My final project consisted on writing a piece inspired by the literature we’ve read in class. As an English major, I get to write an excessive amount of essays, however, I rarely have the possibility to express myself creatively. I thought a creative approach to this final assignment would help me develop a more profound relationship with the books we’ve been discussed because it would force me to really examine these works as I look for elements that inspire me. Moreover, as I began to write my short story, I realized that through this process I was learning more the essence of Gothic storytelling since I had to establish a Gothic atmosphere in the world I was developing.
As I explained on one of my earlier posts, I have been very interested in the work of Mena since I was introduced to “The Vine Leaf”. There is not a lot about her online and therefore, I thought it would be good to write something inspired by her celebrated yet relatively unknown short story “The Vine Leaf” to promote her impeccable work. This is how the story “The Petal” was born, out of my admiration for this underrated writer. Mena perfectly balances the traditional Gothic and her Mexican heritage, creating stories that deal with very dark episodes without losing a sense of provincial humor and the unique character of her people . As I stated in my introductory post: “Mena cleverly combined the already explored themes of dangerous scientific curiosity, greed, indomitable passions, jealousy and other quintessential Gothic elements with a distinctive Mexican flavor. In her native culture, Mena found the necessary ingredients that separated her from the many other accomplished American Gothic writers.”
As the platform for this assignment, I created a blog dedicated to the Chicano Gothic. I also included information about Cherrie Moraga, another Chicana scholar whom I found particularly interesting. Initially, I intended to write a series of poem regarding issues discussed in class but as “The Petal” started to take shape, I realized that the story was becoming long enough to be a project on itself.
The format of the story was borrowed from an old tradition to narrate horror stories in episodic progression. This style that was referred to as the “Penny Dreadful” and was a highly popular and affordable form of entertainment for young people and members of the lower classes. Horror columns were particularly loved during the Victorian era, a time when many of the most acclaimed novels of this genre were created. As an avid fan of horror stories, shows and films, I thought it would be nice to continue with this tradition.
I tried to incorporate different aspects of the Gothic in the story such as ghostly visions, obsessive behavior, death, madness and grim imagery. I was also inspired by the Gothic fascination with split personalities and the moral duality that resides within us all, best exemplified in the classic horror novella “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. Moreover, to really accentuate the Chicana Gothic atmosphere of the piece, I made a subtle references to Mexican folk tale of La Llorona. Unconsciously, I also alluded to another classic Gothic novel where a painting becomes associated with a force of evil The Picture of Dorian Grey.
You can visit the blog I created for this project here