FRQ 3 

In the story Call of Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft uses a stone sculpture as both a symbol of faith and a symbol of fear. 

First, Lovecraft used the stone sculpture as a symbol of faith to give insight into the followers of Cthulhu. Lovecraft first introduced Cthulhu’s sculpture at a meeting of the cult of Cthulhu. The members were in the woods trying to awaken Cthulhu using the sculpture. Because the cult was using the sculpture in their religious activities, it creates a sense of mystical and weird quality to the sculpture. Consequently, the sculpture reveals the theme of having faith in what you believe could bring it to life. Therefore, Lovecraft's use of the sculpture shows the theme of faith can have a powerful effect on the world. The followers' faith wasn’t always falling on deaf ears. The people in the town near the cult’s activities were afraid of what they were hearing coming from the forest. The police tried to arrest and stop the cult’s rituals, but the sculpture tried to summon monsters to help the members and prevent them from being stopped. The cult was not afraid to get arrested since they believed their god would come and save them, because the monsters were sent to help them. Since their faith was true, Lovecraft thought it was important to illustrate that faith isn’t always ignored and sometimes it's rewarded. Thus Lovecraft thought it was and important theme of having total faith in what you believe. 

The sculpture was only really a symbol of faith for the cult but for the ordinary people it was a symbol of confusion and fear.  Cthulhu’s sculpture represented the unknown and terrifying of the world to regular civilians.  After the police were attacked by the monsters they were able to arrest the cult members and collect evidence. They sent the sculpture to a person researching the mysterious events involving Cthulhu. Because the police had witnessed the monsters coming because of the sculpture, they did not want to keep the sculpture so they sent it away for someone to explain the unknown. Consequently, Lovecraft had the guy try to explain the unknown since humans are afraid of what they don’t understand yet. Therefore, Lovecraft uses symbolism to induce a sense of fear.  The sculpture isn’t only a symbol of unknown fear.  Once the researcher had the sculpture a person around him started to have these weird dreams. These dreams were really portals into Cthulhu's resting place and palace. The stone sculpture was used as a symbol of corruption because being near it made someone go insane. Since, it is being used as a symbol of corruption the horror of the sculpture itself becomes more since it is more than just an idea of a being. Thus, Lovecraft used the symbol of the sculpture to portray deep fear. 

The stone sculpture of cthulhu reveals many themes of the fear of the unknown and faith can bring you great success. Lovecraft did not want to make any one thing only have one meaning. He made sure that this sculpture had many different view points. 

In the short story Cats of Ulthar, H.P. Lovecraft employs the scenes of violence towards the cats and eventually the old couple, in order to convey that the townspeople were afraid of the couple since they were violent towards the cats, ultimately illustrating that nature will punish the people breaking the rules of nature even if it's not against human law. 

Lovecraft initially utilizes the townspeople's knowledge of the cat murders at the house in order to demonstrate how people are afraid to step in when the laws do not side with them. Lovecraft reveals that the townspeople know what the couple is doing yet they do not stop them from committing the cat murders. Because the townspeople knew about these acts of violence, but were unwilling to act, a sense of fear was revealed. Consequently, the fear of the townspeople reveals why they were not stopping them, showing how without a backing with laws, fear prevented them from doing the right thing. Therefore, the knowledge the townspeople had illustrates that people may not be properly punished if they aren’t breaking the current laws. Additionally, the outside world does not know of these killings, only the townspeople. At one point a group of people come to town and one of them is an orphan with a cat. The boy’s cat eventually wanders near the old couple's home and is killed by them. They are not punished for this by the others. Because, even when a child that does not have much loses his friend and they aren’t punished, it creates the idea that they are above the law and can not be stopped. Consequently, they only feel unstoppable since they know it's not against the laws and nobody is gonna risk themselves to stop them. Thus, the outsiders cat dying shows how people with no connection to the place must follow the laws and are powerless against people abusing them. 

Additionally, the couple are eventually punished, not by the people but by nature. Lovecraft uses the scenes of the cats getting vengeance in order to demonstrate how when human laws are lacking nature will take over and punish the correct people. After the orphans cat dies he prays every night that they will be punished. Because he is praying for help from god and nature instead of asking the others to help him, it shows how he knows that the only way they will be punished is by something above humans. Consequently, his idea that praying is the only thing that will work reveals how people often feel human law is not enough and something from above will help them instead. Therefore, the scenes of his praying reveals how natural law will punish the evil people when human law has not evolved enough to do it. His prayers are eventually answered. One night all the cats in the town disappear and later return fat. At the couples home there are two clean picked skeletons. Because the cat’s got vengeance and killed and ate the couple, it shows why the child believed in nature and god to help him. Since his belief was answered, it shows how nature will punish the people that wronged it and will help the people that need helping. Therefore, the violent scenes of the cats eating the murderers illustrate how nature will punish the people breaking natural law when humans are lacking. 

The scenes of violence contribute to the interpretation of nature filling the gaps of human law throughout the story. The scenes of violence reveal a sense of motivation for the cats in the end of the story. Overall, when human law is lacking people can always trust nature to help them in their time of need.