My Road to Awe-some Terror

My road to the happy place where terror and awe meet began when I read Edmund Burke's argument about the sublime and terror. When he said that terror instigated the sublime, I questioned his idea. And then after lots of thought, I realized that the idea was attractive. Appealing. Beautiful. And it sucked me in like a whirlpool.

And to be honest, it still hasn't let me go.

I committed to the topic of terror and awe when I wrote the blog post, titled The Aw(e)-ful, and then began researching the ideas behind the relationship between awe and terror. To help with that, I explored society's fear of technology in my blog post, The Technological Terror. This helped me to narrow down what aspect of terror I wished to explore in my project.

When I talked with my friend at work about what literature has inspired awe for her, she raved about Cormac McCarthy's book The Road. And when she commented that the ending of the book left her hanging and wanting more, leaving her so awed that she just sat there, I decided to read it to see if I felt the same. The idea for my paper began as I read that book, as I traveled the road with the Man and the Boy. Looking at post-apocalyptic literature within the context of terror and awe gives the explanation for its popularity, and I chose to match Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon with The Road as a contrast. I began researching the ideas of terror, awe, and post-apocalyptic literature, which led me to further ideas and gave me the ability to start narrowing down my actual topic.

After creating my outline, I continued to change my thesis as I analyzed post-apocalyptic literature. Continuing to research my ideas along the way, I posted my annotated bibliography with a current thesis. After narrowing down my thesis, I posted my first rough draft of my paper, which lacked still my research and proof of my argument. Among my research I learned of Harvard professor, Sue Schopf, who I emailed in order to get social proof for my paper topic. Another 10 page draft of my paper prepared me to narrow down my argument, my thesis undergoing revision once more. Then, last week I posted my final draft. Within the week between my last draft and the final result of my paper, I decided to exclude Alas, Babylon from my paper and focus only on The Road.

I loved writing my paper. Here's my story of personal connection - Personal Connection to Terror. This idea of terror and awe still appeals to me - not only in literature but on all levels, as I hope that I can show through my creative project which will be finding a final revision soon this week.

Here's my final paper:

The Road to Awe Through Terror

Thanks, English 495 Paper for letting me explore my dark side and get comfortable with the attractive side of terror.