This text is often referred to an American Southern Gothic novel. Research the characteristics of gothic literature. How does the description of the setting help to support the idea that To Kill a Mockingbird is an American Gothic novel? Use details and textual evidence to support your response.
2019-2020 English I Honors 
The description of the setting in To Kill a Mockingbird represents American Gothic Literature because of The Radley Place, as it is described to be almost abandoned and creepy. Some characteristics of Gothic Literature are a gloomy decaying setting, such as the haunting Radley Place. Other characteristics consist of having supernatural beings or monsters, in the sense of fictional monsters or characters who act just like monsters would, such as Boo Radley. In To Kill a Mockingbird it states, ” The Radley Place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house. Walking south, one faced its porch; the sidewalk turned and ran beside the lot. The houses will was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it. Rain-rotted shingles drooped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard- a ‘swept’ yard that was never swept- where johnson grass and rabbit tobacco grow in abundance. Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom.” This shows that The Radley place shows the setting as gloomy and gives off a haunted vibe, because of the rotting outsides of the house, the overgrown yard, and the constent shade over the house. In To Kill a Mockingbird it states, “His father entered the room. As Mr.Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants and resumed his activities…’ He goes out, all right, when it’s pitch dark. Miss Stephanie Crawford said she woke up in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking straight through the window at her… said his head was like a skull lookin’ at her.” This shows the characteristic of gothic literature because it describes Boo Radley as being creepy and psychotic, which correlates to him being compared to a monster, and that the only time he leaves his gloomy house is the stalk and frighten residents of the town.
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The description of the setting in “To Kill A Mockingbird” represents American Gothic Literature because of the Radley House. In the book, the house is described as a decaying, and gloomy type of setting, and these can be some of the characteristics of American Gothic Literature. The text states “Rain-rotted shingles dropped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard—a “swept” yard that was never swept—where johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance.” This shows the Radley house has this type of setting because it said that the yard was never swept, the shingles drooped over, and they had oak trees to keep the sun away. This can create a gloomy and decaying setting. The text states “People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them.” This is a characteristic of American Gothic Literature because it’s showing how Boos actions seem to be supernatural, according to the people around, and this is one characteristic.
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The description of the setting in “To Kill A Mockingbird” represents American Gothic Literature because of the Radley house. In the book the house is described as gloomy, and decaying and these are some of the characteristics of American Gothic Literature. In “ To KIll A Mockingbird” it states “ The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray around it. Rain-rotted shingles dropped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard-a “swept” yard that was never swept-where Johnson grass and rabbit tobacco grew in abundance.” This shows that the Radley house has a gloomy and decaying setting because it said the house darkened, there were rotted shingles, no sun got past the trees, and there were only remains of the fence in front of the house. Another characteristic of American Gothic Literature is supernatural beings, like how Boo Radley is described in the book. In “To Kill A Mockingbird” it states “ Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I have never seen him. People said he went out in the night when the moon was down, and peered into windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work. This shows Boo Radley is described as a supernatural being because the narrator calls him a phantom and says that he goes out at night and freezes things with his breath, peeps in windows, and commits small, stealthy crimes.
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The description of the setting in To Kill a Mockingbird represents American Gothic Literature because of the school that Scout and Jem go to. Some characteristics of Gothic Literature are gloomy and depressing settings, monster-like people, and overzealous feelings. In the sense of finding characters who act just like monsters and fave overzealous feelings in this particular setting, it would refer to Miss Caroline and Mrs. Blount. In To Kill a Mockingbird it states, “ Miss Caroline picked up a ruler, gave me half a dozen quick little pats, then told me to stand in the corner. A storm of laughter broke loose when it finally occurred to the class that Miss Caroline has whipped me. When Miss Caroline threatened a similar fate the first grade exploded again, becoming cold sober only when Mrs. Blount, a native Maycombian as yet uninitiated in the mysteries decimal system, appeared at the door hands on hips and announced, “If I hear another sound from this room ill burn up everyone in it…” This shows the gothic literature effect of fictional monsters because of the teachers because of how rude they are and how they reacted to other students.
Going on to the characteristics of a gloomy setting would be related to the school because is full of and rude teachers like Miss Caroline and depressing students like Burris Ewell. To Kill A Mockingbird states, “And Burris,’ said Miss Caroline, ‘Please bathe yourself before you come back tomorrow.’ The boy laughed rudely. ‘You ain’t send me home missus. I was on the verge of leavin’- I done done my time for this year’ Miss Caroline looked puzzled. ‘What do you mean by that?’ The boy did not answer. He gave a short contemptuous snort. One Of the elderly members of the class answered her: ‘He’s one of the Ewells, ma’am,’ and I wondered if this explanation would be as unsuccessful as my attempt.” This shows the characteristic of being gloomy because of the students not wanting to come back ever again to the school.
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An American Gothic Novel setting is described as a gloomy setting and a despairing man in a dark world all alone. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” Boo Radley is in fact the despairing man, and the house he lives in or at least once lived in is that gloomy setting that the Gothic Literature meaning describes. In the novel, Boo Radley is or was a child who has stayed inside his home for years and no one has ever seen him come out. The novel says, “.. and it was then Dill gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.” Later on in the novel it says, “ The Radley Place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house. Walking south, one faced it’s porch; the sidewalk turned and ran beside the lot. The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it. Rain-rotted shingles drooped over the waves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away.” This quotation shows the gloomy ness of the house itself. The fact that house has darkened and just isn’t a very bright home to look at any more makes it sounds more gloomy than ever. But what’s inside the house was what mattered. The novel describes this to be, “ a malevolent phantom.” A malevolent phantom is a person that wishes evil or harm upon others, and that is exactly what Boo Radley is described to be. All of these reasons help to show how this novel is an American Gothic Novel because of the setting it is placed in and the actions that is being brought upon the despairing man, Boo Radley.
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The description of the setting in “To Kill a Mockingbird” can be classified as an American Gothic novel because of the way Scout paints of mental image of the town to the reader. Some characteristics of Southern Gothic Literature include a history of slavery, racism, fear of the outside world, violence, a fixation with the grotesque, and a tension between realistic and super natural elements. The setting of the novel takes place in the small town of Maycomb Alabama in the early 1930’s. Scout describe the town by talking about the bad weather and the rundown nature of the town. The text states,” In the rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square.” She also describes it as being a slow and sad town and sense of purpose. The text states,” A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer.” The text also states,” There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County.” Scout also talks about a house as being creepy and supernatural to the point were the description of it freaks her out. The text states,” The Radley Place was inhibited by an unknown entity the mere description of whom was enough to make us behave for days on end.” These descriptions of the setting are what ties this novel into a piece of American Gothic Literature.
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The description of the setting in To Kill a Mockingbird represents American Gothic Literature because of the characteristics it has, such as a haunted house. In the book, it says, “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows.” In this quote, they claim that the Radley house is possessing a spirit. Claiming that this is a haunted house, in a way. This is considered a characteristic in Gothic Literature and is proven by this “phantom” in the house that roams the streets at night. In addition to this, it also says, “His father entered the room. As Mr.Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants and resumed his activities…’ He goes out, all right, when it’s pitch dark. Miss Stephanie Crawford said she woke up in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking straight through the window at her… said his head was like a skull lookin’ at her.” In this quote, it can further prove the theory that the Radley house is haunted by a supposed activity that took place, where a son drove a pair of scissors in his father’s leg. A cursed mindset would be needed to be able to do something like that, and to further rumors that could haunt some people where they claim to see your face. This proves a characteristic in Gothic Literature that To Kill a Mockingbird possess.
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In “To Kill a Mockingbird” the setting helps support the idea that it is an american southern gothic novel by giving off a spooky tone whenever describing the radleys. One piece of evidence to support this answer is “ Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and in window. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap,it was because he had breathed on them.”. If you are like me, then just description of one of the radleys gave me cold chills.If the tone of the passage was different I don’t think that it would be the same.
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The description of the in “To Kill a Mockingbird” represents itself as American Gothic Literature because of the Radley’s place. In the book the Radley’s place is described as falling apart,gloomy, decaying, and unwelcoming. These are all characteristics of things in American Gothic Literature. In the text it states,”The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray around it. Rain-rotted shingles dropped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away.”In this piece of evidence the house as you can picture in your head is rotting and decaying and all the above looks gloomy. These are all words to describe things in American Gothic Literature. Another characteristic that is described in the book that relates to American Gothic Literature is monster like people. In the novel it states,”Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I have never seen him. People said he went out in the night when the moon was down, and peered into windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. “ There is a family living in the Radley’s house and although it does not state the name of who the character this part of the text is referring to but later on in the book there is a statement about Boo Radley’s being spotted staring into a lady’s window at night so it is most likely referring to him. It says in the evidence a malevolent phantom. When I think of phantoms, I think freaky/ scary monster like things and this being used to describe someone in that house. Meaning that one of these characters is described as monster like which is apart of American Gothic Literature. So in conclusion, this novel could be described as American Gothic Literature because of the description of the setting of the Radley’s place.
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The description of the setting in “To Kill A Mockingbird” represents American Gothic Literature because of the house that is owned by “Boo” radley. In the book the house is described as decaying, and gloomy and these characteristics help show American Gothic Literature because of the creepy nature that the house is described by. In “ To Kill A Mockingbird” it states “ The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray around it. Rain-rotted shingles dropped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard-a “swept” yard that was never swept-where Johnson grass and rabbit tobacco grew in abundance.” This shows that the Radley house has a scary and decaying setting because it said the house darkened, there were rotted shingles, and no sun got past the trees. Another characteristic of Gothic Literature is having something supernatural like a ghost or something else that is supernatural, like how Boo Radley is described in the book. In “To Kill A Mockingbird” it states “ Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I have never seen him. People said he went out in the night when the moon was down, and peered into windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.” This shows Boo Radley is a weird person that everyone believes is crazy and supernatural. People said he was a “phantom” or a ghost and no one really knew what he looked like. This shows the idea of gothic literature because it is a creepy scene and the setting around the house is overall creepy.
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The description of the setting in To Kill a Mockingbird tells that it could be a American Gothic Novel because the character of Boo Radley is a very dark and mysterious character in this book. In the text it says,”The misery of that house began many years before I was born.” This gives the text a Gothic feel because it says that the house is miserable and misery is a very Gothic type of thing. I can see how people refer to this text as a Gothic novel because this type of setting creates a very strange dark and different tone than many books that I have read. The text also says,”A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a lost ball.” This quote can support that this text is an American graphic novel because this gives the feeling that the house is a mysterious place and that it has the dark feel of goth. Overall, To Kill a Mockingbird can be analyzed as a american Gothic novel because of the fact of boo radley. He is a mysterious creature that stabbed someone, has a weird house, has to be taken care of and no one wants to go near his house because they are to scared something bad is going to happen to them. These are all the facts that can be used to say that this is an american graphic novel because of all the gloominess, the mystery and all of the things that have happened with this character so far.
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The book “To Kill a Mockingbird” is referred to as a gothic novel because the setting makes a scary and mysterious tone. When the book describes the Radley house it says, “The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it. Rain-rotted shingles drooped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard—a “swept” yard that was never swept—where johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance.” This quotation shows that the Radley house is creepy to look at and it goes on to say, “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows.” This also gives a horror aspect to the story. The tone of the story can make the reader feel scared and that is what makes it a gothic novel.
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The setting in “To Kill A Mockingbird” represents American Gothic Literature because of the Radley House. In the book, the house is described as a decaying, abandoned, nasty, and rotting. These are often found in Gothic literature. The text states “Rain-rotted shingles dropped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard…” This shows the Radley house’s nasty setting because it said words like rotted, and remains. This makes a nasty and Gothic setting.
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The description of the setting in “To Kill a Mockingbird” represents American Gothic Literature because of the Radley Place. The author describes the Radley Place as gloomy or creepy, which are also two characteristics related to Gothic Literature. Another characteristic of Gothic Literature is supernatural type characters, such as monsters, which is represented when Scout, Jem and Dill think that Boo Radley is dead, and haunting his house. “To Kill a Mockingbird” states, “The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray around it. Rain-rotted shingles dropped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard-a “swept” yard that was never swept-where Johnson grass and rabbit tobacco grew in abundance.” This piece of evidence represents Gothic Literature, because it describes the Radley house as “low” and “darkened”, giving it a haunted feel. The description of the setting also represents American Gothic Literature because of the character Boo Radley himself. The text states, “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows.” This piece of evidence also represents Gothic Literature, because it describes Boo Radley to be a “malevolent phantom”, giving the story a supernatural feel. The evidence also gives off a creepy feel when it explains how people believed Boo Radley “peeped in windows when the sun was down”. Therefore, characteristics such as gloomy, creepy, and supernatural type characters can all be seen in the setting of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, leading people to refer to the story as an American Gothic Novel.
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Mason Guffey- An American Gothic Novel is where the setting is often gloomy and thought of to be very dark with no one but themselves. In the novel “ To Kill a Mockingbird” the thought of American Gothic is with the Radley’s. Whenever the Radley’s come around there always seems to be a spooky setting. Typically in American Gothic there seems to be a despairing man in this case is Boo Radley. Boo Radley was a child that stayed inside and almost never went outside as a child which kind of creates that gloomy feeling of a Gothic story. “…The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it. Rain-rotted shingles drooped over the waves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away…” this quote proves my point on how the Radley’s house was gloomy because it explained how their house looked and how everything was droopy and sad.
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The description of setting in “To Kill A Mocking Bird” is a American Gothic novel because of the Boo Radley house description. In the book it is described as, “The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray around it.” this is showing the Gothic novel because if it is all grey and gloomy then it is described as Gothic. It is also Gothic literature because of the fact that Jem and Scout both think that Boo Radley is dead and is haunting the house. This is how the setting of “To kill a Mocking Bird” is a American Southern Gothic Novel.
-Micah Wills
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The setting of the Radley’s house supports the idea that To Kill a Mockingbird is an American Gothic novel because in the novel this setting is described as creepy and decaying. “The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it. Rain-rotted shingles drooped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away.” this shows the setting of the Radley’s house decaying and creepy by what the house used to look like and how it has aged over the years and the rooted shingles on the house. This also shows and described the house as “darkened” and “low”, giving the house a creepy feel to it. this is how the setting of the Radley house supports To Kill a Mockingbird as a American Gothic Novel.
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