Horror The Supernatural Genre Essays - Speculative Fiction

Horror: The Supernatural Genre Horror is an ancient genre, it roots lodged in ancient myth and folklore. Since then the genre has evolved, even sometimes doing without elements of the supernatural on which the original horror stories where founded. Despite the emergence of natural horror, horror which incorporates elements of the supernatural still remains superior. While horror can be successful using only natural circumstances, horror that utilizes elements of the supernatural evokes a more effective response from the reader. ?A Rose for Emily? is a good example of horror which contains no supernatural elements. While pieces of the story contain the unusual or violate societal taboos the story conforms very much to the way in which we think the world operates. The reader could easily imagine that this story might really have occurred at some time. While the realism of the story makes it more plausible to the reader, it also lessens its effectiveness. The idea of a woman lying down next to a dead body for decades is revolting, but not very horrific. No sense of dread is imposed upon the reader, and the only visceral response is one of disgust. While the piece in effective at entertaining the reader, it lacks the ability to truly inspire horror. Dahl's ?A Man from the South? also lacks the ability to impress a sense of terror and dread on the reader. Like ?A Rose for Emily? the story is entertaining, but the reader is not really terrified by any of the events that happen in it. There is a slight sense in revulsion at the idea of collecting human fingers but there is no overall sense of doom in the story. ?The Call of Cthulu? however is of a completely different nature. In it H.P. Lovecraft weaves a tale full of dread and unfathomable terror. The mystery of what exactly Cthulu is, what portents the strange dreams hold, the mysterious statues created in deep antiquity, all come together to impress a sense of fear upon the reader. An overriding element which makes the story so effective is the use of the supernatural, which allows Lovecraft to create beings to terrible to exist in the world we know. Throughout the story pervades a sense of the unknown, of some ancient mystery which mortal man should never venture to know. The story evicts a visceral sense of horror from the reader, one of realization of what might happen if such things were ever to exist. While any sane person would never claim that a giant god from the stars will ever rise out of the ocean to destroy the world, the reader can nonetheless envision such a horrific event. ?The Call of Cthulu? shows how effective the super natural can be in horror. Another excellent Lovecraft story that incorporates the supernatural is ?Nyarlathotep.? The plot centers on the arrival of Nyarlathotep, a modern-day prophet who throws the world into madness. The entire basis for the story is the supernatural, the predestined end of man which comes bellowing out of the depths of antiquity. While short in length the story nevertheless manages to build a sense of dread before Lovecraft unleashes the terrible truth of Nyarlathotep's purpose upon the reader. Unlike ?The Call of Cthulu? ?Nyarlathotep? ends with evil succeeding, in the world being engulfed by unspeakable horrors. The tale truly grabs the reader with a pervading sense of doom and predestined destruction, making it a highly effective piece of horror literature. What is it about the supernatural that lends itself so effectively to the horror genre? The truth is that it is a combination of factors, which come to play in different stories. In a tale such as ?Nyarlathotep? the role of the supernatural is to impress upon the reader images and ideas which would not exist in the natural world, to horrify through that which is unknown and evil. This is one of the primary roles that the supernatural fills in the horror genre, being a vehicle to allow the author to create images and events in which the reader is left to his or her imagination as to what the dreaded thing is. Soley relying on natural events and occurrences allows the reader to build from his or

Creative Easter Words List for Classroom Activities

Creative Easter Words List for Classroom Activities Easter  is a time of renewal. It falls each year in the early spring  when flowers are blooming, plants are sprouting, and hatchlings are starting to break out of their shells and enter the world. Indeed, the season of Easter- the season of spring, really- is an annual time of beginning when much of the country is waking up and thawing out from a cold and bleak winter into a renewed world filled with signs of rebirth and splashes of color. Use the season as a  thematic teaching  tool. Kids, seeing the changes in the season, will be naturally curious and interested in what is  happening around them. Harness that  curiosity with this comprehensive Easter word list to create many  seasonal  activities  such as  worksheets, writing prompts, word walls, and word searches. The words below are sectioned according to Easter- and spring-related concepts. Each section begins with an explanation  followed by a list of appropriate words. April   Explain to students that  Easter falls in late March through much of April  depending on the year. So April is a great month to introduce students to words such as: TulipsPastelPaintingShowers You can explain that a 16th century  English writer and poet named  Thomas Tusser penned the phrase,  Sweet April showers do bring May flowers, and that many writers- even the great  William Shakespeare- were enamored of the month and wrote many poems and stories about this season of bloom. If you have younger students, explain that this month is the time when  tulips  bloom, offering a great time for painting when the world sparkles with pastel colors.​ Easter Easter, of course, is the highlight of the season for young children. Its a time for putting on bonnets, decorating and dying Easter eggs, grabbing a basket and scurrying to find the hidden eggs. Children may be most interested in coloring eggs and finding candy, but dont forget to mention that theres even an annual  Easter parade and bonnet festival  in New York. This gives you a chance to cover geography, the planning, and pageantry involved in staging a parade, and even possible art projects, like  making bonnets. BasketBunnyBonnetChickChocolateCandyDecorateDyeEggsFunFindGrassHideHopHuntJellybeansMarshmallowParadePeepsTreatsLily Spring Spring, the season in which Easter and April fall, provides plenty of opportunities for learning and art activities. You can have students study the lifecycle of a butterfly, how vegetables such as carrots and flowers like daffodils grow. You can even throw in some science lessons such as how birds build nests and how hatchlings emerge from their shells. Or, take a field trip to a local pond and observe ducks and flowers residing there. ButterflyCarrotsColorfulDaffodilsDuckFlowersJoyLambPlantsNestHatch Sunday Though you cant teach religion in public schools, you can certainly mention that  Easter is a religious Christian holiday  where families dress up in nice, new clothes and attend church on Easter Sunday. This also gives you a chance to cover the  days of the week  and social norms, such as, Why do people dress up to go to church on Easter (as well as for other special occasions)? Use the season to teach cultural lessons, too, such as  Holy Week and Easter in Mexico. Easter- and the season that it falls in- provides an endless opportunity to teach writing, spelling, history, science, art, and more.