Both The Castle of Otranto and The Wasp Factory depict the sins of the past catching up to the present. While Horace Walpole does so to demonstrate that we have no control over our fate, Iain Banks does so to argue that we do control our destiny. In Castle of Otranto, the main characters' fates are controlled by the sins of the past, which are represented by supernatural forces. Conversely, in Wasp Factory, when Frank …showed first 75 words of 1667 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1667 total…only dream of. "Now the door closes and my journey begins" (244). The past hovers over the present like a dark cloud. In Castle of Otranto, it controls the present through the use of supernatural forces. In The Wasp Factory, it explodes to the surface, freeing Frances in the process. In real life, whether the past controls us, as in Castle of Otranto, or liberates us, as in The Wasp Factory is for us to determine.