Southern Gothic Romanticism in "A Rose for Emily" by Faulkner and "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" by O'Connor

Southern Gothic Romanticism is a style in American literature that often involves irony and a plot filled with unusual events. Objects, characters, and themes in Southern Gothic Romanticism may include a grotesque, a strange object, and the themes of freakishness, imprisonment,violence, and sense of place. A couple examples of Southern Gothic Romanticism include, "A Rose for Emily" and "The Life You Save May Be Your Own".

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner
A Rose for Emily is an example of Gothic Romanticism because it exhibits irony, unusual events, a grotesque, and the themes of imprisonment, violence, and sense of place.

• Irony is exhibited when Emily, a reclusive woman, actually kills her lover so that he will stay with her. This is not expected by the audience because a sane person in the American society does not typically kill someone they love.
• The theme of freakishness is exhibited in “A Rose for Emily” and is visible in her mental disease which leads her to kill her husband. Her thoughts and actions are unusual and sickening which leads the reader to classify her as freakish. Although she is freakish, her loneliness inspires sympathy thus
• The theme of violence is shown through the actual murder of Homer Barron when Emily poisons him with arsenic.
 

• The theme of imprisonment is shown through Emily's reclusiveness.
  

• The theme of sense of place is noticeable when Emily's home is being described. These descriptions set the scenes throughout the story.
  “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with
  cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the
  seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and
  cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that
  neighborhood; only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and
  coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps--an eyesore
  among eyesores.” (Faulkner)
  

This quote from “A Rose for Emily” by shows that the house of Emily is very old and adds a mood of curiosity as the description of her house causes the reader to wonder what took away from the brighter mood once found in the residence of Emily

“The Life You Save May Be Your Own” by Flannery O'Conner

“The Life You Save May Be Your Own” is an example of Southern Gothic Romanticism because it exhibits irony, unusual events, a grotesque, themes of freakishness, and sense of place.

• Irony appears in “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” when Shiftless abandons his wife at a restaurant and drives off, following which he picks up a hitchhiker due to his belief that “a man with a car had a responsibility” for others. He feels like a man with a car “has a responsibility for others”, yet he drops the responsibility he has for his wife by abandoning her at a restaurant. This act perplexes the audience of the story as they wonder what drives Shiftless to be so blindly hypocritical.

• Shiftlet is the grotesque of the story “The Life you Save may be Your Own” because of his missing arm and the fact that he is a homeless tramp. However, when Shiftlet offers to help renovate aspects of Mrs. Crater's home and car in exchange for the very least, a place to stay, this repulsion is forgotten and the reader begins to find a love for the armless man. The reader begins to hope and watch him overcome his disability as he makes himself a more meaningful piece of Mrs. Crater and her daughter, Lucynell. Unfortunate, the readers are deceived by these actions. He eventually leaves his wife behind at a restaurant. Instead of using the abilities he does have to help others, he takes his abilities to his advantage long enough to get a car before leaving his wive, poor Lucynell behind.

• The theme of sense of place is shown in the description of Mrs. Crater House:
  “In the evenings he sat on the steps and talked while the old woman and Lucynell rocked violently in their chairs on either side of him.” (Connor)
  This quote from Connor's work gives a description of a setting often unique to Southern type works, rocking chairs and porches.