Beautiful Creatures

Ravenwood Manor represents revisionist history and the crumbling façade of Southern traditions. In Gothic literature, architecture symbolizes the decay of a character’s morality. Ravenwood, a “run-down old house, on Gatlin’s oldest and most infamous plantation,” signifies the decay of Southern tradition (21). Ethan observes that the house “look[s] just like the stereotypical Southern plantation that people from up North would expect to see after all those years of watching movies like Gone with the Wind” (63).

The manor, though representing tradition, houses Macon, a town outsider. In being aligned with Macon, the house also represents progress, intellect, and the unknown. The citizens of Gatlin stay away from Ravenwood. The tension between the town and manor reveals a greater conflict that the South faces. The South can accept responsibility for the trauma of slavery and oppression or choose to live in denial.

Beautiful Creatures draws parallels between its characters and those in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Before meeting Lena, Ethan connects Macon Ravenwood to the Southern novel, noting that “Old Man Ravenwood made Boo Radley look like a social butterfly” (21). Upon meaning Lena and seeing how she is bullied, he recognizes the import behind Lee’s work and its critique of