Stories acquire to follow similar factors containing a main gothic element and a moral in the resolution for the purpose of entertainment, or a lesson for the reader or viewer to learn in daily life. The feather pillow, A rose for Emily and The masque of the Red Death all share one prime gothic element with the story Mrs. Peregrine’s home for peculiar children that enhance a moral from different aspects of a story. Human nature heavily impacts one’s judgement and varies by impressions that are reckoned throughout one’s life experience altering the perspective of its appearance.
The stories of The feather pillow and Mrs. Peregrine’s home for peculiar children, both share the gothic element of monsters by portraying an underestimated antagonist masking its truthful and ironic nature through its visual display. In The feather pillow, Jessica had been sick for days for an unknown reason with her naive husband lacking attention on the gravity of the circumstance by leaving her alone in bed expecting her to get better, while only getting worse as fruitless concern was implied.
When in fact, only having the cause of her sickness accompany her. The quote illustrates how, “On the pillowcase, either side of the hollow of Jessica’s head had two spots” by the creature leaving a predictable mark on the subject that had,”been sucking the blood out of her for five days. ” (Guraga 2) Due to the revelation of the cause of her death, the presence of human nature on assumptions and actions indicates the negative effects of belittlement in problems and procrastinating on finding the cause.
On the other hand, the quote, “Something occurred to me. Hadlever seen Mr. Barron’s eyes? Had I ever given either of them a hard look? How many other roles in my life had this chameleon played? ” (Riggs 288), demonstrates how the human display of Dr. Golan and his role being Jacob’s therapist aided his genuine intentions to be hidden. Moreover, both stories emphasize the consequences of judgement by assuming something’s aspect based on its visual appearance when lacking the knowledge of the content and shows how it can negatively affect the outcome.
The moral of the circumstances that both stories convey state that unexpected things come from unexpected places, taking up any shape or size which shows the reason why to never judge a book by its cover. In life, pain is inevitable and impossible to have an impact on an individual without any changes made on the mindset. The stories of a Rose for Emily and Mrs. Peregrine’s home for peculiar children, both share the gothic element of isolation that formulates the failure to aim to a stagnant happiness and how it predisposes abnormal behavior.
Emily is portrayed saying “Now she too would know the alone, how she would know the old thrill and old despair of a penny more or less” (Faulkner 1070), on the situation of having no exceptions on facing the conflict of being alone and how the gravity of paying taxes and obeying the law does not intercourse to the pain of isolation from everyone. Also, it shows the citizens’ views of her loneliness as revenge to the benefit of her exclusion from paying taxes and abrasive behavior towards everyone.
However, the citizens only perceived Emily’s view of her family position as superiority instead of viewing it as protection from being hurt by someone else after all the deaths that she had to deal with until she was completely on her own. Same house and same town, but a whole new different mindset and a directive that changed her behavior and actions. Furthermore, Jacob’s proclamation, “My grandfather had trampled her poor, pinning heart, and the wound was still raw, even this many years later. ” (Riggs 233), implies how in the story of Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar hildren Emma’s pain from Jacob’s grandfather leaving for the war had never vanished and was still as inherent as the memories of him.
This proves how the pain of missing a loved one caused Emma’s distance from everyone else to protect herself from getting hurt again. Also, it shows how Emma’s reason to block her feelings was because of Jacob’s arrival bringing all the years of waiting for Abe coming back to be only but lost hope. However, if Jacob had not come to tell the news, Emma would never have changed to her old self and would have been emotionally isolated from all the peculiar children.
Moreover, both of the following stories prove and give a lesson of a detrimental physical and emotional isolation after a loss of someone or something very important can never bring good outcomes and will always change a person either making them stronger or more experienced. For example, Emily isn’t leaving her house for years after having everyone close to her die having affected her health by making her go crazy and killing her server without being aware of the nonsense of her action.
Also, the aftermath of Emma having her heart broken for many years after Abe left in the real world which affected the person she became through all those years dealing with the pain. Paranoia subsequently comes into place during a time of danger, illustrating an individuals’ true colors when faced with the choices of life and death, which in most cases is putting one’s own safety prior to others. The stories of the Masque of Red Death and Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children, both share the gothic element of death/pain/blood taking place and how it alters fear in each individual.
In the masque of Red Death, fear of the time left in their own lives hides the fact of death eventually happening and being afraid is only causing people’s lives more miserable. The quote, “While the chimes of the clock yet rang, the gliddiest turned pale and the more aged passed their brows with reverie or meditation”(Poe 450), has portrayed old men and women as the wisest and happiest because of their awareness that if the masque of the red death did or did not take place, their time left would still be out of their own control.
Also, fear of safety from danger is a crucial factor in this story because in reality, no one is entirely safe anywhere, such as the fear of people being a danger to others and a fight for survival from “darkness and decay, or the Red death held will dominion over all” (Poe 452). On the other hand, the story of Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children shows the gothic element when Jacob’s grandfather was found by the hollows when his safety was underestimated.
The moment when, “His undershirt was soaked with blood and his pants were torn,” Abe’s death was foreshadowed with blood and Jacob’s pain was revealed when he claimed “I sank to my knees and pressed the flat of my hand against his back” (Riggs 233). Abe, Jacob’s grandfather, had seen safety as something he could control after he was exposed to the outside world and lived in it his whole life. After years fighting in the war, his perspective towards safety changed and made him unable to go back into the loop again and decided to face the danger instead of hiding from it.
It showed how it is better to face fears without having safety as a main concern in the real world, which eventually led to the danger of his own life, which never stopped the eventual outcome of death. Both stories teach the lesson that safety is not found anywhere and it implies that the only way to feel safe is to stop hiding from fears or running away from problems and face your fears to become stronger. In real life, time can’t be controlled except if there is a magic spell that stops time, it is not real life but a temporary escape that over time will be destroyed.
Every story teaches the viewer or reader certain morals and lessons by having a deeper meaning throughout the plot of the story. The feather pillow, A rose for Emily, The masque of the red death and Miss peregrine’s home for peculiar children all enhance a gothic element that connects with the end of the story with our daily lives faced every day. By saying this, literature throughout the years has not been changed, teaching the same stories and having the same books required because it teaches kids from all ages morals that are required to know to be successful in life. Unhealthy separation from society
