Isolation In 'Secluded Mind Go Wandering'

Gothic commentary
My novel opening follows a man suffering from madness. Description of the old house isolated in the wilderness gives a gothic tone to the setting. Physiological gothic elements are shown in the title ‘Secluded minds go wandering’. The verb ‘wandering’ suggests that his ‘mind’ is straying. This in turn shows gothic elements such as madness.
Switching between a third and first person narrative stance creates mystery over the narrator of the story. This subsequently means that the audience questions the viewpoint of the story, therefore creating the possibility that the viewpoint is from Mr Parker. References to himself in 3rd person ‘Mr Parker’ reinforce his madness. The declarative sentence ‘I was going to let them out eventually’ has an apologetic tone, combined with the narrative stances hint that ‘Mr Parker’ is re-telling the story as a statement.
The paragraph sizes indicate the depth of detail, enabling the audience to immerse themselves deeper into the gothic descriptions. The majority of the story is in a high archaic register ‘unfortunately Mr Parker was not aware of his problems’. However register does drop in places ‘the promise of food and
lots of it should do the trick’. This bathos is appropriate as the descriptions of ‘Lewis’ are commonly animalistic, simple lexis help show his low intelligence – further showing animalistic resemblances. This gives a typical gothic vulnerability of the victim.
An interrogative mood ‘how else did he conjure up these ideas?’ gives a mocking satanic tone. The rhetorical question suggests that there is no reasonable reason, further shows the influence of his madness.
The Narrative stance possibly being from ‘Mr Parker’ creates some interesting points. Simple sentences such as ‘society does not allow much differentiation’ reduce fluency. The audience can then experience the development of his ideas in his disjointed mad way. A building up of tension can be seen through simple sentences ‘They needed taming. The stench was unbearable.’ This suggests a sudden outburst. Compound sentences in first person are seen ‘I once saw a documentary of a pack of lions bringing down an elephant, but Mr Parker’s pack had deserted him’. Thus showing his madness through both questioning himself and his animalistic resemblances. Repetition of anthropomorphic features ‘trundling’ ‘snorting’ create an animal like vulnerability for ‘Lewis’. This subsequently gives the novel opening a gothic feature of victimising. An interrogative mood ‘how else did he conjure up these ideas?’ gives a mocking satanic tone. The rhetorical question suggests that there is no reasonable reason; further show the influence of this madness. Furthermore it shows the gothic feature of mystery as there are no answers. Victimising is also shown in a lexical set of stalking ‘sniffing footsteps… mirroring his footsteps… stalking’.
The opening paragraph uses the noun ‘blood’ in ‘his blood had sent’.
It has two possible outcomes either his family or literal blood. This idea of uncertainty shows the gothic theme of mystery. More evidence of this mysterious tone is seen with a lexical set of darkness ‘shadows…dimmed…darkness’. Not having a clear vision builds up the atmosphere.
Personification gives a gothic tone ‘branches...peering’. The feeling of being watched adds a supernatural theme to the novel opening. The descriptive adjective ‘devilish’ suggest evilness of Mr Parker. It has connotations
Repetition of the adjective ‘every’ ‘every possibility explained, every outcome dealt with.’ emphasises Mr Parker’s ‘Years of work’. This highlights Mr Parker’s dedication and conviction showing the seriousness of his
madness.
‘crept into his mind’ the verb ‘crept’ suggests that Mr Parker is unknowing of his madness. This means that he does not have control over it. Combined with the later minor sentence ‘The stench was unbearable.’ -which stresses his dyer needs, foreshadows his outburst.
Cacophonic adjectives ‘crooked and reckless’ describe the picket fencing. This can be linked to Mr Parkers mentioned ‘mind’ fulfilling the gothic tone of madness.
Lexical set of magic ‘conjure’