Kaleigh Johnson

The author states that the first rule of art-horror is that the monster in question must be physically repulsive to the human characters in the film. He substantiates this claim using examples of monsters from famous stories, such as the Shoggoth from H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness.” Carroll argues that the reactions of the human characters in these stories - nausea, shuddering, screaming - pulls the audience into the story and makes the monster seem more realistic. This argument brings up an interesting point: people are in some way attracted to the things that repulse them. It suggests that we, as humans, tend not to deviate from our innate desire to categorize things we do not yet comprehend.

Why do these novels appeal to female readers?
While we could never fully answer this question, we came to the general consensus that the power dynamics that exist between males and females in romance novels play a major role in their appeal. Since beginning my college career and diving into topics related to literature, history, sexuality, gender, and sociology, I have become increasingly interested in the different types of power dynamics present in our society and their consequences. This interest has caused me to push past the question of why these novels appeal to female readers and ask what role the power dynamics of gender play in their appeal.

Every Sunday, Mama would rise before the sun, pull on Papa’s worn muck boots, and go to the hen house to collect eggs for the day. She’d softly scrub their fragile, brown spotted shells and place them in a stainless steel pot on the stove to boil. Like clockwork, Mama would climb the creaky wooden stairs to our rooms, her lavender slippers quietly scuffing against them. My little sister Jesse always got woken up first. Next was my big brother, Holt. Even if I was already awake, I’d wait for Mama to come to my room.

With sticky popsicle hands

and chlorine filled hair,

we kissed the sun goodnight

and waved hello to the moon.

Fauquier County lacked all

but magnificent views.



Flickering lights appeared

against the canvas of night.

Our bare feet frolicked

through dew covered grass

as we caught lightning bugs

and shared them with each other.

We wanted to keep them in glass jars forever.