The Griding Place By Gertrude Atherton

The 1896 short story “The Striding Place” by Gertrude Atherton is one tale that could be described as a chilling story that is gothic in nature. Many factors can characterize a story as gothic, even features as simple as the author's and narrator's word choice. This story can be called gothic because it has multiple elements that help prove this classification is correct. The gothic setting,“ high, even overwrought emotion”(Elements of the Gothic Novel), and supernatural or unexplainable element can show that this is naturally a gothic story.
Gothic stories are filled with a mysterious and dark atmosphere. The setting could definitely make or break a gothic story. The bleak night time setting in “The Striding Place” is added to the list of
gothic characteristic this story has. The “heavy rain” (232), and “the black quiet of the woods” (235) are examples of gothic vocabulary that set dark ambience. The narrator saying “it was very dark in the depths where Weigall trod” (233) and ”there was no lonelier spot in England, nor one which had the right to claim so many ghosts, if ghosts there were” (235) can make readers imagine this creepy environment.
In a gothic story “the narration may be highly sentimental, and the characters are often overcome by anger, sorrow, surprise, and especially, terror. Characters suffer from raw nerves and a feeling of impending doom. Crying and emotional speeches are frequent. Breathlessness and panic are common” (Elements of the Gothic Novel). We can tell that Wyatt Gifford is Weigall’s closest and most loved friend since we were informed “in the thirty-two years of his life he had never known another man to whom he had cared to give his intimate friendship” (237).
As soon as the story begins we can see that Weigell is anxious about the disappearance of his best friend. “Weigall did not believe for a moment that Wyatt Gifford was dead, and although it was impossible not to be affected by the general uneasiness” (233) and “Weigall’s affection for his friend was too deep to companion with tranquillity in the present state of doubt”(233), both show how he was worried about his friend vanishing. That is just one emotion that possessed this character; we can also feel his nostalgia and longing for moments with his best friend again. “He smiled as he recalled a remark of Gifford’s” (233) and “Weigall strolled along, smoking, and thinking of his friend, his pranks” (233-234), show that during his walk through the woods he was reminiscing on his great moments with his friend. Suddenly, “Weigall’s superstitious terror left him” (236) so we know the next feeling he experienced was terror after he discovered a hand. The many emotions that Weigall felt were also felt by the readers as the story progressed on.
The foundation of Gothic stories is the supernatural element it brings. We see this supernatural or unexplainable event in the last line of the story where the narrator says “there was no face”(237). The narrator finds his childhood best friends body but without a face; this scenario is indeed an unexplainable event. Finding a faceless body is a
type of situation a gothic story feeds on. The weird and unexplainable situation put in a gothic provides a reaction which is what the author hopes to receive by writing gothics.
When reading the story “The Striding Place” by Gertrude Atherton the things that make this story a gothic are easily seen: a dark and bleak atmosphere, substantial emotion through the story, and odd events. The narrator and author’s creepy word choice changes reader's emotions and imaginations to an eerie sense. The mysterious events that happen in these gothics give the authors what they want out of a reader: a way to make them react and contemplate the story. “The Striding Place” is one story that easily fits as a gothic due to its many eerie characteristics.