🏚️ Gothic Lit
A Gothic author describes an empty hallway, flickering lights, heavy rain, and distant footsteps. These details primarily develop this literary element.
What is mood?
In “Where Is Here?”, what ordinary event becomes increasingly disturbing?
A stranger visiting a family's home.
Repeated references to freezing temperatures, snow, or ice in “Windigo” are examples of this.
What is imagery?
Wiesel survived the Holocaust and later became an author, professor, and activist. According to the article, what larger cause did he devote much of his adult life to?
Defending human rights and peace / oppressed people.
Coach Weems has how many siblings?
2
A character enters a place that appears normal but slowly begins noticing things that are “off.” Why is this effective in Gothic literature?
It makes the familiar become unfamiliar or threatening, creating uneasiness and suspense.
Why is the stranger's detailed knowledge of the house important?
It makes him seem invasive, mysterious, connected to the past, and potentially threatening.
Why is hearing the Windigo's voice directly more disturbing than having another narrator simply describe the creature?
It puts the reader inside the threat's perspective, making the danger feel closer and more personal.
After World War II, Wiesel originally remained silent about his experiences in the concentration camps.
What event helped convince him to break that silence?
His interview/conversation with French writer François Mauriac persuaded him to speak about his experiences and eventually write Night.
Coach Weems has worked in education for how many years?
6
What is the difference between suspense and mood?
Mood is the feeling created for the reader; suspense is uncertainty or tension about what will happen next.
In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the house functions as more than just a setting.
What does it reflect?
The mental/emotional deterioration of the Usher family/Roderick Usher.
In “Beware: Do Not Read This Poem,” the repeated warnings actually encourage the audience to keep reading.
What effect does this contradiction create?
Curiosity, suspense, tension, or irony.
$400
The article describes Wiesel and other prisoners being transported by “cattle car.”
Why is that wording significant?
It emphasizes the degrading and dehumanizing treatment of Wiesel and other Holocaust victims.
I’d require the word dehumanizing or an explanation equivalent to it for full points.
That is directly connected to one of the questions they completed.
Coach Weems played college basketball at what college?
Dean College
A writer never actually shows a monster but repeatedly describes locked doors, strange noises, missing objects, and a character becoming increasingly paranoid.
What Gothic technique is the author relying on most?
Psychological fear / uncertainty / suggestion rather than direct horror.
Both “Where Is Here?” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” use houses.
Explain one important similarity in how the houses function.
Both homes become reflections of fear, instability, secrets, memory, or psychological conflict, rather than simply being locations.
magine a poem begins:
Don't open the door.
Don't touch the handle.
Don't listen to the knocking.
What TWO techniques are working together to build tension?
Repetition + imperative language/direct commands + suspense
Which statement BEST captures the central idea of the article?
A. Wiesel became successful because of the many awards he received.
B. Wiesel tried to forget the Holocaust and build a completely different life.
C. Wiesel used his Holocaust experiences and his voice to advocate for human rights and peace.
D. Wiesel is remembered mainly because Night became internationally popular.
C
How many tattoos does Coach Weems have?
11
Why can an unreliable or limited narrator make a Gothic story more frightening?
Because the reader cannot completely trust or understand what is happening, which creates uncertainty about reality, danger, and the narrator's interpretation.
Across Unit 2, characters frequently lose confidence in places or things that should make them feel safe.
What larger Gothic idea does this pattern develop?
The idea that safety and normalcy can be fragile, and ordinary environments can hide danger, fear, trauma, or uncertainty.
Both “Windigo” and “Beware: Do Not Read This Poem” make the reader feel threatened.
What is one major difference in how they create that threat?
Answers can vary, but students should explain something like:
Wiesel experienced enormous tragedy, but the article spends significant time discussing what he did afterward.
Why is that important to the author's central idea?
Coach Weems graduated from what high school?
Buena Vista