Libby Ann Writes

1. Gothic’s Southern Migration

Southern Gothic literature has been around since the mid-twentieth century and draws its roots back to Gothic literature. The original Gothic genre “emerged in the late eighteenth century in England and subsequently spread especially to the United States and to other parts of Europe” (Poggi). The genre’s name is derived from the gothic architectural style and is the reason that many Gothic stories are set in castles, cathedrals, and other medieval buildings. “Gothic stories generally created in their readers a sense of terror or mystery, since the supernatural, the sinister, the grotesque, and the insane broke violently into the narratives” (Poggi). Another element common in both Gothic and Southern Gothic stories is horror. Kristin Nelson writes that elements of horror are meant to “[shed] light on the essence of human nature and behavior and [expose] the rest of us to the darkness that lies potentially in all souls.” Horror elements are defined as anything that “shocked, scared, frightened, terrified, horrified, sickened, or disgusted” (Street).

Gothic literature and its elements of darkness and horror thrived in the American South due to its dark history. “Southern Gothic…substitues for the spooky medieval atmosphere the ambiance of the southern United States. In addition, it focuses on the sociological aspects and cultural contradictions of social reality, leaving in the background the more individualistic and psychological aspects of classical Gothic horror” (Poggi). Traditional Southern Gothic authors include Flanner O’Connor, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, William Faulkner, and Carson McCullers (Kuiper). Because the genre arose out of social commentary and contains elements of terror and the grotesque, trauma writing is a benchmark of the genre. For this paper, the definition of trauma comes from Cathy Caruth who said traumatic experience acts as a paradoxical link between destructiveness and survival (60). Essentially, this means trauma occurs when someone undergoes an event so destructive that survival seems improbable. In simple terms, trauma is the fallout and reaction to events that people cannot process. In his study of trauma in Southern fiction, Xin Wang says the genre’s emphasis on trauma arose in the “time between the disappearance of the Old South and the deterioration of the new South” (127). During this time, Southern residents saw the problems in their region and attempted to mend them. As a result, Southern Gothic literature began as a critique and commentary on the culture of the South. The characters in these stories were supposed to be “everyman” characters who easily related to the audience (Wang 131). In general, Southern Gothic literature’s characters tend to be stereotypes that reinforce “mainstream understandings of the Southern region as moribund and even monstrous, in a cartoonishly vivid manner” (Street). Trauma also lives in Southern literature in particular because of the “burden” that is Southern history (Hinrichsen 609). This burden rises out of a past rooted in slavery, insurrection, and prejudice. “The ‘Confederate’ South became a region of the Gothic grotesque: the horrors of racism, anti-modern religiosity, ‘the repository for everything the nation is not.’ Despite the negative burden that the South placed on the American social imaginary, a group of authors…knew how to rescue its riches, contradictions, complexities, and uniqueness” (Poggi).

These Southern Gothic authors depicted the dark and grotesque aspects of the South but also “rescued” the South’s representation by including elements of hope, grace, and redemption. These often “[enter] violently into the narratives and [show] up in the grotesque reality of their world” (Poggi). By depicting the horrible parts of life, Southern Gothic novels lend themselves to a juxtaposition of hope and despair. Flanner O’Connor once commented on the nature of her writing explaining that she writes of God’s grace as visible in the grotesqueness of a seemingly godless world (Poggi). That is essentially what the hope in Southern Gothic literature is: evidence of good in the midst of darkness. This good shows up in many ways such as redemption, change, forgiveness, and healing. Hope is the possibility of grace, redemption, or healing. Hope has long been present in Southern Gothic literature, but as time went on, the glimmers of hope and grace present in Southern Gothic literature sparked into larger elements of the genre. Instead of focusing on characters’ descents into madness, more contemporary Southern Gothic works focus more on the characters’ recovery from trauma. This is where the hope that has been long present in Southern Gothic literature is given a chance to thrive: through the characters’ grace and redemption.

The novel I wish to write would take part in the more contemporary Southern Gothic tradition that holds onto the traditional dark elements while also incorporating hope in a clear way.

2. Grotesque and Insane

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner was one of the first Southern Gothic novels, published in 1930. Its plot follows the Bundren family as they travel across Mississippi to bury the matriarch of their family, Addie. Faulkner’s novel relies heavily on physical grotesqueness during the journey as they encounter obstacles like their oldest son, Cash’s broken leg, a flood which kills their mules, and the stench of Addie’s decaying body which attracts vultures. In the midst of the physical challenges, the characters deal heavily with a descent into insanity. Vardaman, the youngest child, struggles to understand his mother’s death and compares her to a fish he caught. But the most concerning struggle is that of Darl, one of the middle sons. His slow descent into madness brings him to burn down a barn in an attempt to cremate his mother and end their journey, eventually landing him in a mental institution. The story is told from fifteen different perspectives, and when asked, Faulkner said it was a conscious choice on his part as he was interested in “redressing trauma in what is possible in a fictional depiction of a traumatized mind affected by what a ‘healthy’ or ‘normal’ person might deem a disorder (Sandoval 180).

Insanity and mental disruption also play large parts in Carson McCullers’ novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. The novel’s central character, John Singer, is a mute, and as a result, becomes a confidant to all the other main characters who come to him throughout their hardships. The novel includes physical gore as characters die, receive injuries, and lose limbs. These instances appeal to the audience’s empathy, allowing them to feel the grotesque pain of the characters they’re reading about. But the climax of the novel comes when John Singer commits suicide after the death of his best friend. Singer’s death leaves a void as the other characters are left feeling stranded without him.

Another common portrayal of insanity in Southern Gothic literature is a character with a fractured identity. This can bee seen in Truman Capote’s Other Voices, Other Rooms, wherein the main character, Joel searches for a father and attempts to come into his own identity as a gay man. Capote’s semi-autobiographical novel explores issues of homosexuality and the otherness it brings to it, making it difficult for Joel to find his identity. This theme of identity is common in Southern Gothic literature and often stems from a fractured past (Muldoon).

When it comes to depictions of insanity, Cormac McCarthy was a master of grotesque details and the slow descent toward madness. This is evidenced in his novel, Child of God, wherein Lester Ballad flees to a dilapidated cabin after the sale of his farm. His downward spiral begins with him watching couples have sex in a nearby cabin. Eventually, Lester begins collecting corpses of women, some of whom he killed. Lester then begins to wear the dresses and makeup of the women as his mind deteriorates. In his novel, McCarthy takes what most would agree is grotesque–brutal killings, handling of corpses, and voyeurism–and parses them out to their fullest extent, allowing Lester to practically wallow in the grotesqueness of his insane state.

The tradition of grotesqueness in Southern Gothic literature continues on in Pat Conroy’s 1986 novel, Prince of Tides. The grotesque elements are best showcased in the pivotal rape scene. The scene begins with the chilling quote, “We were about to learn that fear is a dark art that requires a perfect teacher. In blood, we were about to sign our names in the indifferent pages of the book of hours” (Conroy 495). This instance, along with many others, is the source of both physical and psychological horror in Conroy’s novel.

While many Southern Gothic works focus on an individual’s descent into madness and insanity, much like Darl Bundren or Lester Ballad, Conroy’s plot centers around the three Wingo children and their individual psychological struggles. The Wingo family is raucous and dysfunctional, resulting in each character’s unique trauma and response. Like those before him, Conroy uses the grotesque rape of three of his main characters as a form of collective trauma. But unlike other works, Prince of Tides spends a great deal of time on the characters’ healing. This may be because Conroy is on record as stating the purpose of his book was to write a family saga in the Southern Gothic genre through the addition of elements of horror, regionalism, and social commentary (Burns 104). Like Capote, Conroy brings his personal experience to his writing and based many of his characters on his friends and family. Prince of Tides was written on the tail end of Conroy’s own mental breakdown and thus contains a cathartic element to his writing which resulted in a holistic study of trauma in a single family (Burns 9). And through this family study, Conroy changes from the norm of the Southern Gothic genre. He allows two of his main characters, Tom and Savannah, to spiral at the beginning of the novel, making the story more about their healing than their descent into madness.

However, just because Conroy’s main focus lies on the healing of Tom and Savannah, it does not mean he doesn’t depict a spiral into madness. While Tom and Savannah, the weakest characters, spiral at the beginning of the novel and heal at the end, their older brother, Luke follows the traditional spiral and ultimate demise that is common among Southern Gothic characters. Luke is presented as a grandiose hero, deviating from the traditional “everyman” characters of Southern Gothic literature. Throughout the novel, Luke’s heroism continues to grow until he meets his eventual demise when his beloved Colleton is threatened, and he turns to guerilla warfare that drives him mad and leads to his death.

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison follows in this tradition of psychologically grotesque elements. The 1992 novel set in 1950 explores Ruth Anne (Bone) Boatright’s existence in a poor, Southern family. The novel follows her struggle to survive her stepfather’s abuse. Similar to Conroy’s novel, Bastard Out of Carolina balances physical and psychological horror through depictions of abuse and rape. In addition, Allison’s novel parses out the issue and tension of illegitimacy. And though, in the end, Bone and her mother do escape her stepfather’s abuse, Bone’s mother abandons her. These themes were carried into the twenty-first century by Jesmyn Ward in her novel Sing, Unburied, Sing. This family saga continues with dark and macabre elements through racism, drug use, and death.

3. Mystery and the Sinister

By themselves, grotesque elements often make for a horrifying story, however Southern Gothic pairs these depictions of the grotesque and insane with elements of mystery and sinister characters. These inclusions elevate what was simply grotesque to a new level which allows Southern Gothic literature to comment on the world it’s based in.

Similar to Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor wrote about a family in crisis. “O’Connor was also a devout Catholic living in a predominantly Protestant South, and her work displays an ongoing reflection on such theological concepts as grace, redemption, and sin, among others” (Poggi). This reflection is evident in her 1953 short story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” The story, which follows a family who is hijacked by a criminal on their way to vacation, contains suspense, sinister characters, religious symbolism, moral corruption, and the clash between grace and brutality. The majority of these aspects appear when the family is approached by the criminal, the Misfit. The Misfit talks with the grandmother while his associates slowly take and murder her son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren, building suspense for the reader as they wait to see whether the Misfit will indeed kill the whole family. All the while, the grandmother is reasoning with the Misfit, speaking with him about Jesus, religion, and goodness, desperately trying to avoid the same fate as her family members. Even still, the Misfit shoots her three times in the chest, tainting the story in darkness.

4. The Southern Landscape

Another key element to Southern Gothic literature is the landscape. The landscape’s job is usually two-fold: to contribute to the grotesque elements and to contrast the darkness within the characters. Faulkner paints a vivid picture of the Southern culture and landscape wherein both provide active challenges and obstacles to the main character. When discussing the Southern Gothic landscape, Matthew Wynn Sivils writes, “Indeed, in so many Gothic works the landscape represents more than just a setting; it is a threatening embodiment of the land itself, of that oft-abused supplier of our human needs. Such landscapes not only foster an important element of terror, but also represent a sort of warehouse of cultural and individual anxieties relating to the social issues in play.” This depiction of the deteriorating Southern landscape is especially common among early Southern Gothic works and often mirrors the families’ or individual characters’ deterioration.

Another novel that relies heavily on setting and landscape is Truman Capote’s Other Voices, Other Rooms. Capote’s main character, Joel, spends the plot trapped in his father’s bleak, almost Gothic mansion. But even though the mansion is depicted as dark and looming, it is contrasted with the natural beauty of the surrounding town, Skully’s landing.

Pat Conroy used the Southern landscape as a juxtaposition for his social commentary in Prince of Tides. Like many Southern Gothic novels, he is critical of Southern society, but also praises the landscape of the South and devotes pages to prose about the beauty and richness of the South. The landscape that once represented the decay and rot within Southern history and culture is not present in Conroy’s writing. This is one of the marked shifts in contemporary Southern Gothic stories that allows room for hope. The landscape is less of an obstacle. Instead, the landscape of the South seems to be a light in the darkness, the beauty amidst the destruction. In fact, the beauty of the Southern landscape is so enticing that one of Conroy’s main characters, Luke, is willing to die in order to protect it.Instead of the novel being set against darkness and decay, Conroy contrasts the horror of humanity against the beauty of the marsh and the Atlantic.

Delia Owens also treats the Southern landscape with reverence in her novel, Where the Crawdads Sing. The novel follows Kya Clark, a social pariah on trial for murder of the local goldenboy, Chase Andrews. Through flashbacks, the novel delves into Kya’s tumultuous past which includes domestic violence, abuse, and rape. Kya’s experiences parse through the dark psychology of being an outcast and alone from a young age. Her novel criticizes Southern culture while praising its landscape, almost making the marsh into its own character. The marsh is one of the only things in life Kya can rely on. The landscape is the hope that Kya holds onto in order to keep her going through her imprisonment and years of isolation.

5. Hope and Redemption

From these elements of darkness and social commentary, Southern Gothic authors are often able to pull out the light. Flanner O’Connor was one of the first Southern Gothic authors to clearly integrate themes of grace and redemption into her writing. This may be because of her religious background and the religion she incorporates into her writing. These elements appear at the end of “A Good Man is Hard to Find” after the Misfit kills the grandmother. Her final actions, speaking to the Misfit about grace and religion, cause him to reflect on his own life and realize he no longer finds pleasure in harming others. Many of O’Connor’s characters experience grace in a similar way– “through trouble, suffering, and the rejection of God” (Poggi).

There is a distinct difference between redemption and hope in literature. Redemption occurs when an author does the work of showing their audience how a character has changed after the events of the story. However, hope puts the onus on the reader. Hope occurs in literature when the author shows the audience how the character may change after the events of the story, but the exact details are left out. They are left to the audience’s imagination. This is the way with the Misfit in “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” It also occurs with Carson McCullers’s writing. In her novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, the book ends on a generally bleak note, with the characters dealing with the death of John Singer. However, there is hope of redemption as two of the people who confided in Singer–Mick and Biff–look forward to the possibilities of the future, something they likely wouldn’t have been able to do at the beginning of the novel.

Pat Conroy continues the tradition of hope through Prince of Tides. By focusing on healing rather than madness, his book takes on more of a hopeful perspective. This is also seen in the way he describes the South. At the beginning of the novel, the beauty of the landscape contrasts staunchly against the decay of Southern culture and the Wingo family. But as the novel veers toward healing near the end, the characters are able to find respite in the beauty of their home.

Because hope relies so much on the audience, it is often less evident than redemption. The subtlety of hope allows Southern Gothic literature to include lighter elements while still maintaining a general air of darkness. Even the darkest of endings, like the death of Lester Ballad, can contain elements of hope as the townspeople are spared from Lester’s rampage.

6. The Southern Gothic Pattern

Over the years, the Southern Gothic genre has shifted and settled as new artists take hold of its fate. What started out as an extremely cynical, critical, and dark genre with Faulkner has been imbued with hope and appreciation for the Southern landscape. The hallmarks of Southern Gothic literature have stayed the same: the grotesque and insane, mystery and the sinister, and social commentary and detailed landscapes. These elements are commonly portrayed in contemporary literature through psychological traumas. The emphasis on these psychological traumas has been around since Darl in As I Lay Dying but more contemporary writers like Conroy have put more of a technical emphasis on them. These traumas can be personal, generational, familial, or often all of the above. Nasrullah Mambrol says, “Trauma is an unassimilated event that shatters identity and remains outside normal memory and narrative representation.” Because trauma is outside of memory and narrative, the characters who experience it spend most of the novel grappling with what happened. The older Southern Gothic works typically portrayed the traumatic events or the immediate fallout that leads its characters into a state of madness. But more contemporary Southern Gothic works, while still depicting traumatic events, often focus more on the characters picking themselves up from the shattered pieces. This is where the hope that has been long present in Southern Gothic literature is given a chance to thrive: through the characters’ grace and possible redemption.