“Identical Boxes Spreading like Gangrene”: Defining the Suburban Gothic

“We Found the Witch, May We Burn Her?”: Suburban Gothic, Witch‐Hunting, and Anxiety‐Induced Conformity in Stephen King's Carrie

“…Bernice M. Murphy comes close to establishing a working definition of the suburban gothic, describing it as “a sub‐genre of the wider American Gothic tradition which dramatizes anxieties arising from the mass urbanization of the United States and usually features suburban settings, preoccupations and protagonists” ( Suburban 2), though this definition by no means accounts for all the hefty and peculiar baggage that accompanies this type of fiction. Murphy nonetheless recognizes that the suburban gothic is concerned “first and foremost, with playing upon the lingering suspicion that even the most ordinary‐looking neighborhood, or house, or family, has something to hide, and that no matter how calm and settled a place looks, it is only ever a moment away from dramatic (and generally sinister) incident” (2), drawing attention to the genre's tendency to overturn idyllic assumptions regarding American life.…”