Southern Gothic Literature In Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” and Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal,” a chapter from his novel invisible Man that is also sometimes excerpted as a short story in literary anthologies, are both set in the South in the early to mid-twentieth century. The characters, circumstances, and narrative voices are all quite different, but both shared the Southern setting and the theme of racial relations in the South. Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” describes a town legend named Miss Emily Grierson whose family was once important, rich, and powerful in the Mississippi community in which the story is set. The narrative voice is the voice of the town itself, a gossipy perspective that gets all of its information from outside observation, rumor, and town history.

Literature is defined as written works that hold a certain amount of merit. It takes form in different genres. In “Making a Spectacle: Welty, Faulkner, and Sothern gothic” the author, Susan Donaldson, mainly focuses on southern gothic literature and Southern Gothic authors. In her article Donaldson talks about female characters in Southern Gothic literature, as presented in the works of famous authors such as Eudora Welty and William Faulkner. The author gives specific examples of how female character are portrayed in Southern Gothic literature.

The literary movement of Regionalism was a time of self identification and exploration. Writers in this era wrote pieces based off of their own experience and surroundings. They explored topics not traditionally discussed in high brow literature and used their own personal language to illustrate their ideas. One of the more pronounced writers of this era was Kate Chopin, a widowed mother who wrote nearly exclusively about the Louisiana Bayou and women of her time. One of her most popular short stories was “Désirée’s Baby”, a piece dealing with race, heritage, and bayou culture.

Capote focuses several of his stories on the south,so naturally the southern gothic is very apparent throughout most of his texts; however, even some of his stories that do not take place in the south are reflections of the southern gothic. What comes with southern gothic is something that is entirely essential to the plot -- the gothic setting. Gothic settings can take many shapes, but as we have seen, they are usually dark, dreary, menacing places filled with dilapidated houses that are generally unwelcoming in one way or another. What the reader can count on coming from these settings is a character who shares qualities of the grotesque.

The Red Badge of Courage according to James Woodress in his review of the novella said, “It is the most famous of all novels written about the Civil War” (Woodress).

A compare and contrast essay on two stories such as, “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor. Author and poet William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi 1897(biography.com). He spent his childhood in Mississippi and became one of the foremost American novelists of the twentieth century, Faulkner received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1955 and 1963 later on he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949 (95). He wrote challenging prose and created the fictional Yoknapatawpha County(biography.com). Faulkner is best known for novels such as, “The Sound and the Fury” and “As I Lay Dying”(biography.com).

Faulkner describes black people by a derogatory term “negro” to emphasize the main issue of the southern mentality. However, author pays the equal attention to gender inequality. Starting from the very beginning Faulkner describes Emily’s unquestionable obedience towards the constraints that her father put on her life. Emily is the symbol of old American south, yet her character has a lot in common with women of younger generation “Only a man of Colonel Satoris’s generation could have invented it and only a women could have believed it” (Faulkner), it is not women’s competence to think by themselves; the statement that Faulkner wants make in this part is that men are superior gender.

Phillis Wheatley is a black, African slave, female poet, and then Christian American (Acton/ American Literature). The life of Phillis is attractive, some painful and some pleasant (poetry foundation). At that time, black skin people cannot be educated while she was American Christian and educated. Wheatley was a model of all black skin people or those were persecuted (Acton/ American Literature). She is the owner of the first published poems book in the colonies in 1773 after brought her from Africa to America; by that Wheatley was the first slave and third American woman do that (Biography).

rejudice in Maycomb in the 1930 's in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The prominent theme of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird is the portrait of prejudice, in a small southern American town called Maycomb in the 1930’s. Maycomb is believed to be a replica, of the town Monroeville where the author Harper Lee grew up. Her knowledge of the society in Monroeville (Maycomb) enables her to hit the reader with more impact; she can portray her views on prejudice and discrimination with stronger force and focus. She gives a realistic representation of people’s attitudes in the Deep South in the 1930’s.

Mortality and Existence in As I Lay Dying Born in the poverty stricken South in the late nineteenth century, William Faulkner was one of the first authors to draw upon this environment for inspiration in his novels. His literary works did not go unrecognized; he won the Nobel Prize and the Pulitzer Prize for his various novels and is regarded as one of the most successful southern authors. In As I Lay Dying, an 18th century novel set in the post-Civil War South, Faulkner utilizes the raw reality of America’s South to portray the harsh reality of our human existence. Through this rich environment, Faulkner is able to explore ideas of mortality and existence through the varying perspectives of Addie, Darl, Vardaman, and Cash in As I Lay Dying.

"Coming of age in Mississippi" is an autobiography of Anne Moody, Essie Mae the original name, explaining a story about the black people called African American and their problems faced by being black in the southernmost part of the States, not any other countries but it 's the United States of America. The author of the book has fragmented this book in 4 parts. The first part is all about her Childhood, second about her life in High School, third about her College life and the final is about the Movement she joined. Probably, it was the time period after the World War II and it was too many years black people got many rights as white used to. But also there was discriminating mind of people in the Southern part of USA which is till now more religious.

Southern Gothic The southern gothic a writing genre came from the evolution of the once mighty South. The authors of this genre depicted the world in a way where the older generation is in constant battle with the new generation. Two prominent figure in the genre is Flannery O Conner who writes from a White Southern perspective. While the other character Alice Walker speaks for the African-Amercian community.

What makes a piece of writing a southern gothic literature? Southern Gothic literature involves the sub-genre of gothic fiction with the setting in the South United States. By combining horror, death romance and an American South flavor, the reader is able to fall deep into the stories of the deep south. Southern gothic literature was first seen in the nineteenth century. But it wasn’t till the twentieth century when dark romanticism, Southern humor, and literary naturalism merged into a powerful form of social critique.(Wikipedia)

Southern Gothic Lit, it is a sub-genre of the gothic style, meaning this type of literature is supported by supernatural activities or abnormal occasions to guide the storyline. This subgenre is unique to American literature. Southern Gothic literature is important due to the fact that not only does it give the viewer a sense of shock and suspense it also gives the reader a greater surprise when the plot is uncovered. Southern Gothic Literature also demonstrates grotesque features written in many novels. Applying Southern Gothic literature elements onto the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes” can be seen in multiple occasions.

The story, “A Rose for Emily,” was written by William Faulkner and was published in April 30, 1930. This story is about a woman named Emily and her dealing with a lot of problems. Emily is very quiet and during this story, she losses her father. She also has problems with relationships. In the story, “Lamb to Slaughter,” was about a woman and her husband.