The Works of Roald Dahl

By Penguin Books http://www.bookfinder.com/author/roald-dahl/15/

            Roald Dahl is a very accomplished writer of children’s stories.  However, he is also a well-known short story writer.  He has composed many short stories that make up three different collections.  All of these stories have an unusual and different details, however, they all seem to follow a similar plot line.  The main characters from “Man from the South” and “Lamb to the Slaughter” both let their inner emotions take over their common sense, and commit self-harming acts.  Both of these stories have a similar theme that all humans have an inner savagery inside of them that can be let loose if prompted (West).  Dahl uses an unexpected twist in these two stories in order to portray his feelings that people have an innate evil inside of them, show that readers can be tricked into siding with the character at fault, and to reveal that people often let their emotions get the best of them.

            In both “Man from the South” and “Lamb to the Slaughter,” the main characters are seemingly respectable, civilized humans.  Dahl, however, presents a pattern in his stories that show that he thinks even the most civilized humans can be savages (West).  The Naval cadet in the “Man from the South” accepts an outrageous bet because of his pride, and failure to deal with pressure (Man).  Mrs. Maloney in “Lamb to the Slaughter,” is a normal housewife whose husband is having an affair (Lamb).  Although she has manners and lives in a very civilized way, an innate evil comes out of her and she kills her husband in cold blood.

            Dahl also proves his point by tricking his readers (Bertonneau).  He presents the stories in a way, that you feel bad for the main characters.  He does this by putting the characters in situations that cause readers to pity them.  The old man is taunting the naval cadet, and the woman’s husband betrayed her.  Although their responses are not equivalent to the initial attack against them, readers have a tendency to side with them.  This shows that even the readers can possibly have an innate savagery in them, just as the characters seem to have.  Dahl is able to really get the reader emotionally involved by the surprise endings.  Dahl was very well known for his unexpected twists at the end of the stories, and both of these stories have this aspect (Levi).  Even though the young cadet and Mrs. Maloney may have deserved punishment for their actions, they did not receive any.  However, the readers seem to be relieved when they both end up without harm. The ending in each makes the reader relate to the main character, and sympathize with them.

            In Dahl’s two stories, he shows that he believes that people let their emotions take control of their thoughts.  The young naval cadet is so proud, so competitive, and so greedy, that he cannot turn down the bet.  Even though it may mean losing his finger, he does not care.  He loses control of his common sense because his emotions take over his thoughts.  Similarly, in “Lamb to the Slaughter,” Mrs. Maloney is so shocked, so angry, and so upset that she does something she never would have dreamed of doing before then.  She took her husband’s life.  This symbolizes the inner savagery that we all have, no matter what we know is right, and what we know is wrong (West).

            Throughout Roald Dahl’s stories, he delivers a message that has a noticeable pattern.  Through his plot lines, character development, and ironic surprise endings, he is able to convey his thought about society.  He believes that no matter how civilized each human society becomes, no matter how clear we distinguish between right and wrong, the savagery in humans will come out.  Their emotions will get the best of them, and the evil inside of them will surface.  In addition, the readers of these stories will also show their savagery by even agreeing or siding with the characters at fault.  Dahl shows his true feelings about people, and makes a very convincing argument for his case.

Works Cited

Bertonneau, Thomas. "An overview of “Lamb to the Slaughter”." Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.

Dahl, Roald. "Lamb to the Slaughter." Short Stories & Classic Literature from around the World. American Literature. Web. Oct. 2011. <http://www.americanliterature.com/Dahl/SS/LambtotheSlaughter.html>.

Dahl, Roald. “Man From the South.” Short Stories & Classic Literature from around the World. American Literature. Web. Sept. 2011.

Levi, Claudia. "Roald Dahl: Overview." Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.

West, Mark I. "Mastering the Macabre." Roald Dahl. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992. 36-59. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 173. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.

A Woman Who Dared to be Different: Shirley Jackson and her Works

By Crossett Library Bennington College http://www.flickr.com/photos/crossettlibrary/4502669235/

             In the 1950s, women were expected to be “having babies and the occasional bridge party”, and that was all that was expected of them (Guran). Not many women during that time had big dreams with careers in mind or really any substantial goals for their life. Shirley Jackson was different. Though she did have kids of her own, she made sure to focus on herself at times, accomplishing her own agenda. This was unusual for a woman during that time. It was especially unusual for a woman to be involved in journalism. Jackson fulfilled her motherly duties and still had time to take the kids to soccer practice and make sure they were raised properly. The fact that Jackson was both a mother and a writer conjures the ideas of a double life, not only that, but also the fact that the stories Jackson wrote were filled with horror and darkness. It was almost as if one part of her was mulling over the darkness of human nature, while the other part devoted itself to loving her children. In “The Lottery”, Jackson’s most famous short story, and “When Things Get Dark”, Shirley Jackson’s writing style is evident through her ambiguous beginning to the story, the way the story makes the reader feel, and the unpleasant and dark ending, and her style reflects the duality of her life and her belief in myth and ritual (Hattenhauer).

            Jackson’s short stories are known for their ability to deceive the reader right from the beginning, and both “The Lottery” and “When Things Get Dark” are no exception. Jackson uses positive imagery to lure the reader into thinking that the story will be pleasant. Words such as “clear” and “sunny” in “The Lottery” and the entire letter in the opening scene of “When Things Get Dark” make the reader start to formulate his or her own opinion about where the story is going. However, the openings of Jackson’s stories are all fairly ambiguous, giving few details and leaving the reader yearning for background information. In “The Lottery”, the story may at first seem fairly pleasant, which is also the case in “When Things Get Dark” as the reader might feel that the letter Mrs. Garden received was kind and thoughtful, and the events following could in no way turn horrid and disturbing. The reader is always given false pretenses in the beginning of Jackson’s short stories. This reflects Shirley Jackson’s views in that she believed in “taking the rational and inserting the irrational”, that is, she concerned her life with questioning what she thought was rational in her everyday life (Guran). Her life, in a way, contained an ambiguous beginning in that her being a writer was not what everyone expected. She started out just like the majority of the population of women during the 50s, with kids and a household to run, and she ended up surprising everyone with ambition.

            The second major element that most short stories by Shirley Jackson contain is the way the story makes the reader feel. At first, the reader may feel optimistic and content with the opening of the story. They may feel that something good is going to happen. As the story progresses, however, and the reader continues to predict the plot, the reader starts to feel uneasy about where the story is going. To a reader, not knowing or feeling sure about the upcoming events in a story can be frightening, which is Jackson’s intent. Part of the horror of her short stories is the fact that the reader just doesn’t know, and right when they begin to formulate their prediction, she rips it right out from under them, and throws in a shocking plot twist. In “The Lottery”, the reader begins to feel uneasy when the members of the town seem to dislike the lottery. A realistic prediction would be that someone is going to win some prize or money, but none of the townspeople seem eager to draw their slip or even win. This is the point when the reader becomes unsure of the direction the plot is going. Similarly, in “When Things Get Dark”, the reader starts to question his or her knowledge of the story when Mrs. Hope refuses to answer any of Mrs. Garden’s questions. By withholding answers from Mrs. Garden, the story turns grim and the reader fails to comprehend why Mrs. Hope is acting in such a way. Shirley Jackson was always fascinated with making her readers feel uneasy. She said that there were always horrible stories floating around in her head, and it took the reality of her children and everyday life to keep her from being dragged down by her thoughts (Guran). She wrote in this genre of fiction because those were the thoughts that were contained in her mind. She wanted to make the reader feel uneasy because that’s how she felt all the time. Making the reader feel uneasy set the background for an increasingly disturbing ending, which occurs in the majority of Jackson’s short stories.

            Though their endings are highly dissimilar, both “The Lottery” and “When Things Get Dark” definitely do not conclude on a high note. While one story closes with violence, the other ends in a disturbing manner, respectively. The townspeople proceed to stone a member of their own town, using systematic murder, and the family members of the victim even participate. The ending to “The Lottery” is extremely violent and makes the reader question everything they know about their own traditions. It makes the reader want to reevaluate traditions that might be immoral or wrong. This was of course Jackson’s intent, for she was in fact obsessed with traditions. Due mostly to the influence of her husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman, Jackson’s stories often dealt with myths or traditions. It is even said that perhaps she got the idea for “The Lottery” from Hyman (Hattenhauer). On the other hand, “When Things Get Dark” ends, in a word, mysteriously. The reader sympathizes with Mrs. Garden and feels highly uneasy about the old woman. The reader cannot and will not believe that her motives are pure. The creepy feeling the reader experiences is cemented when Mrs. Garden hears the scratching of the pen and flees the scene. The story definitely does not bring happiness to the reader. Shirley Jackson writes her horror stories to make the reader think. They are more than just a frightening tale. These tales are also the thoughts that clouded Jackson’s mind every day. She used her career as a way to clear her mind of the horror stories and focus on other things, such as raising her children.

            Shirley Jackson led an interesting life compared to that of other women of the 1950s. She was conflicted with thoughts surrounding the darkness of human nature and grim rituals and traditions, but her role as a mother kept her sane. Her short stories usually follow the pattern of an ambiguous beginning, an uneasy middle, and the disturbing finale to a grim tale. She could not help but formulate these stories in her mind, and in this way, she led a semi-dual existence. Jackson will forever be known for her disturbing fiction, and she will always be known as a woman who dared to be different in an age where conformity was nonnegotiable.

Works Cited

Guran, Paula. “Shirley Jackson: ‘Delight in What I Fear’.” DarkEcho Horror. DarkEcho,

1997. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. <http://www.darkecho.com/darkecho/darkthot/jackson.html>.

Hattenhauer, Darryl. Shirley Jackson’s American Gothic. Albany: SUNY Press, 2003.

Print.

Jackson, Shirley. “When Things Get Dark.” Just an Ordinary Day: The Uncollected

Works of Shirley Jackson. Ed. Sarah Hyman Stewart, Laurence Jackson Hyman. New York: Random House Digital, Inc., 1997. Print.

Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” American Literature. American Literature. Web. 12

Sept. 2011. < http://www.americanliterature.com/Jackson/SS/TheLottery.html>. 

Berenice and Hop Frog: The Works of Poe

by Pink Sherbet Photography http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-509495525

Egaeus, Hop Frog, and Mr. Lackobreath all have two things in common: Edgar Allan Poe created them, and they possess physical or mental deformities that make them horrific. Poe formed his characters with disabilities in order to reveal what he believed concerned both his enthusiasts and the attitude of the public during that time. Both Bernice and Hop Frog by Edgar Allan Poe serve to demonstrate Poe’s desire to condemn the public’s view on comedy and violence, satirize popular literature and culture, and display human tendencies to overreact with trivial issues, using various symbols and memorable characters in his stories.

In the short stories of Berenice and Hop Frog the use of symbolism is central to their similarities and the analysis of the stories. In the story of Berenice the main character Egaeus is in love with his cousin, Berenice, who is slowly deteriorating from a severe disease. The only pristine thing that remains with her are her teeth and the narrator becomes obsessed with them. The teeth represent in part the only remaining life that Berenice holds (Shipp). Eventually Berenice dies, but Egaeus remains infatuated with her teeth, so much so that he disturbs her grave and pulls out her teeth to keep as souvenirs. With this act it is revealed that the teeth also represent a “divorce from sanity” of Egaeus (Shipp). Similarly in the short story of Hop Frog, the main character Hop Frog also has a break with sanity, when he decides to exact revenge on his vicious king by tar and feathering him and then setting him on fire. In Hop Frog’s drunken insanity he makes a horrible grinding noise with his teeth multiple times. The teeth once again can symbolize a break with reality and moments of mental irrationality. The use of symbolism by Poe helps represent the emotions and intensely grim nature of the world and the people living in it (Shipp).

     These two short stories are similar in their symbolism, and with this use of symbolism and other literary devices employed by Poe, he reveals the motives for his whole body of works. One of the major things that Poe wanted to profess through his works is his idea that many people during his life had a warped sense of humor. Many other works during the time were written just for entertainment and revolved around violence and inhumane comedy. Poe wanted to rise above this perverse sense of humor, so he wrote even more gruesome stories that mocked the use of violence as comedy. Poe strove to create works with more sophistication that exposed the vulgarity and ludicrousness of other common works of the time. (Etter). As one critic said instead of clearing the literary streets of these obscene uses of others pain, Poe wrote fiction that was centered around this destitution in order to brings the issues into the spotlight (Jones). Hop Frog and Berenice both show how Poe took violence to the extreme in a way that condemns the use of it as a comedic relief.
     Another idea that Poe tried to get across through his writing is the idea that popular literature and culture were highly ridiculous. Many critics said that Poe wrote with a high tone of criticism that “opposed the trash of popular culture”(Jones). Poe created many characters like Hop Frog and Egaeus with physical and mental abnormalities that were intended to represent an ironic vision of normality that criticize the culture and literature of Poe’s time period (Etter). Poe had a grim outlook on the grotesque views of the people during the antebellum period. Many people started to blindly follow popular trends and conform to actions and ideas of the most contemporary ideas, especially those utilized in the popular entertainment works of the time. Therefore, in his writings Poe tried to show his readers how ridiculous they were and show them that they were being absurd and crude in their ideas and in their misrepresented views of comedy (Margolis).
     Poe believed that much of society during the antebellum era and in eras past had a crude sense of humor and a tendency to take something small and blow it way out of proportion. Therefore, in order to send a message to his readership Poe offered extreme examples of this vice in many of his short stories. As one critic put it Poe had a tendency to show the idea of “ludicrous heightened into the grotesque”(Pauly). For example, in Hop Frog Poe demonstrates his idea by creating a story where the king simply pushes a dwarf’s friend, and then that dwarf goes mad with rage and takes his revenge to the extreme by dressing up his victims as monkeys and setting them on fire. Similarly, in Berenice Poe takes something as simple as a nice set of teeth that belong to a sick girl and takes it to the grotesque by having the narrator rip out her teeth because he is obsessed with them.  These stories and many of Poe’s other stories exemplify how Poe felt the public behaved and his opinion on how it should change.
     The short stories of Berenice and Hop Frog are just two small samples of the works of Edgar Allan Poe that had a big impact on the world of literature. With the use of symbolism and characterization Poe created a theme of anti-popular culture within his works. Poe was a brilliant writer who wrote many horrific tales and stories with fatal endings, and all of his stories accomplished his goal to portray his intense views of society.



Works Cited

Etter, William. ""Tawdry Physical Affrightments": The Performance of Normalizing Visions of the Body in Edgar Allan Poe's "Loss of Breath"" American Transcendental Quarterly 17.1 (2003): 5-22. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.

Jones, Gavin. "Poor Poe: On the Literature of Revulsion." American Literary History 23.1 (2011): 1-18. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 1 Oct. 2011.

Margolis, Stacey. "The Rise and Fall of Public Opinion: Poe to James." ELH Baltimore76.3 (2009): 713-38. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 30 Sept. 2011.

Pauly, Thomas H. ""Hop Frog-Is the Last Laugh Best?"" Studies in          Short Fiction11 (1974):   307-09. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 20 Sept. 2011.

Shipp, Joann. "Symbolism and Poe: "Hop Frog"" Web log post. POEdgar Allan. June 2009. Web. 1 Oct. 2011. <http://celebratingpoe.blogspot.com/2009/06/essay-two-title-to-be-determined.html>.