Daniel Defoe's "In Defense Of His Right"

Without meaning to, I ended up reading three short stories that somewhat align with Halloween, two of which I have previously blogged about. Last night before heading out to a party, I managed to squeeze in a short story. This one is a part of the collection of English short stories that I also bought from some book sale. The story is "In Defense Of His Right" by Daniel Defoe.

I had never read anything by Defoe before, and the only thing I know about him is that he is the author of "Robinson Crusoe". I find his gothic story much more engaging than that of Poe. It is about a father who is tormented by the disappearance of his son, whose second wife keeps compelling him to will his fortunes to her son. Several visits by a strange apparition stands in the second wife's way of getting what she wants, and in the end it remains unclear whose apparition it is.

The story is more intriguing and leaves a more long-lasting impression because of the remaining mystery. It leaves the reader to ask question about the apparition, as well as the nature of greed and the bond between family members. The structure is linear, and the story is told mostly in the narrative form. Unlike Poe he doesn't take much time describing the settings; he doesn't use the environment to create the mood. While Poe's prose is much denser, Defoe's pacing is faster and more captivating. I wouldn't say whose style is better, but I do like Defoe's story better, just because the plot is more complex and intriguing.

##############################

This is the part where I summarize the story for my own personal use. ***SPOILER ALERT***

After the father had married the typical greedy, evil step-mother, things had changed in the family. The oldest son wants to go abroad but the step-mother doesn't want him to, not wanting her husband to spend money on his expenses. With the help of other relative, the son is able to go. When the step-mother denies her husband the ability to pay the son's bills, the son disappears and the father cannot reach him. The step-mother tries to convince the father that the son is dead so her son with him can inherit his fortune, but the father refuses to believe it. An apparition of the son appears to haunt the step-mother as she compels her husband to comply to her desire. In the end the son shows up--he isn't dead, after all--and has no idea about the apparition. While abroad he has a dream that the father is writing him an angry letter telling him to come home. The father also never writes such a letter. My take on it is that the apparition is the mother who is dead, as she is the only dead character who is invested in the father and the son's well-being, who is most likely to dislike the step mother.

Edgar Allan Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher"

Because I spend most of my time reading novel or play, sometimes I find it difficult to write a short story. I constantly need to read short stories in order to be able to write them. The reason, I assume, is because different formats of writing work your brain in different ways; if I only use my brain to work with the novel and play formats, I will then have no ability to write in other format. So, whenever I run into problems while writing a story, such as not being able to structure it properly, or find a way to start or execute it, it always helps to find a few short stories to read.

A friend of mine suggested that I be Edgar Allan Poe for Halloween. I don't know why, but it did make me want to read Poe's work. Long ago I bought his complete tales and poems, but had spent very little time with it. I decided to read one of his short stories. I read "The Fall of the House of Usher", which is a story about a man reuniting with his dying friend in a house where creepy things happen. I'm not really a fan of gothic stories and wasn't quite taken by the plot. But what is really marvelous about Poe's writing is his descriptions. He is a beautiful prose writer, and he writes such lush descriptions that it is sometimes easy to get lost in his writing, but if you pay close attention, it's pretty much a big plate of assorted desserts made of words. Let's take a look at a passage from it:

The room in which I found myself was very large and lofty. The windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within. Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trellissed panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around; the eye, however, struggled in vain to reach the remoter angles of the chamber, or the recesses of the vaulted and fretted ceiling. Dark draperies hung upon the walls. The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed to give any vitality to the scene. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all.

The physical descriptions help us to see the place and the objects inside it vividly. At the same time they also convey the feelings that they spark in the narrator. The vastness of the room is repeatedly emphasized to the point that we feel small and lost in the room. The dark colors that he use ("black oaken floor", "gleam of encrimsoned light") emphasize the mystery and a sense of danger. The disorderly of the place conveys its state of abandonment and sadness. I just love the way he describes the furniture: "profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered"--four adjectives that bring the picture and the emotion to life.

Sometimes you find the answers to all your problems in one story; most of the time, however, you need to read more than one. I feel like I gain a lot from reading this story, but not enough, so I will go on and read more stories. You do the same.

The Classics

For many reasons I think everybody should read the classics. But the term "classic" itself is pretty problematic. It's just as problematic as the term "masterpiece." How should something be defined as a classic? I don't think there's one right answer. In any case, I have read several works this summer that I consider to be classical. And here they are:



Macbeth by William Shakespeare. I have read and loved many of Shakespeare's plays. Macbeth, however, wasn't one of them. I thought it was far from being one of his best. But to be fair, I much prefer his comedies to tragedies.



To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. I thought this one was beautifully written. I was completely enamored by it. Woolf is famous for playing around with streams of consciousness, and for being the suicidal genius portrayed by Nicole Kidman in The Hours. It took me a bit of effort to get into the text, but once I was there I never wanted to leave.



A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen is one of the masters of drama, and a revolutionary one of his time. This particular work discussed the inequality of gender roles with complex characters.



The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This one has definitely become one of my favorite novels. Sometimes you read something and it feels as if it was written for you and you enjoy every page of it. This is one of those novels for me.



The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. This is a gothic novel. I thought the plot was thin, the characters not well developed, and the writing style unpolished. Like Shelly's Frankenstein--which I also don't like--this novella seems to indulge in its spooky elements and ignore the other aspects that would make the work a good work of literature like, I don't know, plot and characters? Needless to say I did not like this one.



Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. I thought it was beautifully written, almost like music. It moves so subtly and has this melancholic tone all the way throughout. I simply loved it. I also recommend Wharton's short story called Roman Fever.