Although all four stories are fictive stories, Southern Gothic is a genre that has a lot of aspects that refer to real events. We wanted to point out what Southern Gothic exactly is in comparison to other gothic stories. For that reason, we included The Cask Of Amontillado to make a clear contrast between a classic Gothic story and Southern Gothic stories. The Cask Of Amontillado is a very dark and macabre story that tells the reader that revenge can make people do horrible things they might regret. Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be the father of Southern Gothic and has influenced many writers. Lead character Montresor feels threatened by Fortunato and the only way for him to deal with it, is the ultimate revenge. Fear and death are also mayor aspects in the other three stories, but these stories are in a way different from The Cask Of Amontillado. The Lottery for example, is directly associated with World War 2 because of the mass violence and the way the people act out of fear and habit. Southern Gothic writers use the typical dark and macabre Gothic style in combination with cultural aspects in Southern United States . A Good Man Is Hard To Find tells the story about a family brutally being murdered. The religious and racist parts in that appear in the story are related to Southern United States that was, and still is, very religious and conservative. A rose for Emily describes a different aspect of the culture in Southern United States . It takes place in the south when it was still a bit behind with the rest of The United States after The Civil War. So all stories include death and suspense and show how people act in critical situations, which a lot of people had to deal with in South United States stating their history.
