“Those in power would take him away and would probably execute him, but his land would endure forever and support his family.”

The idea of identity being rooted in the land is integral to the Southern Gothic genre and highlights the image of the Banning family as descendants of Southern aristocracy.

“The Bannings were farmers and landowners, but they were workers, not gentrified planters with decadent lives made possible by the sweat of others.”

Pete and his forbearers may have seen themselves as farmers rather than aristocracy, but the relationship with their field hands resembles that of feudal aristocracy. The Lord and Lady are not as egalitarian as they would like to think they are. The idea of decadence is important to the Gothic genre, which often deals with families and cultures in decline, losing vitality, decaying and turning in on themselves, and becoming corrupt.

“He was forty-three, and, at least in [Florry’s] opinion, looked older. His thick dark hair was graying above his ears, and long wrinkles were forming across his forehead. The dashing young soldier who’d gone off to war was aging too fast.”

At the time of the story, Pete should be only just past his prime. His physical appearance is an outward representation of his inner fatigue and his acceptance of death. The murder of Pastor Bell is an act of indirect suicide on Pete’s part. He has given up on life.