George Washington Cable

3.
In this short story one of the main themes is the changing South. The narrator in the story does a very good job of describing the New Orleans area before and after the Northerners move downa and try to change it. Before the changes the area is more rural and undeveloped. The citizens like Poquelin have plenty of privacy and are able to keep to themselves if wanted. Poquelin's home goes from being heavily protected by a marsh and ditch full of mean swamp animals(fish and alligators), to just another old house close to the new roads that are being built.
There is some resistance to change in the story. Poquelin is the main complaintant of all the new change. The subject of change in the story brings about new characters such as the president of the construction company and more importantly White. Without change occuring White would never have investigated Poquelins house. Without this investigation he would have never seen the brother Jaques and wouldn't been able to warn everyone else to stay away. The change also brings the violent mob charivari, which discovers that Jean Poquelin has passed away.
The story is most definately Southern Gothic. It is seen first in the setting of Jean Poquelin's home, which is an old run down plantation house. And Jean struggles to hold on to his old ideals of privacy and land ownership that the Northerners are taking away from him with the roads being built through his property. There is also plenty of local color seen in the Creoles.