. "The Unnameable" and "What the Moon Brings. "

 

"The Unnamable" is a short story about a fiction writer who meets his friend Joel Manton, who talks to the narrator about an entity that haunts the area. It seemed like this story was not a weird tale itself, but rather a discussion about weird tales until later in the story when the two characters become the victims of an attack. I liked this story because we are placed in a position where it feels like a "campfire story" of two friends chatting the night away. We are given a description of this entity that is said to be haunting the area, but we never actually see him at first. He is just a rumor, or something most people would just brush off. I also really liked the creature's devil like appearance, with horns and hooves. Imagining this creature in real life brings the fear to life! I also liked the setting the story took place in, an old house on Meadow Hill near a cemetery. Later in the story, this unnamed entity attacks both of our characters, Carter and Manton. They both survive the attack and wake up at St. Mary's hospital. They are bruised and scarred from a large horn shaped object. They also had hoof prints on their backs. I like the idea of these types of entities being be "pre earth" or ancient. they may like to pray on animals, or even pray on humans and feed on us. it brings up the question, "why do these creatures exist?" throughout the story, I felt the buildup of tension towards the ending. While it was obvious to me that this entity would do some ill will, I though it was done effectively. I felt that if the monster had just simply killed the two characters, it would not have been as scary. leaving that ambiguity at the end really gives the reader the unsettling feeling, knowing that the creature is still out there, lurking in the shadows waiting for its new victims.

"What the Moon Brings" is yet another H.P. Lovecraft piece. It is a poem about one of Lovecraft's dreams told from the first person perspective on an unnamed narrator. In this poem, the narrator discusses a dreamscape about how he wanders through a beautiful garden, witnessing weird sights. I would like to say that dreams are so bizarre to me. dreaming is something that scientists still do not fully understand to this day. the closest logical answer as to why we dream is to allow our fears to play out in our head so we can practice eradicating those fears. Going back to the story, our narrator discusses in the poem how they are walking on a bridge in the garden that has no end. the imagery seems to get darker and darker as the poem plays out. The water is described to be "cursed" with dead faces calmly staring back in a sinister way. This was very relatable because I have had dreams similar to this which were very weird and eerie. For example, when I was younger, I recall a dream I had where I was swimming in a pool of lava with a bronze pig statue in the middle of a massive cathedral. Very odd I thought. Other dreams I have had were mainly lucid dreams in which I was in control of myself in the dreams. I really like the wording used to describe what the narrator is experiencing. In one line, the narrator says, "the dead faces urge him on farther and farther, as the stream becomes a river leading him to the shore of a sea. Suddenly, the lotus faces disappear as the moon sinks into the horizon." I was able to picture everything because of the narrator's creative descriptions. It becomes apparent that the narrator would prefer to be dead rather than being in this world of horror. The ending is open ended making us think. Is the narrator dead, has he woke up? What happens next?