Southern Gothic Literature Essay

Southern Gothic literature primarily focuses on the themes of social dynamics, suspense, and death with dark romance. In A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, Southern Gothic literature is used throughout this fictional piece. Social interaction is conveyed through the story and shows the community's reputation of the people is valued throughout the town of Jefferson and the power of the leaders. This is observed through the character of Emily having a high social status since her father had paid a large sum of money to the town previously for future generations to avoid taxes. The higher-ups of the town take notice of Emily's refusal for taxes and try to press her into conforming with the rest of the town “When the town got free postal delivery,

This further emphasizes how social dynamics are used throughout Gothic literature and how it affects the story by shaping the way the characters interact with one another and showing how Emily refuses to conform. Furthermore, it conveyors how leaders of the towns try to exert their power above the citizens. Southern gothic literature also contains a lot of suspense, shown through the story with the putrid smell exerted from Emily's House. The reader and community do not know the source of the smell throughout the story, which builds suspense and curiosity. The townspeople even go as far as to decipher the smell, shown through the actions of “four men cross[ing] Miss Emily's lawn and slunk about the house like burglars, sniffing along the base of the brickwork and at the cellar openings while one of them performed a regular sowing motion with his hand out of a sack slung from his shoulder. “ (Faulkner 2). The action of the four men leads to further suspense in the story, with the growing interest in what the smell is. They were not successful during this time to identify the smell. However, death starts to play a role throughout, which further connects the story with Southern Gothic