Essay Summary:

The essay compares and contrasts the genres of Gothic Literature and Magical Realism through the analysis of two stories: “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “House Taken Over.” It discusses the different settings, character reactions, and unknown events in each genre. While Gothic Literature typically has dark and creepy settings that torture the characters, Magical Realism takes place in known locations and often elicits unimpressed responses from characters. However, both genres involve supernatural events that lead to the characters’ distress. Overall, Gothic Literature has a spooky and unrealistic feel, while Magical Realism has a more realistic tone.

Essay Grade:

Total Score: 8/10

Criteria Score Explanation
Central idea/thesis 2 The central idea and thesis are clear and well-developed. The essay effectively compares and contrasts the elements of Gothic Literature and Magical Realism.
Skillful selection and 2 The essay provides skillful selection and explanation of evidence from the texts. The quotes from the texts support the arguments made in the essay.
explanation of evidence
Skillful and/or subtle 2 The essay demonstrates skillful organization of ideas. The essay flows smoothly and transitions between ideas are effectively utilized. The expression of ideas is rich and engaging.
organization & rich
expression of ideas
Embed quotes in body 2 The essay effectively embeds quotes from the texts within the body paragraphs to support the main points and arguments.

Improvements to be made:
– The essay would benefit from more specific analysis of the texts to support the comparisons and contrasts being made. Provide more specific examples from the texts to strengthen your arguments.
– Work on developing stronger topic sentences for each body paragraph to clearly introduce the main point or argument of each paragraph.
– Consider using more varied sentence structures to enhance the flow and engagement of the essay.
– Ensure proper citations for the quotes used from the texts.
– Expand on the conclusion to provide a more comprehensive summary of the comparisons and contrasts made in the essay.

Overall, great work on analyzing and comparing the elements of Gothic Literature and Magical Realism! Just remember to provide more specific evidence and analysis to strengthen your arguments. Keep up the good work!

Essay:

Tyler Chartier
Mrs. Cunningham
English II
12 October 2023
“The Fall of the House of Usher” and “House Taken Over” Compare and Contrast
Gothic Literature is a genre that is from England in the 1700s, these stories usually take place in medieval houses or castles that are dark and have been there for generations. Magical Realism is a 20th century writing style which combines reality and fantasy to make a story seem real but also very magical at the same time. Gothic Literature is not as realistic because it usually takes place in bleak unknown settings and whatever is happening is not always very realistic. Magical Realism takes place in known settings and whatever is happening is usually realistic. In “The Fall of the House of Usher” it takes place in a bleak setting and the unknown events are very crazy and not very likely to happen so the characters start to act differently. In “House Taken Over” the setting is in a known place and the unknown event is also very rare but the characters don’t really act any different as they stick to the same routine and have an unimpressed tone. “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a story that takes place in a very remote setting, it is a bleak dull house where a few strange events take place between Usher and Madeline, this leads to the collapsing of the family and the house. “House Taken Over” is in a known location, their house ends up having something in it and they are forced to run away. The stories are both very different when it comes to the setting, the characters and the unknown events but they can also be similar in some ways.
Gothic Lliterature and Magical realism both can have unique settings. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the story takes place in a very bleak and dull setting with nothing around the house. When traveling to the house the narrator realized it was a “dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year” (Poe 13). It was a very dark and gloomy day which makes the setting more gothic when it is creepy. The house was also a very dull and creepy place because there was a creepy interior inside. The setting of Gothic Literature is usually dark and creepy which usually messes with the characters as they are tortured by it in “The Fall of the House of Usher” it states “tortured by even a faint light” (Poe 18) which shows that the slightest thing can torture these characters in a gothic place. Different from Gothic Literature, Magical Realism takes place in more known places and they are not usually bleak or creepy. In “House Taken Over” the setting is in “Buenos Aires” (Cortazar 39), which is a city in Argentina. This setting is popular as it is the capital of Argentina. In “The Fall of the House of Usher ” and “House Taken Over” both of the houses are bigger houses that are spacious, these houses have also been in the family for multiple generations. The settings of Gothic Literature and Magical Realism can affect the characters due to the fact that in Gothic Literature they are tortured and in Magical Realism they can be unimpressed.
In Gothic Literature and Magical Rrealism the characters are very different from each other. In Gothic Lliterature these characters are tortured mentally as they believe something is going on which makes them become crazy. In “The Fall of the House of Usher” the reader sees that they are being affected mentally when “a mental disorder which oppressed him” (Poe 14) and “it infected me” (Poe 24) are stated because it shows that he has a mental disorder. This could’ve been caused by the gothic setting as he is being tortured and the narrator was infected as well. Unlike in Gothic Literature in Magical Realism the characters are usually unphased or unimpressed. The readers are shown this unimpressed tone when it is stated “‘in that case,’ she said, picking up her needles again, ‘we’ll have to live on this side’” (Cortazar 40). Irene is not very worried about what is on the other side as she is content with living on the side they’re already on and she went right back to knitting. They tried to act fine and make it seem like they are unaffected “you can live without thinking” (Cortazar 41) but clearly they are not fine as they are trying not to think about it which means it is messing with them. In “The Fall of the House of Usher” the characters are being tortured and are terrified of what is going on, they do not try to play it off and act all unimpressed because they are so scared. In “House Taken Over” the characters try to act all unimpressed and unbothered by the things that are taking place but in reality they are really terrified and just didn’t want to show it. The readerWe can figure out these characters’ personalities based on their reactions to the unknown events taking place.
Unknown events can be similar in both Gothic Literature and Magical Realism. These two stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “House Taken Over” have similar unknown events. In “The Fall of the House of Usher” the unknown events were supernatural events which led to them being tortured. In “House Taken Over” these events were also supernatural and led to them being tortured as well. In “The Fall of the House of Usher” there were a few different unknown events that took place, “most unusual screaming or grating sound” (Poe 28) is one that shows that the door to the vault was being opened and the only ones who would’ve opened it didn’t so they were scared. When Usher and the narrator were standing there and “I tell you that she now stands without the door” (Poe 30) is said which is telling us that she is now standing there with them and is in their presence. The narrator and Usher were terrified for their lives as they knew from the beginning that they heard her but didn’t want to do anything to help. They were unsure if she was still alive and she ended up being still alive which had the other characters insanely terrified. In “Housew Taken Over” something similar happens to the house. He “heard something in the library or the dining room” (Cortazar 39) heard something that was unusual and it wasn’t him or Irene which is strange because there was no one else there to make the noise. “‘They’ve taken over our section’” (Cortazar 41) this unknown thing has worked their way to the section that the narrator and Irene were living in. They were very scared as they knew something was with them but they weren’t sure what was. They tried to play it off and do the normal things like they used to do but this did not help them. This is similar to the Ggothic Lliterature because both had a house that had strange things happen to it. In Magical Realism story we had no clue what was happening to the house which is similar to the Gothic Literature story.
Gothic Literature and Magical Realism can have similarities and differences when it comes to certain aspects. They can be different in the setting, Gothic Literature usually has a creepy unusual setting while Magical Realism is a known place that is not very creepy. These settings are completely different. Gothic Literature and Magical Realism are similar in the characters because there is a narrator in both stories but also the characters that live in the houses are siblings. These characters are getting tortured by these events. The unknown event is also similar because both are strange and no one really knows what is happening. The characters are unaware of everything going on. Gothic Literature has more of a spooky and not very real feel to it but is still interesting and Magical Realism has more of a realistic and not as creepy vibe which also makes it interesting because the reader doesn’t know what will happen.