Reflection

This is my first literature class and I did not know much about literature and had no idea what gothic literature is before I entered this class. I found myself enjoy the reading a lot even though I had trouble understand some of it. Instead of just knowing what is going on in the story, this class taught me to understand the reading more thoroughly and to learn about what the author is trying to say. Learning about female gothic is my favorable part of this course. I like how you play movies along with the reading. It allows me see the reading in a different kind of way and it helps me to better understand the reading as well. Moreover, I enjoyed the class discussion even though I was too shy to speak up most of the time. But it really helps me to further understand the reading. It was interesting to see how other comprehends and analyses the story in different ways. I feel like I have learned a lot from this class. Thank you.

Jean Ah Poquelin

In Jean Ah Poquelin, Cable compares the change in the old South versus the new South through contrasting the character and appearance in Jean Poquelin and Jacques Poquelin. At the beginning of the story the setting tells us the point of view in New Orleans society. “When the newly established American Government was the most hateful thing in Louisiana” We see the conflict and frustration of having the new American Government, new policy, and urbanization especially in Jean. Jean Poquelin’s strong, not-willing-to change character perfectly demonstrated the value of the old Southerners. The town people, the developers, and everything are forcing Jean to change.

"The Goophered Grapevine"

First of all, it was challenging for me to fully understand “The Goophered Grapevine” because of the language that was used in the story. I have to read it several times in order to know the line. The story begins with the narrator who is well educated and therefore, there is a vivid contrast with the second narrator Uncle Julius. In the story of “The Goophered Grapevine”, there is a story within a story. Chesnutt introduced Uncle Julius to tell story of the goophered grapevine that makes the story mysterious and entertaining. But inside the goophered grapevine, there’s a story about a poor slave Henry’s life. Henru was treated as property that Mars Dugal would take advantage of the curse and make profit out of this cash cow.

Our Nig

While reading Wilson’s narrative, I see the reason why she chose to write this in a fiction format instead of an autobiography. Since slavery was a controversial issue back at the time period, there hasn’t been a novel that is published by a black woman before. Therefore, writing the story in a third person would be more acceptable to the public and actually let the world see how bad slavery really is. At the same time, Wilson’s “Our Nig” does slavery in detail and the majority do not want to establish bad reputation because of the whole slavery thing. Thus, that might be the reason why this novel was lost to scholars for over 120 years.

The Fall of the House of Usher

The narrator of "The Fall of the House of Usher" happens to be an old friend of Richard Usher. The author uses first person narrative in this story. However, the author does not give much information about the narrator at all, not even his name. The only fact that we know is that this narrator was a friend from childhood and they haven’t seen each other till he recently come back to visit. Without giving the reason why the narrator is here leaves everything in a mystery and gives readers space of imagination. This factor also makes the narrator as a perfect outsider that tells every details of the story. However, the fact that he does not know much about Usher after all these years makes him a unreliable narrator. He might describe the things that he could only see through his personal perspective.

Female Gothic

In Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre, and “Lois the Witch”, they all briefly talked about female friendships. Back then, women are not supposed to express their opinion in front of men. Therefore, it is important to have a friend to accompany with, share thoughts and feelings, and more importantly, get our back when we are in trouble. In these three novels, the authors promote true friendships that friends actually care and support each other. In the movie that we watched today, Helen was a friend that Jane Eyre met at Lowood School. She was the only one that she could be lean on and share feelings with. Even though she was just a friend of Jane for a short period of time, I believe she is the one who keeps Jane working hard for herself in some extent. However, there are also times when women do not support women when Lois’s aunt and Faith accused Jane of being a witch. Lois had no friends that support her at the moment and ultimately ended up to death from a hanging.

Novel Reading

I support Jane Austen’s viewpoint on novel reading. Novel is good as long as readers being caution to the balance of imagination and rational thinking. Novel reflects society, perspective, and value as authors are usually being influenced by the current society and political issues. Novels are reflection of the reality in some extent. In Northanger Abbey, the disobedience of Mr. Tilney to his father definitely plays as a mirror to the current political issue. Reading Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey not only made me see the world in a middle class lady’s perspective, but also made me learn about the culture, the custom, and women’s position in that period of time. Therefore, I do believe that novels have practical value.