Blog Set #10

       I do believe that "The Fall of the House of Usher"  can very much be read in a realist tone. I feel like in that era it would be possible to mistaken someone to be dead, after all there where no medical advances at this time. Fun Fact: Around this era or earlier before, they used to sell caskets with bells on them so that is someone where to wake up from being mistaken for dead they can ring the bell so people around the cemetery would hear and lift up the person trapped inside the casket. Because I know this fact I'm a little more biased towards thinking that "accidentally" burying someone after thinking they are dead can be indeed a great possibility. But then again, maybe it is some kind of psychological encounter because Roderick seems to be a little off, mentally. So I think this could be Edgar Allan Poe trying to depict or describe the mind of a mentally ill person. I do think it could be interpreted but I still don't know what that interpretation could be. It could be just Poe describing in his way, what it's like to be "mad" but also it can just be a poetic piece with a somber twisted tone. When the narrator described the house I instantaneously thought of a haunted house; dark rooms, spooky staircase and so much more. 

       The first thing that came to my mind while reading "Afterward" I thought to myself why this couple would want to for one, retire in England (no offense to people from there or Englad enthusiasts but its always so gloomy there to me) and two, why they would hope for their retirement cottage to have ghosts in it?! Why would these people hope that a ghost resides in their new house? To me that was just plain creepy. The definition of "American Gothic" we were given I think does a great job of describing this story. The pasts ghosts will haunt the present and in this case it rings true. The "figure" in the book I think is a ghost but I get a little confused on how the ghost came to be or who it is. I don't think the definition differs because like I said it does a great job describing this specific story.   

Blog Set #9 Raven

       As soon as I begin to read I start to notice how this doesn't seem like a dark poem, but those are just the first couple of lines. Then I continue and quickly realize that he is upset or distraught because "Lenore" has passed. I begin to suspect that Lenore is someone who he loved dearly. The line "namles here for evermore" is how I got to the conlusion that she is no longer on this Earth. As I go on to reading, the narrator hears a tapping on his front door and he thinks it's just someone tapping the door but he opens it thinking that it might be Lenore. As he opens the door it obviously isn't Lenore but he still calls out her name. Why? Why would he even think it was her? There is know way she came back from the dead but maybe his constant thinking of her and yearning he thinks that is enough to have her back? Then the raven shows up onto his windowsill. The only thing that the raven says is "nevermore." For one thing ravens don't talk so I took this as a sign of insanity. To me the raven is the narrators conscience. The raven keeps reminding the narrator that Lenore is nevermore on this earth. He keeps battling between the raven and himself even though (to me) the raven is a figment of his mind. The "raven" that keeps telling him nevermore would be the reality part of his mind even though this entire scenario has insane written all over it. I think that the death of Lenore made him this way. He couldn't bear losing her and when he did he lost it. But in the beginning he acknowledges Lenores passing yet he had an entire conversation with the raven which seems mad. 
       Annabel Lee was so captivating yet eerie. Captivating because of the fact that the narrator of the poem knew this girl since they were children and they developed a love for eachother. Not just a little crush but seriously in love. The narrator says in the poem that "The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,   Went envying her and me—" to me meaning that their love was so strong and beautiful that even the angels in heaven were jealous! The narrator also believe the angels killed Annabel Lee because they envied their love so much so they (in his mind) killed Annabel Lee. When she dies the narator is devastated because her family takes her away to be shut into a tomb. This is where the eerie part comes in; he lies down with her every night in or around her tomb. I guess he loved her that much he could not let her go; sort of similar to The Raven. 

Update For Blog Set #8

I think that when we discussed this in class with other peoples views, it opened my mind just a bit which I like. Having great discussion on the stories also helped me see things a lot better. I remind myself that my opinion isn't the ONLY opinion. Even though some people thought a certain way that I didn't think of, it was interesting to see their side and their version and also how they came about with their opinion. But for the most part we all agreed on the base and foundation of the story. "Day Million" was one where it was, to me, revolutionary in the sense that a story like that was written in the time that it was written in. We all agreed in the class discussion that this type of writing was beyond its time. We also agreed that it sort of, in a way predicted the future. As we started to discuss "When It Changed" we all overwhelmingly agreed that this story was also written ahead of its time. Joanna Russ writes a story with a basic message: female empowerment. We all agreed that the men were not necessary in the story which I thought was pretty funny for some guys to admit in the discussion. But in this story it's true, men aren't in anyway needed. Women on that planet where capable of doing anything and everything. I feel like if a woman where to read that story back in the 70's when it was published, she might or might not look at the world differently (hopefully she did) because it is all about female power. The 70's (as we discussed in class) where a changing time for women, a start to a movement of power to the females in the world. We aren't quite finished yet but the 70's were deffinitely where it all began.