A Gothic Literary Analysis

The genre of Gothic writing is necessary for people to understand the depth of what people are feeling in a deep way. Gothic writing cannot be described in a way that cannot be described in a way seen with normal writing; however, gothic writing allows this point to be exaggerated. Gothic writing is a genre of writing that was mainly popularized in the Southern United States and other countries have had the same type of writing but it was not classified as Gothic. This theme allows for the points of certain writers that include: William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Lu Xun, to get their points across. William Faulkner wrote the short story, “A Rose for Emily” which follows the life of Miss Emily Gierson and as we follow her life in a strange

This theme of unwillingness to change in mainly seen throughout “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” with the grandmother throughout the entire story. During their journey to Florida the grandmother keeps on begging her family to travel to Tennessee instead of Florida because she wants to explore her roots. Then towards the end while her entire family is beginning to get murdered she still would not change. The grandmother is so unwilling to change when going on this trip she causes a car accident because she had a horrible thought which was that, “the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee” (O’Connor 1148). The “Misfit” then sees her unwillingness to change as a person and has her watch her family die in front of her (in the woods to the side while she could hear the gunshots). This unwillingness to change theme is also communicated well throughout “A Rose for Emily.” In this short story, we follow Emily who is completely unwilling to change and has a stubbornness about her that forces her to commit acts of violence against people who she loved. Emily is completely stubborn and unwilling to change throughout the story and this stubbornness shows that people can be unwilling to change. Emily is shown throughout the story as an individual who cannot be told anything from anyone and when the state

The use of “horror” in Gothic styles of writing allows for the theme of selfishness, which is seen throughout these writings. Selfishness is a theme that is brought up throughout Gothic writing and in these stories because it allows for the reader to think deeper about their own lives. In Flannery O’Connor’s story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” we follow from the view point of the grandmother and we see throughout the story how selfish she truly is. The reader understands how selfish the grandmother was in this story and understand how selfishness is something that should take a backseat. In the story, we see how selfish the grandmother was when dealing with the “Misfit” as he began to murder her family we saw her beg for her life and not anyone else’s in her family. The only character in “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” that is selfless is the mother who is barely acknowledged. However, the one thing that she did do was when confronted with the idea of her joining her family dead she simply said yes while the grandmother kept on pleading and eventually stated, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children” (O’Connor 1153) which got her murdered seconds later. This shows that by being selfish it allows you to not care about your family and friends which is also exemplified in “A Rose for Emily.” In Faulkner’s