AP III American Literature
The Southern Gothic
Literary Tradition
Gothic literature is fiction in which strange, gloomy settings and mysterious, violent, often supernatural
events create suspense and terror. Southern gothic literature uses gothic motifs to explore social issues and
reveal the cultural character of the American South such as the racial sublime (the “taint” of African
American blood that is infinitesimal, inescapable and binding through genetics) and dark family secrets in
the caverns of an American landscape. Remember, the rural features of America is filled with plantations
and not castles, caves or mountains.
Following are a few characteristics of gothic and southern gothic literature:
1. The gothic novel tries to evoke chilling terror and gloom by exploiting mystery and horror.
Gothic is about haunting and possession. We are supposed to feel a chill at some point in the
story, and this emotional response is in part the point of the gothic experience. Paradoxically, this
fear is a source of pleasure. "Tis so appalling--it exhilarates," Emily Dickinson says in a poem.
2. In a Gothic work, there is usually confusion about good and evil. What does ‘good’ actually
mean? What about ‘evil’? And how can we tell the difference?
3. Gothic reveals a fear of institutions, such as religion, education, or marriage.
4. Gothic shows the dark and hidden side of things. It rips open the lies and shows a world of
cruelty, lust, perversion, and crime hidden beneath society’s rules and customs.
5. Gothic tears through censorship and explodes hypocrisies. It exposes the world as a corrupt,
reeking place.
6. Gothic is a reaction to the conventional, common sense, and enlightened world. If society is
supposed to be orderly and sensible, gothic shows how it really isn’t.
7. Southern gothic tips stereotypes on their side and kicks them in the gut. Sweet Southern
belles are crafty and greedy, chivalrous gentlemen are sneaky and perverse, and righteous
preachers are manipulative and evil.
Using your knowledge of the Gothic register so far, make notes below about the genre as a whole and
then, creating a mind-map of sorts, create a visual of the nuanced, categorical branch of Southern
Gothic. How, particularly, does Gothic frame this sub-genre?
American Literature
AP III
The Lottery and The Southern Gothic
Recall Freud’s theory of uncanny. a notion of both familiarity and threat manifesting
through the same person, object, or event-- the things we find the most terrifying appear
that way because they once seemed familiar.
What are the uncanny aspects of “The Lottery?” List them below.
1. Why do you think so much time is spent describing the black box? How is this
symbolic? Explain.
2. What thematic message is Jackson structuring through The Lottery?
3. How does the ritual turn in on itself to become gothic in the tradition of the lottery?
4. What effect is created for the reader?
Does The Lottery follow Poe’s Philosophy of Composition?
In what ways does King’s TMITBS refurbish the elements of gothic horror or rousing
terror?
5. How do you think the village people feel about the lottery? Why? Are they justified?
Explain.
6. Why does Jackson use Tessie Hutchinson’s situation as her frame? Explain.
7. How did Jackson produce a reaction in the reader? Was it effective? Be specific, cite,
explain.
8. What southern gothic elements enhance the inverted notions of community, survival,
family, friendship, joy, etc.?
9. How did your initial understanding of the term “lottery” compare to the lottery in the
story? How did your initial understandings help or confuse your interpretation of the
story?
10. How does Jackson engage the gothic to structure a message for readers? Explain.
11. How does Jackson use the Freudian uncanny to reformulate the idea of a lottery?
The Big Question: Writing for unity of effect…
Consider how this story would change if Jackson wrote it from another character’s
perspective and it was told from a different point of view.