ain, the tone of the novel is still being established, Harry goes to a strip club in search of a lead on how or where to find Stacey Jameson, Betty’s missing daughter. Harry goes into a dark and smoky burlesque of naked women and neon lights. The music and the lights shock the senses and communication is difficult. The mansion is also described and eerie and dead. The functions of suspense and tension work in harmony with the melancholy mansion and shocking nightclubs. The cinema where Harry attempts to save Stacey is dark and dank. Harry describes the decrepit constitution of the cinema as a crypt, “with walls muted by decades worth of gray dust. (283)” Darkness questions ‘what else could be out there?’ Furthermore this darkness establishes a sense of isolation or alienation from a secure environment. Fletcher 3Violence, rape and other grotesque actions are likewise gothic tendencies. Corey is raped, beaten and burned by Mousey, Stacey’s kidnapper. When Harry finds her in the basement of the cinema, he reports that “her breast were dotted with hideous red marks and bruises. A horrid black patch was on her left nipple, covering part of the aureole. (286)” When Harry finds Big Moe Klinkenstien, Mousy’s boss, Harry describes “ a great dark scarlet gash were his genitalia should have been. Beneath that horrible wound, a large plastic vibrator was half-visible.(237)” These accounts and others are quite gruesome and disturbing. However, they are moreover gothic characteristics. To put it bluntly, the vast majority enjoys being shocked from time to time. These inhumane actions aid in retaining the readers’ attention and creating a more repulsive, gothic environment.Secrets and hidden figures also serve as gothic properties. Harry finds out “the Jameson secret” involves incest. Of course this is connected to Betty’s mother. “A drawn...
