Hawthorne and Poe Discussion
This forum will serve as a space where we discuss our interpretations of the reading assignments.
You may respond to my thread or start a new one based on the reading and the in-class presentations.
You may enter URLs in your messages--composing a link in the message
window using html will make it active in the message forum.
This forum will serve as a discussion space for our recent
readings of Hawthorne and Poe. Answer two of the following questions and then
either start a new thread or
respond to an already existing thread:
- Characters in both Poe and Hawthorne
tales describe dream-like states. How do the authors describe or create this impression
and what impact does it have on both stories? Compare and contrast.
- Hawthorne subverts the Puritan ideal in his tale of Young Goodman Brown.
Why would he do this? What does the story imply about Puritans? How does it
operate in context of his other work like The Scarlet Letter?
-
What examples of personification exist in both stories? How does personification
help or hinder the narrative?
- What is grosteque? What elements of the
grotesque are in Poe's narrative? What kind of language does he use to create this
kind of atmosphere (like the use of the word phantasmagoric)? What events in his
life shaped this style?
Use this form to start a thread of discussion.