Literature of Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

For this week I read Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane . I really enjoyed this short novel and the underlying themes that went along with it. Some of the things I noticed were the revealing of reality and how it is never as it seems, comparison of adulthood versus childhood, and the idea of other universes. The one theme that I want to mention and expand on is the idea that every person or being has a different side to them, that is not outwardly visible. In the father's case, it seemed that he was being controlled by the "flea" Ursula Monkton and almost drowned his son in the bathtub. This makes you wonder - did the evil person/creature make him do this or was there something evil and resenting in him the entire time? With the main antagonist, Ursula Monkton, she is an evil creature from another world that entered the world that we know it, disguised as a human. This provides some interesting perspective, that sometimes the evilest traits and experiences...

The Hobbit

The reading for this week, under the category of the Heroic Journey, was The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkein. The most memorable aspect of this novel is the mythical creatures. Every part of this novel is filled to the brim of interesting and unusual characters, including hobbits, dwarves, goblins, gollums, and many other talking animals as well as shape-shifting creatures. Each creature has it's own set of interesting characteristics in the way they, talk, act, and think. The main character, the hobbit, for example, is very nervous-minded and is constantly comparing his situation to how it would be more comfortable at home. The wizard, Gandolf, is depicted as wise and stern in his manner, and purely set on his one objective of guiding the troop of dwarves and Bilbo. The goblins are depicted as nasty creatures that rule part of the land, and hunt ferociously. These descriptions are what lead the story, keeping you interested in what creature might appear next along their journey. Particular...

Interview with a Vampire

In this weeks reading, Interview with a Vampire, something that stood out to me was the way the author depicted what was considered good versus evil. Since the majority of the book is told from Louis's perspective, through dialogue in his interview, we get to learn about his beliefs as a vampire versus the other vampires around him. For example, Louis is depicted as a generally good character at the beginning. This is shown through his squeamish and hesitant nature about killing humans and his empathy towards their lives. He also points out that he doesn't realize he is able to take animal's blood rather than a humans. This appears as a sense of morality. This morality is directly contradicted with the personality of Lestat. He is depicted as a tough vampire who doesn't feel empathy and will hunt anyone he pleases. Later in the book he turns a little girl into a vampire which leads to his "death." He later comes back to life on more than one occasion to get h...

Allyssa Ellis

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