Question

does this story contain elements that you associate with gothic traditions in horror stories or mystery stories? What makes it an example of southern gothic fiction? (A rose for emily)

Answer 1

Southern Gothic Fiction usually have characters that are mentally unstable. They are either struggling to find their place in society or are broken in spirit.

A Rose For Emily is considered an example of Southern Gothic Fiction because its setting. The story happens in the South. Its main character, Miss Emily, has been isolated for many years thus she no longer knows her lace in society. Many deemed her weird and some even feared that she is crazy just like her aunt.

Answer 2

There are many elements that hint at the Gothic nature of the story in A rose for Emily, for example Emily’s description, her house, the poison she bought, and finally the ending.

A Rose for Emily is representative of the Southern Gothic stories since the themes of love lost, death, and murder are present in it.

Step-by-step explanation:

Southern Gothic literature focuses on the literary works that include, but are not limited to the macabre, themes of death and decay and even ‘broken’ people. That is to say, people who do not fit our general definition of ‘normal’. In the story, Emily, the protagonist, used to be the perfect young and rich lady living with her father, but now she is an old woman living alone in her crumbling house. Throughout the story, the author describes her as being weird and lonely, he uses the themes of “southern gothic literature" by examining how the town saw Emily as a curiousity and a monument to the old ways, how Emily represents the “Old South” and the way it slowly died, and even how Emily’s father represented the end of the Civil War and the changing times.