Southern Gothic Romanticism and Life Saving and a gal names Emily

What is Southern Gothic Romanticism?

Southern Gothic Romanticism is a writing style that is a version of Gothic Romanticism but in the more Southern parts of America. It is generally darker, more mysterious, and talks about the parts of life that at the time most people tried to ignore (Example would be death). Southern Gothic Romantic authors took what is generally seen and took it to much deeper levels. These two works, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" and "A Rose for Emily", show Southern Gothic Romanticism writing styles by having a darker love story that is southern based, and show a more grotesque side.
In "A Rose for Emily" she shows a darker side to love by keeping her deceased husband on a bed upstairs, and every night she goes to sleep next to his corpse. Emily, in "A Rose for Emily", is an elderly women who gets away with more crimes than most. She has been in the town for generations and no others remain from her generation. Faulkner stated "Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town...". This quote not only explains why the townsfolk don't make her pay her taxes but also how she is to the town. Not so much as she is sneaky and being sly but mostly because the towns people felt sorry for "Poor Emily". Emily doesn't leave her house very much, the only person that comes to or from her house is Tobe, her servent.
Flannery O'Connor, author of "The Life You Save May Be Your Own", is the typical Romantic author, with a twist. He has the whole hopelessness and  twisted love. The hitchhiker is what makes it different and darker. The hitchhiker "makes the story work" because he adds the sense of mystery to the story. The hitchhiker, in the end, is unknown if alive or dead, or even what is wrong with him, why he snapped or the reason he acted so oddly. These questions we cannot answer as the reader all we can go off of is O'Connor saying "A cloud, the exact color of the boy's hat and shaped like a turnip, had descended over the sun, and another, worse looking, crouched behind the car." So what happened to the boy and who he was is a mystery to the reader and we must decide it for ourselves.