Analysis Of Where Is Here 'By Joyce Carol Oates' Dream Collector, And The Raven
When I was home alone for a week, I spent most of the nights staying up playing video games. In the middle of the night, around 2 am, I dozed off for about thirty minutes and woke up to my dogs barking. So I looked to my left out the window at the street and there was a man or boy standing outside in the driveway. So I immediately set the alarm, but after I set the alarm and went to see if was he still there, he wasn’t. So after that I stayed up for the rest of the night, until one of my siblings came home. Transformation obviously creates fear because the settings can go from a nice, pleasant setting immediately to an alarming, gloomy, and frightening setting. This can be seen in the following three stories as well. Oates's “Where is Here”, Arthur Tress’ “Dream Collector”, and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” use transformations to make their stories more suspenseful and frightening to the reader.
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Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where is Here” use of transformations scares readers because it uses a setting described as being nice and peaceful to anger and gloomy setting.
This is effective because it causes readers to questions their own experiences of transformations and whether they had ever experienced this before. One example is when, “For years they had lived without incident in their house in a quiet residential neighborhood… ” (69). In contrast to, “He watched the stranger walk away- out to the sidewalk, out to the street, disappearing into darkness…” (76). This illustrates a change in the setting because before it describes a peaceful and quiet neighborhood but after the visit from the stranger the setting starts to change into a dark and eerie setting. Therefore, this transformation was effective because as the story progressed and changed themes, so did the parents and the entire
setting. Arthur Tress’ “Dream Collector” uses transformations to scare its reader by capturing the dark side of the children's’ dreams. It is effective because it shows how a simple, nice photo can become a dark, or even horrific, picture. For instance, “Photo 3: Young Boy and Hooded Figure, New York City, 1971” (84). This proves, a photo of a son and adult figure can change to something dark by changing the clothing and even the coloring. On contrary to a normal picture you might take maybe with the sun in the background with your friends, or even a picture of the moon or objects. Therefore, transformation is effective because it can produce a gloomy or horrific picture from a photo that had been pleasant and joyful, which can dramatically change perspective on the topic and focus. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” uses transformation to scare his audience by revealing what depression can do to the mind. It is effective because it describes a story’s setting of being peaceful and calm to becoming flustered and aggravated. For example, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-... As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.” (104). This proves a transformation is occurring because Poe describes a nice, peaceful winter day that is interrupted by a violate knocking on the character’s door. In contrast, you are having a nice day until you receive a bad grade or maybe a friend is having a bad day also, this are transformations that alike to Poe’s transformation. Therefore, transformation is an effective literary tool in Gothic stories, and Poe’s story is a great example of that. Transformation causes fear because it takes the original setting and then changes it to more wicked and evil setting, or sometimes it’s the opposite. Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where is Here” use of transformations frighten readers because it uses a setting described as being nice and untroubled to vexation and gloomy setting. Arthur Tress’ “Dream Collector” uses transformations to scare its reader by capturing the dark side of the children's’ dreams. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” uses transformation to scare his audience by revealing what depression can do to the mind. In conclusion, transformation can change the output of any story, whether it be good or bad, and leads to the great plots and imagination of Gothic literature, which can leave an audience in awe.
Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where is Here” use of transformations scares readers because it uses a setting described as being nice and peaceful to anger and gloomy setting.
This is effective because it causes readers to questions their own experiences of transformations and whether they had ever experienced this before. One example is when, “For years they had lived without incident in their house in a quiet residential neighborhood… ” (69). In contrast to, “He watched the stranger walk away- out to the sidewalk, out to the street, disappearing into darkness…” (76). This illustrates a change in the setting because before it describes a peaceful and quiet neighborhood but after the visit from the stranger the setting starts to change into a dark and eerie setting. Therefore, this transformation was effective because as the story progressed and changed themes, so did the parents and the entire
setting. Arthur Tress’ “Dream Collector” uses transformations to scare its reader by capturing the dark side of the children's’ dreams. It is effective because it shows how a simple, nice photo can become a dark, or even horrific, picture. For instance, “Photo 3: Young Boy and Hooded Figure, New York City, 1971” (84). This proves, a photo of a son and adult figure can change to something dark by changing the clothing and even the coloring. On contrary to a normal picture you might take maybe with the sun in the background with your friends, or even a picture of the moon or objects. Therefore, transformation is effective because it can produce a gloomy or horrific picture from a photo that had been pleasant and joyful, which can dramatically change perspective on the topic and focus. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” uses transformation to scare his audience by revealing what depression can do to the mind. It is effective because it describes a story’s setting of being peaceful and calm to becoming flustered and aggravated. For example, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-... As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.” (104). This proves a transformation is occurring because Poe describes a nice, peaceful winter day that is interrupted by a violate knocking on the character’s door. In contrast, you are having a nice day until you receive a bad grade or maybe a friend is having a bad day also, this are transformations that alike to Poe’s transformation. Therefore, transformation is an effective literary tool in Gothic stories, and Poe’s story is a great example of that. Transformation causes fear because it takes the original setting and then changes it to more wicked and evil setting, or sometimes it’s the opposite. Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where is Here” use of transformations frighten readers because it uses a setting described as being nice and untroubled to vexation and gloomy setting. Arthur Tress’ “Dream Collector” uses transformations to scare its reader by capturing the dark side of the children's’ dreams. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” uses transformation to scare his audience by revealing what depression can do to the mind. In conclusion, transformation can change the output of any story, whether it be good or bad, and leads to the great plots and imagination of Gothic literature, which can leave an audience in awe.