LITR 4232: American Renaissance

Sample Student Research Project, fall 2004

Jessica Lightle

18 November 2004

Gothic Contrast

            The gothic element can be found throughout American literature.  Often characterized by dark cathedral style castles, red and black colors and hidden crimes, gothicism is originally thought to be a European concept.  Thanks to writers like Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper and Edgar Allen Poe, gothic literature has taken on new meaning.  For example, in replacement of cathedrals Irving and Cooper explore the darkness that can be encountered in nature.  Poe creates unnatural relationships between his characters that cross boundaries previously untampered with throughout literature.

            Although the writers of American gothic literature are known for reinvention, they fill their craft with several elements that characterize traditional gothicism.  One of the universal techniques found throughout the work of Irving is the contrast of mood found around the gothic scenery.  When introducing the gothic nature of a scene, Irving often present a calm, serene landscape in which the reader stumbles upon the gothic unexpectedly.  The arrangement of peace followed by gothicism allows for a certain amount of shock value within the work where a constant mood of darkness would not allow. 

            One of the star writers of American gothic literature, Washington Irving introduced fear and the supernatural into the common existence of country people through his classic story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.  Throughout its inception, we are introduced to the story of Ichabod Crane’s exploits with an atmosphere of easiness.  The country surroundings model Crane’s life to be pleasant, full of hard work and reward.  As Crane is shown visiting the different homes of his students we feel that his way of life, although untraditional when compared to the families he visits, is secure and enveloped in safety.  It is hard to imagine that Crane could encounter any amount of discomfort in his endeavors in a small country environment. 

Irving utilizes the monotony of Ichabod’s life to create a false sense of safety for his readers and characters.  When the reader feels the most ease at the direction that the story is taking, Irving employs the elements of darkness and fearfulness that characterize Gothicism.  In fact, Gothicism transits into the sublime in many of the scenes in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” because of this contrast. 

The sublime is illustrated through the contrast of when the reader is seeing scenes such as the woods, which are beautiful and serene, turn into something that can be frightening and dark.  One of the strongest scenes through which Irving applies this technique is when Ichabod Crane is attends the party at Mynheer Van Tassel’s home. 

When Ichabod received his invitation he is thrilled with life. There is joy seen all around him.  From the moment he receives the invitation time speeds up as the students in his classroom were “hurried through their lessons” and  “books were flung aside without being put away on the shelves, inkstands were overturned, benches thrown down, and the whole school was turned loose an hour before the usual time” (2103). 

Even nature adds to the uplifting attitude found in Ichabod.  Irving describes the day as “a fine autumnal day, the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance” (2103).  The description in this moment before the party invokes a safe, happy feeling.  Birds and animals surround Ichabod on his journey to the party.  Nature seems to sing and delight in his presence.

Irving completely changes the mood of the scenery after the party where Ichabod was rejected by the woman he loves.  As he begins to ride home Ichabod is described as being “heavy hearted and crestfallen” (2108).  Irving surrounds this  description of a heartbroken Ichabod with slowed time and a distinct change in nature.  Ichabod’s mood is the dictator of how the rest of the story is told.  The changes in time and nature make these into sublime elements that lead into a gothic story.

The change in time is obvious when Irving makes note that “it was a very witching time of night” (2108).  Now instead of the bright, sunny day that was surrounding Ichabod, it almost seems as if he has entered an alternate reality where time is completely different.  Irving goes on to state that “the hour was as dismal as himself”, using time to reinforce Ichabod’s mood and illustrate how different everything around him is from before he went to the party. 

Irving endorses Ichabod’s mood by replacing the pre-party vision of serenity in nature with a dark, unsettled night filled with anomaly and fear.  No longer are the animals and birds surrounding Ichabod.  Irving notes that “no sign of life occurred near him, but occasionally the melancholy chirp of a cricket, or perhaps the gutteral twange of a bull-frog, from a neighboring marsh, as if sleeping uncomfortably, and turning suddenly in his bed” (2108).  We see a great contrast in nature from before the party, when Ichabod’s mood was hopeful, and after the party, when Ichabod is depressed.  Here Irving is making it clear that darkness is surrounding Ichabod where light once was. 

Another of Irving’s stories shows an even better usage of contrast in order to introduce the gothic and sublime.  In his story Rip Van Winkle, Irving uses the surroundings, time, and characters to illustrate changes that occur regarding a gothic turn of events.  The main character, Rip, encounters a magical being who gives him a potion that makes him sleep for twenty years.  Aside from the obvious magical events that make Rip Van Winkle gothic in style, it is the contrast that is unique to Irving that drives in the theme.

It is the scenery in which Rip Van Winkle incites the most contrast.  When Rip goes up to the mountains to escape his wrathful wife, he is surrounded by a beautiful landscape.  Irving describes the mountains and Hudson river, even the clouds as Rip recovers from his scorn.  Rip is not immune to the peace as “he saw at a distance the lordly Hudson, far, far below him, moving on its silent but majestic course, with the reflection of a purple cloud, or the sail of a lagging bark, here and there sleeping on its glassy bosom, and at last losing itself in the blue highlands.

Everything seems to be peaceful until Irving changes tone with “a deep mountain glen, wild, lonely, and shagged, the bottom filled with fragments from the impending cliffs, and scarcely lighted by the reflected rays of the setting sun” (2085).  This is the moment that nature changes in the story to indicate darkness is entering the picture.  This point marks where Irving presents the subliminal change in nature that indicates the gothic turn about to take place.  Irving shows nature to be something expansive and beautiful which turns into something dark and dooming.

Time is again used by Irving in Rip Van Winkle as something that was originally slow and meandering that changes into a magically ruled entity.  As magic is a gothic characteristic, it only serves to reinforce the use of the contrast in time to set the tone of Irvings writing.  Irving illustrates the slowness of time through Rips encounters with others.  When he is run from the house he is seen “in the shade through a long, lazy sumer’s day, talking listlessly over village gossip, or telling endless sleepy stories about nothing” (2084).  The words “long”, “listless”, “lazy”, and “endless” imply that Rips life before was timeless.  He seemed to have all of the time in the world.

Irving completely changes this tone as he makes time an urgent commodity after Rip’s magical sleep.  The story has a flow, Rip’s life has a flow when all of the sudden, there are no longer times where he is doing nothing.  When he starts to look for his dog he is all of the sudden aware that “the morning was passing away” (2087).  Now Rip is seen to be conscious that time is moving faster, different than before he fell asleep.

Rip as a character is Irving’s greatest tribute to contrast as a driving force to illustrate the gothic in his writing.  At first we see Rip as a simple, peaceful character who is unaware of the world around him.  When he stumbles into a magical situation, he is forever changed by it.  Although gothic at heart, this story ends in the ultimate reversal of character traits in Rip.  He becomes aware of his surroundings, of the political situations in his world and of his family.  All of the sudden, Rip is a highly conscious character.

Irving masters the art of contrast through his characters by making Rip’s family and friends change.  With the removal of his wife after he falls into his magical sleep, Rip is able to enjoy the time he has with his children.  On a more gothic note, the townspeople become more politic-oriented which introduces an aggressive side to them.   Irving illustrates how time made the town more political when his characters shout at Rip “a tory! A tory! A spy! A refugee! Hustle him! Away with him!” (2089).  Politics, which were never important before, encourage the townspeople to become dark, ruthless characters.

Irving has shown through his skill and invention that he is one of the best of the American gothic writers.  Through his short stories, filled with contrast and subliminal undertones, Irving has proven his ability to weave a rich tapestry of meaning into his work.  The use of contrast makes Irving’s stories brilliant, effecting the characters, time and nature.  With underlying themes such as politics and relationships it is quite a feat to incorporate elements of the gothic of sublime.  These stories show the true genius in Irving’s writing.