"The Child That Went With the Fairies," "The White Cat of Drumgunniol," and up to Chapter IX of "Carmilla"
Your blog comments will be due on Thursday, May 31st by 7:00 am. Blog
comments should be roughly 250 words in length and contain at least one
quote from the text. You may use the questions below for inspiration or
develop your own response if you wish.
1) Sheridan Le Fanu wrote many of these stories in post-Famine Ireland. One of his stories even mentions how "the famine years made great changes" ("The White Cat" 5). In what ways do you see the aftermath of The Famine represented in these three stories?
2) What are some of the narrative differences you see between the stories transcribed and copied down by Lady Wilde and the fiction of Le Fanu? Compare and contrast the narrators within his stories and the various functions they serve.
3)The metaphor of the vampire is certainly a capacious one. In terms of "Carmilla," how might we see the metaphor of the vampire functioning in
the Irish context? Who (or what) might Carmilla represent in the
social, political, and economic sense? Use examples from the text to
support your answer.
4) How would you characterize the modes of
sexuality in this novel? How do we see identity being “queered” or
“troubled” in this novel? Use examples from the text to explain your
answer.
5) Freud describes the uncanny as "that class of frightening things which leads us back to what is known and familiar" ("The Uncanny" 195). How do we see the uncanny at work in this text?
By: Lynn Schambow
ReplyDeleteI found that the use of the white cat in Sheridan Le Fanu’s “The White Cat of Drumgunniol” interesting. Seeing the white cat is a warning of approaching death (4). This curse seems a little strange but after the boy’s father sees the cat he dies. I think that in the main point of this story the boy’s great uncle is very wealthy but the fact that he is wealthy does not mean that he is a kind man. Fanu states money won’t soften a hard heart (5). The man was looking to become wealthier leaving a women that he promised marriage to for a women who had a large fortune. Later he has an encounter with the white cat and dies, but the weird thing is the cat sits on his dead body. Many people in the family see this cat and later die too. This curse that the great uncle gets effects the family and the family all suffers from the choice that the great uncle made. The cat seems like the fairies in the other stories we have read. I think this connection is there because the fairies were a reason for the unexplainable things that were happening. The white cat like the fairies, that we hear about today seem to all be good and help people not harm them. The white cat and the fairies both play more of a sinister role in these stories. They seem to be punishing people who mistreat others.
By: Ashley Kreul
ReplyDeleteIn the story Carmilla, it is again focused on the idea of middle class people being affected by the apparition of a vampire in terms of the idea of ancient aristocracy. In this story the narrator, Laura, tells her story about being inflicted by pain in her younger years by the vampire Carmilla, who supposedly bit her, but left no marks. Carmilla develops an attraction towards Laura in the ways that it is evident that there is a lesbian attraction from Carmilla to the narrator and it is the main idea of the story. To characterize the idea of sexuality would be that attraction between Carmilla and Laura. We see identity being “troubled” because it shows the tension and the connection that they have which is also the idea of “queer”. Carmilla shows that attraction while she comes into contact with Laura, and it’s not displayed through actions but through words and visions that Carmilla remembers and also that Laura describes from her childhood. The attraction that we see from Carmilla is evident in this quote to Laura: “I have been in love with no one, and never shall, unless it should be with you” (12). She also states that “I live in you; and you would die for me, I love you so” (12). This is the idea of showing attraction of showing the identity of the mode of sexuality. Laura does say though that since she was drawn to Carmilla, she doesn’t know how to feel but in a way she’s feeling sort of drawn but there was also a feeling of repulsion. They do end up kissing in the story which shows that attraction between the two.