“Southern Gothic” by Maggie Taylor
As someone who has always been extremely introverted, I feel like this story is much more disturbing for me than it would be to a more outgoing reader. For me, the truly terrifying part of this story is not the “how” of Elaine’s disappearance; rather, it is the fact that the disappearance means so little to so many. The story’s opening line makes the townspeople’s reaction feel less like a group of people concerned over the safety of one of their own than it does a group of people eagerly puzzling over a mystery in a book or film: “The news of the disappearance disturbed and excited us.” (Millhauser 21) While the narrator does his best to remember Elaine Coleman, that effort stems mainly from the guilt fe feels about never having bothered to know her when she was still with them.
Elaine is described as shy, with no close friends and no photos of herself except school photos. There are certain details hidden within these descriptions, however, that give this character some depth and make her an even more tragic figure. Her hair in her school photos is said to have “showed the shine of a careful combing.” (23) After she nearly invites the narrator and his friend to shoot baskets with her one day, the narrator surmises that “she must have been skilled at reading dismissive signs.” (29) These are subtle attempts to gain popularity amongst her peers, and as he looks back on them, they only serve to increase his guilt about the situation.
To me, the horror of this story is not the disappearance itself; rather, it is the possibility of being so quickly forgotten by everyone you know. I’m sure that this is a very obvious interpretation, but it just happened to be the one that I felt the strongest about.
I also agree with this interpretation. One of the details that stuck out to me in this story is how little Elaine’s parents are mentioned. Her mother is quoted as saying “She didn’t have a mean bone in her body,” but we don’t see any deeper reaction than that. We aren’t told anything about if her mother is worried or what she thinks happened to her daughter. It is almost as if even her parents didn’t notice her and that they, too, played a part in the “murder” of Elaine.
I completely agree with you that the real horror is how little Elaine meant to everyone. Not a single person in the entire town could name one thing about her. They got all their information from the police reports and newspapers. In addition, it’s heartbreaking to read that they only took an interest because something horrible happened to her. I think this is the fear of anyone who is shy and introverted that they are inconsequential to the people around them.
I felt the same exact same way. In all honesty, I can be more introverted and yes, we all tend to believe we don’t make that much of an impression on the world. The true horror here is not that she went missing, but that no one seems to care. She needed other people to keep her alive and no one was there or her. When put into context, it’s actually a depressing story about a woman who didn’t make enough of a dent on the world to be remembered. So one could say Elaine was murdered, but everyone played a part in it.
The disappearance itself, is not the main point of the story, like you said. I agree with your interpretation of the disappearance. I believe that the horror story was how little of importance she had in the lives of others. Nobody seems to remember who she was, or even what she looked like. I found it odd that the only person that could give insight about Elaine only had one sentence to say about her and, in addition, it was exactly what everybody else had to say about her! You would think her mother would be able to say something more meaningful than what people who didn’t even know her was saying!
The simplicity of the character reminds me of Clara Schuler, as well as her sudden disappearance, Clara dies, and in a sense Elaine does too.