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Algernon Blackwood: The Willows; The Wendigo

Choose ONE work of literature by Blackwood, Lovecraft, Wells, or Vandermeer and write an essay about how the writer of that work approaches ecohorror. How does the writer infuse the story with elements of the supernatural or horror to raise important issues about mans relationship with nature and the environment? Your essay should be 5-7 pages (double-spaced) and should incorporate three ecohorror keywords in your analysis of the text. Make sure to provide a specific thesis in your introduction and analyze specific scenes or passages in the text to support your argument.

Ecohorror Keywords:

Ecophobia; Ecophilia; Ecology; Landscape/Setting; Wilderness; Rewilding; Anthropocentrism; Anthropomorphism; Anthropocene; the Sublime; the Uncanny; Atmosphere; Kinship; the Pathetic Fallacy; Cosmic Horror

Choose ONE of these texts:

Algernon Blackwood: The Willows; The Wendigo
P. Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulhu; The Colour Out of Space
G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau
Jeff Vandermeer, Annihilation

Full Answer Section

Provide specific examples of vivid descriptions that contribute to the uncanny atmosphere (e.g., the shifting sands, the strange currents, the oppressive silence).
Explain how the landscape challenges the narrator's sense of familiarity and control, creating a sense of unease.

Body Paragraph 2: The Sentience of the Willows

Explore the personification, or rather the Anthropomorphism, of the willows in the story.
Analyze how the willows are depicted as having a collective consciousness or agency.
Discuss the narrator's growing sense that the willows are not merely plants but represent a powerful, ancient force.
Provide textual evidence of the willows' perceived movement, communication, and threatening presence.
Connect this portrayal to the idea of nature as an active agent, rather than a passive backdrop.

Body Paragraph 3: Confronting the Sublime

Introduce the concept of the Sublime and its role in ecohorror.
Analyze the scenes where the narrator and the Swede confront the overwhelming power and scale of the natural world.
Discuss how the experience evokes feelings of awe, terror, and insignificance.
Explain how the sublime in "The Willows" challenges anthropocentric perspectives, revealing the limitations of human understanding and control.
Show how the story suggests that nature is indifferent or even hostile to human existence.

Body Paragraph 4: Ecohorror and the Critique of Anthropocentrism * Deepen the analysis of Anthropocentrism in the story. * Analyze how the story portrays the consequences of human intrusion into the natural world. * Discuss how the story can be interpreted as a cautionary tale about the dangers of human arrogance and the need for ecological humility. * Explore how Blackwood uses horror to critique the idea that humans are separate from and superior to nature. * Consider the story's relevance to contemporary environmental concerns. Conclusion:

Restate the thesis and summarize the main points of the essay.
Emphasize how Blackwood uses the supernatural to create a powerful sense of ecohorror.
Offer a final reflection on the story's lasting impact and its contribution to the genre of ecohorror.
Consider the broader implications of the story's themes for our understanding of the relationship between humanity and the environment.

Example Body Paragraph 1: The uncanny landscape of "The Willows" is fundamental to the story's ecohorror. Blackwood meticulously crafts a setting that is both familiar and deeply unsettling, a key element of the uncanny. The riverbanks, with their "miles upon miles" of willows, present a monotonous yet menacing vista. The narrator describes the landscape's instability, with "channels [cutting] across the sandbanks one day where none had been the night before," effectively conveying the idea that the natural world is not fixed or easily understood. This ever-shifting environment challenges the narrator's sense of control and predictability, creating a feeling of unease. The silence, broken only by the wind and the rustling of the willows, further contributes to the uncanny atmosphere, amplifying the sense that something is profoundly wrong and alien about this place. Blackwood uses vivid descriptions to evoke this feeling, immersing the reader in a world where the familiar laws of nature seem to have been suspended, leaving them as vulnerable and disoriented as the story's protagonists.

Sample Answer

itle: The Sentient Landscape: Ecohorror and the Supernatural in Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows" Introduction:

Begin with a hook that establishes the concept of ecohorror and its relevance in contemporary discussions of environmental crisis.
Introduce Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows" as a seminal work of ecohorror that uses supernatural elements to explore the disturbing power of nature.
State the thesis: In "The Willows," Blackwood employs the supernatural to dismantle anthropocentric perspectives, portraying nature, specifically through the landscape and the willows themselves, as a powerful, sentient force that inspires terror and reveals the uncanny truth of humanity's precarious relationship with the natural world.

Body Paragraph 1: The Uncanny Landscape

Introduce the concept of the Uncanny and its connection to ecohorror.
Analyze the initial descriptions of the river and the island.
Discuss how Blackwood portrays the landscape as alien and unsettling, emphasizing its liminality and instability.