Southern Gothic is a particular genre of American
literature, which takes place in the American South that has become popular in the
19th Century.
In A Rose for
Emily Faulkner uses this style of writing, since it presents shocking
events that no one could ever believe possible from a person as Miss Emily,
which is the fact of her sleeping with the corpse of her lover, or even the
thought of her being the kind of person that would actually have sexual
intercourse with a dead body, it is just repugnant and shows a dark image of
society. But, that is the essence of this genre, having these kinds of
unbearable events which are groundbreaking which demonstrate that this genre
belongs to modern literature.
Through Southern Gothic socio-cultural problems of the times are also
depicted, in regards to Faulkner's story, Miss Emily denies to be living at
present time, at a society that has changed and demands her to adjust to it,
such as to pay taxes. However, she was raised to be a southern belle that would
always be protected by society, since she once belonged to a great southern
family that made her believe she still is untouchable.
The characters of Southern Gothic literature tend to be mentally
unstable who would represent an outsider of a society that gives foot for
thought in relation to the values of that particular southern American society.
For further explanation you can watch the following
video:
After reading A Rose for Emily and getting to know the background of Southern Gothic, Don't you think our current society does not fall to far from this obscure image? Aren't we always trying to keep inappropriate events in the dark as a way to make them dissapear or to not deal with them? Even though we deeply know they are still there.
Very thought provoking entry you wrote, Carolina. I really enjoyed that summary of what Southern Gothic is.
ResponderEliminarRegarding your question, I would say that our chilean society has been so repressed through all these years. One possibility of that self repression could be the seventeen years of militar dictatorship where many people hid from everything in their homes. In addition, many psychological and social studies show that that repression affected in so many levels, that nowadays some people found other ways to release that energy (different philias, depresion, anxiety and so on). However, nobody will know anything aboutwhat's happening to the other one because individualism was heavily raised on Chilean population.
I would say that "A rose for Emily" is a clear example of what our society is passing through, leaving those dark secrets inside our houses in order to not deal with them.
As well as Eduardo, I think it was a really interesting the summary of the definition of Southern Gothic; nonetheless, I don't totally agree with a point that you made about Emily being raised to be a Southern Belle.
ResponderEliminarMaking connections between the reading of the short story and Yasna's post with some words of William Faulkner on the story, I have to say that I disagree with the idea of Emily being raised as a Southern Belle since for his father no man was worth of Emily, and for that she lacked of social skills with men --poor Homer. I think that the connection of Emily been a Southern Belle can be drawn because of what you said about her being protected by society. But, if she would have been a real Southern Belle, maybe after the death of her father she would have reacted more like Blanche and not in the tough way that she did when she saw herself alone in charge of the house and her life. Even though, I don't forget the different issues the influenced the two authors' writings.
Regarding your question, and as Eduardo said, due to our individualism as Chilean and the traumatic experience of the dictatorship, the fact of hiding what ashamed us, or what is dark about is a main characteristic of the Chilean culture; however, I have faith in us, in the youngest generations as it can be seen through social medias, and media in general how we take the job of making public everything that looks bizarre and corrupt to us.