The town of Woodstock is in Southern Alabama. Most people consider stories that involve the South are classical just because of its setting and history. But how S-town describes their way of life and the woodsy setting, it can be classified as contemporary. Although S-town is a wonderful story, most people today do not know the difference between contemporary and classic. This is a contemporary piece of Southern Gothic Literature. S-town is a piece of contemporary piece of Southern Gothic Literature because of its use of social issues, irony, and macabre and grotesque.
Every town has social problems even in a town of only 200. Social issues are themes in the story that include honor, betrayal, integrity, loyalty, and others that are central
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Irony is when an author or character says something, but means the opposite. Irony is used in Southern Gothic Literature relating mostly to the history of the South. In S-town there is a significant amount of verbal irony. S-town uses multiple examples of irony and a few relating to Southern Gothic Literature as well. One main use of irony is when Bubba told Brian that he thought John sacrificed his skin to help the guys at Black Sheep Ink make cash while also working for it. John makes many references in the story of how much he hated tattoos, but how much he loves helping people out. It is ironic that John said he hated tattoos, but then he goes and gets a ton of them weekly. Bubba stated “And I think he sacrificed his skin to help us out.” This quote shows that S-town is a piece of contemporary Southern Gothic Literature because clearly john hated tattoos, but he gets them as a way to help alleviate pain. Tattoos haven’t always been popular, but there has been an uproar of tattoos ever since 2000. Everyday people are slowly opening up about topics that are usually swept under the rug, including things like climate change. Climate change has always been a big thing to John, and his property and house showed how much he loved the environment. John has a huge maze and tons of little gardens with it. When John died the person who bought his house just so happened to be the owner of the lumber yard in Woodstock. It is ironic that the Burt’s ended up buying John’s property. Kendall Burt said “I bought John McLemore's place when he committed suicide and left his mother here alone.” As we can only assume that Kendall Burt only bought the property because he knew that there may have been gold hidden on the land. Also because of all the lumber that is on the property. The Southern elements of irony tend to use things specifically dealing with the history of the south. After the war the south went broke, so
This story takes place in the charming town of Staggerford, Minnesota. In the small town of Staggerford, there is a school, a diner, and the Sandhill Indian Reservation. Staggerford is the perfect town; idealist scenery and everyone appear to know each other.
Though both Scottsboro and Maycomb seem like a loving town with nice people, however, their dark sides are discovered through their actions. There are many parallels between Scottsboro and Maycomb, the major issue being the events that occurred during the Great Depression. The Great Depression happened after World War Two. It’s an economic crisis worldwide where mostly everyone has no job and money at that time. Maycomb is a town with a traditional old generation because their thinking is different than the city people, they dress differently and people like Aunt Alexandra would want to teach their kids about their family name or its legacy.
The setting is nearly a character. Lonely, a bit disgusting, not wholesome, but with a semi-authentic dreaminess. Towns are made of people and towns are full of people, this town is no different. The characters could’ve told the story without the ranch girl. We could have read about Carla, or Andy, or Haskell, Suzy or even Lacey or any others, and been left with much the same story. They all live without growing, little things change but their lives stagnate. They don’t grow into greater things than themselves. Their victories are bitter because they are meaningless. Their failures, crippling. Lacey won’t get Andy either. The ranch girl’s father, can’t quit his job. For all his swagger, Andy is dead. Carla’s marriage doesn’t work out. These pieces of quilt, that make this story, may not directly be the setting, but without them the story has no setting. This town is a dead end. It swallows everyone mentioned in the story in one way or another, or rather they all allow themselves to be
The characters are impacted by the setting sharply because it both closes and opens possibilities as the story moves forward. At first, the setting is in Sylvan, South Carolina. The author describes Sylvan simply by stating, “…population 3,100. Peach stands and Baptist churches, that sums it up.” Clearly the setting here is not exactly note-worthy; however, quite a few events happen. Lily, the main character, lives with her father T-Ray and her opportunities are
1. Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used very effectively in her story. Situational irony is used to show the reader what is assumed to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to hint to the reader something is happening to the characters in the story that they do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.
Irony is the opposite of what is and what seems to be. Harper Lee uses irony in
Irony is the discrepancy between what is said and what is done. For example, Harry talks about how his old girlfriend broke up with him. Harry says, “She gave me a bunch of crap about me not listening to her enough, or something. I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention” ( Dumb and Dumber).
One of the main symbols of the story is the setting. It takes place in a normal small town on a nice summer day. "The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blooming profusely and the grass was richly green." (Jackson 347).This tricks the reader into a disturbingly unaware state,
Faulkner uses the view point of an unnamed town member while he uses a third person perspective to show the general corrosion of the southern town’s people.
Now we have examined three stories written by two well distinguished authors known for their Southern Gothic Literature and found many similarities in each story. Each story has its form of the grotesque we have Miss Emily, the Misfit, the Grandmother, and Marley Pointer and let’s not leave out Helga. The characters of each story has some form of cringe inducing quality, meaning some kind of attitude about themselves that gets under ones skin. Then as we can see from the stories they all are Southern based each story is in a Southern setting. And the final thing we look for in Southern Gothic literature is tragedy which all three stories possessed.
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.’
Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.
Verbal irony is when a character says one thing but means the opposite. When a reader understands the irony of what a character is saying, then he can truly understand the nature and intentions of the character. An example of verbal irony is when Macbeth says to Banquo, "Tonight we hold a solemn supper, sir,/ And I’ll request your presence" (Macbeth 3.1.13-14). The reader soon discovers that Banquo never makes it to the banquet because he is brutally murdered by order of Macbeth.
Many people know the general definition of irony as what is expected to occur ends up being the complete opposite. According to Kathleen Kuiper’s book, Prose Literary Terms and Concepts she states, "the real meaning of the spoken or written communication is concealed or contradicted by the literal means." (Pg 160) She also further on explains two types of irony, which are “Dramatic” and “Verbal” irony. She defines dramatic irony as a technique that is based on the structure of the work rather than the wording.
The time period that it takes place in is the 1930’s, during the Great Depression. The crash causes many people to be struck with poverty and unemployment in the town. This results in a town that does not grow or decrease in numbers. The town is sleepy and time passes slowly because the people do not have many activities to engage in such as shopping, without money. In addition, the whole story takes place over a course of 3 years from 1933-1935.