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A Rose For Emily Gothic Analysis

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A Rose For Emily Gothic Analysis
Francis Russell once said “fiction evocative of a sublime and picturesque landscape… depict(ing) a world in ruins.” Gothic fiction can be characterized by the elements of fear, horror or the supernatural. Other elements that characterize this type of fiction might include darkness mystery, or romance, lust and even dread. William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” uses a gothic setting to describe Miss Emily’s home. The upstairs and the outside of the house shows the darkness romance and lust of the setting in which she lived.

After the door was forced open the room was discovered to be covered with a, “pervading dust (5)”. For example it wasn’t until the day that Emily died that family members discovered the room upstairs where
…show more content…
The house was big. It’s the typical, “seventies style” home on one of the most, “selected streets.” The house use to be, “white (1)” after the death of Emily’s father the house slowly began to fall apart. Emily’s house was the only original house left from the seventies and it had started to decay. It is a tad ironic that the outside of the house is decaying as in the room upstairs a man’s body is also decaying, this is an example as well for the Gothic setting. The fact that the author states the house used to be “white” is important due to the time period the house was built. When Emily’s father was a live the house was well kept and maintained once he passed away the house began to fall apart. As time goes on the house just begins to decay more. The “white” house is no longer “white”, the balcony is falling part. This also helps paint the picture of a Gothic setting because the house is now scary looking. The house is beginning to look “abandoned”, there is a smell of dust and “disuse- a close, dank smell (1)”. The fact that the house has a distinct smell also gives off the Gothic feel. These are examples of the Gothic setting because of the darkness created by the eeriness of the decaying structure of the building. It makes the house look like something out of a horror or supernatural

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