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I read this story for my English class last year.

The man starts out in a castle which he has lived in his whole life. He can't go through the forest because he always leads back to the castle. He then tries to reach the top of the castle and somehow ends up on solid ground. He wanders around for a while before he crashes a party, and everybody's terrified of him.

The man eventually finds a mirror and realizes he's a monster.

I'm pretty sure the story ends with him fleeing back to his castle.

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  • 7
    You really ought to hide that spoiler. It's the heart of the story -- and it made my hair stand on end when I first read it.
    – Beta
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 12:13
  • 3
    A different take on the "normal vs. monster" that's worth a read is "I Am Legend." None of the derived movies follow the book's theme, so ignore them (I Am Legend, Omega Man, and another whose title I forget).
    – Carl Witthoft
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 12:36
  • @Beta My bad, Thank K-H-W for fixing it!
    – Ishaan Saha
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 18:43

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42

This is definitely The Outsider:

In this work, a mysterious individual who has been living alone in a castle for as long as he can remember decides to break free in search of human contact and light.

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  • 4
    It was quite the autobiography....
    – Rich
    Commented Sep 15, 2020 at 17:11
  • 6
    Available online: fadedpage.com/books/20190945/html.php
    – FvD
    Commented Sep 15, 2020 at 17:21
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    There is a character called The Outsider in the Lovecraftian RPG "Stygian: Reign of the old Ones", which, now I understand, was reference to the story.
    – Sedat Kapanoglu
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 0:07
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    The Shadow Over Innsmouth also follows this theme. The protagonist is disgusted by a town full of monster-human hybrids, only to find out at the end that his ancestors are from the very same town and he himself is turning into a Deep One.
    – Shane Kenyon
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 16:22

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