  Artistic movement that dominated Europe and America during the 19 th century  Elevated imagination and intuition over fact  Reveled in nature  Accented fantastic aspects of human experience Romanticism

  Rooted in European (English) Gothic literature  Firmly established in Europe before making its way to America  Branch of Romanticism  Concern with frontier wilderness anxiety and lasting Puritanical ideas  Imagination leads to the unknown – shadowy region of fantastic, demonic and insane  Gothics see potential for evil in individual  Peering into the darkness of the supernatural American Gothic

  Cultural attitudes  Revealed about people living in New England in the 1720s  Irving does not reveal these attitudes directly – he suggests them through the details of the story  Make Inferences, or draw conclusions, about cultural attitudes based on the details Irving provides The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  First American writer to achieve international reputation  Grew up in New York’s Hudson Valley  Lived in Europe from  Best example of early Colonial American Gothic fiction  Inspired by European folk tradition  Wrote Tales of a Traveler while in Europe, which includes “The Devil and Tom Walker” Washington Irving

  Setting: Eastern shore of the Hudson River in New York state where many Dutch settled (Tarry Town)  Frontier – “Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley, or rather lap of land, among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world. …” (p. 19)  Romantic/Gothic setting  Quiet, tranquil, solitude, nature The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  Gothic elements  “Some say that the place was bewitched by a high German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson” (p. 20).  Mystical, magical, witchcraft  Dark side of the human mind – highlight the fantastic elements of Sleepy Hollow The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  Legendary superstition  Apparition of a figure on horseback without a head  Ghost of Hessian trooper  Haunts extend out of Sleepy Hollow to adjacent roads, especially to the church  Rides nightly to the scene of the battle in which he lost his head  Rides quickly to return to churchyard before day break The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  Single effect  In a short story, every detail leads to one single effect  No extra details exist – everything in the story leads to the climax and resolution  Short stories also lack character development  Static character vs. Dynamic character  Physical descriptions of both Ichabod and Brom  Neither changes from the beginning of the story to the end of the story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  Ichabod Crane  Sojourned or “tarried” in Sleepy Hollow  Teacher  Native of Connecticut – heart of Puritanism and education  Tall & lank, narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, “hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together” … (p. 21)  Resembled a scarecrow The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  Brom Bones  Dutchman & native of Sleepy Hollow  Outdoorsman – modern day “redneck”  “the hero of the country round, which rang with his feats of strength and hardihood. He was broad- shouldered and double-jointed, with short curly black hair, and a bluff, but not unpleasant countenance, having a mingled air of fun and arrogance. From his Herculean frame and great powers of limb …” (p. 28)  Comparison to Greek legend – incredible strength The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  Conflict  Again single effect – there’s only one conflict  Ichabod vs. Brom in quest of Katrina Van Tassel’s love  Ichabod able to steal the show with his dancing even though he is less desirable and/or attractive than Brom  As a result, Brom sits brooding in the corner The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  Gothic elements  Dark corners of the human mind  Brom’s “bullying” of Ichabod (p. 31)  Van Ripper’s horse Gunpowder – broken down, vicious old steed  Tales of ghosts and apparitions (p. 36)  Major Andre – “the great tree where the unfortunate Major Andre was taken”  Brom’s tale of the Headless Horseman  Brom’s horse – Daredevil outrunning the Headless Horseman  Ichabod stays behind setting up climax The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

 Climax/Resolution  What is the single effect achieved by Irving?  Ichabod Crane leaves and is chased by the Headless Horseman (or possibly Brom Bones). Crane is hit by a pumpkin and thrown from his horse, never to be seen or heard from again  Dark corners of the human mind  Was it the Headless Horseman or Brom Bones?  Headless Horseman a creation of Brom The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

 Nathaniel Hawthorne  New England author  Wrote The Scarlet Letter – shows Puritan preoccupation with sin, salvation  19 th century author who wrote about the 17 th century  Wrote about heart, personality, power of conscience  New England forests – Early American frontier Young Goodman Brown

  Salem Witch Trials  Puritanism – Strictly religious, morality, punishment  Temptation always loomed  What does the title suggest? Young Goodman Brown

  Terms to know  Irony – effect gained by implying a meaning quite different from apparent or literal meaning  Connotation – implied or suggested meaning of words (denotation is literal meaning) Young Goodman Brown

  Foreshadowing immediately  Wife’s name – Faith  Troubling dreams  Faith asks him to stay home  Doubt – only married three months  Goodman Brown has “a present evil purpose” Young Goodman Brown

  Mood  Dreary road, gloomiest trees, forest  Narrow path, closed behind him  Lonely, peculiar, solitude  What if the Devil himself be at my very elbow?  “Faith kept me back awhile.”  Double meaning Young Goodman Brown

  People of prayer  Knows what he is doing is wrong  Searching for witches?  Goody Gloyse – a witch  His companion – a witch? Young Goodman Brown

  Two men on horseback  Deacon Gookin & the minster  Going to a witch’s ordination  Dark cloud passes overhead  Goodman hears familiar voices, including Faith  Pink ribbon falls from the sky – symbolic?  “My Faith is gone.” – double meaning again  Temptation – instinct guides mortal men to evil Young Goodman Brown

  Witch in all of us  Sin – hidden  “Evil is the nature of mankind – evil must be your only happiness”  A dream?  Reveals man’s sins  Goodman Brown becomes distrustful Young Goodman Brown

  Narrative perspective – first-person limited  Provides only the details that the narrator knows and are shared through quotes with other characters  Man reflecting on his experiences as a young boy walking down a dark street through low-hanging trees in their neighborhood at night  Reveals he and Johnny Newell have committed murder  Single effect – everything (all details and events) contributes to the climax/resolution The Lonesome Place

 Gothic elements  Setting  “There it was, half a block long, black as black could be, dark as the deepest night, with the shadows of the trees making it a solid place of darkness, with the faint glow of light where a streetlight pooled at the end of the street, far away it seemed, and that other glow behind, where the other corner light lay” (192) The Lonesome Place

  Gothic elements  Steve and Johnny Newell admit at the beginning that they murdered someone  Dark corners of the human mind  Did Johnny and Steve actually murder someone?  Two boys (now men) allow their imaginations to run wild  The Lonesome Place, the Thing, running through the darkness The Lonesome Place

  Edgar Allan Poe  Father of the short story/horror story  Inventor of the detective story  Wrote psychological thrillers  Used vivid imagery  Explored altered mental states  Focused on the dark side of human nature The Black Cat

  Single Effect (unity of effect)  Short story should be constructed to achieve “a certain unique or single effect”  In other words - every element of a story should help create a single emotional impact (from technique.php) technique.php  Every character, incident, and detail in a short story should contribute to this effect The Black Cat

  Creating suspense  Shadows of the imagination – fascinated by the dark reaches of the imagination, which can inhabit the mind when a person is under great stress  Also employ foreshadowing  Suspense – Feeling of growing uncertainty about outcome of events The Black Cat

  How is suspense created?  Writers raise questions in the minds of readers  Because readers are concerned or curious, they keep reading to find out what will happen next  Suspense builds until the climax of the plot, at which point the suspense reaches its peak resolving suspense The Black Cat

  Other literary terms  Climax – high point of interest or suspense in a literary work; generally appears near end of story, play, or narrative poem  Hyperbole – Deliberate exaggeration or overstatement; often used for comic effect  Ex: The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge The Black Cat

  More literary terms  Conflict – Struggle between opposing forces; can be internal (within a character) or external (between a character and an outside force); primary element of narrative literature because most plots develop from conflicts  Irony – Contrast between what is stated and what is meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually happens  Types of irony – Verbal, Dramatic, Situational The Black Cat