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Analysis of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Conner's works

Introduction

The literature which takes in the American South is categorized as Southern Gothic style. The characteristics of the style are the use of morbid and ironic events in order to scrutinize the values that were prevalent in the American South. Throughout the history, many writers have contributed to this style of writing; however, two names in particular are given more importance in comparison to the rest. Flannery O' Conner and William Faulkner made this style their trademark writing choice. (Norgaard R, pp. 47)

By the choice of such a style and setting of writing both Flannery O' Conner and William Faulkner portrayed the different part of the common culture that was prevalent in the American South.

The two short stories of the writer, William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily and Flannery O' Conner's “A Good Man is Hard to Find” are prime examples of this phenomenon. A Rose for Emily is about a woman of a reputed who is found to have in her bedroom, a decaying corpse of her lover, while A Good Man is Hard to Find narrates the story of a southern family's tragic end at the merciless hands of a murderer. These short stories capture the essence of Southern Gothic stories.

Discussion

A key aspect of Southern Gothic writing style is the use of morbid and disturbing event in the stories, as mentioned above. Both the short stories of the two authors only merit a single glance to identify the presence of this writing style aspect. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O' Conner depicts the story a family who are met with a road accident. They are waiting on the road to seek help from passing by cars, when they see a car coming in their direction. Their Saviors turn into Angels of Death when they find that the driver is an escaped convict and his two accomplices. They proceed to kill the family members by taking them in pairs in the woods the father and son then the mother and daughter. Lastly in spite of many protests and pleas of the grandmother they shoot her point blank.

Similarly, the story “A Rose for Emily” is a tale which William Faulkner tells through the Southern town about Emily, who is the only individual of a great family that used to dwell in the town once upon a time. The town witnesses the slow and steady estrangement of Emily along the passage of time. Then finally when Emily passes away, as was customary in little villages, all people entered the house and were appalled to come across the badly decayed remains of Emily's lover, who they thought had left her quite some ago, in bed in a room upstairs.

            Southern Gothic style also encompasses the use of southern models. Both the writers employ these models to criticize and illuminate the values and themes of the American south. In Flannery O'Conner's story, the archetype ...