Class+responses+to+Hobnail

1.1 Whose point of view is predominant in this story? What details can you point out that show that the events are seen through the eyes of a little girl? What are her concerns and worries?

Fannie. the writer uses her thoughts to portray what is happening. She is worried about what is following her and she is concerned about her safety

1.2 Why do you think the author chose a child to be the main character?

She wants us to be kept in suspense as the parents do not tell her some things

1.3 How does the weather reflect the heroes' state of mind? What strange sounds and noises do they hear? What natural phenomena and animals are there in the story (e.g. a moonless night or an owl)? Are they symbolic?

They are tired. the noises come from the headless man.-

1.4 Is the family religious? What is their religion? How does the mother try to comfort her child? Why is she singing "Precious Lord" to her?

Yes, they are christians. She comforts her by telling her about GOD. She wants to sing and let her child no longer be afraid as GOD is with them

1.5 Do you think that the mother was also scared? Why didn't she show her fear?

yes, if she showed her fear, fannie would suspect that she was hiding some thing from her

1.6 What do you think Fannie's reaction would be if she heard that her mother had seen a man without a head?

she would scream and have sleepless nights

1.7 Were you scared when you were reading the story? Was the end unexpected to you? What moments do you find particularly creepy?

yes to both. I find the moments when Ellen did not say that she had also heard the noise unbelievable and creepy, as I wondered why she did'nt, an the ending when I visualized the Headless man.

1.8 What features make this story a "typical" horror story? Do you remember other horror stories or films in which a child is the main character? Some other stories where the action happens at night?

something that does not usually happen and only the protagonist realizes it. No to both

Isaac_Yong

Zera's Answers to "Hobnail"

1.1 The 3rd person point of view is used here, and the events are mainly seen through the eyes of the young girl. I think so as most of the passage is about Fannie's mother telling her what to do, and what reactions Fannie has. Furthermore, at the ending, it is what Fannie hears - "Lige, I heard the steps. I didn't want to frighten the child. I kept singing and swinging the lantern around and telling her there was nothing to be afraid of. But Lige, just before we got off the tracks, I turned the lantern around one last time. That's when I saw what was following us. I saw the figure of a man. A man without a head!". In addition, Fannie's thoughts are revealed in the story, an example of which would be "After living with four brothers, she had prayed fervently to God every night for Him to let her aunt have a girl. The only other comfort she had was the pretty rag doll that her mother had made for her." As for her concerns and worries, she disliked the thought of having a boy as her cousin as she was the only girl in her family and she wished for a girl as her cousin. 1.2 I think the author chose the main character to be a child such that her thoughts and feelings could be written in the story and the way at which she looked at certain matters also differs from that of an adult. Also, it added a sense of nervousness for me at the part where Fannie was afraid after hearing the footsteps and told her mother. 1.3 At the beginning, the weather seemed fine like any other evening, showing that she felt fine at first. "The sun's last rays were sinking behind the tree-studded mountains. Shadows rose ominously from the dense woods on both sides of the track." This foreshadows that something is going to happen..something bad as the bright rays of the Sun were replaced with silhouettes, and the word "ominously" was used. "A hoot owl's mournful cry floated out of the encroaching darkness...Finally, night enveloped the landscape, and all that could be seen was the warm glow of the lantern and the shadow of the figures behind it. It was a moonless night, and the faint glow of a few stars faded in between the moving clouds." I noticed the diction the author used..."mournful", "enveloped" etc. Mournful gives me a sense of gravity (grave) and reminds me of a funeral where people mourn for the person who has passed away. As for enveloped, instead of saying "It became dark", "enveloped" gives me a sense of fear...as it is pitch-dark everywhere, and no matter how much one screams for help, it will all be in vain. 1.4 Yes, the family is religious - they are Christians. Ellen tried to comfort Fannie by telling her that God would be there when they needed Him and she also tried to make Fannie more at ease by singing "Precious Lord", distracting her from her thoughts. 1.5 I think that Ellen was also afraid, however, if she showed her fear, Fannie would be more frightful. 1.6 If Fannie were to know that, I think that she would scream and be fearful wherever she went, never forgetting to keep an eye out for the man. 1.7 Yes, I was scared at parts when Fannie heard the sounds of footsteps and the ending was really unexpected! Actually...I predicted earlier that the "person" following them would be Fannie's uncle as they had forgotten something. I am really surprised by Ellen's amazing ability to keep her composure after seeing a headless man. If I were to see a headless man, I think I would faint! 1.8 Well...I would say that a horror story has events that are fiction, and it is true in this case as it is impossible to have headless people walking around! In addition, the killers often wear boots and their footsteps can be heard! Sadly, I can't remember any other horror stories where the child is the main character, however..I can remember another horror story that I watched on television. It was happening at night and was really SCARY..the group members died one by one. :(

Zera

Answers: 1.1 The writer uses child, Fannie to be the main character, and to portray all that is happening in a child's eyes, though in the third point of view.

1.2 The writer may have used a child because children look at issues differently from adults. If the author had used an adult as the character to tell of the creepy footsteps, the author's way of writing the story would have to change, to suit the adult's worries and speculations.

1.3 The author is creating a suitable setting for a horror story. Most horror stories, though not all, take place at night in a deserted area, and sometimes, animals like crows or owls are used as they are known as 'familiars'. Occasionally, authors will add some sound effects, like the howling of wind, to arouse certain feelings in the reader.

1.4 They are Christians. Fannie was very scared by the sound of footsteps behind them, and to comfort her, Ellen sings "Precious Lord" to tell Fannie that they would not come to harm for God was always with them.

1.5 Ellen was afraid, too. As she revealed later in the story, she heard the footsteps as well. But she did not show any sign of hearing any footsteps because she did not want to scare Fannie even more. Maybe Ellen was hoping that if she denied hearing the footsteps, Fannie would think it was just a figment of her imagination, and relax.

1.6 I think Fannie would freak out, and most probably scream as that is usually a natural reaction to most of us. Even after the incident, she might still remember that night, and as a result, she would be afraid of the ngiht and refuse to go out after the sun had set.

1.7 I was not really scared at first, because I thought the footsteps could be someone walking behind them. But later, when Fannie insisted on hearing the footsteps, I got a little frightened as if it really were a person, that person would show himself by now.The ending was quite unexpected becaue I had rather thought that Fannie would see the ghost, and Ellen would still be in the dark. The most creepy moments was at the end, when the readers find out that Ellen had denied hearing anything to comfort her daughter, and reveals that she even saw a headless man. That was when I imagined her shining the lantern about and seeing the ghost. I agree with Zera - Ellen is very brave and strong to not do anything to arouse suspicion from Fannie. If I were the one who saw the ghost, I would scream and run as far away as possible.

1.8 Like most other authors of horror stories, the settings are at night, and the main characters are alone in the middle of a deserted road when they hear footsteps made by someone who is following them, all the way home. Most of all, there are also the use of animal familiars, like the owl. In most cases, when I read horror stories, the presence of night and animals (e.g. crows) will be the first thing that informs me that the story is most likely a horror story. I have not seen/read any horror movies/stories with the child as the main character, but there are shows where the child is the ghost that follows the protagonist.

By Melissa

1.1 The writer seldom zooms in into the thoughts of other characters other than Frannie, thus making the story something like Harry Potter, in the third person point of view but only zooming in on the main character. Frannie is more or less worried that someone,or worse someTHING, would grab her and she would live in fear without her parents forever.

1.2 Children have a different sense of security from adults. Normally, children only feel safe with their parents around and would trust the decisions that they make, but in this story, Frannie doesn't feel a sense of security at all and she did not trust her mother when she said that there was nothing following them. This shows that this fear that Frannie is experiencing is very extreme.

1.3 When something takes place at night, it is meant to be scary because of the natural lack of light in the surroundings. The animal sounds which come suddenly would definitely shock someone as young as Frannie. A moonless night makes it even darker. Most of us rely a lot on our sense of sight, but in a moonless night, we can hardly see anything and that makes us feel very insecure when we only have a rough idea of where we are going. A dark place also allows more hiding places for people with bad intentions, while their victims have no clue to where they are, and they would feel frightened, something that the baddies could take advantage of.

1.4 The family's religion is Christianity. By singing "Precious Lord" to Frannie, it's like saying that God is like a diamond, and the only thing which is hard enough to carve a diamond is another diamond, so with God there to protect them like a shield, they would have nothing to fear.

1.5 Ellen was also scared. But she did not show her fear as she did not want Frannie to be scared. It's hard to be excited when everybody else is not, but apparently, that did not apply for Frannie's case.

1.6 Frannie would be in a state of trauma, and then have a phobia of dark places due to the unknown amount of hiding places for scary creatures that lurk in the dark.

1.7 Actually it wasn't that scary for me, because I read the back before proceding to read the rest of the story. I have to admit that the start of the story was very boring, especially with all the extra useless information about having a male or female baby, as it does not contribute to the plot at all. As I knew what to expect, I had prepared myself for the story.

1.8 Set in the night, it really scares the living daylights out of the characters both figuratively and literally. Just them all alone in a deserted area would mean that any cry or shout for help would go unnoticed by anyone as they are all far away. I have not watched any horror films where the main character is a child, but I have watched "Saw" where a child, together with her mother, was in danger if her father did not complete his task, which is to kill the other person in the toilet by 6 o'clock. Unlike a typical horror film, this movie wasn't set in a deserted road outside but in a deserted toilet, with lightings. Almost the whole story is set in the toilet except for a few short scenes of the man's child and wife. The rest of the scenes not set in the toilet are memories and information about their kidnap.

Rachelle

Rachelle, who is Frannie??? by Isaac i think she made a typo; it's meant to be fannie rite? jodie

1.1 it is fannie's point of view. at the beginning, the author shows the child alone on the front porch so it must be from fannie's point of view. fannie is concerned about their safety in the dark wood with no one else to protect them and she is worried about the sounds she was hearing. 1.2 when a child is scared, you would feel different than when an adult is scared. an adult can protect his or herself but a child is helpless. this would make the reader feel scared for fannie and he author does want to make the reader frightened. 1.3 the setting makes it scary as a 'deep, dark' setting gives a mysterious feel and when it is dark you can hardly see so you get easily shocked by things that you didn't know was going to happen or things that you didn't know were there. this can make people uncertain like fannie was in the story. the sun is setting, there is no moon, there are only a few dimly glowing stars and the shadows of the wood loom. they hear an owl's hoot, they hear rustling sounds from a bush, and the ringing of heavy hobnail boots. an owl's hoot sounds really scary in the night and when there is no moon or little stars, it is darker than usual and can be quite frightening. 1.4 yes.they could be christian, catholic, or another cult related to christianity. ellen sings the song 'precious lord' as the lyrics of the song would soothe fannie and she wouldn't be scared. 1.5 yes. if ellen showed her fear, then fannie would be even more frightened. she may think, what was so scary that could frighten mammy? and if mammy was also scared, then who would protect me? since mothers love their children a lot, they wouldn't want their children to be scared and if ellen showed her fear, fannie would be even more frightened. 1.6 fannie may get really scared and do something silly. 1.7 a little. yes, i wasn't expecting another horror story. i find the last part really REALLY creepy. how can a man without a head see where he is going and not bump into anything? BIZARRE. 1.8 the setting; 'the deep and dark night with the owls hooting. they have only a miserable lamp for light and there is no moon and the few stars that show glow dimly.' i do remember a show about a girl who could talk with the dead or something. i haven't watched a horror movie in my whole life. jodie

Hobnailed boots: boots with heavy-headed nails in their soles. Jek Kee