1. Features of American Gothic Fiction

2. Setting European Gothic literature was frequently set in castles
But…have you seen a castle in America? American Gothic fiction is often set in large, drafty old houses that had been in the family “for years.”

3. Motifs: A ghostly legend an unexplainable occurrence
A motif is a repeated theme, image,
or literary device, including:
A ghostly legend
an unexplainable occurrence
a story about a horrible death or murder
Omens, foreshadowing and dreams are often significant—dreams often explore the depths of the human psyche and reveal truths too terrible for the conscious mind

4. Tales often include highly charged emotional states:
Terror
A feeling that one is on the brink of insanity
Anger
Agitation
Exaggerated feeling of impending doom
Obsessive love

5. Supernatural Events and Damsels in Distress
Women who are frightened and confused
Lost women
A woman dying of an unexplainable ailment
Ghosts
Doors that open themselves
Unexplained sounds

6. Themes Thematic concerns in Gothic romances often involve:
Diction:
Words designed to evoke images of gloom and doom
For example: dark, foreboding, ghostly…
Themes
Thematic concerns in Gothic romances often involve:
The death of a man or woman in the throes of some great passion
The obsessive nature of a man or woman in love
Excessive grief upon the loss of a loved one.
The search for forbidden knowledge