In the novel, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Stephen King uses psychological conflict to display the mind’s ability to change inanimate objects and people into a tether to the realistic world out of ordinary fear, pain, and isolation. Social isolation is an emotionally wearing predicament, especially when the place is set in the deep forest of the Appalachian Mountains. Social isolation is one of the main causes of hallucinations, which starts to occur as young Trisha McFarland stays longer and longer in the woods. As she stays in the woods, she constantly faces realistic fears and obstacles that ordinary people would be scared of if they were stuck in the same exact situation.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is written by the famous psychological writer, Stephen King. King usually steers more to the fictional stories and characters that people usually would see in scary movies. The difference in this story is that King brings realistic fears that could easily happen to us. This difference is what makes it so more surreal than his other stories, making this story so much scarier. The novel starts off with nine year old Trisha McFarland and her brother, Pete McFarland, and divorced mother, Quilla Anderson, take a family outing to the Appalachian Mountains. Pete and Quilla walk ahead of Trish deep in argument that is a normal occurrence between the two. Out of desperation, Trisha steps off the trail to relieve herself and get away from the constant bickering that she knew would last the duration of the trail. Trisha continues to go deeper in the woods so no other walkers could see her. Once done, she realizes how deep she has gotten. Instead of traveling the same way she came in, she decides to take a different route back to the trai...
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Davies, Paul. “Humble Side to the King of Horror; THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON.” Questia. Questia, a part of Gale, engage learning. April 16, 1999. April 22, 2014.
Lehmann- Haupt, Christopher. “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon’: A Modern Fairy Tale of the Dark North Woods.” New York Times on the Web, The New York Times company, April 15, 1999. April 22, 2014
Badii, Chitra. “What Causes Hallucinations?” Healthline. April 17, 2012. April 16, 2014.
Glenister, Autumn. “The Effects of Isolation in Humans” eHow. April 17, 2014.
Olien, Jessica. “Loneliness Is Deadly” Slate, August 23, 2013. April 24, 2014.
Though Stephen initially felt isolated both physically and psychologically due to his illness, through Sachi’s comfort and the calm beauty of Matsu’s garden, Stephen finds his stay at Tarumi to be much less secluded. This proves that though one may feel alone at times, other people or things may help vanquish that feeling. In today’s world, isolation is everywhere – there is isolation due disease, intelligence, race, etc. Yet, people find that the little things like _____ to make them realize they are not alone. This sense of aid shows that like the paint in the puddle of water, all it takes is something small to make the biggest difference.
“This experience is much harder, and weirder, to describe than extreme fear or terror, most people know what it is like to be seriously afraid. If they haven’t felt it themselves, they’ve at least seen a movie, or read a book, or talked to a frightened friend – they can at least imagine it. But explaining what I’ve come to call ‘disorganization’ is a different challenge altogether. Consciousness gradually loses its coherence, one’s center gives away. The center cannot hold. The ‘me’ becomes a haze, and the solid center from which one experiences reality breaks up like a bad radio signal. (Saks, p. 13)”
“To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try,” (Gilman). There are an extraordinary amount of stories written about women that go insane for certain reasons. Two of those stories are, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner. Both stories are about women who are driven insane by situations that are happening in their lives; both women turn to isolation for different reasonings. Both A Rose for Emily by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner show similarities and differences with dysfunctional lives.
When reading ghost stories, a common occurrence or idea often takes place in all these stories. This occurrence is the repeated idea of the female character as either the victim of the supernatural occurrence or is the ghostly victim. The female characters are often the victim either in life, death, or both. This idea often coincides with the theme of isolation, as isolation is often a strong factor in the cause of the female character’s often untimely demise. Isolation in the ghost story genre is common as the mental isolation or physical isolation is from society and impacts emotional connection to others. The isolation mentally, physically and in some case both, causes the female character’s ultimate destruction in the end. Isolation is
There is one name that comes to mind when you think of a great director of the suspenseful film industry. That name that you immediately think of is Hitchcock. Sir Alfred Hitchcock is the greatest director there is for intense movies, and he is the master of suspense. Hitchcock did things with movies that other directors can only dream of accomplishing. He directed many major films in his career that a lot of directors can’t even get close to.
This is also seen in the character Jim. While Jim is with Miss Watson, he is a slave. She isn't the one who made him that way, it was society. She was good to him and never did him any harm, but the fact is that no matter how good she was to him, he still was only a slave. When Jim runs away, he finally sees that there was a way to be truly free and that was to not live within society. When Jim is in the woods on the island, he just starts to realize what it is to be free and what it is like to live on his own. After he meets Huck in the woods he also realizes what it is like to have a friend. Society kept him from having both of these, freedom and friends.
Fear brings forth a certain atmosphere which compels us to act upon it. The era in which the book was published allows us to see how common these fears were. Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is an excellent portrayal of how fear controls the human mind by using the characters as examples. In the book Eleanor, Theodora, Luke, and Dr. Montague have all been influenced by fear in the story, whether it be the fear of love, the unknown, family, rejection, expression, or loneliness. These different types of fear plagued their minds causing their actions to reflect upon them. Jackson explores the theme of fear in The Haunting of Hill House by creating a cast of characters that in turn are manipulated by the inner workings of their minds and the
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
The natural landscape and the winter storm in “The Painted Door” serve as a metaphor for Ann`s sense of isolation. The prescription of isolation upon an individual can prove to cloud one's view of the realistic world. Ann is not pleased with her life. She and her husband John live in a remote surrounding distant from populated settlements in which creates a sense of complete isolation. This separation mirror reflects the emotional and physical distance presented between Ann and John. “ In the clear, bitter light the long white miles of prairie landscape seemed a region strangely alien to life”...” The indicated proves to have only intensify Ann`s state of mind. “He was a slow unambitious man, content with his farm and cattle…”. John is
In Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden nature and its fantastical elements are crucial in making their novels the iconic children literary tales they are presently. However due to these fantastical elements both authors criticized for their romanticized view of nature and idealized depictions of childhood within nature. Scholarly critics Jacqueline Rose and Humphrey Carpenter argue that in creating idealistic narrative worlds both authors lose their ability to represent childhood in a realistic way and instead let their works become escape outlets rather than true depictions of childhood. In doing so these books are no longer true children’s literature, but simply ideals born out of an authors
Though Stephen initially feels isolated both physically and psychologically due to his illness, through the calm beauty of Matsu’s garden and the comfort Sachi provides, Stephen finds his stay at Tarumi to be much less secluded. This proves that though one may feel alone at times, other people or things may help vanquish that feeling. In today’s world, isolation is everywhere – it is seen through due disease, intelligence, race, etc. Yet, people find that little things like human comfort, such as Sachi, or object reminiscent happiness, like Matsu’s garden, are enough help them realize they are not alone. This sense of aid shows that like the flower in the midst of the desolate landscape, something small is all it takes to erase negative feelings.
Though Stephen initially felt isolated both physically and psychologically due to his illness, through Sachi’s comfort and the calm beauty of Matsu’s garden, Stephen finds his stay at Tarumi to be much less secluded. This proves that though one may feel alone at times, other people or things may help vanquish that feeling. In today’s world, isolation is everywhere – there is isolation due disease, intelligence, race, etc. Yet, people find that little things like human comfort or object reminiscent of a happy past are enough help them realize they are not alone. This sense of aid shows that like the flower in the midst of the desolate landscape, something small is all it takes to erase all negative feelings.
The literary setting communicates important details regarding the situation and characteristics of a subject; isolation is frequently one of these details. In Miss Peregrine's the main character, Jacob, believes his "[o]nly friend,” Rickey, is acting as a friend to support an unspoken contract in which
In the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda is entering high school completely alone. She has no friends and she has no one to turn to, even the people she doesn’t know hate her. All of this is happening to Melinda because she called the cops at an end of summer party and no one even bothered to ask her why. Something terrible happened that night at the party and memories of the event terrify and haunt her. There’s something about that night that she tries to forget, something she tries to not remember. Throughout the book you see ways Melinda is coping with her trauma. In the process of it all her nightmare, Andy Evans, comes and attacks her again, but this time Melinda isn’t so quiet about it. By the end of the book, Melinda uncovers her secret that has been trapped in her thoughts. Anderson develops a theme that if something traumatic
She decides to go through forest, what people think its frightening and foreboding. However she is confident enough in her budding sexuality to do not pay attention to those prejudices. In the wood she meets with the wolf. After they split up, the wolf heads towards the Red Riding Hoods destination and there he eats her grandma.