1. There is a pervasive sense of loneliness in many of the tales in Dark House. Discuss
2. Many of the tales in Dark House include reference to a house that is literally in darkness. More importantly, the text explores, through the various stories, the metaphorical 'dark house of the mind'. Discuss
3. Dark House is a collection of short stories about childhood memories. Discuss
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Exam Revision Questions
1. Name as many different narrative styles as possible used in the text.
2. What are the reasons for presenting the story in multiple ways?
3. Name as many objects as you can from the text and explain their significance?
4. What part of the text is fact?
5. Why are the facts included?
6. What are the names of the two murderers aboard the Batavia?
7. What two techniques or symbols are used to generate suspense in the text?
8. Name the characters in the text.
9. Name which characters are linked and how and why?
10. Name as many themes as possible in the text and provide an example.
2. What are the reasons for presenting the story in multiple ways?
3. Name as many objects as you can from the text and explain their significance?
4. What part of the text is fact?
5. Why are the facts included?
6. What are the names of the two murderers aboard the Batavia?
7. What two techniques or symbols are used to generate suspense in the text?
8. Name the characters in the text.
9. Name which characters are linked and how and why?
10. Name as many themes as possible in the text and provide an example.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Discussion Question 2
Horror Stories reflect Childhood Memories. Discuss
Refer to the text for evidence.
Refer to the text for evidence.
Discussion Question 1
What is it about old houses that stirs the imagination?
Refer to the text for examples.
Refer to the text for examples.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Staircase
The Staircase
THEMES
Macabre (Horror/ Mystery/ Fear)
- The staircase
- The sister's
- The house
- How the sister's died
- That the people died a couple of days after they saw the staircases
Supernatural
- the girls in the house
- the house
- the fact that people who see the staircase die soon after
- the staircase itself
Mental Illness.
- the girl that walked in front of the car. She wore black and was plump like the sisters
History/ Memories
- the house burnt down
- When the house burnt down and the staircase was the last to burn. The sisters were seen walking up and down it with no expressions on their faces.
- Every person who sees the staircase, dies within a couple of days.
Houses- Old and Dark
- dark
- old
-creepy
- the staircase was always on fire.
Please comment on this blog about the:
Plot
Character
Themes
Quotes
Meaning- what does the writer want you to think
in the staircase
Is there anything similar about this short story and other's within Dark House?
what are the characters afraid of?
how is fear created in this short story?
how do the characters deal with fear?
WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON SOME OF THE QUESTIONS POSED?
THEMES
Macabre (Horror/ Mystery/ Fear)
- The staircase
- The sister's
- The house
- How the sister's died
- That the people died a couple of days after they saw the staircases
Supernatural
- the girls in the house
- the house
- the fact that people who see the staircase die soon after
- the staircase itself
Mental Illness.
- the girl that walked in front of the car. She wore black and was plump like the sisters
History/ Memories
- the house burnt down
- When the house burnt down and the staircase was the last to burn. The sisters were seen walking up and down it with no expressions on their faces.
- Every person who sees the staircase, dies within a couple of days.
Houses- Old and Dark
- dark
- old
-creepy
- the staircase was always on fire.
Please comment on this blog about the:
Plot
Character
Themes
Quotes
Meaning- what does the writer want you to think
in the staircase
Is there anything similar about this short story and other's within Dark House?
what are the characters afraid of?
how is fear created in this short story?
how do the characters deal with fear?
WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON SOME OF THE QUESTIONS POSED?
The Cat and the Crow
The Cat and the Crow
THEMES
Macabre (horror/mystery/scary)
- "entering his body and trying to steal his soul"
- "He could hardly return to his bed, filled with the fear of his brother and the guilt which hounded him with that most unsettling of thoughts- that Stefan's nagging accusations were true"
- "I'm back, David. Back to divide up our body once more. I want my turn" p 209
- "Though he could not deel no change with his fingers, he imagined it was opening like a zipper"
- The appearance of the black crow
- It wanting his life
- getting in his head and talking to him.
Houses- Old and Dark
- David's bedroom window, drawing an immediate and irresistable sense of dread over him
- David broke away from the window and stumbled through the room, tripping over clothes and books by his bed until he fell in the darkness.
- The crow would come to his window when the house was dark.
- He was trapped in his house it was the only safe place away from the crow.
History/ Memories
- "five months after this article appeared, Stefan had died" p206
- The magazine article with its faded pictures. Dr Gordon decided to make the incision close to Stefan's heart and leave the small flap of tissue joined to David's where it would eventually become part of his heart" p212-213
- memories of his dead brother.
Supernatural/ Mental Illness
- "the voice was now inside his very body. He was one with his brother once more" p219
- "The bosy rose from the bed, stepped to the cupboard" p215
-" predator and prey were only metre apart now" p216
- he heard voices, thinking they were coming from his dead brother
- the spirit of his brother entered his body and took his conscience.
Please comment on this blog about the:
Plot
Character
Themes
Quotes
Meaning- what does the writer want you to think
in the Cat and the Crow
Is there anything similar about this short story and other's within Dark House?
what are the characters afraid of?
how is fear created in this short story?
how do the characters deal with fear?
WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON SOME OF THE QUESTIONS POSED?
THEMES
Macabre (horror/mystery/scary)
- "entering his body and trying to steal his soul"
- "He could hardly return to his bed, filled with the fear of his brother and the guilt which hounded him with that most unsettling of thoughts- that Stefan's nagging accusations were true"
- "I'm back, David. Back to divide up our body once more. I want my turn" p 209
- "Though he could not deel no change with his fingers, he imagined it was opening like a zipper"
- The appearance of the black crow
- It wanting his life
- getting in his head and talking to him.
Houses- Old and Dark
- David's bedroom window, drawing an immediate and irresistable sense of dread over him
- David broke away from the window and stumbled through the room, tripping over clothes and books by his bed until he fell in the darkness.
- The crow would come to his window when the house was dark.
- He was trapped in his house it was the only safe place away from the crow.
History/ Memories
- "five months after this article appeared, Stefan had died" p206
- The magazine article with its faded pictures. Dr Gordon decided to make the incision close to Stefan's heart and leave the small flap of tissue joined to David's where it would eventually become part of his heart" p212-213
- memories of his dead brother.
Supernatural/ Mental Illness
- "the voice was now inside his very body. He was one with his brother once more" p219
- "The bosy rose from the bed, stepped to the cupboard" p215
-" predator and prey were only metre apart now" p216
- he heard voices, thinking they were coming from his dead brother
- the spirit of his brother entered his body and took his conscience.
Please comment on this blog about the:
Plot
Character
Themes
Quotes
Meaning- what does the writer want you to think
in the Cat and the Crow
Is there anything similar about this short story and other's within Dark House?
what are the characters afraid of?
how is fear created in this short story?
how do the characters deal with fear?
WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON SOME OF THE QUESTIONS POSED?
Beyond Night
History/ Memories
- Talks about his mother's past life before she dies
- In every room there is a past memory
'She would sit for hours by her bed bent over a Yiddish book that she glanced at from time to time"
- Found her handbags and looked back into her past.
"her handbags were old, frayed and bloated with mysteries. Within them I was to recover, on this night of mourning, the maps of her heart, the essence of her obsession, the source of her pain; just as I had as a child, discovered the street of Vilna within her beloved photo album"
Horror/ Mystery. Macarbe
- The mothers fear for her family: " i could have done more to save them" she repeated again and again the same refrain.
The mothers child looks for answers to her mystery. They find the answers when they go through the handbags " I reached out for the frayed handbags and one by one for the first time , I examined their contents.
The horror is what happened to the mother "like a storim she would erupt and for hours she would weep"
Supernatural and mental illness
- The mother develops a mental illness after thinking about her family too much and begins to become obsessed with getting them out of Vilna
-"i could've done more" expresses her obsession with getting her family out of Vilna
-"she sat in the back room for hours reading a giddish book" because she is isolating herself because of her guilt.
Houses
"to the darker recesses of the house"
The house was dark and the old lady preferred to live in a dark bare house
The back room in her house was where she would sit and sleep all night "she sat in her back room for hours"
"And I often wondered, why did she prefer such a dark and bare room"
Please comment on this blog about the:
Plot
Character
Themes
Quotes
Meaning- what does the writer want you to think
in Beyond Night
Is there anything similar about this short story and other's within Dark House?
what are the characters afraid of?
how is fear created in this short story?
how do the characters deal with fear?
WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON SOME OF THE QUESTIONS POSED?
- Talks about his mother's past life before she dies
- In every room there is a past memory
'She would sit for hours by her bed bent over a Yiddish book that she glanced at from time to time"
- Found her handbags and looked back into her past.
"her handbags were old, frayed and bloated with mysteries. Within them I was to recover, on this night of mourning, the maps of her heart, the essence of her obsession, the source of her pain; just as I had as a child, discovered the street of Vilna within her beloved photo album"
Horror/ Mystery. Macarbe
- The mothers fear for her family: " i could have done more to save them" she repeated again and again the same refrain.
The mothers child looks for answers to her mystery. They find the answers when they go through the handbags " I reached out for the frayed handbags and one by one for the first time , I examined their contents.
The horror is what happened to the mother "like a storim she would erupt and for hours she would weep"
Supernatural and mental illness
- The mother develops a mental illness after thinking about her family too much and begins to become obsessed with getting them out of Vilna
-"i could've done more" expresses her obsession with getting her family out of Vilna
-"she sat in the back room for hours reading a giddish book" because she is isolating herself because of her guilt.
Houses
"to the darker recesses of the house"
The house was dark and the old lady preferred to live in a dark bare house
The back room in her house was where she would sit and sleep all night "she sat in her back room for hours"
"And I often wondered, why did she prefer such a dark and bare room"
Please comment on this blog about the:
Plot
Character
Themes
Quotes
Meaning- what does the writer want you to think
in Beyond Night
Is there anything similar about this short story and other's within Dark House?
what are the characters afraid of?
how is fear created in this short story?
how do the characters deal with fear?
WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON SOME OF THE QUESTIONS POSED?
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