REading response 2 revised

Danielle Kuschnik
10/30/09
Composition 106
Reading Response 2

It’s that time of year again, when the movie screens are filled with horror films. I myself have never truly thought of many horror films as having a real moral to the story, except for maybe Saw series; where the moral is clearly stated throughout the entire films. I have always viewed scary movies as an object of pure entertainment, because of the simple fact that most of the films are so out of the realm of reality that it is hard to pull a moral out of them. This however is not the case with the urban legend of The Hook by David Emery. This is the classic story of two lovers that park in the middle of nowhere, looking to be pernicious. Suddenly a news flash comes on the radio that an escaped convict is on the loose, with a hook as a right hand. The boy tries to advance on the girl even though she is frightened and eventually the boy gives in and drives her home; but not without finding a bloody hook on the passenger side door. When I first read this age old story again, I noticed the fact that I truly never would have understood the true moral of the story, unless it was pointed out as I was reading. The moral or the story is that when young, curious teenagers try to experiment with premarital sexual activities bad things happen. (This urban legend has been around since the nineteen fifties, a time when any premarital sexual activities where highly discouraged.) One subtle factor of the legend that I would have definitely missed unless it was mentioned was the meaning of the story, and why a hook was used as a means of slaughter verses something like a knife. The reason why a hook was used as a weapon of choice is because the boy is trying to relentlessly “hook” his teeth in the girl and really does not want to let go of his owns elfish “needs”(well more like lustfulness desires). Another factor of the story that I completely would have also missed was the symbolism that the news brad cast plays in the story. The voice of the news alert is really in reality a voice of reason that is trying to trigger a stopping mechanism for the premarital sexual activities. In closing I really liked reading this age old urban legend, especially around Halloween time and it nice for a change, to see more clearly the meanings of urban legends verses as just viewing them as a source of entertainment.