Connor Sempf 

The Secret History is certainly a tale of mystery cast upon the readers through an  unsolved murder. But the events themselves of the story do not stand atop the pedestal of creepiness. Several passages throughout the book lift the dark academia theme of the story to new heights. With the help of an eerie aesthetic with dark academic tones while using highly specific and tailored language and description, the text creates a subconscious but powerful feeling of disturbance.  Moreover, these elements do more to create a dark and sinister feel for the story than the upfront  plot of a murder mystery does. This idea carries such relevance to not only The Secret History,  but to any story whether it be a book or movie. There is a need for the thorough, underlying  details in any story in order to have a deeper connection to the audience and create a more  compelling story. 

One specific passage in chapter two of The Secret History goes all in on creating a  landscape of eeriness filled with dark tones. One night, when Richard goes to visit the apartment  of Charles and Camilla, his point of view paints a visual in the readers’ minds. The first thing  that this passage does to excite readers is use a complete smorgasbord of descriptive language to  paint a picture of the apartment of Charles and Camilla. Words like “dusty  brocades…doilies…candelabra…galoshes” (Tartt, 65) permeate the text. “an old  stereopticon…a staghorn fern; a bird’s skeleton” (65) are also mentioned. On the surface, these  objects and descriptions of the apartment just seem like a recounting of Richard’s observations. 

But when describing a situation that includes such old technology, vintage clothing and décor, and  even skeletons, they all combine to create a feeling of spookiness that fits the vibe of dark  academia. This passage is an example of adding extra detail to create a story with dark elements  beyond the idea of a murder mystery. Missing a passage like this would take away the extra  sinister elements that make the story complete. 

Although this passage and others creates a dark aesthetic with the use of descriptive  language that is conscious to the reader. There is a subconscious but powerful feel that throws  the calmness of the descriptive text from the previous passage out the window. The passage  wasn’t just describing the living space of a character that just happened to be of a particularly old  taste. A creation of extra detail and aesthetic was occurring that may not be apparent from just  reading the passage alone. But when combining it with the events of the story, there is a more  complete book. On one hand there is a tale of characters and events that shape the plot. But then  there are the supporting elements like this passage that create a subconscious addition to the  story. In the case of The Secret History, those subconscious elements are the eeriness and sinister  nature that the book would fall short of creating without.  

Without elements like this, a story can only go so far in trying to immerse a reader into  the story. Specific areas in the text like “Camilla’s night table was littered with empty teacups,  leaky pens, dead marigolds in a waterglass…with unexpected windows and halls that led  nowhere and low doors I had to duck to get through” (65) provide a hidden darkness and have a  greater mysterious effect on the story than the upfront events could on their own. Of course, this  passage alone is not the only source of uncanny elements. Right at the start of the story, a murder  is described. But that alone is lifeless without the aid of text like “The snow in the mountains  was melting” (3), or “state troopers, the FBI, even an army helicopter; the college closed, the dye 

factory in Hampden shut down” (3). These different areas of the text support the events of the  story and end up doing more to add the dark tone to the book.  

The Secret History would fall short in creating the dark theme of a murder mystery without the use of descriptive language. This book isn’t the only one that depends on language. With any other story, try to find these elements  hidden between the events that draw the most attention. Find the areas in the text that are meant  to lift the story with surface level details that add to the themes and tones subconsciously. All good stories should have this aspect. 

Works Cited: A

Raine Simon

Imagine chills that shoot down the spine and slowly creep up the span of the skin as the instant cold, frozen air and biting wind becomes tangible through the intricate sounds of the violin solo. Imagine the rising panic that parallels the ominous and increasing crescendo that is met with a gripping, beautifully entrancing song of death. When one hears Antonio Vivaldi’s Winter, the surreal and sinister beauty blurs the line between terror and enchantment, perfectly capturing the essence of winter and its undisputable duality. Vivaldi summons this lasting effect that seems to eternally rest within the listener’s psyche, a surreal realm that resides in the subconscious, one characterized by the distortion and dismemberment of reality. Generation after generation, for four centuries, Vivaldi’s Winter has yet to dissipate from the human experience, remaining unchanged within the ever-changing world.

This idea of eternal existence, one lying in the surreal realm, is explored in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, which emphasizes the significance and presence of duality within life and reality. Specifically, in death, one lives forever. In pain and terror, one finds beauty. Within the lifeless, one finds life itself. Within the human experience, the surreal cannot be completely severed from the real. These highlight the fundamental strive and struggle of humanity: balance. Across history, many philosophical and spiritual approaches to conceptualize balance have arisen. Duality or dichotomy, from the ancient Greek dikhotomia “division into two parts,” is one approach explored in The Secret History. The novel follows the memories of Richard Papin, a young college student from Plano, California as he recounts the events at Hampden College in Vermont with his five friends, which ultimately lead to the death of one. A socially isolated group, the six friends are captivated by the Classics, which are intrinsically dualistic. Although revered as beautiful, elegant text, much of the Classics deals with themes of brutal death and sexual perversion that are quite abhorrent to modern readers. For instance, Roman culture was characterized by the cruelty of death, so much so that it was a form of entertainment, such as gladiator fights and crucifixion. Additionally, Greek mythology, while similarly gruesome, also contains much sexual exploitation. Many gods, such as Zeus, raped mortal women. Despite this nature, the Classics are renowned for their beauty, poise, and sophistication. To test the dualistic concepts they learn in their studies of the Classics, the friends replicate the narratives they romanticize, exercising extreme imbalance by living in distortions of reality. 

Such is especially prevalent in Richard’s memory at Francis’s house. While walking in the lake with Henry and Richard, Camilla, another group member, steps on a shard of glass, slicing her foot open. Henry frantically carries Camilla’s limp body from the lake to the bank while the other members intensely scurry in panic. Richard recounts the moment as picturesque and dreamlike, his ultimate fatal flaw. As imbalance in any nature brings about varying consequences, the characters in the novel are ultimately bound to damnation as a result of living exclusively in the surreal. The dualistic language in The Secret History foreshadows the characters’ inescapable doom because it highlights the fundamental gravity of balance within life.

Duality of life and death is confirmed in Richard’s metaphoric recollection of Camilla’s accident. For example, the memory as a whole serves as an extended metaphor comparing a captured memory to a work of art or “painting too vivid to be real” (Tartt 98). Richard illustrates the scene as a piece of art: vivid, striking, and acutely graphic. In this way, he removes himself from reality by creating a surreal world lying outside of time and space. Within such a realm, he possesses the power to pause and capture a single moment in eternity. Thus, Richard tries to transcend mortal existence by creating the “picturesque” (1) because in death, one lives on through one’s legacies. A person’s essence can be felt through their art, whether paintings, music, or literature, because the person captures a moment, idea, or feeling of eternity, which supports that duality is fundamental to life itself. Likewise, Richard paints his life as artwork, fabricating dreamlike realities in which his essence lives on through his death. However, in this way, Richard overlooks the severity of the situation. Instead of addressing the dangers of the moment, he has left reality. The omnipresence of balance in life shows one cannot successfully avoid reality. Thus, metaphoric language communicates Richard’s coming doom.

Duality of beauty, terror, and death is proposed through the use of juxtaposition to draw connections between the deceivingly contradictory ideas. For instance, Richard describes a morbid scene. Despite Camilla appearing in a state of death, Richard expresses the moment as an alluring work of art, illuminating Camilla as angelic with the “curve of her throat beautiful and lifeless” (99). Beauty is associated with life. For example, the phrase “rosy cheeks,” an illustration of increased blood pumping through one’s body, is a predominant portrayal of beauty, emphasizing the direct bond that exists between life and beauty. Flushed cheeks signify youth and health, two pillars of beauty. Flush appearances can imply embarrassment, especially in situations of intimacy. Additionally, pink cheeks possess historical links to social class as wealthy Romans and Greeks used rouge to further highlight their pale skin, which was an indication that they did not need to work outside. However, in this instance, beauty is placed alongside “lifeless.” This creates a comparative effect, helping the reader to uncover the powerful and prominent dualistic relation the words possess. Specifically, the characters’ ultimate goal is “to live forever” (39), yet they desire death. As seen by the death of winter bringing the new life of spring, it is in death that they can find new and everlasting life. Thus, the existence of the duality of life itself is conveyed with juxtaposition to foreshadow the downfall that results in the attempt to elude dualistic principles, and, in turn, mortality. 

The connection between life and the lifeless is verified through the use of personification. Immediately after Camilla’s incident, Richard manipulates the reader’s initial negative interpretation of his panic and terror by highlighting that his “pulse sang” (99). Richard’s increase in pulse is a direct reaction to sudden and overwhelming feelings of horror, fear, and urgency. Thus, the idea of a raised pulse possesses a negative connotation. However, he assigns jubilant and peaceful characteristics to his pulse by explaining its singsong nature, contradicting the true origin of the response and reiterating the dualistic relation between beauty and terror. Also, his pulse, a heartbeat, cannot sing, so it is given human characteristics. This provides insight into the deeper meaning of the novel: the search for immortality. The characters desire to live forever and aim to expose forms of accomplishing such a feat. Personification by definition mirrors this idea by giving living qualities to a lifeless object or idea. Thus, Richard’s phrase parallels the overarching question of the novel: Can one overcome or escape one’s own humanity? The characters test this by living outside of reality, finding residence in the psyche whether through art form, ideas, or drug and alcohol use. In this specific case, the personification takes the existence of heartbeats and translates it into a song, which as an eternal art form, possesses the ability to carry one’s soul forever. Therefore, duality of life and the lifeless is supported by the use of personification.

Ultimately, the characters in The Secret History, despite their mindsets, are still subject to the limitations of humanity. Therefore, they are unsuccessful in trying to escape dualistic principles fundamental to life and experience demise as a consequence to their imbalanced lifestyles. I have interpreted Richard’s metaphoric language as his expression of his ultimate desire to capture life as an everlasting picture so that in death, he lives forever. However, in doing so, the reality that he ignores continues to act and impose human consequences. Additionally, I analyzed the purpose of juxtaposition to include communicating the true duality of life, which aided in my discovery that, surprisingly, in pain and terror, one finds beauty. Again, this supports the fundamental presence of duality in life itself. Continually, personification personally helped me to draw connections between life and death. I found that not only can we experience both simultaneously, but we can, in theory, defy mortal existence through art form and accomplishments. Furthermore, Richard’s contemplation of duality relates to humanity’s grappling of similar concepts over thousands of years. Different cultures and religions possess varying ways of conceptualizing duality and balance. For example, Christianity teaches that through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, death can bring about new life. Thus, in dying one finds eternal life in heaven. This is a dualistic idea as life and death are not only interconnected but become one in the same. Moreover, spanning thousands of years, Chinese culture has developed the idea of yin and yang, which addresses the dual nature of existence, both human and of the natural world. This philosophical relational concept expresses that the universe is governed by opposing and complementing principles present in all of existence. Yin represents the soft, feminine aspects of balance, while yang encompasses the rough, masculine aspects. Both elements are present within all that exist, including both the living and nonliving, such as nature and the seasons. In this way, Vivaldi’s Winter perfectly exemplifies the concept of yin and yang, showing duality of life and death, as well as beauty and terror, concepts which Richard explores in The Secret History.

Works Cited: A

Nadira Lea

Francis Abernathy, a character shrouded in mystery, appears in detail for the first time towards the end of the first chapter when Richard spots him walking through a meadow. Enamored by the student’s aesthetic, he takes notice when he sees Francis, and fearing that he will be seen by the boy, he attempts to hide himself. The way that Richard recounts his point of view of the scenario gives the reader more of an insight into his perception of the world. Through his intricate, intentional word choice in his narration of the encounter, Richard carefully begins to surface his slowly unfurling obsession with Francis and the others, unveiling his true mindset and desire for the extraordinary.

The way that Richard describes Francis gives the reader a better idea of the aspects of Francis that Richard is focused on. To Richard, Francis is a dark, almost non-human mystery. He uses words like “stalking”, as opposed to “walking” or “striding” to describe Francis’s movement (Tartt 34). The word has a mysterious connotation that adds to the notion that he is still this alluring enigma to Richard. At this point, he is not exactly sure what the deal with Francis and the others is, but that only heightens his curiosity more. Additionally, his interest in something as basic as his walking style as opposed to, say, the price of the designer coat that Francis is wearing separates his way of thinking from someone like Bunny who would likely focus on those materialistic things. Richard also uses animal comparisons “like a black bird” and “flapping like and crowlike” when referring to Francis to suggest that he views him as almost beyond human (34). He has sensationalized Francis so much in his imagination that he envisions Francis as some sort of mystical creature, which he directly states later in the book. Even his black coat flaps behind him in the wind, like he is being obscured in a literal cloak of mystery and captivation. This, in contrast to the way he describes his hometown as mundane and bland, gives the reader some insight as to why Richard would be fascinated by Francis’ outlandish charm. He has been in such a dull place for so long that it is only natural that he would be taken by something so different and unfamiliar.

The way that Richard goes on to describe how he wants to hide from Francis also reveals more about the character’s subliminal thoughts about him. He mentions that he is spooked by the “thought that he might see” him; the fact that the mere thought of being spotted by Francis affects him so much hints at Richard’s growing fixation on him (34). Without realizing it, Richard is letting the mere existence of the other impact the way he is acting, thinking, and living. He goes as far as to duck into the doorway to stay out of sight; he feels panicked at the moment and wants to quickly hide himself to avoid any unexpected contact with Francis. We later discover that his scrambles for cover were futile and less than discrete, but the description helps the reader understand Richard’s thought process at this point in the book. This is further explained by Richard’s “inexplicable anxiety” when thinking about being seen (34). Specifically, the notion that Richard finds his emotion to be “inexplicable” is interesting. On one hand, this is untrue because his anxiety roots from Francis’ presence, a source that he explains himself. On the other hand, it may be reasonable to describe his anxiety as inexplicable because at this point in the story, Richard himself does not really realize how obsessed he is with Francis and the others. He is confused as to why these people who he has not even talked to before have such an intense effect on him, a feeling that stays with him for a while, even after he befriends them.

Works Cited: A