7. Inductive Leap

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Toronto, Ont.: Broadview Literary Texts, 1998. Print.

An inductive leap too far in the novel Dracula was when Jonathan assumes that the count must be evil, simply because he is a creepy old man in a castle. Of course, it was a true inductive leap, which led to his conclusion that Count Dracula was in fact a master vampire. His leap was due to him getting more and more evidence, but then jumping with a tiny bit of evidence, nearing his statement. As he takes in more and more proof, he learns about the Count's quirks, but then when he sees him climbing down the wall face first, he just had to make a leap in his studying of him that he must be a vampire, or demon, not just an old man that likes to climb down walls. Jonathan was in his room, and heard something outside. He turns to his window to witness the Count climbing down the outer wall of the castle, "like a lizard" (Stoker), with his robe seeming to defy gravity. Jonathan is horrified, and recoils after witnessing such supernatural oddity. Jonathan makes a jump that Dracula must be non-human. This effected how he viewed him, and he would look for signs all the time, nearing his final statement that he is in fact a demon, or vampire. He went from the top third of the inductive triangle, to very close to the bottom, which was quite a leap. This overall effected how the plot folded out, and how frightened of the Count Jonathan was.

6. Style

Ghost Story by Peter Straub

In my text, there is a lot of symbol used. Symbolism is very effective with drawing attention to certain moments where there is stress.




After one of the Dedham horses are found brutally killed, Freddy Robinson (an insurance salesman) notices a silk scarf caught in the wire of the fence around the farm: one he recognizes. This silky object fluttering in the wind confuses him at first, and it isn't until he's leaving the farm that he really clues in on who he immediately thought of. The symbolism behind the pretty scarf relies on how the suspect is an enemy of the Dedhams, Jim Hardie, and that the girl who Freddy saw wearing the scarf was seen with Jim the night before. The scarf makes him suspicious of her, decide to have a chat, and well.. it doesn't work out for him too well, being found with all his organs and blood removed the next morning.
"Freddy went over to the barbed wire and pulled the long bit of cloth from it-silk. It was torn from a scarf, and he knew where he had seen it" (Straub 236)

pjetno. "Scarf left on piked fence. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!." Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2012.

Straub, Peter. Ghost story. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1979. Print.

5. Social Issues.

Ghost Story by Peter Straub


There are many social issues presented in the novel I am reading.

The one I want to highlight is kind of science v.s. religion. This not the general battle between creation and evolution, this is between what your God says, and what you believe to be proven.

The Chowder Society is being killed off, one-by-one. By a ghost of their past. They are conflicted, because they do not know whether they believe its truly a ghost, or if its all in their heads.
The religion aspect is that most religions tell them that ghosts do not exist: they go to either heaven or hell. Science has no clue, but no proof. "Which was the question that Broome County deputy coroner was asking himself, faced with the corpse of a thirty-four-year-old man from which all the internal organs and all the blood had been removed." (Straub 251)
All involved must face the mental battle between what they believe in order to make sense of the acts that are occurring. Can science explain being exsanguinated?

Straub, Peter. Ghost story. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1979. Print.

Title. "Shiverin' 6: Great Episodes of Horror Television | Classic-Horror.com." Classic-Horror.com | Reviewing the History of Horror Movies. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2012.

4. Significance

Ghost Story by Peter Straub



Two significant elements of Ghost Story are: the Chowder society, and the location of their meetings.


A quote from Peter Straub, page 43:
"The group called the Chowder Society had only a few rules: they wore evening clothes (because thirty years ago, Sears had rather liked the idea), they never drank too much (and now they were too old to anyhow), they never asked if any of the stories were true (since even the outright whoppers were in some sense true), and though the stories went around the group in rotation, they never pressured anyone who had temporarily dried up."

The Chowder society is a group of old chaps that once a year come together once a year and revel over the past and their lost friend, and tell ghost stories.
The significance of this pertains solely to the fact that so much is revealed and stewed over at these meetings, not necessarily verbally, but the author gives a view into the memoirs of each character. Without these meetings, half of the story would be missing. This element is quite crucial.


A quote from Peter Straub, page 41:
"Of all the rooms in which they habitually met, this was Ricky's favorite- the library in Sears James's house, with its worn leather chairs, tall indistinct glass-fronted bookcases, drinks on the little round table, prints on the walls, the muted old Shiraz carpet beneath their feet and the rich memory of old cigars in the atmosphere."
The location of their meetings, which is the house of one of the members, is important as well.
It is in this setting that much of the story has taken place, and as characters roam the rooms they have flashbacks, and it reveals more of the story. The overall significance is the affect it has on the characters.

"scottheim." scottheim. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. . (image)

Straub, Peter. Ghost story. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1979. Print.

3. Character Traits

Leroux, Gaston. Phantom of the Opera. New York: Harper and Row Publishers. 1911. Print.


The character I am choosing to describe is Christine Dae.

Christine is sweet, submissive, and loyal. The young woman works in the Opera, she is a dancer, and a singer, but she generally doesn't take the main roles, because she prefers for others to be in the spot light. She's soft spoken and kind to everyone. She is quite submissive towards the Opera Ghost, who she refers to as "The Angel of Music", if he tells her to go somewhere, or take time off, or anything, she does it obediently. She doesn't stand up for what she wants, she does whatever he tells her to. But lastly, she is quite loyal, because she never forgets her friends, and does not leave even when she finally bears witness to the real face of the 'ghost'.

' “I tore off my mask so as not to lose one of her tears... and she did not run away!...and she did not die!... She remained alive, weeping over me, weeping with me. We cried together! I have tasted all the happiness the world can offer.” ' (Leroux)

The quote shows how she is sweet to even the horrendously frightening, and loyal to her mentor who she submitted to 100%. Christine Dae can be both looked up to and pitied. She is a well-written character in The Phantom of The Opera.



Sweet:
kind, soft-spoken
cacophonous, discordant

Submissive:
compliant, resigned
resistant, unyielding

Loyal:
faithful, dependable
disloyal, undependable

Second: Identify and Sort

Five main elements of The Phantom of the Opera are:
-much suspense
-traps and obstacles
-immediacy
-mood or atmosphere
-plausible

Sorted list:
-immediacy
-plausible
-much suspense
-traps and obstacles
-mood or atmosphere

The most important element in the book to my opinion, is the immediacy. The events of the story happen fast, unexpected, and certainly leave an impression on the reader. It gives the unease of the ballerinas, the tension of the Opera house, and the fright of mystery behind the Ghost. Nothing happens with prior explanation, it just happens, and happens realistically timed.
It gives the feeling of not merely viewing the story, but feeling as though you are a background character in it.

During the very beginning, the young dancers encounter the ghost, and regale Sorelli with their tale. "And they all began to talk together. The ghost had appeared to them in the shape of a gentleman in dress-clothes, who had suddenly stood before them in the passage, without their knowing where he came from. He seemed to have come straight through the wall." (Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera 9) This is a prime example of how the 'ghost' operates. He does not give off a peculiar warning sign at all, he appears and vanishes. The girls burst into the room seeking refuge from their menace, all without warning, at the very start of the novel.


Leroux, Gaston. Phantom of the Opera. New York: Harper and Row Publishers. 1911. Print. pages 9-10

First Post - Identify

1. Qualities of a 'good book' to me are; interesting, horrifying, and historical.

2. Many/most of the books I have read thus far contain those three qualities.
The Phantom of the Opera is mysterious in such a way that it keeps your interest, from another time period and it has a few horrifying moments.
Also, such collections of poetry such as by Edgar Allen Poe, all have an air of mystery, suspenseful moments, horror, murder and were written in a different time than ours.



3. Leroux, Gaston. Phantom of the Opera. New York: Harper and Row Publishers. 1911. Print.
Poe, Edgar Allen.