Southern Gothic
To Kill a Mockingbird is primarily an example of Southern Gothic fiction in that it takes place in the South, contains both dark and comedic elements, uses Southern vernacular, features exaggerated characters, and references the supernatural. Southern Gothic is a genre that became popular in the first half of the twentieth century, as a sub-genre of the American Gothic. A preoccupation with the unresolved past informs many Southern Gothic novels, as characters are forced to confront the South’s legacy of racism, slavery, and violence, often in the form of either literal or figurative ghosts. In , the character of Boo Radley functions as a living ghost, both in terms of his physical appearance and his name. The novel’s plot centers on an act of violence, and the town’s deep-seated racism informs the outcome. However, is not as gruesome as other examples of the genre, and Lee’s characters are more sympathetic than in many Southern Gothic novels, whose authors exaggerate their characters’ defects for comedic purposes
