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

Neglect and Decay in Joyce Carol Oates HauntedThings in the world even those built by man are so silence left to themselves People futilely fight the decay of life and relationships in an attempt to find beauty and goodness in the world. Joyce Carol Oates masterfully illustrates this paper in her short story Haunted. Oates reveals the protagonist Melissas desperate struggle with looming forces like the physical environment, her twisted relationship with her best friend, and even the madness in her own mind. Oates utilizes imagery, tokens, and metaphors to show 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 beautiful 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 learn been smashed. Slippery like water, the glass foreshadows the danger of Melissas mind finally shattering. Oates also describes Mary Lous eyes as blue lik...