Southern Gothic Genre Essay

The Complexity of the Southern Gothic Genre

Southern Gothic represents a grotesque and dark era that occurred in the American South after the Civil war. Many authors explored the many elements of this genre and its used to give a mysterious and gloomy aura to short stories. This genre creates suspense and mystery, but also reflects on social issues that were relevant in the early 19th century. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor and A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner are both examples of how dynamic southern gothic is. O’Connor and Faulkner capture some of the many aspects of this genre by elaborating about the hardships of love, revealing irony within the stories, and by depicting how society is so quick to judge others.

“A Rose for Emily” happens to be a story set in the south during a time where women were supposed to be classy and care for their families. Emily did not fit in because she had little to no encounters with the opposite sex. Mr.

Grierson, her father, sheltered her from boys and this left Emily naïve and unexperienced about a lot of things. Due to those events in her life, she meets Home; a man from up north who happens to be too modern for her and the town people. Homer was not the marrying type, but Emily enjoyed his company and affection. Emily became exposed to a new feeling called love, and she did not know how love could negatively affect her. Fed up with Homer not wanting to settle down, Emily begins to start think irrationally: “Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and out got the arsenic and wrapped it up”. This quote foreshadowed what she would do to keep Homer and his love with her forever. She began to realize that he was not going to settle down with her, so Emily poisons him and eventually he dies. Emily keeps his corpse upstairs where she can lay and be with him whenever she pleases. Many short stories in the southern gothic genre wrote about love and how traditional society was during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Emily was an outsider and she latched on to the one thing her father protected her from for many ears, Ultimately, once love came into Emily’s life it changed her life forever.
Secondly, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” uses love and sympathy to attempt to save a life.

The grandmother seemed to be a typical religious southern woman, but so happens to an evil person. She always speaks about beliefs, but does not follow them. She judges strangers and makes many hypocritical statements. Unfortunately, the family encounters a serial killer named the Misfit while on a road trip. After her family is murdered, the grandmother thinks that by manipulating the Misfit and using love will save her life. Knowing that her life may end at any moment, the Grandmother begins to show love to the Misfit: “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” She attempts to coax him, but love is the thing that seals her fate. The Misfit shoots her dead and she dies with a smile on her face. Love is complicated and it can have a negative or positive outcome in certain circumstances. As a final point, this genre depicts the horror individuals will go to when their hearts are being toyed

with.
Overall, Faulkner utilized irony quite a bit in “A Rose for Emily”. As mentioned earlier Mr. Grierson controlled Emily’s life, which had an immense impact on her adult life. Consumed and taken over by love and affection, Emily became infatuated with Homer. Once his true color began to show, Emily knew he was not a traditional, old-fashioned guy. She controlled Homer by killing him and keeping him around always. O’Connor describes how Emily’s curious neighbor are because the being to go through her house when they suddenly discover a room: “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of use lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.” At last, Emily became controlling like her father once was. By having Homer in her present at all times, Emily could have him and no one else could.
Next, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” also includes many examples of irony given by the grandmother. A monumental ironic moment happens when the Grandmother realized her evil ways and that she is an ultimate sinner. Stuck between life and death the grandmother now begins to realize her life may end when: “Alone with the Misfit, the grandmother found that she had lost her voice.” She realized her evil ways cannot get her out of the situation she’s in. At that moment, she had to redeem herself and use the love she thought her contained. This moment was an epiphany for her, and she releases her evil ways from her mind. Unfortunately, trying to express love to the Misfit becomes the reason he murders her. Lastly, this moment is ironic because it took a bad person to be in a predicament to realize how evil they happen to be towards others. The southern gothic genre happens to give details about manipulation is used in this era.
“A Rose for Emily” occurred in a town that was transitioning to becoming modernized. Which means that people were still traditional with their lifestyle and beliefs. Faulkner includes the judgmental thought of the town by saying: “Then some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people.” The town people who saw Emily and Homer thought it was wrong and didn’t understand what they were doing. They began to judge them and nor did they consider that Emily knew nothing about men. The town people continued to judge Emily even after she passed. Social issue became a popular topic for the southern gothic genre.
Furthermore, the Grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is one hypocritical human being. She’s a religious woman and lectures about good manners to her family and to others. Then she makes a racist comment about an innocent black child the family observes. Her comment is not one a religious woman should have made: “Little n****** in the country don’t have things like we do.” Her religious good-hearted façade went away multiple times during this story. It is revealed later in the story that she’s judgmental and a hypocrite; but her evilness comes back to bite her where it hurts with her encounter with the Misfit.
Southern gothic is a genre in its own lane and is unlike any other. It expresses the drama, horror, and violence that occurred after the Civil war. Also, it speaks about social issues, religion, and racism making it a universal genre. The events that occurred in the American South sparked a legendary genre that will live on forever.