Assignment 2

The choice of an author’s descriptive text is essential if their aim is to illustrate the silent pictures of their mind. For instance, morbidly fat compared to obese brings to mind two vary drastic images. The first paints a picture of a 500 Lb man being extricated from his home by crane, the second; obese merely projects the sad but not uncommon image of a 300 Lb person devouring a cheeseburger.
Charles Brockden Brown is a master word smith. Rather than depict environment through flowery topographical words, Brown illustrates scenarios instead through the emotional and mental hardships endured by Edgar Huntley. In Ch 21 Brown begins his journey anew after a chance reprieve from pursuit and hardship. Fate provides a dwelling that enables him an hours rest and nourishment. Hope rekindled, he begins is expedition again with earnestness.
By the bottom of page 208 Edgar’s situation has again deteriorated. “Motion was the only thing that could keep me from freezing, and my frame was in the state which allowed me to take repose in the absence of warmth; since warmth where indispensable. It now occurred to me to ask whether it were not possible to kindle a fire.”
Brown’s subtly statement of Edgar’s mental repose due to the lack of warmth conjures a frightful image of sub-arctic conditions and the looming approach of deaths icy fingers. Edgar, seemingly delirious draws upon his last ruminants of self-will in order to consider whether a fire is even conceivable.
Edgar, spying his environment for the first time discovers that the rudimentary elements needed to create fire are at hand. Edgar reassured, “I might finally procure sufficient fire to give me comfort and ease, and even enable me to sleep. This boon was delicious and I felt as if I were unable to support a longer deprivation of it.” The reader can’t help but feel the bone chilling terror Edgar faces as hypothermia and fatigue rest to steal his life.
Edgar then attempts his scheme. “I took the driest of leaves, and endeavored to use them as tinder, but the driest leaves were moistened by the dews. They were only to be found in the hollows, in some of which were pools of water and others were dank. I was not speedily discouraged, but my repeated attempts failed.”
Browns simple use of the words dew, hollow, and dank presents a vast forest canopy, wet and cold, a rugged wilderness were man does not belong. Edgar shrouded in darkness envisions the warmth of a fire and is relentless until Mother Nature conquers his primal instinct to survive.
Brown’s textual style and ability to project mental images through the sensations Edgar encounters is extraordinary. His writing style does something to your guts when you read it. Other authors use flowery descriptive passages to create a setting. Rather than discuss a characters lack of warmth, other authors would have detailed windy conditions, rain, elevation, and temperature in order to establish credibility for a characters situation. Brown wastes no pen with these frivolities by delving purely into the psyche of his character. Truly Brown is a cut above his peers.

Terror/horror

To a blind eye the subtleties between terror and horror appear minimal. Inward reflection invokes many questions as to the very nature and cause of both sensations. For instance, can one experience occur without the other, is it necessary that one preclude the other? Indeed, both terror and horror create severe emotional affects upon the human psyche. Often in weaker individuals the sensations of terror and horror manifest in physical effects such as hyper-ventilation and vomiting.
Of the two, terror seems far more prevalent than horror. No doubt everyone can relate to the trepidations a fatal prognosis of a beloved family member. Death, but a notion, a circumstance without perspective until it knocks on your door. Another terror, even more happenstance is near miss collisions. Instantaneously blood pressure elevates, anxiety constricts the chest, and reflexives are impaired: impact inevitable. Certainly, near misses trigger that fight or flight enzyme all mankind possess. These are but two examples of real, every day terrors people experience.
Horror on the other hand happens when a person witnesses someone succumb to their cancer. Their body ravaged with pain, a once joyous spirit crushed with foreboding and fears of the unknown realm of death. Traffic accidents, a Loki Lou’s eye candy, twisted steel imprisoning families journeying to Disneyland. Passerby’s view mangled distorted bodies soaked in blood, children lying motionless never to run or play again. Gruesome sights like these often affect people inwardly so much as to make them sick or nauseous, yet we all slow down to view repugnance’s like this. Is morbid curiosity just an impulse?
If movie attendance sales are any indication of people’s desire to provoke sentiments of horror and terror than rest assure Death is coming to a theatre near you. Steven Kings’ Misery is one of the highest grossing terror/horror films of all time. The main character is stranded and injured, his hopes of salvation winnowing. Suddenly, a redeemer appears and courage springs anew within his soul. Later, gaining consciousness he discerns his rescuer is also his warden. Bedridden and incapacitated his mind endeavors to plot escape. His desperation and slight physical repair inspire him to make a desperate attempt at freedom.
The suspense the audience observes during the first escape attempt is unbelievable, yet even more tantalizing is the horror realized when his attempt fails. His would be nurse of course catches him and promptly teaches him a lesson in disobedience. Tied down in bed she places a block of wood between his feet, she then proceeds to crush both his ankles with a sledge hammer. The movie does an extraordinary job illustrating the escapees anguish. The sense of revulsion the audience experiences are intense to say the least. In the end though, like all American films, the villain is thwarted, his price for freedom intangible within the confines of most humans perspectives. Personally, I find both terror and horror distasteful, it is enough to know that evil exists; it is entirely another thing to invite it into your home and embrace it.

Terribly upset about this horrible blog experience

Sorry, this blog is inadequete. I currently have no internet. Right now I'm at the Columbia Basin College illegally and since its Friday they close at 4. I still haven't recieved my student loan, my girlfriend has gone nuts, and for some reason the filters at the public library won't let me access my blog. I hope to be struck by lightning later. I'll do my best to finish this assignment before tuesday.