Neglect and Decay in Joyce Carol Oates Haunted Essay -- Joyce Carol O

Neglect and Decay in Joyce Carol Oates obsessedThings in the world even those built by man atomic number 18 so quiet left to themselves People futilely fight the rotting of life and relationships in an attempt to find beauty and goodness in the world. Joyce Carol Oates masterfully illustrates this theme in her short story Haunted. Oates reveals the virtuoso genus Melissas desperate struggle with looming forces like the physical environment, her deformed relationship with her best friend, and even the insanity in her own mind. Oates utilizes imagery, symbols, and metaphors to luff the downtrodden state of the countryside in which Melissa and Mary Lou live. Mentioning it several times throughout the story, Oates uses glass as a major symbol signifying the once splendiferous structures which become ugly and useless in neglect. In all of the houses Melissa and Mary Lou explore, there is broken glass underfoot and windows which have been smashed. knavish like water, the glass foreshadows the danger of Melissas mind lastly shattering. Oates also describes Mary Lous eyes as blue lik...