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Gothic Elements Of Gothic Literature

Decent Essays

The term ‘gothic’ is mostly connected to an angst adolescent with jet black hair, heavy onyx eyeliner, and charcoal clothings, among other characteristics. However, it goes more deep than that. According to Study.com, ‘gothic literature’ refers to a style of writing that relates to horror, death, and gloom and others. A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner recounts a dysfunctional woman named Emily Grierson who was born into an aristocratic family, where the townspeople believed she was scornful and a chore they held. When her father passed away, Emily slowly and surely became mentally sick. In the end, it is revealed that she killed Homer Garner, her homosexual partner. Faulkner’s 1930 classic is a prime example of this genre due to the elements it includes such as the elements of decay, the isolation of the protagonist and damsel in distress, and the high emotions that are exerted by the main character. One of the elements of gothic literature is the element of decay, both in their building structure and family structure. In the second paragraph of Chapter 1, the setting is described (“It was a big, squarish frame that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood, only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay

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