When speaking of horror, many negative and frightening thoughts, such as ghosts or zombies, come to mind. However, many people today enjoy reading horror stories for entertainment because they are exciting and thrilling. Recently, one controversial issue has been whether or not horror stories should be read by middle school students. Some say that horror stories will negatively affect students because they can cause nightmares and thus claim that horror stories should not be read by students. However, other evidence suggests that although horror stories may result in nightmares, they can students’ fears and encourage students to read more. Therefore, middle school students should be allowed to read horror stories. To begin, reading horror stories can be a beneficial experience for middle school students because it is unique compared to other genres. Many middle school students dislike reading because the stories do not appeal to them. However, horror stories generally create feelings of fright and terror, causing students to become thrilled and excited when reading these books. Thus, giving them the …show more content…
However, middle school students are mature enough to determine whether or not horror stories are frightening for them. In addition, allowing students to handle these decisions helps them become more independent. Independence is very important for middle school students to start practicing because after high school, many have to move out of their parent’s homes and start their own lives. If parents were to take the ability to make decisions away from students, then the students would not be prepared for their future and may not succeed. Therefore, parents should allow students to make their own decisions in order to prepare them for the future. Overall, students be allowed to read horror stories because it will help them become more
Picture yourself walking into your home from a good night spending, you put your stuff down and lay on the couch. Suddenly you hear footsteps upstairs and a big thump. Curiosity gets to you, so you go upstairs to check on what it was; no one could be in the house, you live alone. You walk into your room and start examining every corner, nothing. Once you’re about to leave the door slams shut, the light turns off, and the window shatters; trying to reach for the switch the light turns back on and in front of you a black figure stands and whispers your name slowly. This type of story is designed to make your heart beat as fast as a buzzer, they are known as horror stories. A writer tries to scare the reader by trying to relate to relate to everyone’s fear, or by using suspense. Suspense is needed for a good horror story; writers would use reversal or foreshadowing.
The horror genre is synonymous with images of terror, violence and human carnage; the mere mention of horror movies evokes physical and psychological torture. As remarked by noted author Stephen King “the mythic horror movie…has a dirty job to do. It deliberately appeals to all that is worst in us. It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized.” (King, 786). At manageable intervals, we choose to live these horrific events vicariously through the characters in horror movies and books as a means of safely experiencing the “what if”. The horror genre allows us to explore our fears, be it spiders, vampires, loss of our identity, or death of a loved, under the most fantastic and horrible circumstances conceivable. King also points out that by watching horror movies we “may allow our emotions a free rein . . . or no rein at all.” (King, 784). According to psychiatrist James Schaller, by vicariously “experiencing contrived fears, a person develops a sense of competence over similar types of fears.” (Schaller). Horror films allow the viewer the opportunity to safely examine their fears safely and to the depth and extent they wish to do so. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 provides the opportunity for the viewer to consider a diverse range of fears, with a little humor thrown in for balance, from the safety of a darkened room, a comfortable seat and in less than 120 minutes.
...“ The Importance of Imagination in Child Development” teach us that we need authors of fictional stories to teach us how to think out of the box and think the unthinkable. Not only are these stories enjoyable, but now we find that they are beneficial. These lessons are in life, yes, but the fictional story has a way of transporting the reader to far off places.
It should come as no surprise that horror is not everyone’s favorite genre. What should come as a surprise though is as TV viewers have dwindled in numbers, the audience for horror on television has increased (Wisener 1). This inversely related trend shows that horror certainly has become popular amongst audiences today. Wisener also references plenty of horror shows past and new to display to readers that there are various shows on different networks to choose from. Furthermore, he touches on the topic of the psychology behind horror and to simply put it Wisener quotes esteemed horror master Wes Craven: “Horror films don’t create fear. They release it.” This safe way of releasing fear is what makes the horror genre so popular. The unique sensation fulfilled by watching a horror show is one that cannot be matched. By explaining this he appeals to both those who like or dislike horror in order to give the reader a better understanding of why horror could potentially be good for you. Not only is it the viewer who gets to release fear, but also its author. In this past Television Critics Association press tour Ryan Murphy, who created American Horror Story, disclosed that he used his own fears to aide in the production of the show (Wisener 2). This displays that whether it is film, television, or literature, it is a great outlet for the writer as well to release their fears. Another
King chooses to compare the minds of a child and an adult to see the different resilience levels when exposed to the horror genre. He describes his findings as a paradox, “Children, who are physically quite weak, lift the weight of unbelief with ease” (PP 118). King assumes because the mind of an adult is mature it can handle the horrific depictions within the horror variety yet children seem too be able to withstand the pressure. King backed his theory by analyzing Walt Disney’s movies and their impact on a child’s imagination. Walt Disney’s movie Bambi is what Stephen King pinpointed when comparing the toll of horrific events in children and adult minds. King questioned adults about what was most terrifying about a movie when they were younger and they stated, “Bambi’s father shot by the hunter, or Bambi and his mother running before the forest fire” (PP 119). Another aspect King unveiled was the Doppler Effect and that, “A part of ‘growing up’ is the fact that everything has a scare potential for the child under eight” (PP 119). The cognitive imagination does not stop developing it just suppresses certain mental functions to draw a line between what is real and what is not. Horror novelist mask the tension with comedy yet with one swift motion it, “Knocks the adult props out from under us and tumbles us back down the slide into childhood” (PP
Ask yourself, how was your 8th grade year… Was it good, bad, fun, or stressful? Well most of my 8th grade year was bad but the ending actually turned out good. The start of my year was exciting, but that was just the beginning. As time went on and the work started to come in, that's when things turned south for me. I started stressing about everything I had to do, I was getting to overwhelmed. I would catch myself slipping constantly and it was worrying me because I didn't want to get held back a year. I slowly started to lose all interest in all of my work.
As a child I suffered an event that framed my life, a catastrophe that would change my life at least temporarily. This catastrophe changed things all around me, things in my family changed and things at home changed ever since that day. I remember we were all exited, we were going on a family vacation to different regions of Colombia.
Stephen King’s “My Creature from the Black Lagoon” is an expository essay that exposes how children are better able to accept horror than adults. Using his own experiences to support his thesis; King states that children contrast from adults in that they can easily accept terror and fantasy because their minds still engage in fantasy and make-believe. An amused and slightly cynical King uses complex sentences and adult-oriented vocabulary with examples of children’s stories to show the reader how easily fear is instilled in a child; while showing that adults experience great difficulty in experiencing the same. The reader feels manipulated and angry about the inner workings of their childhood, yet enlightened by this new information. In a
This story, although somewhat unique in its exact plot, contains many elements that make it a typical and traditional ghost story. These elements suggest common fears in today’s society of people in general, and children specifically.
Many horror stories can leave a mark on you. This could be a good mark or a bad one. Is the horror genre good for children to be reading. There are many ways to create suspense in whatever you are watching or reading. The short story “Tell Tale Heart” can definitely be one of the front faces of horror for the age group of 12 to 14 year olds. We student read many different types of genres. Reading these genres can unlock many more things in our learning potential. So does this mean that the horror genre is bad? When we crack open a book like the “Tell Tale Heart” we already know what we are in for. We are expecting a scary setting with probably a unsteady character. In the story “Tell Tale Heart” we have these components. In this
When I was in middle school I thought life was just full of joy and I really did not have
“In middle childhood, 30% of a child’s social interactions involve peers, compared to 10% in early childhood” (Blume, 2010). Children place a large importance on friendship more when they grow older. In early childhood, friendships are associated with a particular activity. During middle childhood, children focus more on bonds and trust when it comes to making friends. Children start to use selective association meaning that children start to pair off with people that have the same interests as them. Sociable kids are attracted to other sociable kids and children who are shy tend to get left behind.
Over the years horror movies have become a big part of cinema business. Teenagers and adults like to watch scary movies because of the adrenaline rush. Every scary movie includes unexpected scenes that make the movie interesting and frightening. It is very terrifying that, parents are allowing their children to watch horror movies. This can be very harmful for children’s mental health. Watching really scary movies and cartoons, and even playing scary games, has many lasting side effects on children. When we watch those horror movies with kids, unknowingly we might hurt their feelings. To be more precise, it can easily affect their nervous systems. Unexpected loud scenes in horror movies may scare children easily. Horror movies can create negative
In life, many things are taken for granted on a customary basis. For example, we wake up in the morning and routinely expect to see and hear from certain people. Most people live daily life with the unsighted notion that every important individual in their lives at the moment, will exist there tomorrow. However, in actuality, such is not the case. I too fell victim to the routine familiarity of expectation, until the day reality taught me otherwise.
Once a child goes to school, they could express many of their thoughts, feelings, and needs, and they start taking more significant steps towards independence. Meanwhile, as we go into adulthood, adults can choose things like where they want to live, what they want to eat, what job they will do, etc. In adulthood, it consists of changes in lifestyles and relationships. Furthermore, as an adult, life changes, such as leaving home, finding a long‐term romantic relationship, beginning a career, and starting a family. Many young adults first leave their house to attend college or to take a job in another city, and that’s where their independence starts. Also, Adults attain at least some level of attitudinal, emotional, and physical freedom.