Southern gothic characters stand out with their uniquely southern mannerisms and dark experiences. Characters in the southern gothic movement are often the underdogs of their story. Placed in difficult situations that can be relatable or dramatized. Sister from the story "Why I Live at the P.O." is an excellent example of this. She is placed in a difficult position after the return of Stella-Rondo her sister. Stella-Rondo lies and twists Sister's words turning the family against her. This puts a lot of stress on her as she tries to put up with the harsh treatment she is receiving from her family. Eventually, she can't take it anymore and leaves to live at the post office where she works.
Works in the southern gothic movement often include isolation or small town settings. "Why I Live at the P.O. is a great example of this as well. The characters live in a very small town isolated from the rest of the world leading to everyday life events becoming the biggest events in their lives. This leads to an eccentric group that is far more dramatic than average people. With Sister living at the post office, her family stops using the mail service further isolating them. “My family are naturally the main people in China Grove, and if they prefer to vanish from the face of the earth, for all the mail they get or the mail they write, why, I'm not going to open my mouth” (Welty). As her family are the main mail recipients in the town showing the lack of other residents. Their isolation also provides an explanation for the dialect used throughout the story as communities that are relatively closed off for a while tend to develop their own language patterns. The presence of dialect is another thing that makes southern gothic characters stand out as southern dialects are inherently southern and stand out from other regions.
Another distinct trait of southern gothic characters is eccentricity. Emily Grierson of William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" is portrayed as an eccentric character from the beginning. Almost no one has set foot in her house over the past ten years. This works as a direct contrast to open-door culture, a staple in the south, further defining Emily as an eccentric character. Her home was also described as the odd one out maintaining the remnants of the past, “But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores” (Faulkner). Describing her home to stand out in this way added depth to the odd presence Emily had in life and death. The mention of cotton gins ties in the history of the south. It attaches Emily’s character to the conservative past of southern culture that upheld slavery and racial injustices. These factors make up a major part of southern history meaning they have a great effect on southern culture to this day.
After Emily’s body was buried, the door to a long unopened room was forced open revealing the corpse she continued to sleep next to as it rotted away. This discovery adds to the grotesque nature of the story supporting the trait of flawed or disturbing characters present in southern gothic literature.