Analysis of Southern Gothic Literature Essay

S let knocked out(p)hern knightly literature, which is a sub-genre of the Gothic constitution style, is unique to the American South. Southern Gothic literature has more of the same aspects as Gothic literature it foc engagements on topics such as death, madness, and the super natural as well has having more mystical, erratic, violent, and grotesque aspects. These tools be used to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South (Wikipedia). The authors of Southern Gothic writing use damaged characters to fire their stories, and to show deeper highlights of unpleasant gray characteristics.These characters be usu each(prenominal)y set away from their socie depicts collect to their mental, physical, and or social disabilities. However not all the aspects of the characters atomic number 18 bad it is more often the case that a mixture of grievous and bad is found in most of the characters (McFLY) The authors of these stories do give the of im port character some good qualities this is so the reader will contact sympathy and understanding for the character. Two authors who exhibit the Southern Gothic writing style are William Faulkner, who wrote A Rose for Emily, and Flannery OConner, the author of corking solid ground People and A steady-going Man is Hard to keep.William Faulkners A Rose for Emily is an example of Southern Gothic literature. It contains umteen aspects of Southern Gothic writing, such as an old dark hu earthsion, death, mystery, bizarre events, and the crazy Miss. Emily. The stratum takes place in a small townsfolk in Jeffer password Mississippi. The narrator tells us the story of Miss. Emily Grierson, from the towns slur of view. ? A Rose for Emily is the remarkable story of Emily Grierson, an aging spinster in Jefferson, whose death and funeral drew the attention of the entire town (Faulkner n. p. ). The first mansion that this story is going to be Southern Gothic is when Faulkner describes h er funeral. According to the narrator, when Miss. Emily died, every wiz attend her funeral the men d wizard a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her put up (Perrines 281). The narrator then goes on to tell the story of Miss. Emily. Miss. Emily lived in a once beautiful, white, seventies style home, but as the years went by her home became an eyesore among eyesores (Perrines 281).This may be a reflection factor of how the town saw Miss. Emily herself, once beautiful and now an eyesore to the entire community. aft(prenominal) Miss. Emilys set about had died, Colonel Sartoris told her that she would not take for to pay taxes on her can, due to the fact that her get down had loaned money to the town, which the town, . . . , preferred this way of repaying (Perrines 282). So for many years, Miss. Emily went on with out paying taxes. When the next generation came into office, a tax notification was sent to Miss. Emily, who sent it hold up to them with no different(a) comments.The Board of Aldermen was sent to her house they knocked at the brink through which no visitor had passed (Perrines 282) through for eight to ten years. When they were let in, by the old Negro, they house smelled of dust and disuse (Perrines 282). When Miss. Emily entered the dimly light living room she looked bloated, like a body huge submerged in motionless water (Perrines 282-283). The spokesman contended wherefore Miss. Emily had not paid her taxes, to which she replied I have no taxes in Jefferson. ? See Colonel Sartoris (Perrines 283). What Miss.Emily did not know was that Colonel Sartoris had been dead for almost ten years now. On one occasion, a neighborhood woman went to the mayor to complain of a smell coming from Miss. Emilys house. The mayor mind vigor of it until deuce more complaints were received the next twenty-four hour period. in the end the Board of Aldermen sent quad men out t o her house the next night, later midnight, and sprinkled lime all around Miss. Emilys house and outbuildings After a week or devil the smell went away (Perrines 284). After that incident, the people began to musical note sorry for her.They believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were (Perrines 284). No man was good ample for her by her father and by the time she was thirty she was still unwed. After her father died, the people ultimately had a reason to fell bad for her. She was alone in the knowledge domain with totally her house left this left her humanized. The day after her fathers death, the women of the town went to give their condolences to Miss. Emily. To their surprise, Miss. Emily was dressed as usual and had no trace of grief on her face (Perrines 285). Emily told the women that her father was not dead. Finally after three days of filtrateing to hold on to her father, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly (Perrines 285). The towns people tired to effectiveify Miss. Emilys actions, by verbalism that she had nothing left, and was clinging to the one thing that had robbed her for so long they convinced themselves that she was not crazy. The spend after her father died, the town hired contractors to pave the sidewalks. The foreman, homer Barron, and Miss. Emily became sooner fond of one other.On Sunday afternoons they could bee seen driving in his bonkers together. Soon the people began to whisper about Emily and bulls eye. Emily held her head high she would not be seen as anything other than respectful. The towns people believed that Miss. Emily should have kinfolk come to stay with her for a while. While Emilys two cousins were visiting her, she went and bought rat poison. When she got to the drug store, she would not tell the chemist wherefore she wanted arsenic, but when she got home, under the skull and bones on the box the druggist had written For rats. Everyone believed that she was going to kill herself. But then, Miss. Emily was seen in buying a silver toilet set for men, with H. B. on each piece, and then she bought a complete mens outfit. Everyone verbalize They are married, referring to Miss. Emily and Homer Barron. When the streets were done, Homer left. ternary days after Emilys cousins had left, Homer was back in town he was seen going in to Miss. Emilys house through the Kitchen door at dusk. No one say Homer or Emily for some time. When she was next seen, she had grown fat, and her hair was turning gray.Year after year, the people watched as the Negro man grew older and older. The only bulls eye of Miss Emily was when she was seen through one of her downstairs windows. Then one day Miss. Emily died. The women and men came to pay respects, and to see what Miss. Emily had kept hidden for so many years. After she was buried, the towns people went back to Emilys house to look at the room which had not been used in all over forty years. Wh at they found would explain many things that had happened over the years. After the door was forced open, and the dust settled, they looked about the room.On the dresser an outfit and tie were laid out, along with a pair of shoes. In the bed, they found Mr. Homer Barron. Finally, someone noticed that on the pillow next to Mr. Barrons, someone had been sleeping on it. A head indention was in the pillow, along with a item-by-item strand of Miss. Emilys gray hair. Miss. Emily killed Homer largely to placate society, although that, in her deranged mind, also secured him as her make lover forever (Dilworth n. p. ). Flannery OConner is another author who writes in the Southern Gothic style. His story Good Country People takes place in south.He uses attributes such as lies, unfaithful ness, and deception to make his story Southern Gothic. The main character, Hulga, finds many things to be wrong with the world she lives in she also finds many things wrong with mother. Hulga is a large girl with a crippled limb. She does not believe in God, and she uses her studies as an excuse to escape the world. Mrs. Hopewell tries to convince herself that Joy, who changed her figure of speech to Hulga, is still a child, even thought Hulga is thirty- two years old. Nothing is perfect and that is spiritedness where two of Mrs.Hopewells favorite sayings (Good Country People n. p. ). Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. freeman, the wreaklord, talked about many things together. One thing that they both agreed on was there arent enough good county people (OConnor n. p. ). While Mrs. Hopewell was making dinner one night, a young man, by the name of pointer, came to the Hopewells house to share bibles. Hulga, who was atheist, was not to fond of the young man, but once Mrs. Hopewell found out that he was from good country people she couldnt get enough of him. She even invited him in for dinner.During dinner Pointer talked to Hulga about his family and where he was from and why he sold le dgers. After dinner, Hulga walked the young man out. The next day, Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Hopewell were public lecture about the Bible salesman. Mrs. Freeman said she had seen Hulga talking to him at the fence, and wandered what she had said to the boy. Hulga over heard all this, and assay to make a scene by getting up and stumping with about twice the noise that was necessary, into her room (OConnor n. p. ). When Hulga got to her room, she went over the conversation that she had with Pointer the day before.Hulga and Pointer had made plans to go on a picnic the next day. Hulga tried to act as if she did not really want to go, but she had other plans of her own. While she was in bed that night, she went over all the different ways that she could seduce Pointer. Hulga imagined that the two of them walked ? until they came to the storage barn ? and that she very easily seduced him (OConnor n. p. ). When she got up the next morning to met Pointer at the gate, he wasnt there, she thought she had been stood up, and then she saw him he had been behind a bush.He was there in the same dirty wordy old clothes as yesterday, only this time he had on a hat. Hulga asked, Why did you bring your Bibles? They just keep on walking though, until they got to the barn. Once inside the barn, they climbed up into the hay loft. Once they were both in the loft, Pointer started kissing Hulga When here furnish got in the way, he took them off of her and slipped them into his pocket (OConnor n. p. ). Once Hulga returned his kisses he told her that he loved her, to this Hulga had no reply for many minutes.After she said she did love him, he wanted her to prove it, he told Hulga to show me where your wooden leg joins in (OConnor n. p. ). Hulga couldnt do this, not at first anyways. Finally after she had interpreted off her wooden leg, but when she wanted it back on, Pointer refused to give it back, instead he placed it in his Bible suitcase. Hulga cried and pleaded for her leg to be returned, but all Pointer could say was you neednt to think youll catch me because Pointer aint really my name (OConnor n. p. ) Flannery OConnor also wrote A Good Man is Hard to have. The story takes place in Georgia. In this story a granny and her family were deciding on where to go for the family vacation. The grannie did not want to go to Florida, which is where the sculptural relief of the family wanted to go, she wanted to go to Tennessee. To try to convince the family not to go to Florida, she told them that she told them that she had just read on article about a prisoner, The Misfit, who had break loose form the Federal Penitentiary. She also tries to convince the family to go to Tennessee by saying that the children never have been to east Tennessee (OConnor 495). The family would not listen to her, and decided to go to Florida anyways. On the way down to Florida, the family break awayped at a little diner to get lunch. While they were there the owner and his wife were talking about the Misfit as well. After leaving the dinner the grandmother remembered a house that she had once been to it was an old Southern Plantation. She nags and nags her son to just stop in and see the house she even implies that it would be good for the children by saying that it would be very educational for them. Finally after her grandchildren pleaded their father to stop, her son finally decided to take a short drive back down the driveway of the house. Once they had turned down the long dirt road, which went to the plantation, the grandmother suddenly remembered that the house she had been thinking of was not even in Georgia, but in Tennessee. Rather than telling her son that she had made a mistake, she just sat back and keeps it to herself. As they were driving down the driveway, the grandmothers cat sprang form its resting spot and landed on her sons shoulder.The car went out of control, the children where propel to the floor and their mother ? was thrown out of the car the old lady was thrown into the front bed (OConnor 502). The children were ecstatic about being in a wreck. While the parents and grandmother while trying to recuperate form what had just happened, a transport pulled up. The grandmother had a feeling that she knew the man who stepped out of the truck. The man said he had seen the accident happen, and told one of the boys in the truck with him to go fall over and see if the car would still run.Thats when the grandmother knew who the man was it was The Misfit. Youre the Misfit exclaimed the grandmother. Yesm ? but it it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadnt of reckernized me (OConnor 503). The Misfit had no other choose, he told Bobby lee to take the father and the boy and go back into the woods. The whole time, the grandmother was trying to talk The Misfit out of pain her. She told the Misfit, I just know youre a good man (505). To this he replies, Nome, I aint a good man (505). Then the sound of gunfire was heard coming form where Bobby Lee had taken her son and grandchild.Next the Misfit had the mother and the other two children taken back into the woods. The grandmother still tried to talk her way out of being hurt, but failed to ask that her family be saved as well. Three more rounds of shots could be heard from the woods, the grandmother only talked faster to try to save her own life. She told him that Jesus would forgive him of his sins if only he would ask for it. Finally when the grandmother looked at The Misfit she said Why youre one of my babies. Youre one of my own children to this The Misfit sprang back and shot the old land three times in the chest.All of the stories that are discussed in this melodic theme have many signs of being Southern Gothic literature. They show sings of characters that are extremely flawed, stingy, and uncaring. The stories are mysterious, bizarre, and ironic in the end. Southern Gothic authors use these types of traits in the ir stories to catch the readers attention, and to show aspects of the south that are not perfect. Southern Gothic literature is suspenseful and awkward, but is a very well known writing style. Works Cited Definition of southern gothic as provided by Wikipedia .Dilworth, Thomas A Romance to execute For Homicidal Complicity in Faulkners A Rose for Emily Studies in swindle Fiction (363) 1999 251-62 OConnor, Flannery. A Good Man Is Hard to Find Perrines writings Structure, Sound, and Sense. 8th ed. Boston, MA Heinle & Heinle, 2001. 495- 509. OConnor, Flannery. Good Country People. n. p. 31 Jan. 2006. . Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily 2002 Perrines Literature Structure, Sound, and Sense. 8th ed. Boston, MA Heinle & Heinle, 2001. 281- 289. Faulkner, William William Faulkner on the web . Southern Gothic. McFLY. n. d. 5 Feb. 2006 .