MARKING PERIOD 4: ENG II HONORS– WHAT FRIGHTENS US?
(WHAT MAKES SOMETHING FRIGHTENING?)
UNIT OVERVIEW
Gothic architecture
WHAT WE’LL COVER:
LITERARY ELEMENT: THEME VS MOTIF
FOCAL READING SKILLS: JUDGING/CRITIQUING
FOCAL WRITING SKILL: LITERARY ANALYSIS
FOCAL GRAMMAR SKILL: PUNCTUATION (W/ FOCUS ON COMMAS, COLONS,
DASHES & SEMI-COLONS)
SPEAKING SKILL: SOCRATIC SEMINAR
Texts will include:
*The Things They Carried –Tim O’Brien
*a few short stories, if we have time!
*Lord of the Flies – William Golding
ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY:
1. Gothic Horror: combines traits of horror and romance (adventure usually involving nature).
It originated in England in the second half of the 18th century and had much success in the 19th.
The name Gothic refers to the (pseudo)-medieval buildings in which many of these stories take
place (i.e., Notre Dame). Archetypal characters in this genre include: the virginal maiden (who
is usually imperiled); older, evil or woman who is typically jealous of the maiden; the villain; the
hero; the stupid servant; the clown or other ghoul. Archetypal settings include (we’ll fill this in
together):
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Archetypal plots include: night journey, miraculous survivals, and psychological overlay,
in which the setting symbolically represents what is going on in the main character’s mind (i.e., a
character is trapped in a literal maze representing the maze he or she is experience in his or her
own mind. This is similar to, but not exactly the same as, pathetic fallacy.
b) Famous American Gothic writers: Edgar Allen Poe, William Faulkner, Harper Lee
c) Famous British Gothic writers: Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre), Mary Shelley, Daphne
duMaurier (who wrote Rebecca – an excellent ghost story to read this summer if you enjoy
spooky stories!)
2. the grotesque: having an appearance that evokes feelings of both horror and pity (i.e.,
Frankenstein’s monster, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Edward Scissorhands, etc.)
3. suspense: a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension,
tension, and anxiety developed from an unpredictable, mysterious, and rousing source
of entertainment. In the kind of suspense described by film director Alfred Hitchcock, an
audience experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen. This palpable feeling
of dread can be noted not only in horror films, but in television shows such as True Detective,
The Walking Dead, and LOST.
Films containing a great deal of suspense belong in the thriller genre.
4. supernatural: relating to something thatn cannot be explained by nature; in this type of
literature, supernatural can include ghosts, hallucinations, nightmares, goblins or characters or
events that could be described as eerie or occultish.
5. the macabre (pronounced ma CAB): pertaining to death; grim, gruesome and horrifying;
ghastly; horrible – think of a crime scene.
6. the sublime: pertaining to ultimate beauty or aesthetics – This is sublime poetry; this
mountainscape is sublime. (Think Lake Jura in Frankenstein.)
The macabre and the sublime are juxtapositions of each other. Think of how scenes of sublimity
almost always preceded those of the macabre in Shelley’s novel.
7. doppelganger: you know this! See your notes on Charles Darnay and Sidney Carton!