Cultural Identity

My parents are very modern day African-American people. We don't have African artifacts inside of our house, or any civil rights memorabilia. But yet we still have culture and traditions that we follow. As a child every Christmas I would make my parents their gifts by hand, but every since I got into high school, their gifts have been purchased. This makes them a bit upset because they say the love and care put into hand made gifts mean much more. But they don't complain with a shiny silver watch on their wrist, or a golden choker around their neck.

Another way i try to honor my parents culture is by going to visit my grandmother and listen in on her stories of her civil rights activism in the 60's so i would be able to spread them to the future generations in our family. Yet the way i will tell her story will not be in the angered and hateful tone, but I will deliver my words in a more informal way so that way i won't appear as upset about it as she is and not spread the hate and anger to them.

Both of my parents came from homes in poverty. My dad lived in a house with a single mom and four other kids, him being the middle child, thus being very neglected. He picked up basketball at a young age and went on a full ride at Texas Southern University. I on the other hand live in the suburbs with two parents who have very lavish salaries, and give me plenty of attention and care. My parents are one of the very first and few in both families to go to college and have plenty of money on their own. I plan to break of from their previous generations failure of a tradition as well, and help start a new one.

My parents are married, and their parents before, and their parents before them as well. I for one do not plan on or have any intentions of settling down and getting married to anyone. I don't care if it's Halle Berry, Beyonce, or the Jet Beauty of the Month. Personally i believe majority of marriages these days are rushed and forced, and are lucky to last a year or two. I prefer to have a relationship with someone I care about for a really, really, really, long time.

Haunted House Blog

Mr. Poe's giving of life to the house in the story is something i would love to copy and make into my own within my personal haunted house story. The way that the house is given personification by Poe is literally ingenious and miraculous. By copying Poe's literary innovation, my story should be just as good, if not better than his.

The dark and dreary ambiance that Poe establishes from the very start of the book is something apart of Poe's authorial arsenal. I would utilize this by setting up my story in a dark and desolate setting that would possibly make my readers bodies cringe at every word as they read.

Mr. Poe's use of incest however is something that i find extremely vile and revolting. This is an abomination in my opinion should have been not only left out his reading, but any other authors' readings in history. Incest is disgusting and horrific. I would never use that in my haunted house story, let alone any other story I would make. Instead i would have a love octagon, (yes not triangle)because as a society people are entertained naturally by mess.

The destruction of the house a t the end of his story is something i wouldn't copy as well, due to the fact that if the house is destroyed, the reader will think that there is something that could stop the evil. I want my readers to be forever terrified with my story. So instead of the house falling apart i would much rather have the house kill off the narrator at the end.

However, Poe's vagueness in his story is what also adds to the creepiness. Thus i would definitely snatch that as well and add that into my story. The absence of the main character's name adds to the suspense as well, because the reader will think that the name would have something to do with the story while to their dismay it really does not.

The multiple mind games that Poe sets up for the reader to puzzle with throughout his story is something I found to be entertaining, therefore i must have that be apart of my story as well. This would leave the reader confused and wanting to read more and more to find the answer.

Lastly i would copy the ingenious simplicity that Poe used to create his haunted house story. The "ghosts" of the putrid family of incest. While my characters would not be related to each other, I would have their ghosts within the house such as Madeline's. My ghosts would however be more active throughout my story.