a grotesque life
A Grotesque Life
Southern Ontario Gothic, a form of story telling is perceived throughout these three stories, “Floating Bridge”, “Tricks” and “Wenlock Edge”, all told by the author of Alice Munro. These stories interact with the characters minds and how they perceive life through every experience they’ve gone through. All three stories have Southern Ontario Gothic in common due to all characters relate to having grotesque features whether in their appearance and or personality.
In “Floating Bridge” (FB) Helen is a product of incest parents and eventually put into the care of her foster family Matt and June. Helen’s social conditions from here on out is not considered part of the category of normal. Helen is considered a “freak” because of her up bringing and her attitude. She lives in a trailer surrounded by a broken down farmhouse and a cornfield. Her life and family don’t fall into the typical norms of family’s living in the country. We think of those people as wholesome, well brought up and hard working people, much on the contrary to Helen’s life. Her family is not the average family. They’re blunt, loud, and obnoxious. Her environment that she lives in impacts the way Helen acts towards people. She’s very forceful and rude at moments. But because of Helen’s up bringing and her life issues, she’s therefore built a shield to not let anyone in. Terrible things have gone on in her life with her and her family such as an “isolated farm, a dead mother and a mentally deficient daughter and a tyrannical, deranged incestuous old father, and the two girl children” (144). She’s only going to be stereotyped as having an evil soul because it’s the only way to describe her and what a nightmare her life is.
“Tricks” (T) displays Southern Ontario Gothic through one of the main characters. Joanne who is a bitter lady shows the audience very clearly of what somebody looks like who is 30 with a very high immaturity level. She’s an odd older lady with some
Southern Ontario Gothic, a form of story telling is perceived throughout these three stories, “Floating Bridge”, “Tricks” and “Wenlock Edge”, all told by the author of Alice Munro. These stories interact with the characters minds and how they perceive life through every experience they’ve gone through. All three stories have Southern Ontario Gothic in common due to all characters relate to having grotesque features whether in their appearance and or personality.
In “Floating Bridge” (FB) Helen is a product of incest parents and eventually put into the care of her foster family Matt and June. Helen’s social conditions from here on out is not considered part of the category of normal. Helen is considered a “freak” because of her up bringing and her attitude. She lives in a trailer surrounded by a broken down farmhouse and a cornfield. Her life and family don’t fall into the typical norms of family’s living in the country. We think of those people as wholesome, well brought up and hard working people, much on the contrary to Helen’s life. Her family is not the average family. They’re blunt, loud, and obnoxious. Her environment that she lives in impacts the way Helen acts towards people. She’s very forceful and rude at moments. But because of Helen’s up bringing and her life issues, she’s therefore built a shield to not let anyone in. Terrible things have gone on in her life with her and her family such as an “isolated farm, a dead mother and a mentally deficient daughter and a tyrannical, deranged incestuous old father, and the two girl children” (144). She’s only going to be stereotyped as having an evil soul because it’s the only way to describe her and what a nightmare her life is.
“Tricks” (T) displays Southern Ontario Gothic through one of the main characters. Joanne who is a bitter lady shows the audience very clearly of what somebody looks like who is 30 with a very high immaturity level. She’s an odd older lady with some
Cited: Munro, Alice. “Floating Bridge,” “Wenlock Edge,” “Tricks” in The Short Stories of Alice Munro Course Pack. Ed. Irene Ogrizek. Montreal: Dawson College. 2013. 1 - 56. Print.