If you haven't finished reading Alcott's "A Whisper in the Dark," stop reading here and go finish the text. My prompt will ruin the ending, and I would hate to rob you of the excitement.
Ok, if you have finished, please continue reading below.
Alcott's "A Whisper in the Dark" plays with the gothic tradition that "things are not what they seem." We see this in interpersonal relationships at the beginning of the text. We have an uncle and niece with an admittedly inappropriate relationship. Two cousins, Sybil and Guy, who seem to share a strange, unspoken connection. And, of course, there's Sybil: we're not quite sure what to make of Sybil.
The second half of the text, though, introduces the concept of insanity. At this point, not only are things "not what they seem," but we also learn that our narrator might be unreliable. She's is in an insane asylum, after all. How does the introduction of concepts of insanity (especially on the part of our narrator and her mother) change the text? How does the concept of insanity alter our reader reception of the message? How does it change our previous ideas about the all important mother/daughter relationship in nineteenth-century society/fiction?
Remember to use the text in your posting, always drawing on the narrative to draw your own conclusions.
Happy blogging!
Ok, if you have finished, please continue reading below.
Alcott's "A Whisper in the Dark" plays with the gothic tradition that "things are not what they seem." We see this in interpersonal relationships at the beginning of the text. We have an uncle and niece with an admittedly inappropriate relationship. Two cousins, Sybil and Guy, who seem to share a strange, unspoken connection. And, of course, there's Sybil: we're not quite sure what to make of Sybil.
The second half of the text, though, introduces the concept of insanity. At this point, not only are things "not what they seem," but we also learn that our narrator might be unreliable. She's is in an insane asylum, after all. How does the introduction of concepts of insanity (especially on the part of our narrator and her mother) change the text? How does the concept of insanity alter our reader reception of the message? How does it change our previous ideas about the all important mother/daughter relationship in nineteenth-century society/fiction?
Remember to use the text in your posting, always drawing on the narrative to draw your own conclusions.
Happy blogging!
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