Essay Comparing A Rose For Emily And A Good Man Is Hard To Find

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After reading “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, I was able to put together some elements that I think make up the genre, Southern Gothic. The first thing that both of these stories had in common was their setting, both set in the South. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is set in the rural South and throughout the story, O’Connor describes cultural elements that are unique to the South. In “A Rose for Emily”, Miss Emily Grierson’s house shows how the past has taken hold of the present. The setting in both of these stories plays important roles in the themes as they make the reader feel a sense of decay. Both of these stories include a character who is flawed and peculiar. In O’Connor’s …show more content…

The Misfit is also flawed, in that he is disturbed and a murderer. In Faulkner’s story, the character Miss Emily has the flaw of not being able to let go of the past. She lives with her father’s dead body and also decides to keep Homer Barron’s body after he dies. Another theme that I think Southern Gothic entails is death. We see death in both of these stories. In “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner describes the smell of death everywhere. There we also see death in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” when the family is brutally murdered at the end of the story. Irony is also included in both of these stories. We can see this in O'Connor's story about the Grandmother's interactions with the Misfit. When the Grandmother recognizes the Misfit and exclaims, "I know you’re a good man." You don’t look a bit like you have blood. I know you must come from nice people!” She tries to manipulate him, which ends up being tragic and shows how her understanding of goodness is very shallow. The Misfit's responses are unconcerned with what the Grandmother is saying, which is humorous and shows the uselessness of the Grandmother’s

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