As I was reading tonight and finishing up chapter 10, I kept recalling Lucy Westerna at the window, allowing Dracula to enter. In chapter 10 the narrator finds Flora in the window, face to face with Ms Jessup and then from Miles's window she spies him outdoors at the tower. The window just seems significant! There is a short story called the Open Window that is also gothic in nature. I guess that this is just an observation that I wanted you to follow to see if it might play a greater role in gothic literature.
You're right. Open windows always seem to play a significant role in gothic novels. Maybe it has to with allowing evil spirits in? I remember that we discussed that in Dracula, when Lucy opened her window, she was allowing the evil spirits in. I'd have to do some more research on what windows have often symbolized in literature, but I think you're right. The recurring open windows are not a coincidence. Good eye Ms. Harker!
ReplyDeleteOooooooh, true dat. But on the other hand, aren't open windows usually associated with letting fresh air in and being healthy? (I always keep my window closed...)
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting parallel... on the other hand, in the chapter Mina mentioned--ten was it?--I remember thinking being struck by the way the narrator talked about distance. Let me see if I can find it.
" 'They can destroy them!' At this my companion did turn, but the appeal she launched was a silent one, the effect of which was to make me more explicit. 'They don't know as yet quite how--but they're trying hard. They're seen only across, as it were, and beyond--in strange places and on high places, the top of towers, the roof of houses, the outside of windows, the further edge of pools; but there's a deep design, on either side, to shorten the distance and overcome the obstacle: so the success of the tempters is only a question of time...' "
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of those stories in which you can see into another world through a mirror, or some sort of other looking-glass... ... or in which there's something that you can sense just beyond a veil that keeps you from something greater. My mom talks about "thin places" in the world. "Thin and high" places, really, where supposedly the works of God can be seen more readily. It's the same sort of idea...
Through the window--because I remember that the glass was there, even if the curtains were parted--we can see, but there's still a barrier... Is that what's so important? Do you follow my line of thought?
Oh, that was from chapter 12, pages 171 and 172... so technically that was after the point that Mina posted from.
ReplyDeleteYes I do.. I think. Maybe the windows symbolized her entraptment within herself. She wasn't seeing things for what they truly are. She was seeing them slightly distorted, slightly inside herself..like how you see the world through a window. Is that what you were getting at?
ReplyDeleteI remember in The Bell Jar, the bell jar symbolised her entrapment in herself. There was no way for her thoughts to be set free. They just swirled around in a circle getting spoiled.(The story was about her slow drift into insanity) The same can be said for a room with closed windows.
ReplyDeleteNo, no. I mean like...
ReplyDeleteIf there's a window, there's something between you and the next world. There's a barrier between "inside" and "outside," but you can still see through it.