Character Motivation

• Motivation refers to the reasons why characters behave the way they do.

• It can be internal or external, or come from multiple sources.

• Characters are not always aware of their own motivations.

Inferences

An inference is an educated guess based on facts presented in the text and on your own

life experience.

• Why does Dexter want to marry Judy?• Why does Judy treat men so carelessly?• Why does Dexter propose to Irene?

• A loss of faith in the American Dream• Judy represents the American Dream, and Dexter can not have her.• Dexter is not satisfied with the success that he does have.• Judy does not seem to have a clear sense of purpose.

• Questioning of Puritan-based traditions that had guided American life

• Judy has relationships with many men. • Dexter and Judy kiss and spend time alone even though they are

not engaged or married.• Dexter spends time with Judy although he is engaged to Irene, and

breaks off the engagement.• Rejection of sentimentality and artificiality in favor of

capturing reality• Judy, the main female character, has many flaws that are obvious to

the readers. She is not artificial and perfect, but more like a real human.

• Dexter does not have a happy ending. He never fulfills all of his dreams.

Southern Gothic Style

Tennessee Williams described Southern Gothic as writing that captures "an intuition of an underlying dreadfulness in modern experience."

• William Faulkner: “A Rose for Emily”• Flannery O’Connor: “The Life You Save

May Be Your Own”

Background of the Southern Gothic Style

• Sub-genre of the Gothic style This style was popular in Europe in

1800s. • Frankenstein by Mary Shelley• Dracula by Bram Stoker

• Southern Gothic is unique to American literature• Supernatural, ironic or unusual events guide the plot

• These events explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South.

Characteristics• The Southern Gothic style takes classic Gothic characters, such as the

monster or the heroic knight, and turns them into American Southerners • a spiteful, reclusive spinster; an uneducated drunk

• Most notable feature is the “grotesque”Grotesque is defined as a style of art or writing characterized by fancifulor fantastic human and animal forms and distorts the natural intoabsurdity, ugliness, or caricature.

• a character whose negative qualities allow the author to highlight unpleasant aspects in Southern culture.

• Something in the town, the house, the farm is bizarre and often falling apart

Defining Feature• Strange, unusual, and “broken” characters

• Used to symbolize problems created by the established pattern of life

• Used to question established pattern’s morality and ethical justification

Other Specific Features of Southern Gothic

• Freakishness

• Outsiders

• Imprisonment

• Violence

• Sense of Place

Freakishness• There is often one important character who is set apart from the

community by a disability or an odd, often negative way of seeing the world.

Outsiders• Southern Gothic novels feature characters who are set apart from

the established cultural pattern. • They often end up being heroes because their differences allow

them to see new ways of doing things that ultimately help to bring people out of the “dark.”

Imprisonment• This is often both literal and figurative.

• Many southern gothic tales include an incident where a character is sent to jail or locked up.

• There are also Southern gothic characters that live in fate's prison, or a prison of their mind.

Violence• Racial, social and class difference often create underlying tension in

Southern gothic novels that can lead to violence.

Sense of Place• Setting is essential in Southern Gothic literature. They are often set in

old small towns.

• Houses have front porches with rocking chairs• Old downtown with stately but worn-down buildings