Narrative Essay: Responding to American Gothic

In Chapter 2, you studied Grant Wood's American Gothic and considered how you could move it into a different genre: the television show (see page 70).

This assignment invites you to take another look at this famous painting and think about it in terms of narrative. How would you tell the story of this duo? Who are they? What is their life like? What plot can you envision behind their stony faces? What beginnings and endings can you imagine for their story?

Carefully considering the painting's mise-en-scène, write a narrative for the subjects of American Gothic. Derive the events of your story-the plot-from the way the painting is framed, the way its subjects are arranged, and the expressions on their faces. What do the colors, shading, and setting suggest about this pair? Taking cues from the painting's general atmosphere, invent a story for the man and woman who inhabit American Gothic. Keep in mind that your narrative should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and that it should cohere around a theme you identify from the painting.

***You might consider re-visiting the concept of perspective by writing your narrative in the first person-from the point of view of one of that painting's subjects. How would your narrative change if it were told by the man or the woman featured in the painting?