to be back in their old state. This story criticises the human nature of every human's longing to stay young forever by allowing the repeat of youth and taking it away right after. Hawthorne communicates this through the storyline, and by making the old people become old again, withholding the very true theme that nothing can completely overcome the stages and ways of life. Poe also does this in his story, "The Masque of Red Death." In this story takes place a masquerade, in which the specially painted rooms and the grand clock that chimes every hour symbolize the passing of life, and the time that is left until everyone dies at the end from the Red Death. It criticises Human nature by setting up the plot to correspond with the horrific ending. The human nature of wanting to live forever and never die is criticised when the prince thinks his city is hiding from the Red Death when really it makes it's way into their party and kills everyone. This ending is also what communicates the criticism to the reader, by holding true a similar theme of Hawthorne's story, that no one can escape death; the final stage of life. Lastly, Baudelaire does this in his poem, "Spleen."  The author communicates this criticism through the title, and how it compares to the poem.  A spleen is a disease cleanser, making the audience think there may be a cure for all the evil surrounding them as described in the poem.The poem states all the bad parts of the world, and reading the poem acts as a sort of escape. This criticises human nature by giving readers a feeling of hope, when reality reminds that there is none.
  All three of these authors have a similar attitude towards human nature, as shown in their common themes and criticism towards it. They all explain a story with a sense of hope, whether becoming young again, a celebrtion for escaping the Red Death, or naming a dark reminder of the world "Spleen," when in the end that sense of hope is shattered; the story ending in the way every reader was wishing the opposite of. They criticise human nature by giving the readers that twisted sort of pleasure that is found within the Gothic genre.



 

Southern Gothic Romanticism: "A Rose For Emily" and "The Life You Save May Be Your Own"

 Southern Gothic Romantisicm is a subgenre of the Gothic genre. The Gothic genre combines elements of horror and romance, giving off the effect of a pleasing sort of terror. It's plot is generally guided by supernatural, ironic, and unusual events. Southern Gothic's focus is on the American South. It acts unique to American literature, and usually includes some of it's common traits/themes. The combination of these elements come together to create Southern Gothic Romanticism.
 The stories "A Rose For Emily" and "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" and their authors exhibit Southern Gothic Traits. "A Rose For Emily," takes place in a small town in the American South, while "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" takes place out in the country at Ms. Crater's house, also in the American South. Both stories include Southern Gothic traits, such as a character with a sense of freakishness (Mr. Shiftlet and Miss Emily), being set apart from the world in their own way. These characters are also identified as grotesques, and are searching for a sense of place. These stories and their literature compare to Romanticism, the examples being Mr. Shiftlet's obsession with the old car, and Miss Emily's inability to let go of her lover Homer Barron. The extent these characters will go as a result for their romance is what adds Gothic Romanticism to these stories. The fact that Miss Emily would poison Homer Barron to keep him from abandoning her, and then keeping his body in her bed adds a dark sense to the story. In the other story the fact that Mr. Shiftlet would fool the old Ms. Crater, marry her deaf and dumb daughter, and then leave the sleeping daughter at a resturant miles from her home all to get the old car Ms. Crater had made part of the deal, adds a dark and sickening effect and falls under the Southern Gothic Romanticism catergory.
 
 In "A Rose For Emily," Miss Emily's crime goes undetected until her death. One reason for this is because no one had been in the house in years. In the begining of the story it says, "no visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years earlier."  A second reason could be the reluctance of the townspeople to call upon Miss Emily because of the difference in social status. The first example is when the tax delegation people come to collect taxes from Miss Emily, she does not even ask them to sit. A second example of this is shown when the text says, "A few of the ladies had the temerity to call, but were not received." A third reason is that Homer Barron is a construction foreman, who is not even from the South. When he is no longer seen around town, no one suspects anything, except that he may have just decided to leave. That is why no one thinks much of his absence until they find his body in Miss Emily's home after her death.

 At the end of the story, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," Mr. Shiftlet picks up a young boy off the side of the road, who appears to have run away from home. Although the boy wasn't pointing for a ride, he takes up the offer and Mr. Shiftlet tells how he ran away from his mother too, years ago, and he has regretted it ever since. When the boy doesn't listen,and speaks bad of his and Shiftlet's mothers, he jumps out of the moving car. This scene "makes the story work" because the boy represents Mr. Shiftlet. Not only have they both left their mothers, but both are wandering, looking for a sense of place. When Mr. Shiflet gives adivice to the boy, he rejects it, symbolizing how Mr. Shiflet should have stayed with Lucynell and made something of himself.

 

"Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?" Socratic Questions

Close Ended Question:
Q: Did Connie's mother show favor between her and her sister June?
A:Yes, Connie's mother, along with her mother's sisters, favored June more than Connie, having frequent disscussions about the sisters:
 "Connie had to hear her praised all the time by her mother and her mother's sisters. June did this, June did that, she saved money and helped clean the house and cookedand Connie couldn't do a thing, her mind was all filled with trashy daydreams."

Open Ended Question:
Q: Why is Connie's realationship with her family essential to the story's plot?
A: By describing Connie's home life, it makes it possible that Connie can be in the places required for the story to take place. For example, if Connie's parents hadn't been lienant enough to let her go out with her friends or stay home from a family fish fry, Arnold Friend would have never laid eyes on Connie, therefore never have come to her house.

World Connection Question:
Q: How do the activities/actions of Connie and her friends (in the 1960s) realte to those of many teens today?
A: Going to the movies, hanging out at the mall, and going out to eat on nights out are still very  popular forms of entertainment for teens today. Teen's who have a slight rebellious side like Connie may also often do things without supervision without ever informing their parents, like Connie when she left her friend to get something to eat with a boy.

Universal Theme/Core Question:
Q: How are children and teens more guarded and informed about safety and dangerous situations in the 21st century than those in the 1960s?
A: In today's world, parents and schools both teach kids/teens about safety in dangerous situations more than in the 1960s. Many adults today are much more cautious and guarded, and make it an essential even in schools to throughfully teach kids how to handle possible bad situations that are more and more common all the time.

Literary Analysis Question:
Q: What kind of characterization does the author use to describe Connie and Arnold Friendly?
A: The author uses direct characterization on these two main characters.
Oates directly describes Connie as, " Connie had long dark blond hair that drew anyone's eye to it, and she wore part of it pulled up on her head and puffed out and the rest of it she let fall down her back. She wore a pull-over jersey blouse..." The author is directly coming out to give the reader a mental picture of Connie. Oates also uses a paragraph that is used to describe Arnold this way. " He wasn't tall, only an inch or so taller than she would be if she came down to him. Connie liked the way he was dressed, which was the way all of them dressed: tight faded jeans stuffed into black, scuffed boots, a belt that pulled his waist in and showed how lean he was,  and a white pull-over shirt that was a little soiled and showed the hard small muscles of his arms and shoulders.  He looked as if he probably did hard work, lifting and carrying things. Even his neck looked muscular.  And his face was a familiar face, somehow: the jaw and chin and cheeks slightly darkened because he hadn't shaved for a day or two, and the nose long and hawklike, sniffing as if she were a treat he was going to gobble up and it was all a joke."