Date of Award

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department/Program

English

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Jeremy Lopez

Committee Member

Jeffrey Gonzalez

Committee Member

Monika Elbert

Abstract

The Gothic genre aims at evoking terror within its audiences causing imagination to supersede rationality. Each author working in the genre has a particular way of achieving this task, but Southern and New England Gothic writers Flannery O’Connor and Shirley Jackson share the unique approach of including aspects of brightness within otherwise dark pieces of literature. Stylistically the two share similarities in how they employ these flashes of color atypical of Gothic works; however, the literary purpose for their implementation varies between the two women. O’Connor’s vivid imagery bolstered by rich colors, specifically in the short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” serves primarily to create an atmospheric contrast between the serene environment and horrific violence of the plot, therefore enhancing the shock and fear one feels at the violent ending by providing a standard of goodness for comparison. Jackson, especially in her novel The Haunting of Hill House, uses these bright colors to a similar effect, but it is their figurative capacity as symbols to explore the internality of her complex characters alongside their evolving relationships that takes precedence over their ability to contrast. This thesis utilizes theory on the Gothic genre, the distinctive regional subgenres of Southern and New England Gothic, and extensive biographical information as a guide to further understand the presence of brightness within these dark works.

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