Compose an essay in which you 1) identify the characteristics of American Gothic literature, drawing on definitions gleaned from course lectures and
assigned secondary sources (“What is American Gothic?,” “The Gothic on Screen,” etc.) and 2) explain how some of these characteristics manifest in at least
four of the texts/films listed blow. A strong essay will explain how the works selected connect thematically (beyond simply belonging to the category of “the
gothic”). Eligible texts are as follows:
The Stepford Wives
Get Out
“A Rose for Emily”
The Night of the Hunter
The Piano Lesson
Older Than America
Structure
Your essay should be 3-4 double-spaced pages (750-1000 words) in length.
Your essay should adhere to MLA formatting guidelines,Links to an external site. which means including a properly formatted heading and creative title.
You are not required to use direct quotations from the texts, but you are encouraged to do so if including quotations will strengthen your response.
To frame your argument, you will need to define genre-specific terms (e.g. American gothic, etc.). To do so, you are encouraged to draw on your course notes,
course lectures, assigned course texts (including scholarly essays), and scholarly secondary sources. Do not cite from online summary sites (e.g.
SparkNotes, Shmoop, etc.) or other non-peer-reviewed sources (Wikipedia).
You must include a properly formatted Works Cited page (Links to an external site.this does not count toward the page minimum).
