Southern Gothic Literature (ENGL 110 Essay 2)
ENGL 110 Essay 2 Instructor: Zollo
Choose one of the following prompts (or a combination) as a topic for your second essay:
1. Write an analysis of the narrative point of view employed by one of our authors. Why does the author choose this perspective, and what does he or she accomplish by doing so? Support your assertions with evidence from the text.
2. Write an analysis of the use of irony by one of our authors. What effect does the author achieve by including these elements? Support your analysis with evidence from the text.
3. Analyze the theme of madness as developed by one of our authors. What does the author seem to suggest about the mental states of his/her character, and therefore the events that "occur" in the stories? Support your assertions with evidence from the text.
4. Look up the elements associated with Southern Gothic fiction, and write an analysis of the use of those elements by Faulkner or O'Connor. Support your assertions with evidence from the text.
5. Write an analysis of the symbols or images used by one of our authors. What do the authors accomplish by employing these images and symbols? Support your assertions with evidence from the texts.
6. Several of our authors tackle issues from a female perspective. Choose one author and explore what she is suggesting about the roles of women in their respective times and societies? How are women seen in relation to the males and their roles in society? Are the authors calling for women to take action? Support your assertions with evidence from the text.
Follow the same process as before. Look back over your journals and choose an author to whom you had a strong response. Reread the story, and highlight and annotate any examples of these literary devices and themes. Then begin to do some brainstorming as illustrated in Chapters 2 & 7 of A Little Literature. Use the examples which you highlighted and annotated as specific evidence to support your conclusions and develop your body paragraphs.
Good essays begin with interesting introductions that capture the reader's attention, introduce the author and title of the work and its subject, and propose a thesis which your essay will argue. Good body paragraphs begin with a topic sentence that relates to some part of the thesis, then develop the topic in detail, using incidents and quotes from the work as evidence to support the writer's claims. They also include commentary, developing the implications of the events under discussion. Good body paragraphs close with summary sentences that wrap up your point and relate back to the topic sentence. Conclusions should reflect back on the thesis, theme, and subject of the essay, and end with a "clincher": a final sentence or thought that the reader can take away from both the work and your discussion of it.
Finished essays should be four to five pages in length, word processed and double spaced. See Appendix A of A Little Literature for manuscript form. Enjoy your time with the stories, and remember that you are teaching yourself what you think. Happy learning!
SOUTHERN GOTHIC LITERATURE
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Southern Gothic Literature
The characteristics that are used in Southern Gothic literature are not just the mare use of southern dialects and corn-fed, barn raised country folk lifestyle. However, the characteristics tend to be loose as far as literature is concerned as a whole, but are prevalent in the works of this sub-genre. Flannery O'Connor's “A Good Man is Hard to Find†is one good example of the use of the element of Southern Gothic literature because it offers: major characters outside what is considered the “normâ€, figurative or literal imprisonment and violence as well as a sense of place. It is amazing that O'Connor used her immense talent to look at life as a horror story as the book reads like a synopsis of another gory horror film: an escaped convict by the name Misfit who commandeers a trio of blood thirsty murderous freaks to slay an innocent entire family of six in an event that took place in a Georgia farm road.
One of the commonest characteristic of Southern Gothic literature is the way that it uses the pivotal characters or someone who is close to these pivotal characters who is set apart from the world by an odd way of looking at the world or a disability. The effectiveness of this read can be more evident by further delving into it and outline that these three different ways of looking at the world emanate from difficult situations or predicaments. Gothic literature portrays the reactions of their characters to appalling or trying situations. In “A Good Man is Hard to Findâ€, the Misfit is certainly insane, or he would not have killed a whole family.
In the text however, the writer does not give a pointer to what the Misfit is suffering from exactly, though there is a hint that is given when the grandmother makes reference to her faith and the Misfit in what sounds like a confession says that if the actions of God were proven, then who would abide by his word willingly but if he did not do what was prophesized, “ . . .Then it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can – by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness,†He said his voice had become almost a snarl.
“Maybe He didn't raise the dead,†the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her. “I wasn't there so I can't say He didn't,†The Misfit said. “I wish I had of been there,†he said, hitting the ground with his fist. “It ain't right I wasn't there because if I had of been there I would of known. Listen Lady, “He said in a high voice, “if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn't be like I am now.†(O'Connor, 14). The use of this dialogue by the writer is deliberate as it examines the religion in the south. Further, it is more of a bold critique of Misfit's view of religio...