Wuthering Heights

               In all honesty, Wuthering Heights is definitely not my favorite book.  There are so many confusing character names that it is hard to keep them straight.  Also, when I read, I can tell that my mind wanders a bit.  There are parts, however, that fascinate me.  I love the sections when Lockwood reads Catherine's diaries.  It is like he is entering a different world, resurfacing back into reality after he has learned a little more about the mysterious woman.  The diary parts are like a book within a novel.  I can relate to his curiosity.  If I found a collection of journals in an old house, I wouldn't be able to stop reading.  It is so interesting how his reading induces related dreams.  His dreams are fascinating because the reader can't tell how much of the dream is true and how much is just part of a made up nightmare. 
               The setting of the story really contributes to the main storyline.  Wuthering Heights  is set in the 1800s.  The area in which Heathcliff lives adds a mysterious, eerie feeling to the overall mood.  Because the setting creates the world in which characters make decisions, the chilling setting adds to the plot as well.  Without the moors, Lockwood would never have had to travel a long way through deserted land in a snowstorm.  If the story was set in a different place, it would be drastically changed.
               A few halloweens ago, I checked out a collection of ghost stories called Bone Chillers at the library.  Looking back, those stories relate to Wuthering Heights more than anything I've ever read.  I think that the main similarity is the foreboding feeling I get when I read them.
               When I read Bone Chillers, there was a piece of artwork accompanying each story.  The style of the drawings really conveyed the creepiness of the story to come.  They were pretty abstract.   Despite the ambiquity, each picture told a lot about the story.  They also could be interpreted differently by each person and somehow displayed the themes in artwork as well.  I think it would be fun to create one of these drawings as my project.  It would be interesting to see what people thought of it!