Essential Question

-The beliefs of optimism and individualism are reflected in romantic writings by their use of an outsider trying to 'fit in with the crowd'. In the Life You Save May Be Your Own, the author uses the stranger (Shiftlet) who comes from nowhere and gets in with the family. Shiftlets' optimism about fixing everything for the lady is what starts the process of him moving closer in with the family. Also, In the Sleepy Hollow, The author uses Ichabod to show how individualism because of his awkwardly shaped body and his height. He also shows that because of his optimism he started to become closer to the girl he liked, Mrs. Van Tassel, but in the end he was ran out of town by 'Mr. Macho' Brom Bones. 

-Romanticism is a style of writing that uses feeling rather than logic. So instead of saying that an apple is 1.23 lbs and has 13 black spots, a romanticist would describe how the apple would taste and what it could represent in different scenarios. Gothic romanticism is using all the key traits of romanticism and adding others like grotesque, gloomy or mysterious settings along with violence or the supernatural to create a mood of suspense or awe. Although southern Gothic  romanticism is similar it uses all the above traits and adds in a southern setting; like a front porch or a farm scene. Also there is usually an important character with either a mental disability or an actual physical disability who is different than the world who often will have a negative view on the world or society. Although these genres are all very similar they also have numerous differences like setting, mood/tone, and time periods. A romanticist story could take place inside cafe in London, however a Gothic romanticist story would take place in an abandoned haunted house where only a child lives now.

-The Southern Gothic movement was a response to the literary movements that preceded it because it took several of their traits, such as horror or creepiness from the Gothic Romanticism standpoint and the emotional basis from the Romanticism point of view. It combines its past to make its present. By this, i mean S.G.R. writers take what they have been given; Romanticism and Gothic Romanticism, and combine them along with their own personal twist. That, "twist" is the settings that they have either grown up in or that they have moved to and conformed to. Also they manipulated the romantic literary conventions by keeping the same types of moods and tones while looking into other subject matter so in a sense they have just tweaked certain parts of the style of literature while still calling it Romanticism.

-The dark sides of american culture prompted the dark sides of Romanticism such as Gothic Romanticism and Southern Gothic Romanticism. The society of back then along with all new religious 'fads'; witch hunts and hangings, started a fire in the hearts of Romanticism writers. Except it wasn't a fire, because it didn't give off light, it dragged away every source of light until you were in a bottomless pit of depression, dourness and gloom, while giving a macabre plot to top it all off. Although the writers used traits off Romanticism, they converted them to a much darker version due to such thoughts of death, killing, murder and the supernatural. America grew up with a fear of the supernatural due to witch hunts and headless horsemen, while being appalled with the thought of dying or being killed for anything. 

-Writings of the Romanticism period,  influence the writings of this time period; modern day america, by giving us our horror classics, our romantic novels, and of course Fried green tomatoes. They give us our culture so to speak of literature, our foundation, our building blocks from which we have prospered into the many different styles of writing that we have today.

Southern Gothic Romanticism

Southern Gothic Romanticism is a mixture of romanticism and the old South's mysteries tales and beliefs. It contains certain aspects like freaky things, imprisonment, or violence. Though these two stories are very different they exhibit certain qualities of southern gothic romanticism like how they are both slightly freaky. In, "the life you save may be your own" the man comes along, asks all kinds of weird questions, marries the woman's special needs child who is abut 34 and then dumps her off at some eatery and leaves. All of this on the day of the wedding. Also in, "A Rose For Emily" it has an aspect of imprisonment because the woman is trapped so to speak inside her house after her father dies. Although southern gothic romanticism is like other types of romanticism it is quite different also. Compared to a dark romanticism, southern gothic romanticism is a walk in sunshine park. It is tremendously more bright and vivid but still has a weird or creepy twist somewhere within the story. Even compared to a gothic romanticism piece, southern gothic romanticism just has a hint of  weird creepy gothic taste whereas gothic romanticism is all freaky and weird.

In, "A Rose For Emily" the there are many reasons her crime goes undetected all the way until her death. One of them is the fact that Judge Stephens actually had people go around her house in the middle of the night and sprinkle lime and other chemicals around her house so that it would stop smelling. Another reason her crime goes unnoticed is because no one ever goes into her house. The short story says, "... to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant--a combined gardener and cook-- had seen in the last 10 years." So if no one ever went in then no one could find out about her terrible murder. A third reason her that her crime was unnoticed is that if the government ever did find out then they wouldn't be able to do anything about it. They learned this because they tried to talk to her about paying her taxes and couldn't and she was so hard headed she actually had them removed from her house. The story says, " So she vanquished them, horse and foot, just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before..." She had her manservant Tobe escort them out the house.

Flannery O’Connor, the author of “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, said that the hitchhiker Shiftlet picks up at the end ‘makes the story work.’ It  does this because it shows how Shiftlet works. How he never gets too intertwined with someone. He never actually gets too into depth with his relationships with anyone. Once he gets what he wants he leaves. This helps us understand how he 'stumbled' upon this family. He does this a lot. Its his job so to speak; using people is just what he does and how he makes his 'living'.

What is Romanticism?

This story captures the imagination of the readers today because it talks of something a lot of modern Americans enjoy; Ghost stories, the supernatural, myths and legends. The story has a 'headless horseman' tale and the entire story is based upon that one myth. Which is like how we have 'true' stories about certain mythical creatures like bigfoot, sasquatch, yetis, and mermaids. Also it captures the imagination today with it's details, like how it says, "A small brook murmurs through it and, with the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a woodpecker, is almost the only sound that ever breaks the uniform tranquility." The story has a way of describing the settings in this sentence that allow the reader to picture it in his head and really imagine and understand what is going on. Also the story describes Ichabod very well therefore it helps the reader imagine all the scenes with him, like when he is riding the horse he would look funny because of his stature. 

Swing low, Sweet Chariot

-This song is about escaping the physical conditions of slavery because it talks about how she wants a band of angels to take her away from her present condition; captivity. She wants to escape this slavery and she know she cant do it by herself so she wants an angel to help her. In the song it says, "sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down, But still my soul feel heavenly bound." This shows that this song is about religious faith and hope because it talks of how she wants to come home; to Heaven. It talks of a sweet chariot coming to take her home. This song is also reflective of its time period because it mentions a chariot, not a car, or train, or bus, but because it was written in around 1909 they didn't have cars. Although they the first car came out in 1908 they weren't popular with slaves because they didn't get out of the camp. So therefore Wallis Willis wouldn't put it in there if no one even knew what it was. This song can also relate to modern day because of all the bad, corrupt things that are going wrong, and we just look for something or someone to take us away from it.

Gothic Romanticism: Hawthorne, Poe and Baudelaire

There are many interpretations of “The Fall of the House of Usher”. One interpretation suggests that Usher’s nervousness and weakness are the results of Madeline Usher’s being a vampire. Using details from the story, write an analysis of the story that supports this interpretation.

In the story The Fall of the House of Usher Madeline Usher is a vampire but you do not find this out until the very ending of the story right before the collapse of the house of the Ushers. From the very first time the narrator sees Usher he is full of fear. What he fears- maybe death, fear itself, or is it the fact that his one and only sister is a vampire- only he knows but whatever it is it is scaring him to the verge of death. One of the possible things that can be putting him on the 'edge' like this is the fact that he knows his sister is a vampire.Although it is hinted throughout the story by ushers nervousness and that even the physicians couldn't tell what was wrong with her. They, trained and with a degree, couldn't recognize her 'disease'. Usher was scared for her and of her because he knew something was wrong with her but yet she walked around like she was perfectly fine. When Usher is being read to, he confesses. "We have put her living in the tomb!...I heard them...many days ago...yet I dared not- I dared not to speak!" So he knew that she was alive and it caused him to be even more nervous so that he was almost paralyzed with fear.

Gothic writers express themselves by criticizing human nature. They criticize the fact that we hide things deep down inside, and if you can pry it out of the deep cabinet they have hidden this secret in, then you will realize that the monster you just released is far greater than you ever imagined. They communicate this with the reader by hinting at this secret until the story hits its peak of action, when the secret is revealed. For instance in The Fall Of The House Of Usher, the secret that is hidden is the fact that Madeline is a vampire, but Poe throws in certain perfectly planned out parts in the short story to reveal that she is a vampire. Then at the end, right before the fall of the house of usher, the secret is revealed and then everyone knows for sure what Madeline is. So when reading a Gothic Romanticism novel or short story, one must read very carefully for certain symbols, signs and things that hint to the 'secret'. The writers of Gothic Romanticism have very similar feelings towards human nature in the fact that they use gloomy and sullen words to symbolize human nature that how it can be a very sad, dour object. For Instance the Fall of the house of usher uses a storm in the end to destroy the house, and this can symbolize how something can tear us down.

Socratic Questions for "A Good Man is Hard to Find

Where does the Grandmother want to go instead of Florida?

          -Tennessee

Why does the Grandmother not want to go to Florida?

          -The children go there every year and she would like a variety and also a           convicted felon just broke out of jail in the south.

Would the children be more or less grateful/thankful for the trips if they were born 100 years ago? Explain?

          - They would be much more grateful because 100 years ago one couldn’t have        just travelled 300 miles in one day. Also they would be more grateful because    they wouldn’t get very many “road trips” because it would be too expensive to        travel.

If the theme of the story is, “one should be more thankful for what he/she has,” how can this apply to a s\child who is bitter about riding the bus home? Explain?

          -The child should understand that even though he may think it is bad, some    people don’t have as much as him. Some people have to walk 5 miles just to go     to school and he should be more thankful that he even has transportation.

Would the theme change if the story was written in the first person view of the child? Explain?

          -Yes, the story would have been written with a short patience, a bored attitude       and a very small attention span. The theme would have been somewhat close    to, “Unexpected things can happen very fast,” which is completely different than         the theme listed above. Also the story would have been cut short because the       boy died earlier than the end of the short story.