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Race in American Gothic

In the short story “Idols” by Tim Gautreaux, the shopkeeper Mr. Poxley accuses, “’You want a sharecropper, son. Them days is over, gone to history’” when the protagonist, Julian Smith, tells him he wants someone to live on his estate while working for him. Julian later treats the carpenter he hires extremely poorly, forcing him to live in substandard housing and not paying him an adequate amount. Indeed, having a “sharecropper” is part of Julian’s supremacist fantasy about restoring and living in his ancestral mansion.

Being often set in the Southern United States, many American Gothic stories deal with race either directly or indirectly. In Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily retains the lifestyle and customs of the antebellum South, including having a black servant. Faulkner uses several racial slurs in reference to this character. Likewise, O’Conner’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the grandmother likewise uses unflattering racial slurs.

Many of these stories examine characters who cling onto the customs and traditions of an old social order. However, both these antebellum lifestyles and the people who cling to them are unfailingly associated with death, decay, and rot. Miss Emily keeps the corpse of the man she loved in her house for decades. The grandmother is the cause of the death of her entire family. Julian Smith’s ancestral mansion literally slowly falls to pieces around him.

These pieces of literature have a fascinating dual relationship with their content. In some ways they are emblematic of Southern authors capturing their world, mourning the death of this old ideal. Yet, by associating tradition with moral and physical decay, the authors also provide a strong criticism of the antebellum South and those who glorify it. In many ways, these short stories are intended not merely to entertain or widen one’s perspective, but also as a warning that all social standing is fleeting. Just as the townspeople went to Miss Emily’s funeral out of “a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument” despite believing her to be somewhat deranged, so do these stories and, indeed, much of the genre stand testament to a fallen culture all the while applauding its fall.

#gothic #american gothic literature #gautreau #faulkner #oconner