Introduction
As it has been revealed, gothic tradition in literature is a very common culture among various authors of American Literature. This is clearly depicted in “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Poe, “Young Goodman Brown” by Hawthorne, and “A Rose for Emily” by Faulkner; where gothic with a ‘twist’ is revealed in the entire settings of such writings. More specifically, the elements of gothic tradition like mystery, supernatural settings, and fiction among others dominate the development of these literatures, making it easier for the readers to develop mental pictures of the scenarios being presented. According to Kennedy and Gioia (21), the ability of any literature work to attract attention to the reader is entirely dependent on the incorporation of gothic elements in the literature works. On this basis, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “Young Goodman Brown”, and “A Rose for Emily” have been popular, as they contain a lot of gothic elements, though with a twist, in their overall development.
As revealed in Poe (42), the narrator seems unreliable in the way he recounts the killing of the old man, revealing clearly his sanity, despite suffering from hypersensitivity disease. It is quite horrifying to note the way the narrator describes the man he lives with. According to the narrator, “the old man has clouded pale, blue and vulture-like eyes…” (Poe 43). This presentation of the old man by the narrator seems supernatural, revealing twisted gothic to a great extent. The setting of the story is also terrifying in the sense that, the narrator performs nightly rituals in darkness. This is true reflection of the way his lifestyle is surrounded by supernatural activities. Generally, the ultimate relationship between the narrator and the old man revolves around some untold mysteries, which clearly brings out strong elements of twisted gothic tradition.
On the other hand, the “Young Goodman Brown” by Hawthorne can be argued as revolving around supernatural setting. After leaving his wife for a night meeting, Goodman Brown ‘flies through the forest using apple-wood staff…’ (Hawthorne 283). This is a very terrifying action, which further expounds on the mystery revolving the entire activities by Goodman Brown. It should be noted that, the ultimate meeting of the city people in the forest reflects on how fictions and supernatural the setting of the story is. More importantly, the presentation of the story is strongly bound to physical and psychological terror, when Goodman Brown meets with his wife in the forest at night. In this case, Goodman Brown and his wife are brought out to have wondered on how each of them had the plan of visiting the forest at night earthly rituals. Basically, the entire unfolding of events throughout the story is richly surrounded by mystery (Kennedy and Gioia 23).
Further, the story of “A Rose for Emily” by Faulkner is brought out as having very strong elements of twisted gothic tradition. The onset of the story reveals the supernatural nature of the life of Miss Emily Grierson, before she died (Faulkner 37). At her funeral, it is clearly depicted that, her house had not been entered for ten years, which arouses some kind of mystery in her life. Having lived a very lonely life, Miss Emily surprises all the people of the town since she rarely leaves her home, even after her father dies. Generally, the overall life of Miss Emily is surrounded by great mystery since she seems quite ignorance of social life, until she lastly dies in her lonely house.
Works Cited
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” In Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. Kennedy, Jackson and Gioia, Dana. New York: Longman, 2010, 33-41.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” In Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. Kennedy, Jackson and Gioia, Dana. New York: Longman, 2010, 279-290.
Kennedy, Jackson and Gioia, Dana Jackson, eds. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, 3rd ed. New York: Longman, 2010.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Tell-Tale Heart.” In Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. Kennedy, Jackson and Gioia, Dana. New York: Longman, 2010, 41-46.