Open response for "The Ghost in the Cap'n Brown House"

     “You look at the folks that allus tellin’ you what they don’t believe—they don’t believe this, and they don’t believe that—and what sort o’ folks is they? Why, like yer Aunt Lois, sort o’ stringy and dry. There aint no ‘sorbtion got out o’ not believin’ nothin’.” (63 Stowe)

     From reading the quote and the entire story, the big idea that Stowe is trying to get out about the believability of fantastic stories is that there’s always to different sides. If there were only one side to the story then the fantasy most likely would be real. Objections are what make stories fantastic. In the story of “The Ghost in the Cap’n Brown House”, there are two different vies to the mysterious silky and white lady. Cinthy Pendleton believes that the lady is a ghost while Aunt Sally Dickerson thinks the lady is a real person. This is what gives the story a fantasy element. With no one else seeing the lady there is no proof to either side. Who should the people of Oldtown believe? The ghost lady or the lady who thinks the mysterious person is just a person. Thus the legend of the ghost in the Cap’n Brown House begins. As long as there are two sides to a story then there are two different possible outcomes.

     This idea is very compelling. How can one fantasize if there is only one possible outcome or answer? The more possibilities lead to more possible outcomes. These are what lead to the fantasy element of a story. If one person says this and another says that, then who’s right? With no proof, either can be right. But as long as one person believes an idea, that outcome can still be right. Fantasy is guessing on whether something unknown is real or not.