Violence In Southern Gothic Literature

Southern gothic writing is a genre of Southern writing. The stories often focus on grotesque themes. While it may include supernatural elements, it mainly focuses on damaged, even delusional, characters. It was inspired by original gothic writings from the 18th century. The idea of gothic writing was to expose the problems society at the time faced that weren’t talked about in the public eye. Although inspired by Gothic literature, Southern Gothic does not dwell on suspense and the supernatural. Rather, there is a dark humor in the stories as we will see in Faulkner’s works. The authors of southern gothic specifically wrote about the problems of southern culture and the problems it had on society. The stories take place in the south and in typical southern settings like plantations, old houses and towns. The characters

In A Good Man is Hard to Find, a stubborn and self-centered grandmother leads the very common family trip to an unforeseen tragedy, which can ascribe to the power of Gothic literature. Southern Grotesque, a subgenera of Southern Gothic, “cuts through the veil of civility, though decorum and oppressive normative fabrications to expose a harsh, confusing reality of contradiction, violence, and aberrations”(Bjerre). With these aspects, the genre of Southern Grotesque shows the social issues and human natures in story through ordinary people’s life. In the story A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor discusses the discrepancy between good and evil, violence, and salvation with the two main grotesque characters—the grandmother and the Misfit—and through the perspective of

The relation between the definition of Southern Gothic Literature and the historical context and plot which the story contains is almost identical in characteristics and perfect placement by the author to give the story a sense of significance where it is relevant in all elements.

There are a lot of theories and opinions that differ between whether Stown is a classic or contemporary part of Southern Gothic Literature. Southern Gothic Literature is a genre of Southern writing that often uses violence and grotesque topics. It also used many other elements that go through the whole story and each element happens multiple times, especially in Stown. The listener was always in suspense and never knew what was going to happen next, especially when John was in the subject. This piece is going to show how each element can contradict each other and how this piece is classic, so as the reader, they are in for a fun ride. How decay, violence and irony can prove that this podcast is classic. Stown is a classic piece of Southern Gothic Literature because of decay, violence and Irony.

In the Gothic stories The Black Cat, Prey, and The Devil and Tom Walker all have similar themes. These short story themes all intertwine with each other in some for or fashion. For example, all three stories use violence and Entrapment as a common theme in order to convey a certain message.

Southern gothic is a type of literature that focuses on the harsh conflicts of violence and racism, which is observed in the perspective of black and white individuals. Some of the most familiar southern authors are William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Cormac McCarthy. One author in particular, Flannery O’Connor, is a remarkable author, who directly reflects upon southern grotesque within her two short stories, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” These two short stories are very similar to each other, which is why I believe that O’Connor often writes with violent characters to expose real violence in the world while tying them in with a particular spiritual insight.

Southern Gothic literature is a sub-genre of the Gothic writing style. It is unique to Southern America. Southern gothic style is a style of writing that engages very ugly and ironic events to study the value of the American south and its people. In this essay, I’m going to go over each story and give some details about the authors and their backgrounds. On one page, I will be comparing and contrasting all three stories. I will show how they’re similar through tone, plot, and scene in the story. And at the end, I am going to describe the three stories; “A Rose for Emilycomma inside quotes”, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, and “Sanctuary”. Period inside quotes All of these short stories are good examples of southern gothic writing, because

The power of consciousness and thought- that inner voice of reason constraining one from happiness, or perhaps protecting one from the imminent fear and gloom encompassing the Earth. This is what Romanticist writers across the centuries have worked so sedulously to convey. In the 1700’s these topics frequently arose through what is known as gothic literature, a severe configuration of Romanticism. Most gothic literature writers including Edgar Allen Poe and Horacio Quiroga, demonstrate the universal idea of this inherent, earthly darkness through the use of two elements- entrapment and mental decay. These writers manipulate these elements to show that it is the unfathomable darkness present in people’s hearts and minds that claws at them, torments and traps them; draining the souls from their bodies leaving nothing behind but broken minds. The preceding elements of entrapment and mental decay are portrayed prevalently through “The Black Cat,” “The Feather Pillow,” and “The Raven.”

The Southern Gothic Genre has shaped the traditions of American Literature. This genre doesn’t deal with the supernaturals. It focuses on real life instead of ghosts, monsters, etc. Traits from this genre include violence, good versus evil, unrequited love, race/class/social structure and being an outsider. Some important stories in Southern Gothic are; ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’, ‘The Possibility of Evil’, and ‘A Rose for Emily’.

The Southern Gothic genre uses dark and sometimes supernatural stories to expose the deeper issues faced in society. When reading Southern Gothic literature one could miss the deeper meaning in the story because it is not always the clear message but rather the underlining message. Both William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor achieve this in their stories “A Rose for Emily” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” Faulkner and O’Connor bring the issues of mental illness and hypocrisy to light in their works “A Rose for Emily” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”

Is violence truly the only way to solve our problems? Growing up in a 'hood', if something didn't go the way a person wanted it to, they would resort to violence causing a commotion until the problem was solved. This shows how quick people would be willing to succumb to violence to get what they desire. "The Shelter" and "The Monsters on Maple Street", directed by Rod Serling are perfect examples of how we resort to violence in order to resolve our problems. The people of Maple Street resorted to violence by attacking each other throughout the episode and the neighbors in “The Shelter” resorted to breaking down the shelter door in order to get in. Both episodes teach us that in times of danger, human survival instincts kick in causing us to resort to violence and diminish any relationships we may have.

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, one example of southern gothic literature is when the family is on their trip and they drive by their old plantation’s family graveyard, and it had six graves, which was the same amount of people sitting in the car. The six graves show that each family member will soon pass away. Another example of southern gothic literature that is seen in the short story was “The Misfit”. The misfit was seen as a murderer and horrific. He was blamed for killing his own father but claimed that he was innocent.

Throughout the course of history, literature has gone through considerable changes. Dating back to its humble beginnings in folklore, fables, and storytelling all the way up to the scientific books and dramatic novels of today. Literature is arguably the centerpiece of all mankind. It is useful for record keeping, education, and bringing cultures and societies together. It has allowed us to expand our minds by painting a picture of the beautiful places this world has to offer outside of our corners of the earth. One genre of literature I find especially intriguing is Southern Gothic Literature. It is a subclass of gothic fiction, specifically set

What is fear? Fear is the instinct used to survive dangerous events. Mankind adopted three sources of fear: sources of poison, germs and diseases and physical threats. The amygdala is a gland in the brain that detects the human fear response. When the amygdala senses danger, it sends a signal to the brain which makes a person more alert and on edge.This helps prepare one to protect themselves from their surroundings. This is what scientists refer to as the “Fight or Flight” mechanism, which means either fight or run away. This is what was used as a survival strategy for early mankind. In gothic novels there are elements that are used to scare readers and turn on our fear response. In Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, there are many Gothic

After countless hours of talking, Brian pieces together the story of Woodstock, Alabama, and John B, into a classic piece of southern gothic literature. Stown is a classic depiction of literature in this genre. It fits in the definitions of classic southern gothic literature, but as the story unfolds readers and listeners come to realize that it is slightly outside of the box. Stown is a classic southern gothic literature piece, because of its irony, violence, and decay.