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William Faulkner William Faulkner's controversial writing and personal life make his writing very interesting for people to read. Faulkner did not always follow the rules for his life or characteristics, but in general he wrote about family and the traditions of the South. It is in the story A Rose for Emily that William Faulkner writes about a Southern aristocratic woman named Miss Emily. The story begins with the death of Miss Emily. The whole town turns out to attend the funeral of the fallen monument (26), as described in the story.
At this point, it is unclear who is actually telling the story about Miss Emily. Ray B. West believes that [w]hen, as in A Rose for Emily, the world depicted is a confusion between the past and present, the atmosphere is one o distortion-of unreality (192). The narrator recounts different stories about Miss Emily. The stories about Miss Emily are told out of order, as if more than one person is describing the events that have occurred to Miss Emily. West insists that Foreshadowing is often accomplished through atmosphere, and in this case [A Rose for Emily] the atmosphere prepares us for Emily's unnatural act at the end of the story (193).
These effects lead the audience to learn about the many bizarre episodes that occur between Miss Emily and the community. Miss Emily Grierson was a beautiful young woman who had no equal because her family was from the old South. People in our town believed that the Grierson's held themselves a little too high for what they really were (29). Miss Emily's father drives away any suitor because of their standing in the community as the only Southern aristocratic family. None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such (29).
It is when Miss Emily's father dies that all of the curiosity arises between her and the community. The community is interested to know what will happen next to Miss Emily. Terry Heller proposes that Emily, as impoverished aristocracy, is somewhat like that former slaves: she becomes duty, obligation, and care (305). There is a concern about the taxes and about her northern Yankee lover, Homer Barron. West believes, Here the author seems to be commenting upon the complex relationship between the Southerner and his past and between the Southerner of the present and the Yankee from the North (193). When her cousin comes to visit, her lover disappears.
The community and Miss Emily seem annoyed by her cousins visit. It is only after her cousins leave that a terrible smell around her house comes to the community's attention. Each one of these situations leaves the community in an awkward position because they realize they are not equal to Miss Emily because of her Southern aristocratic standing. In the end, the community is left with many unanswered questions about the way that Miss Emily really lived her life. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner consists of strange happenings throughout the story. One of the most awkward settings in the book is the relationship between husband and wife that occurred between Anse and Addie Bundren.
What we see in the beginning is a wife on her deathbed and a caring husband who wants to make everything better for his wife by making her wishes come true. We soon realize this was just a masking technique Faulkner used to give us the wrong impression on how things were run. The marital relationship between Addie and Anse Bundren, the protagonists of the story, can be best described as a synthetic one. Both characters want different things in life and they both obviously end up with the wrong way of life. Anse being the farmer who wants children cannot interact with a woman like Addie who enjoys loneliness and despises children. Their connection would lead and indeed did lead to a slow degrading of the mind and an utmost collapsing of character.
In Barn Burning, plot, character, setting, point of view, and symbolism all promote the development of the idea that when one is faced with a difficult decision, that person should rely on his or her own values, not those of his or her family, to make the right choice. Faulkner's Barn Burning is a grievous story because it very clearly shows the classical struggle between the privileged and the unprivileged classes in the late nineteenth century after the Civil War. Time after time emotions of despair surface from both the protagonist and antagonist involved in the story. This story outlines one distinct protagonist and one distinct antagonist. According to Oliver Billingslea, William Faulkner's Barn Burning is a story about the relationship between a father and his sons, not only in the hereditary sense of blood ties, but in a spiritual sense as well, especially in respect to how the younger boys conscience dictates action.
It is the story of one boys relationship to what Faulkner called the old verities and truths of the heart, evidenced in Sarty's quest for a father figure that will give meaning and order to his life In Faulkner's Barn Burning three main characters stand out -- Major de Spain Abner, and Sarty. Major de Spain is a member of the Southern aristocracy, but with a qualification: his name, which connects him with neither the Protestant upper class nor the Bourbons or other French-descended grandees of the Old South. The name de Spain suggests the nearly submerged Spanish presence in Louisiana and Florida, or even the Creole, or light skinned free blacks of New Orleans (Short Stories For Students 4). In the story Abner has a fiery ego and a chip on his shoulder. He takes offense with authority (the landowners), and his life seems to be a series of circumstances that invoke offense, revenge, and running away after he burns the barns.
According to Loges criticism, Abner Snopes is depicted as a man who will not hesitate to evoke the power of fire against those who oppose him. In Barn Burning the narrator suggests that for Abner, fire has almost mystical powers. This association with fire provides another correlation with the biblical Abner. Eight times in the Old Testament Abner is referred to as the son of Ner. In Hebrew Net means to glisten or shine as in a lamp (Strong 78 - 80). The name is derived from a Chaldean root new, which is translated in the Old Testament as fiery or fire (Strong 77).
Thus in the Hebrew, Abner becomes the son of fire or burning (Loges). Loges believes Abner's name and his character are similar to the Bible character Abner in the book of Samuel. The conflict between Sarty and his father finally ended when Sarty made the choice to trust himself and his instinctive sense of morality, even though it cost him his father and his family ties. The young Sarty Snopes willingly separated himself from the oppressive conditions of his family, thus isolating himself from all he had ever known. He had made the decision to leave childhood and become a man. He had taken his future into his own hands and would no longer allow Abner or anyone else to decide how he would live his life.
Even though he was too young to understand, he had accepted the choice he had made and would not look back. Faulkner ended the story by saying, He went on down the hill toward the dark woods within which the liquid silver voices of the birds called unceasing the rapid and urgent beating of the urgent and quoting heart of the late spring night. He did not look back (Faulkner 157). William Faulknr's Dry Sptmbr depicts a view of Southern society that is to say th last a bit disturbing. Th characters of Jefferson ar struggling with th oppressive wight of frustration, a frustration that press down on very act of the liv's.
It is a frustration that Faulkner portrays as unending in Southern society. Faulkner uss four characters to portray th frustration that probably miss in many small Southern towns. H being with th character Hawkshaw, th barn. His profession is an icon in vryday lif of small towns. In Jefferson he carries a lot more responsibility, he is the only voice of reason in a town on the verge of disaster. When the men of town decide to seek out Will Mayes to demonstrate their white supremacy, Hawkshaw is the only exception.
He represents how society should behave. He denounces Wills involvement and calls for the law to handle the matter. He calls for the truth. But Hawkshaw is merely one against many and cannot change what is to occur.
His frustrated voice is drowned out by prejudice and racism. The next character Faulkner addresses is Minnie Cooper. Her frustration is the result of the Souths view of women. Her failure to marry has removed her from the infamous Southern pedestal and has placed her in society's circle of misbegotten wretches. She is no longer the fine Southern lady but has been relegated to spinster, drunk and adulterer. These are the titles Cooper must now wear, titles given to her by the town she lives in, titles she cannot remove, titles that aggravate her everyday.
It is this built up aggravation that causes her to vent her frustration on the only person in this Southern society that is considered lower than she is- Will Mayes. Will Mayes is the least developed character in the story. He is simply portrayed as a hard working black man and thats all. By not developing his character, Faulkner allows Mayes to represent every black man. A race of people trapped in a society where though they are no longer slaves, they certainly do not possess the equality that they deserve. When Mclendon and the boys pick Mayes up, he can only question about whats happened.
He begs and pleads with these men but is powerless to stop them from carrying out their actions. Mayes frustration is the saddest of all. As an individual Mayes struggle is over but as a race the struggle goes on. Faulkner's ending reveals to the reader that though Mayes death is the climax in the story, it does not relieve the tension and frustration of this little town. An innocent man was murdered and nothing has changed. For Mclendon, the struggle to prove his superiority over others continues.
After killing Mayes, he returns home to beat his wife. Mclendon's frustrations have not abated in the least. On the contrary, they are still present and still very dangerous. Faulkner leaves the reader with the image of Mclendon standing with his shirt off looking out into the dark- sweating, panting and most important of all, waiting.
Waiting for his frustration to explode again. In Faulkner's town of Jefferson its inhabitants suffer under the burden of dealing with the frustrations of Southern society. For the town of Jefferson, these frustrations led to violence and death but when the smoke cleared, the frustration of their society is still present. There are many reasons why William Faulkner's works are worthy of being included in any collection of great authors.
The five differentiating characteristics of literature are creative or visionary, specific forms, culturally and historically based, meant to provide enjoyment, and open to interpretation and intellectual challenge. William Faulkner's writing is a perfect example of what literature is meant to be like because it holds each on of the characteristics to be true. William Faulkner is known for his ability to write about the old South. Leslie A.
Fiedler states that Faulkner [is] primarily a historian of Southern culture, or a canny technician whose evocations of terror are secondary to Jamesian experiments with point of view (384). William Faulkner's writings are unique compared to other writers because of the way that Faulkner presents the South in comparison from past to present and his ability to make the reader wonder about the point of view. Faulkner's writings are enjoyable and open the reader up to a world of interpretation and intellectual challenge. All of the qualities make William Faulkner's stories literature. However, it is how these qualities are shown to the reader that make William Faulkner fit to be included within any literary canon. Bibliography: Bell, Sarah Virginia. "William Faulkner's Creative Evolution: The Influence of Henri Bergson's Philosophy upon Three Major Novels. " DAI 50. 11 (May 1990) Bloom, Harold, ed.
Modern Critical Views: William Faulkner. Modern Critical Views Series. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. Clarke, Deborah.
Robbing the Mother: Women in Faulkner. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1994. Ford, Dan, ed. Heir and Prototype: Original and Derived Characterizations in Faulkner. Conway: U of Central Arkansas P, 1988.
Inge, M. Thomas. William Faulkner: The Contemporary Reviews. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995. Millgate, Michael. The Achievement of William Faulkner. 1966.
Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1978. Ruppersburg, Hugh M. Voice and Eye in Faulkner's Fiction. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1983.
Visser, Irene. Compassion in Faulkner's Fiction. Lewiston, N. Y. : Edwin Mellen, 1996. Wolff, Sally, and Floyd C.
Watkins, eds. Talking about William Faulkner: Interviews with Jimmy Faulkner and Others. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1996.
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Research essay sample on Modern Critical Views Major De Spain
