In this entire course we have talked about elements of a southern literature. One of those main elements discussed was the grotesque and dark characteristics of a southern gothic. In A Streetcar Named Desire we discussed that the gothic elements came from Blanche because she not only like to hide in dark places, but she also took comfort in them.
In the book Dream Boy, Nathan also takes comfort in dark places. He likes to hide in the cemetery as well as in the woods to escape the the discomfort of his home and the people in it. Both Blanche and Nathan take comfort in dark places. Truly able to be themselves, but also masking their true selves from other people. Nathan goes to the cemetery to be with Roy who is the only person who he is comfortable with. While this dark place is a safe haven for Nathan away from his predator of a father; it also prohibits discovery of his relations with Roy. So the darkness is a mask of Truth. Blanche also uses darkness as a mask of Truth. She hides in the shadows of the little small apartment so as not to be truly seen by anyone. Blanche wants to be seen as young and mysterious and this lighting offers just that. An advantage for Blanche and a disadvantage to anyone who truly wants to get to know her.
Both of these characters both Blanche and Nathan take comfort in darkness. Blanche uses it to hide her age and lies and Nathan to hide his sexuality and to physically hide from his father. While these characters take comfort in the gothic shadows of the southern novel it ends up leading to their demise. Both of these characters stories end rather sourly, Blanche being taken to a mental institution and Nathan, dead.
The commonality of these two instances is not coincidental but rather it falls into the same patterns as most southern gothics do. The time period in which each of these stories takes place highlights a social issue that needs to be addressed : domestic violence and insanity and homosexuality and rape. Each of these characters embracing of darkness led to their demise in each of their own separate plots.
