Gothic Connections by Owen Brady

The Birth-Mark

obrady01 — 2023-11-10 19:20:15 UTC

By Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Yellow Wallpaper

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By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Good Country People

obrady01 — 2023-11-10 19:29:56 UTC

By Flannery O'Connor

Get Out

obrady01 — 2023-11-10 19:30:32 UTC

Directed by Jordan Peele

Midsommar

obrady01 — 2023-11-10 19:31:31 UTC

Directed by Ari Aster

Theme: Classism

obrady01 — 2023-11-21 17:29:39 UTC

In both Hawthorne’s The Birth-Mark and O’Connor’s Good Country People, there is a theme of classism. In The Birth-Mark, Aylmer’s assistant, Aminadab, is referenced as if he is inhuman. In this allegorical story he is simply there to serve. Alymer says “‘Carefully now Aminadab; carefully, thou human machine; carefully, thou man of clay!’” (11). Aylmer looks down on Aminadab because he feels that his intelligence makes him greater than him. Similarly, in O’Connor’s Good Country People Joy/Hulga is a very educated woman who looks down upon those who are not. She refuses to see Manley as a threat because she believes him to be a simple-minded country man. She even takes his faith in God as a sign that he is not intelligent and can not pose any type of threat. Joy/Hulga thinks to herself “True genius can get an idea across even to an inferior mind” (10). She thinks she is so far above Manley that she can take advantage of him. Even after she realizes Manley’s true intentions she is so confused how someone of his class can be anything more than “good country people”.

Theme: Isolation

obrady01 — 2023-11-21 17:42:22 UTC

In both works there is a theme of isolation. The Yellow Wallpaper’s narrator is taken to a new, remote house far from her own home and left alone. Gilman states “I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time. Of course I don’t while John is here, or anybody else, but when I am alone. And I am alone a good deal just now” (4). This isolation eventually becomes the leading cause of her descent into insanity. Similarly, Joy/Hulga is manipulated by Manley to walk with him to a remote barn. Manley then makes her remove her prosthetic leg, leaving her more isolated and vulnerable than ever. O’Connor writes “She gave a little cry of alarm but he pushed her down and began to kiss her again. Without the leg she felt entirely dependent on him” (14). While the characters in these stories have different reasons for being isolated, their isolation is a driving force in the story being gothic in nature.

Characters

obrady01 — 2023-11-21 17:43:31 UTC

Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Ari Aster’s Midsommar have similar character structures. More specifically, both stories have a clear gothic heroine. Chris, from Get Out, is orphaned at a young age and at the time of the story only has his girlfriend Rose and his friend Rod. This leaves him very vulnerable and more easily manipulated by the Armitages. Dani, from Midsommar, loses her parents and sister right at the beginning of the story. This establishes her isolation and extreme vulnerability for the rest of the story. Additionally, both characters have a heightened, and warranted, sense of paranoia which allows them to uncover more secrets about the position they are in.

Theme: Science vs. Nature

obrady01 — 2023-11-21 17:44:52 UTC

These stories both utilize a theme of Science vs. Nature. In The Birth-Mark, Aylmer becomes obsessed with the removal of Georgiana’s birthmark and decides to use his alchemy to achieve this. He is egotistical and acts as if he is a God amongst men. He even brags about how his poison gives him the power to end anyone's life should he so please. Aylmer states “‘No king on his guarded throne could keep his life if I, in my private station, should deem that the welfare of millions justified me in depriving him of it’” (9). In Get Out, the Armitage family lure in black people in order to use their bodies in the “Coagula” Procedure. In this world, the Armitage’s have perfected a procedure to extract a person’s brain and put it inside the subject’s head. They themselves have worked their way into playing God as they take lives and conduct this dark experiment. Both stories seem to put forth a message "just because you can does not mean you should", as both science experiments eventually go wrong for the gothic tyrants.

Theme: Loss of Autonomy

obrady01 — 2023-11-21 17:48:47 UTC

In Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper the main character is hidden away in her room in a new place because her doctor husband, John, believes he knows what is best for her. Her husband says “‘Of course if you were in any danger, I could and would [let her leave], but you really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know’” (6). No matter how many times she claims it is making her condition worse, he gaslights her into thinking she does not know what she needs. Similarly, in Peele’s Get Out, Chris is a smoker and trying to quit. Rose’s mother offers to hypnotize him to help but Chris decides against this as it makes him uncomfortable. Instead of taking his word, her mother ambushes Chris with a psychiatry turned hypnosis session, violating his boundaries. In these stories both John and Rose’s mother see the person they are treating as less than themselves. They therefore do not feel the need to take their feelings into account.

Get Out (Peele)

obrady01 — 2023-11-21 17:56:50 UTC

Chris's last memory of his mother's death

Midsommar (Aster)

obrady01 — 2023-11-21 18:00:03 UTC

Dani after hearing about the death of her whole family

Get Out (Peele)

obrady01 — 2023-11-21 18:03:37 UTC

Preparation for the Coagula Procedure

Get Out (Peele)

obrady01 — 2023-11-21 18:06:39 UTC

Chris falling into the Sunken Place for the first time