Horror Stories by Stevenson and Greene Horror stories are an excellent traditional genre. This genre has been around for almost as long as stories have been told. In this generation there is not much that can really scare us, but what does actually make a good horror story? Horror stories need to have a good and intimidating storyline, it needs to play on people's fears, it also needs to give its audience a real thrill and send chills down their spines. The horror story may be based on phobias, superstitions, murder or science fiction. Horror stories that involve science can be really scary sometimes, as this modern world is vastly developing, and we sometimes wonder what science can do. If a relatively small atom bomb can wipe out a large city than science can basically do anything, and this is what scares us. What also really scares us, is when a horror story is based on something we know little about, "the unknown," this includes aliens, monsters etc. Horror stories contain lots of tension and suspense; it has got to keep its readers on the edge of their seat, making them think what's going to happen next? A good horror story usually involves some kind of history, something that has happened in the past, this creates tension, suspense and creates and element of mystery for the reader. When humans don't know something, their hormones naturally make them want to know the thing even more; this is why the element of mystery and the suspense works really well in horror stories, luring the reader onto reading the rest of the story. In a horror story, lots of imagery is used, to create an atmosphere, this includes darkness bad weather, blood, death, also symbols of horror such as crows and the devi... ... middle of paper ... ... think someone died because he was frightened of the dark, but when you think about it is kind of believable how he may have been so scared, that it just caused his body to stop working. I think horror stories have remained so popular because as humans we like getting a thrill. Horror stories are traditional and even in the times of the cavemen horror stories were told, and now these stories have advanced and can be very interesting. Although we don't like to be frightened, have nightmares and have our heart pounding really fast, the comfort comes when we realise that the horror isn't real (unless it is), and we can have a sigh of relief, and the feeling is good when we look at the horror and reflect it to our own lives, which makes us feel safe. This is the same for nightmares, the feeling comes when we wake up and realise the nightmare wasn't reality.
The Enchantment of Creating a Journey: The significance of structure in Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible
The novel begins with the letter that Edgar is writing to his fiancée Mary in which he explains to her his endeavour to locate the murderer of his friend, after which he sets out on his mission. He goes for a walk around the site where Waldegrave's body was found and there, for the first time, sees Clithero whom he describes as “ a figure, robust and strange, and half naked“ , immediately recognizing him as something opposite than himself and everyone around him. After a conversation with him, which seemed more like an interrogation, Edgar begins to empathize with Clithero and as he runs away into the forest, Edgar follows. He is threatened and in awe of this man's ability to find his way through the wilderness and suddenly a sense of rivalry arises in Edgar which turns into pure competition. Consequently, Edgar's inexplicably drawn to the character . He finds him in a cave resembling a madman, a savage, a barbarian: "His grey coat, extended claws, fiery eyes, and a cry which he at that moment uttered, and which, by its resemblance to the human voice, is peculiarly terrific, denoted him to be the most ferocious and untamable of that detested race" . At the entrance of the cave, a panther appears as a symbol of Clithero's transformation into a primal, animalistic creature. That night, Edgar experiences sleepwalking for the first time and a sequence of occurrences begins which leads him deeper into the wilderness of the forest, as well as the wilderness of his identity. What comes next is a scene of Edgar waking up at the bottom of a dark pit in which he fell while sleepwalking. He wakes up to find himself almost entirely naked, covered in blood and with no sign of civilization whatsoever. As he succeeds to crawl out of the pit, he ...
Written during the American Romanticism period, “The Devil and Tom Walker,” by William Irving, personifies the belief in the primacy of imagination. The period of Romanticism in America is often seen as the crucial period of American culture, as it was the central movement of the Renaissance period that moved into a more free-feeling and artistic approach to literature. American Gothic literature made its early appearance with William Irving, first with “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in 1820, and carrying over to “The Devil and Tom Walker” in 1824, both of which use a macabre approach to establish a moral ending (Matterson). Told by a narrator known as Geoffrey Crayon, “The Devil and Tom Walker” takes on the tone of a legend or tall tale as the story describes the life of a greedy money lender by the name of Tom Walker, who sales his soul to the devil to gain wealth. Irving ultimately uses literary elements such as symbolism and character development, as well as including themes such as greed and hypocrisy to establish a moral to the corrupt man’s tale.
Often times I wonder if people go to see horror movies for enjoyment, or is it something much more than that? I have mixed feelings about the idea that, “the horror film has become the modern version of public lynching” (King 562). Horror movies do promote violence and can influence the mindset of the audience, but sanity people is not based on the excitement we receive from watching a horror film. Instead, it is based on what is already within us, not what we witness on a movie screen, but what we experience throughout our lifetime.
How W.W. Jacobs, H.G. Wells and Charles Dickens Create Suspense in their Gothic Horror Stories
Throughout one’s lifetime, difficult obstacles and circumstances may present themselves during times when one’s strength may not be extremely prevalent, as fear continues to restrict their ability to overcome the constant uneasiness which forms when contemplating taking risks. Demonstrated in the poem “The Story” written by Karen Connelly, fear often withholds others from performing to the best of their ability, as it hovers in the shadows, always lurking from behind. Connelly begins by portraying fear as the vast, unknown ocean as “seaweed shadows twist below” (line 6-7), intimidating the reader as they begin to imagine jumping into a dangerous void with unidentified outcomes. As the feeling of fear begins to burrow into the minds of those
We live in a society where a life of another human being is losing value by the minute, murder is almost more common than marriage, and monsters no longer lurk under our beds but inside us. Even sadder, this is acceptable; this is our normal. When we are children, we have an indescribable innocence; we are invincible. As we grow up, life happens, and we go through hardships that break us. Stephen King says it best with the words “sometimes inhuman places create human monsters” (Stephen King, The Shining) It is in the battle of finding ourselves in the process of trying to pick up the broken pieces. We tend to feel our losses more intensely than our gains- the exact reason we often see the walls we build from our past and not the strength gained in our experiences that aid us in our futures. We all have both good and evil in us, and we become the one we choose to act on. The majority of us choose to represent our good side, the more socially acceptable choice, but some fall victim to their darkest self. However, in order to survive in our society, we generally act on the good in us, and in order to maintain the good, we must feed the bad sometimes. This Is why I agree with Stephen king on his view of why people like horror movies?
Thomas Hardy's The Son's Veto, Graham Greene's The Basement Room and alan Sillitoe's Uncle Ernest
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN AUTHOR’S SKETCH Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri. When Samuel Clemens was four years old, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where he spent his childhood. Clemens first approach to literature was through typesetting for a newspaper in 1851. At the time Orion, his brother, was a newspaper publisher in Hannibal. From 1857 until 1861, he served as the pilot of a riverboat on the Mississippi River.
We all have cravings, be it for snacks or sweets, there is always something we desire. We crave horror in the same way. In Stephen King’s essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” he argues that people need to watch horror films in order to release the negative emotions within us. King believes that people feel enjoyment while watching others be terrorized or killed in horror movies. King’s argument has elements that are both agreeable and disagreeable. On one hand he is acceptable when claiming we like the thrill and excitement that comes from watching horror movies; however, his views regarding that the fun comes from seeing others suffer cannot be agreed with because the human condition is not as immoral as he claims it to be.
raw to and a yellow fog, a filthy fog, evil smelling fog, a fog that
In any good horror story line you have to have certain aspects or traits to be categorized as a good horror story. What do the readers look for in a horror story you may ask. Well the primary ingredients for making a fearsome, shuddery, monstrous story are foreshadowing, fear, suspense, mystery/surprise and imagination of course. Without every single one of these elements, the reader would not be involved and wouldn 't even continue to finish reading the full story. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Phillip K. Dick and Edgar Allen Poe are only some of the great representations of who have constructed frightening yet delightful stories for us to read.
Horror movies bring out the worst in us and for all the right reasons. King’s big idea suggests that by watching our mad, deranged role models slaughter one another, is actually keep us in line mentally. It allows us to stay sane and untroubled. Watching others do the dirty work gives us a sense of relief. Even though watching horror movies are filled with basic reasons of having fun, there is a deeper, psychological level of human emotions that is essential to our mental
“The Bath” is the first story by Raymond Carver that I remember reading. Despite it being a seemingly normal short story about a boy who falls into a coma after a car accident, it’s intriguing how when Carver writes from a detached narrative point of view, he transforms ordinary events into unusual or creepy ones. Clearly, though, this is his intention since in “Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories”, Carver is quoted as saying, “I like it when there is some sense of menace in short stories” and “There has to be tension, a sense that something is imminent” (1983).
In the essay “Why We Crave Horror Movie,” Stephen King describes that horror movies are beneficial for the people because we are all mentally ill. King explains that horror movie is a sort of release because everyone has a dark side in our body, so watching horror movie can keep the hungry alligators under control. People watch horror movie because they want to prove themselves that they are not afraid of a horror movie, and they are normal people too. King describes horror movie like a roller coaster, so people have enough courage to sit through the whole ride. People also enjoy seeing other people in danger. A horror movie can also keep the dark emotion down such as violence and aggression, and it allows people to remain happy and sane. A horror movie can