Southern Gothic Literature

Southern Gothic Literature is a subgenre of Gothic fiction writing, which takes place in the American South. The Southern Gothic style is one of that employs the topics such as death, bizarre, violent, madness, and supernatural. These tools are used “to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South (Wikipedia).” The view of the South which is self-identified as the “national” or “American” view is basically a colonial Romance, with the rest of the nation identified with the forces of the light and the South with the forces of the darkness (Wacker 107).The authors of Southern Gothic typically use damaged characters to make their stories better, and to show deeper meanings of unpleasant Southern characteristics. These characters are diverse from society due to social, physical or mental disabilities. However, not all characteristics of the characters are bad; it is that a mixture of good and bad is found in most of the characters. Two authors who express the Southern Gothic writing style are William Faulkner, who wrote “A Rose for Emily,” and Flanner O Conner, the author of “Good Country People” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”

A great example of this type of writing is “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O' Conner. It is a story about a family trip gone that has turned out bad, a selfish grandma causes her entire family to be stranded after the car crashes and is put into a ditch. They are relaxed to see a car stop for them to give them a ride to their destination, until they soon realize the person driving was an escaped convict named "The Misfit." The convicts partners began taking the family into the woods one by one to assonate them, the grandmother starts to beg for her life even though s...

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...als these events within their novels. Sometimes leaving the reader scared, frightened or mysterious. Southern Gothic literature is a group of words bonded together to set a mood, message, plot, etc. Overall Southern Gothic Literature can be interesting and creepy at the same time, its style has been practiced for many years by southern writers which are located in the American South. Its popular writings have grew from generation to generation and is now a world wide genre.

Works Cited

Alice, Petry. A Rose for Emily.’” Explicator Spring 86. Vol. 44 Issue 3. p. 52. 3 p.. Ebook http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Gothic. Image and Ideology in Modern/Postmodern Discourse - Google Books." Google Books. Web. .

Margaret, Whitt. Understanding Flannery O’Connor . Ebook.