misunderstanding fear

John Mayer writes in his song “The Heart of Life” that “fear is a friend who is misunderstood.” Analyzing these lyrics in terms of the title helps provide insight into the fact that fear lies at the heart of all human life and is an emotion often deemed negative when it is actually simply misunderstood. In Henry C. Link’s introduction to Basil King’s Conquest of Fear, he introduces the idea that “as individuals we need difficulties to overcome” and extends that “fear is a stimulus to overcoming them” (Link). This concept that fear acts as a motivator in many of life’s hardships indicates that this avoided emotion is a necessary aspect of life. Link also refers to fear as the “the summons to putting forth new energies” once an individual accepts the idea that fear should not be feared. Rejecting the preconceived notion of fear in its negative connotation allows an individual to acknowledge the emotion as a guiding, motivating factor in life.

Narrowing the topic of fear

After my first lit x prewrite, Chia asked many questions in terms of attempting to narrow down the aspect of fear for my paper. I had previously been trying to keep it as broad as possible because i assumed that broad meant entering the situation with no preconceived thesis, but broad for me just meant wayyy to general.

So, as I have started to think about fear and brew over what i want to delve into for my paper, I think I want to focus on the roots of fear and how each person individually creates fear and associates fear with specific items or ideas.

More to come once i have officially finished my variety of Edgar Allen Poe's stories.

End of 'Salem's Lot

I just finished reading Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot. My Lit X paper focuses on fear and I figured starting with a horror novel would be the best, easiest place to start. Throughout the book, fear is a feeling that builds. It is often referred to as a growing feeling, an overwhelming sensation, or an undefinable nervousness and aprehension toward the unknown.
What I found to be most interesting in terms of plot progression was that fear was mentioned so much around the middle of the book where the plot was still growing, but very little at the end when the climax actually occured. I think this has something to do with the fact that King has to be descriptive while the story is being explained, but when fear is felt in extreme circumstances, like in the end, it almost disappears and is sidelined by adrenaline.

fear in 'Salem's Lot

"She had always consciously or subconsciously formed fear into a simple equation: fears = unknown. And to solve the equation, one simply reduced the problem to simple algebraic terms, thus: unknown = creaky board (or whatever), creaky board = nothing to be afriad of. In the modern world all terrors could be gutted by simple use of the transitive axiom of equality. Some fears were justified, or course... but until now she had not believed that some fears were larger than comprehension, apocalyptic and nearly paralyzing... insoluble." (306)

Susan Norton perfectly explains fear and preconceived notions of fear that many people associate with the feeling. Fear can be explained so logically and linearly when in a calm setting. Even reminiscing about fear does not allow a person to feel the extreme, paralyzing, larger than comprehension affect that Susan puts into words in this section of 'Salem's Lot.

I think this quote will be very helpful for me in my lit x paper because whether or not i use this quote, it allows me to get passed my preconceived notions that I associate with fear. It is so easy to look for fear in text or even to feel fear, but it is extremely difficult to explain or define the feeling. Throughout Stephen King's novel, fear is constantly referred to: a rising emotion "overpsilling logic" (284), "oppresive weight" "welling into her consciousness from a part of her brain that was usually silent" (282), "shaken fear" (225), etc.

Where to go from here? I am going to finish the book this weekend and then make a list of all of the quotes having to do with fear or fright. I want to look at trends and figure out what i want to read next and see if the paper starts to take shape on its own.

the start of 'salem's lot

I recently started my first lit x book 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. The reason i chose it is because it is known for being particularly scary, and i need to find books that somehow incorporate fear (either to the main character or the reader? I still haven't figured it out).
Anywayy... not that i expected the book to start out scary right away, but i am noticing some important things in terms of the build up to when the book will get scary. In scary movies (which i am very scared of) the music is what i think initially and throughout the whole movie gets the anticipatory fear started in the viewer. In books, however, the setting is described in depth and the ends of sections are ended in a very foreboding way.
So far, the town of Jerusalem's Lot is the stereotypical country town in Maine with places to get milkshakes and people referred to as the constable, etc. The only way one would know that it was a horror novel is the fact that the cover is somewhat disturbing and the main character is a writer who has disappeared for four years after the death of his wife in a motorcycle accident. He wants to write a book out of a house that seems a little creepy and his old aunt's house apparently burned down in a notable fire when he used to live with her.

NOTICEABLE:
-setting is important in building the anticipatory fear in the heart of the reader
-foreboding is out of control

Writing abot writing... My drafting process of SATF

Erin Ogilvy

What are the major content/critical thinking/writing issues that you were confronted with on this draft?
• I could not figure out how to incorporate quotes into the paper without turning the essay from exploratory to a regular lit analysis paper
• I don’t think I accomplished the task of finding a major point, but instead almost ended with a thesis?
• The first page or so of the essay went well and I was able to explore what family is to me, but then I think it all went downhill when I tried to assess the Compsons. My one focused topic that I was exploring seems to split into absolute chaos when I attempt to analyze the Compsons.
How well do you understand the content/substance of what you are writing about?
• My understanding of family is strong. I think my only problem with writing about family is the fact that there are so many various topics to possibly explore. My first draft had too many ideas, and when I tried to narrow it down in this second draft, I think I still strayed too much from one central issue.
• My understanding of The Sound and the Fury is very strong. Although I read the book over a month ago, through class discussions I have figured out the main themes and expanded how I originally perceived the characters when I read the book on my own.
What was your plan or strategy that you used to address these issues for this draft? Was this plan similar to the plans you have used in the past? How did you go from blank page to finished copy? How, and why, did you know those steps would work?
• I reread my paper twice before I started to rewrite and tried to pick one main theme to explore when I started writing again. Then, I read my paper out loud until I found a place in my first draft where my new theme started to deviate from what I now wanted to write. I usually read my papers out loud because I don’t always see that things don’t make sense or are unclear unless I hear them and physically have to pause because it doesn’t sound right when I read them. I usually resave my original draft and then start moving things around instead of starting with a blank paper. I knew these steps would work out for me because I have done them many times, however with this paper, I reached a point where I no longer knew where I should go with what I was writing.
What advice did you solicit for this draft? What was/were the source(s) of this advice? What advice were you given on this draft?
• I solely based by second draft off of suggestions made during writing group and from the few comments made by Mr. Chiappetta on my first draft. I wish I had gone in for a meeting, for although I sat down to write with the mindset that I knew exactly what I was doing, I reached a point where I wish I had thought through the entire paper more. Having a conference would have verified that I was going in the right direction, especially with a new type of essay style I do not know whether I fully encompassed (robo’s word of the day!) the full exploratory aspect.

Evaluation/Reader's Response

* Is Briony credible? Could she actually be a living, breathing human being? How does McEwan make the character seem so real?
* What, then, is McEwan’s opinion of Briony?
* What is your reaction to Briony? Are you sensitive to her and to her situation? Do you feel empathy toward her? Does she deserve what she “gets” in the story, or is her fate undeserved?
* Does Briony say anything to you personally? How do you relate/respond to her? Why do you respond the way that you do?

I think that Briony is credible in her mind, but in reality she is just making stories up to keep herself occupied. She is just like any other 13 year old girl trying to figure herself out but she has such an overactive imagination. In real life, i think Briony could exist, but for the most part, if her mother was more active in her life and taught her differently i think Briony wouldn't be as unbelievable. McEwan makes the character seem real by giving Briony the childhood sense of curiosity while still being able to keep a proper tone.
McEwan's opinion of Briony is the readers, i think. He portrays her to be slightly hated and disliked by the reader, while at the same time being the main character and needing to somehow connect to the reader.
I personally like Briony, but she doesn't seem to change much from her teenaged years to when she grows up. Yes, she is remorseful about what she did, but at the same time she still writes the book and could potentially be spreding mistruths.
I related to Briony a little in the sense that when I was little i had an active imagination, but i could always tell the difference between reality and what i wish were real.