Southern Gothic Literature Research Paper

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 literature uses broken characters and social problems to develop their stories and emphasize the repugnant characteristics of the south. The characters are usually distinguished as the “odd ones”. Most have social disabilities,

Three authors who beautifully demonstrates the perfect mixture are O’Connor, Flannery who wrote “Good Country People”, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” also written by O’Connor, Flannery, and Faulkner, William writer of “A Rose for Emily.”

“Good Country People” is a story with four central characters. The first one is Joy Hopewell, a thirty-two-year-old woman with a PhD in philosophy. Joy had a shooting accident when she was ten years old and she currently has a weak heart. These are deep flaws which are very common in characters of southern gothic literature. If it was not for her condition, Joy “would be far from these red hills and good country people. She would be in a university lecturing to people who knew what she was talking about” (Good Country People pg. 276). Joy later on changes her name to Hulga as a reflection of both her physical appearance and as a reflection of her soul. This alienation, which is almost a necessity in writing southern gothic literature. When Joy changes her name it can be seen as a form of retaliation to her mother’s, Mrs. Hopewell. Her mother always has a positive attitude, which irritates Joy, thus being one of the reasons Joy changes her name to