![]() That said, it makes little (though some) other social commentary, and depicts many slaves as content and many slave owners as heroic. Mitchell, in fact, shined a harsh light on many Southern traditions and used her great romantic hero to underscore them every chance she got, even as her heroine chaffed. Remember, Southern Gothic doesn't deal only with oppression of black people. In fact, it expounds at length about the oppressive societal expectations of women, and the legendary character Rhett Butler explains to Scarlett, point blank, that she's been forced into a widowhood that he considers a worse fate than the Hindu tradition of suttee (a widow's suicide on her husband's funeral pyre). That would probably have been 1884's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Mea culpa.Īpril 1, That's a more accurate description of the movie than the book. It wasn't the first such novel to contain Gothicesque social commentary by a long shot. "Gone with the Wind" was the most phenomenally popular Southern novel of its generation, the generation that gave rise to Southern Gothic. The Southern Gothic genre seems like it's going to be an interesting subject to learn about and read.ĭoes the novel Jane Eyre fall into this sphere of literature? I know it's a bit early compared to the rest of the movement, but could you classify it as something that perhaps might have inspired it?Īctually, I have to amend that, and strongly. I'm doing a class project on this and its coming along fine. Thank you! I will refer this site on my paper that I'm doing. Other notable writers in the tradition include Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, and Truman Capote. ![]() ![]() ![]() William Faulkner's frequently anthologized "A Rose for Emily" (1930) brings the recurrent Gothic theme of unrequited love leading to madness to a Southern town in which the disapproving residents narrate in a single voice. Tennessee William's A Streetcar Named Desire (1948) reinvents the Southern belle as a pretentious, mentally unstable woman, and his Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) portrays the favorite son of a Southern dynasty as a repressed homosexual whose alcoholism threatens his marriage. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) deals with a clearly innocent black man who is convicted of rape and murdered simply because of his race. Southern Gothic literature often deals with the plight of those who are ostracized or oppressed by traditional Southern culture - blacks, women, and gays, for example. This can be in the form of a murder or other such macabre themes laced throughout the text.William Faulkner was one of many writers to use Gothic tradition in Southern literature. Macabre and morbid - No Gothic tale is complete without a little death and destruction. Omens and prophecies - The protagonist or a supporting character will often typically have distressing dreams, visions or prophecies connected to the setting or events of the story.Īgony and ecstasy - Gothic stories are often characterized by melodrama, inner turmoil, intrigue, and insanity as well as sweeping romance, grandiose passions and enchanting prose. Sometimes these supernatural figures are literal, and other times they are symbolic or have a natural explanation. Paranormal activity - Gothic novels are famous for featuring ghosts, vampires, monsters, and other shadowy figures. Terror - The protagonist is haunted by supernatural or seemingly supernatural events such as doors suddenly closing, baying of dogs, footsteps, moans, and eerie sounds in the night. Suspense - Gothic plot lines typically revolve around suspenseful events, familial mysteries, disappearances, unexplainable events, and frightening objects. Examples include rain, storms, a chill in the air or howling wind.Īrchetypal character traits - Gothic literature typically has particular types of characters: a distressed heroine, tyrannical male characters (usually villains) and anti-heroes, also known as Byronic heroes after Romantic poet Lord Byron. Natural imagery - A hallmark of both Romanticism and Gothic literature is imagery, particularly pertaining to nature.ĭark atmosphere - No Gothic story is complete without atmosphere, including complementary weather conditions. Some common types of settings include castles, haunted houses, graveyards, and dark forests. This is because Gothic literature has specific characteristics like:Ĭreepy settings - In Gothic fiction, the setting is a character in its own right. There is a reason the word “gothic” brings to mind trap doors, castles, monasteries, and more.
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