Theme Analysis

The Lottery

          The mood in the beginning of this story sounded innocent and happy because of the way the story opened up to. Warm sunshine, green grass and vibrant colored flowers. The mood also kind of made me feel safe in a way. The mood of the story shifted from innocent to sort of a dark, suspenseful and sinister feeling. I think this mood was tapped into after the children finished gathering stones then smiling at each other. The mood became more intense when the black box made it's presence, everybody was quiet and sort of afraid of the box. The mood in the beginning which was a rainbows-and-unicorns kind of feeling shifted greatly to ominous and sinister.
          In "The Lottery" Shirley Jackson used symbolism, tone/theme and imagery to convey the dark side of this all american town. This story shows one of mankind's darkest desires, in this case bloodlust and playing God and dumb superstitions. The people of this town believe that sacrificing a person will benefit them in the future. Although it's really,really,really, truly, very, very, very, mostly really unnecessary, tradition is habit that isn't hard to break. These are old fashioned people...really old fashioned people. This connects back the Aztec times when the natives used to sacrifice people to please their gods. The difference between these two events is that during Aztec times, sometimes the natives volunteer to be sacrificed, they aren't being held against their will like Tessie from "The Lottery". Aztecs volunteer humbly and "The Lottery" people JUST GOT IT ALL WRONG.

Horror Story

Impossible is Nothing

          "Turn it off Matt" Sheila instructed her little brother Matt. It was movie night for the Dunphy siblings, Sheila and Matt. That night they watched The Grudge. Sheila is a 19 year old teenager with long black hair with green eyes. Matt is 17 years old and unlike Sheila has short dirty blonde hair and deep brown eyes. Sheila who was sitting on the couch, pulled her blanket above her head sighing. Trying to erase the scary movie images from her brain. All of sudden, something pounced on her and made a voiceless aaaaaa sound. Sheila yelped and pushed whatever was on her off. She stood up to see Matt laughing on the floor.

          "You're not funny Matt!" Sheila's voice boomed as she threw one of the couch cushions towards Matt's face. The collision interrupted his triumphant laugh. She crossed my arms and scoffed. Matt recovered from the couch cushion's impact on his face and resumed to taking out the CD from the DVD player. He turned to Sheila after putting the CD back into it's case, with a mischievous look on his face.

          "Don't even" Sheila warned reading his face. Matt let out a whine.

          "C'mon Sheila, you used to be more fun when were were younger. Remember when I was 6 and you were 8 then we hid under the bed to scare dad. We grabbed his feet and he freaked!" Matt reminded. Sheila let out a laugh from the memory of their dad's priceless face. She sat by Matt. "Now you're so uptight." Matt grimaced. Sheila's face fell hurt from Matt's words.

          "It's been a year since mom and dad died Matty, someone has to be in charge." Sheila replied firmly.

          "Why does it have to be you?" Matt challenged rudely.

          "Because you're only 17 and I'm 19 therefore I'm considered the adult." Sheila barked back at him. Matt stuck his tongue out. "Grow Up!" Matt finally left the living room. Sheila sighed in relief.

Now you're uptight. Now you're uptight. Now you're uptight. Matt's rude remark echoed across Sheila's head. He's right Sheila thought. Sheila's mouth curved into a devious grin like Chesire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. "I'll show you whose uptight." Sheila said to herself in a voice barely above a whisper. Sheila planned to impersonate the grudge that crawls towards Matt when he enters his room. Sheila smiled at her idea then crept up the stairs towards Matt's room. She paused to hear Matt brushing his teeth in the bathroom. She glanced through the doorway creek and caught Matty dancing. "Dork" she smirked. She opened Matt's door ever so quietly and tip toed inside. The stench of sweat and dirty laundry filled up Sheila's nose. Sheila gagged but covered her mouth to prevent anymore noise. Sheila prepared herself into her attack mode. Sheila got into a disfigured bone placement position and threw her long black hair over her face ready to strike. Sheila stayed in this position for about 10 minutes but Matt still didn't come into his room. She finally gave broke down in disappointment and defeat. Sheila flew opened the door and called, "Matty! Where are you?". Sheila waited a few seconds for a response but nothing. She looked into all the rooms upstairs calling Matt. She raced down the stairs, looking into the living room, the kitchen and backyard. The silence and furniture greeted her. Sheila who was worried now yelled at the top of her lungs, "Matty!" The garage door behind her flew opened.
          "What?!" Matt finally answered annoyingly yanking his blasting earphones out. His brown eyes bewildered from Sheila's sudden loud calling.
          "Where were  you?!" Sheila demanded. Matt's annoyed expression didn't change. "I saw you brushing your teeth in the bathroom, so I hid in your room to scare you. You don't come so I came out, looking and calling for you but you didn't answer." confessed Sheila.
          "What're you talking about? Wait, you were trying to scare me in my room?" Matt asked his annoyed expression turning to amusement. He began to laugh but stopped. "Hold up, you said you saw me in the bathroom?" he looked puzzled now. "I've been in the garage this entire time fixing my skateboard." Sheila didn't buy it.
          "Haha, very funny Matt" Sheila accused.
          "Why don't you see for yourself." Matt replied coolly gesturing to the garage. Sheila strutted into the garage and actually saw his skateboard laying on it's back with tools scattered around it. She felt her heart fell a little. Your mind's playing tricks on you Sheila thought reasonably. Sheila excused herself for the rest of the night to her bed. The next morning, Sheila woke up around 3:30 and saw the grudge by her door.
          "OH MY GOOOD!" Sheila reacted immediately turning on the light. She snapped her head back to where she saw the grudge. She sighed in relief when she saw that she just saw a black wig hanging above a white dress hanging against her door. "Matt" Sheila groaned pulling the covers over the head. This always seemed to help her calm down. Despite her effort in trying to fall back asleep, she couldn't so she flinged her covers off and decided to take a jog. She dressed up then started tying her Adidas laces together reciting their logo. "Impossible is nothing, Adidas." She grabbed her car keys and went out the door. Sheila turned on her car, listening to her engine roar to life. She revved her car to warm in up. Just after she drove off their driveway something caught her eye in her rear view mirror. The grudge like appearance appeared in her bedroom window. "You just don't know when to stop? Do you Matt?" Sheila scoffed and drove around the block.
          She pulled over to text Matt "Okay Matt, you got me twice this morning already. Go back to sleep its 4 in the morning. I'm gonna go for a jog, I'll be back in a few hours with grub."
          "I don't know what you're talking about" Matt texted back 5 minutes later.
          "Typical" Sheila replied when she read Matt's text. After about 2 hours, Sheila came back home from her jog with iHop breakfast. "Matty, breakfast!" Sheila sang. Sheila didn't bother waiting for Matt, instead she helped herself while checking her phone. Matt texted her back saying he went out skating. At that moment Sheila heard 2 thumps upstairs. She took her taser gun out of her bag and sprinted quietly up the stairs. Once she reached the top, she saw that 2 books fell out the book shelf. Sighing with relief, Sheila bent down to put them away. While putting the books back in place, something pushed her lightly. Sheila reacted screaming and waving her taser gun in the air to see her brother Matt laughing. Sheila launched her taser gun at him in anger. He dodged and immediately started to apologize.
         "C'mon Sheils! It's a joke. I'm sorry, really I am." Matt apologized hugging Sheila. Sheila hugged him back. Suddenly Sheila heard the front door downstairs open.
           "Hey Sheils, I'm back. I'm so hun-WAFFLES!" the voice downstairs called out. A voice Sheila recognized as Matt's voice. Realization came at Sheila like a punch in the face. She pulled herself from the hug and saw that she wasn't hugging Matt at all and never did in the first place. Right in front of her, stood The Grudge in the flesh.
           "That's impossible!" Sheila managed to say through her hyperventilation.
           "Impossible's nothing" a voice croaked in Sheila's head. She looked at The Grudge standing right in front of her. The grudge was smiling sinisterly, blood trickling down the sides of her mouth.
           "MATTY!"

Chapter 2 Character Continuation

Marin

          Marin who was too busy dancing under the streetlight didn't notice a speeding car coming around the corner and was heading towards her. Marin gasped as she now noticed the car speedily approaching her, she jumped out of the way head first. The car swerved and bumped into the streetlight pole, causing the light bulb to fall and bringing darkness to the streets. The only light came from the car and a couple of houses.

          

         "Oh My God!", said the man, out and came to Marin's aid. He turned off his car leaving only the headlights on as a reliable light source.

          "Ohhhh my arm!" Marin cried out holding her arm. Marin glanced at the man approaching and thought he was cute. He had a built body, curly hair and was about 6 foot. She pulled up her skirt a little exposing her legs.

          "I'm so sorry,  here I'll take you to the hospital. I'm Caleb. What's your name?"Caleb asked, helping Marin up.

          "I'm Marin, what were you doing?!"Marin asked Caleb pretending to be angry although her arm really did hurt.

          Caleb gently led Marin to his car and replied,"Again Marin I'm so very sorry, I was eating soup and I spilled some on my pants and it was really hot."Marin took a glance to the car Caleb was driving. It was a black chevy camaro with lavender lights. Score Marin! Rich and cute, play hard to get with him Marin thought as she sat in his car. Marin saw the tofu bits, seaweed and soup scattered all over the driver's seat and saw the wet stain on Caleb's pants. The car reeked of a new car smell, Men's Axe and miso soup.

          "Please just take me to the hospital now, I'm in pain." Marin said impatiently as she buckled herself in the passenger's seat, while Caleb closed her door. Caleb observed the damage he done swearing to himself at the same time, after a few minutes, he buckled himself and turned his key. The engine roared to life.

          

          While in the car, Marin looked out the window, avoiding Caleb's eyes during the ride. Caleb who was driving, kept looking over to her to make sure she was okay.

          "Will you please quit looking at me, I'll be fine as soon as we arrive." Marin said annoyingly.
"I'm sorry, its just that I almost ran you over. If I hadn't seen you, you would've been in a much worse state than that street light I crashed into." replied Caleb.

          "Well you should've paid attention to the road, you idiot. What type of person eats soup while driving. Heck! What are you doing speed driving at this hour?." Marin snapped, turning her head towards him.

          "Well in my defense, you shouldn't be under the streetlight, while spinning in the middle of the road either." Caleb snapped back. Marin looked away, embarrassed.

          "It's movie night for me and my boyfriend, I didn't want to be late so I started to speed drive and I accidentally spilled hot soup on myself."Caleb confessed impatiently.

           The word boyfriend was tapped dance across Marin's mind. It's always good ones. Might as well stop trying. Marin thought.

          "I'm sorry Caleb, I shouldn't of had acted like I was the only victim. But it's a two way street too, please be careful while driving." Marin apologized, proud of what she managed to say at the top of her head. She really did meant it though.

          "I will from now on Marin, I'm sorry for talking to you like that...so why were you dancing under the streetlight?" asked Caleb. Marin scoffed to herself, imagining what a big idiot she must've looked like.

          "You'll laugh if I'll tell you."Marin finally blurted out.

          "Try me." challenged Caleb. Marin accepted this challenge and from this moment to the moment they arrived at the hospital both Caleb and Marin vented to each other about each others problems.

          "Marin, maybe you shouldn't try so hard. You're still young, go for adventure and invite danger into your life. There's a whole new world out there. You'll find the one when the time is right. I know I did." Caleb concluded to Marin, smiling to himself. At that perfect timing, they arrived at the hospital.

          As Marin and Caleb entered the hospital, they reported the incident to the receptionist then a nurse came by to aid Marin leaving Caleb behind. Marin looked back to see Caleb smiling and waving towards her, she waved back. After about 1 hour, Marin came out of the room and was surprised to see Caleb waiting in the waiting room.

          "Hey, how are you?" Caleb asked while jogging towards her, Marin felt herself smile.

          "You waited for me?" Marin asked, apparently touched by his choice. Caleb nodded to her. "What about your boyfriend? Won't he be upset?"

          "Nah, he'll understand. Of course I waited for you. I want to make sure we leave this place peacefully and not at each others throats. Marin chuckled. Nobody's ever done this for me before she thought to herself.

          "Um the doctor said, I just sprained my wrist and that the recovery time would be about 1 month." Marin announced showing Caleb her wrist.

          "You know what Caleb? You're right. We should leave this place peacefully but also think we started off the wrong foot. Let's start over. Hi! I'm Marin."Marin said to Caleb holding out her hand. Caleb laughed as he shook her hand.

          "Okay, I'm Caleb, what happened to your arm Marin." he asked.

          "Oh you know, some idiot almost ran me over." replied Marin jokingly. Don't lose hope, maybe he's bisexual Marin thought happily to herself.

Point of View Study

Vincent

          I am a 7 year old boy named Vincent Malloy. The dark entities of my imagination drive me, Edgar Allen Poe satisfies my hunger for horror and Vincent Price is the one thought that will always help get me through the day from the moment my morning eyes open. He really is my inspiration.
       
           Other kids play and dream of delicious sweets whereas I spend time plotting my family's end. But of course, my family doesn't see me that way. They see me as plain old Vincent, young, polite, considerate and "normal". Normal kids fly around with tied on capes pretending to be a superhero, I pretend to be famous horror figure, Vincent Price.
       
          I spend time experimenting, inventing and reading. I experimented on my dog to try to make him a living dead being, HA it didn't work out. I invent disfigured toys and I read horror genres. There was this one time I read a passage from Edgar Allen Poe's works that said that he buried his mother. With my stubborn curiosity, I couldn't simply just ignore what I just read so I dug into the Earth to see if it was true. It was only then when I realized that it was my mother's flower bed.

          My mother scolds me occasionally for being the way I am. With the loneliness I feel, friends won't make the pain ease up, my imagination is my only escape away from this pain. There's a difference between being abnormal and misunderstood, my mother obviously discards misunderstanding and claims me her own son, abnormal. She doesn't understand what it feels like to feel...alone.          

Internal vs. External Conflict

Tell-Tale Heart

          The internal conflict of story is the narrator's battle between skill and insanity, his schizophrenia and psychosis. The narrator describes the old man to be loving, kind and that old man never did him wrong. But he believes that he must end the old man's life simply because the old man's "evil eye" disturbed him. Eventually he ends the old man's life and while being questioned by the police, his guilt overcame his joy so greatly he was driven to confess and even expose where he buried the old man.

          The external conflict of the story is the police arriving at the old man's house because a nearby neighbor heard a the old man scream. The narrator plays it cool throughout the whole investigation but seems to hear a loud noise that no one else seems to hear except him. Eventually, to end the ruckus inside his head, he bashes his chair to the floorboards, exposing where he hid the old man's body and confesses.

          One of the lessons I learned is that killing a person, whether it was the right thing or not, it will still affect you, unless you have no humanity. In this case, killing the old man, filled up the old man with guilt. “See, rage is a really powerful feeling. But guilt… take it from me, guilt will destroy you." -Stefan Salvatore of The Vampire Diaries.
         

Mastering Narration

          ALMA

          One snowy day in a what appears to be a secluded city, a young girl named Alma was walking down an alley. In the alley, there was a shop and lots of walls. Among those walls there was one where there was names written on it. The shop had windows that arranged into a menacing face but the dolls in the shop drew attention from it. The wall of names was spotted by Alma and without hesitation she added her name to the wall as well.

          After writing her name on the wall, Alma turned around to see a doll in a shop, the shop with the menacing face. Enchanted by the doll in the shop, Alma walked towards the shop's window to have a closer look. Surprised, that the doll looked like her and was wearing the exact same outfit, she looked again to confirm, only to see the doll gone.

          Alma looked through the window to see the doll standing on a table. She then attempted to open the door to the shop but failed many times as the door refused to open. Convinced that the door wasn't going to open she began to walk away, but just as she was about to, the door opened. With glee Alma entered the store, unaware that the door behind her was slowly closing.

          While walking towards the table, she stumbled upon another doll, a boy riding a windup bicycle on it's side. She set the doll on the bicycle upright then the doll began to head for the open door on it's windup bike, but the door closed before the doll could escape. Alma returned to the table to see the doll disappear again.

          Determined to have the doll as her own she frantically began to look for it. Alma then spotted it on a shelf with other dolls. As she began walking towards the shelf and eventually climbing it, the dolls on the shelf remained motionless except for their eyes which appeared to be fixed on Alma who remains unaware of their wandering eyes.

          As the dolls were watching Alma, who was on her toes stretching to reach the doll, finally touched the doll and suddenly felt a rushing surge. Alma woke up, confused why her vision is from a high view and why she was unable to speak or move. Realization began to take over Alma as she sees herself surrounded by dolls who also have suffered the same fate she has, having their spirits transferred to their dolls.

          A squeaking like sound came from the floor of the shop. Alma and the other dolls watched with their eyes to see another doll emerge from the floor. The doll had red hair and was wearing a red dress. The doll was then displayed by the window, waiting for it's next victim.

Scary Legend

Kuchisake-Onna

          This legend is about a woman seen at night and is described having long black hair, a white long white dress and a facial mask concealing only her mouth. Behind the mask, her mouth is slit from ear to ear hence her name Kuchisake-Onna meaning "slit-mouthed woman" in Japanese. The legend is set in Japan during the Sengoku period. A samurai scarred his wife's mouth after finding out she had an affair. She died in the grip of extreme emotional pain and anger thus the birth of an unrested spirit. Let's give Kuchisake-Onna a nickname, KO, because Kuchisake-Onna is a mouthful...ahaaa see what I did there?
       
          According to legend, KO comes at night. She approaches people asking them, "Am I beautiful?" then she removes her mask to show them her mouth. If the questioned person replies no, KO will cut that person in half with a pair of scissors she carries with her. If the questioned person replies yes, KO will cut that person's mouth like hers and will say, "Thank You, now you're beautiful too." If you try to run away from KO she'll just reappear in front of you again. In some other versions of the legends, it's possible to escape from KO. For an example, you can throw candy at her which will keep her distracted hopefully enough for you to run. Another example is by confusing KO, answer her question with another question.

         There was this one reporting in Korea, where a lady wearing a facial mask was chasing children. During the chase, she was accidentally ran over by a car and the collision caused her mouth to be slit from ear to ear. I don't know how getting ran over by a car can cause your mouth to be slit from ear to ear. Maybe the car had spikes or something. Jeez KO you shouldn't of had cheated on your husband.