Category: William Faulkner

William Faulkner was one of America’s famous American Southern writer. William passion for writing started at a young age, where he enjoyed reading, and writing. But before becoming a writer, William tried joining the Air Force. But he was rejected because of his height. The force thought he was a bit on the short side. William was still determined to join so there were things he did to appear acceptable. He changed his birthplace and name to seem more British. After that he went on to study at the University of Mississippi. That’s where William started taking his writing more serious. William plays were all based on things and people who he was familiar with. Basing the stories off these things makes his plays come to life. William is most famous for the novel call “the sound and the fury”. He wrote this novel with the inspiration of his great grandfather. This article explains how sometimes people started off doing things that are far off from what they are meant to really do. It shows how determined William was to fit into something that was not meant for him.

A rose for Emily is a short story published in April 1936. The story was taken place in Jefferson Mississippi. In this short story William uses the storyline as a symbol of love, and romance. The main character in the story Emily Grierson was not able to adopt and accept change. She still held on to the grief of of her fathers passing. She wanted a man to take her fathers place with the love he had given her from another man. She was inlove with someone who did not wanted to marry her. Emily decided she was ready for marriage and wanted the man to be her husband, but unfortunately that never happened. Emily took it upon herself and poisoned him, took the body upstairs in the attic and saved it for years. This story William used southern Gothic literature. Southern Gothic is the south’s history of slavery, racism, fear, and violence. William style of writing used languages that symbolize thoughts, which puts the story into a great sentence structure. This article explain how a writer can use life experiences to bring a story to life. Using this method of writing it can almost guarantee that you have captured an audience attention.

The year January 1961 William signed over all his scripts he had written over the years to the William Faulkner foundation at the University of Virginia. A month later he was invited to the military academy, where he wrote his final script for his final novel named “The Reivers”. Later that year, William was awarded the gold medal for fiction writing by the American Academy of arts and letters. Sadly William passion for horses soon haunted him when the second most thing he enjoys doing took a turn. William was injured from falling off a horse. He shortly died of an heart attack at the age of 64 on July 6,1962. William had lefted his great legacy behind. Many of his great novels are still read by many, his great memories of good writing and best plays. He have changed the American south. William will always be remembered as the great novelist of his time, and for that his legacy shall live on. This source was helpful to me because I was able to acknowledge that fact that William work still exist til this day. Which is great to know that anyone will be able to visit the University of Virginia to get some knowledge of his great work.

William Faulkner was a well-known American author who wrote a lot of books as well as short stories set in the American south including “A Rose for Emily”. His stories often centered around southern morality and its impact. Which is something he knew a lot about having grown up and lived in Mississippi his entire life. This is no different in “A Rose for Emily”, it is a story about an overprotective and controlling society and father who cause his daughter to develop severe psychological problems. The presence of an unresolved Oedipal complex in Emily Grierson is the almost never understood central theme to the story.

“A Rose for Emily” first saw the world when on April 30th, 1930 it was published in a magazine by William Faulkner. Faulkner was an incredible author who ended up winning Nobel prizes for his work, he who wrote novels, short stories, poetry, essays, and even a play. He is the only Nobel prize winner in literature to come out of Mississippi. Faulkner set many of his stories in the fictional Yoknapatawpha county which he created from the real Lafayette county a place where he was intimately familiar with as he spent most of his life there. “A Rose for Emily” takes place in Yoknapatawpha county and reflects decaying of social tenants in the south in the 1930s.

Another important part of the historical context that helps us to understand “A Rose for Emily” is the works Faulkner published near it chronologically. They give us a window into Faulkner’s mind at the time to give us perspective on some of the more ambiguous parts of the story. “Sound and the Fury” was one of Faulkner’s most famous works and it was published six months prior to “A Rose for Emily” and many of the themes from it carry into and are touched on again in “A Rose for Emily”. The most important of these themes to this paper and even to the main theme and plot is the occurrence of Oedipal fixation in Emily’s life. To understand how the Freudian concepts of fixation and the Oedipus complex impact both the “Sound and the Fury” and “A Rose for Emily” we first need to understand what they are.

The Oedipus complex was a Freudian concept that he introduced in his Interpretation of Dreams book from 1899. It is a desire to be sexually involved with the parent of the opposite sex. Usually this stage is experienced by young children ages 3-6. If the children are the recipients of loving and positive parental influences the stage will pass as the child begins to identify with their same sex parent. However, if Oedipal complex is not resolved due to conflict in this stage of development the child develops mother-fixation if they are female and father-fixation if they are male (Quinindoz).

Fixation is another Freudian theory. It describes when the libido is fixed to people or things and generally refers to when this happens in childhood and yet continues into that person’s adult life. Freud thought that people may have psychological fixation either because they had lack of proper satisfaction while in one of the psychosexual stages of development. Or because some person made a very strong impression on them during one of these stages. Which resulted in that person’s personality reflecting that stage throughout their entire life.

Kathleen Moore writes about Jason Compson from the “Sound and the Fury” and his mother-fixation (Moore). She acknowledges the commonly accepted belief that Jason is the antagonist in the story, then she takes that further questioning why he displays such mean spirited, sadistic, and inhuman characteristics. Moore points to how Jason and his mother seem to have an unusual and important tie supported by many textual examples. She talks about how Jason exhibits an extreme likeness to his mother, which is a concept Freud talks about where it is possible to model one’s ego onto the object of one’s sexual desire. Moore also points to how “all the other women in Jason’s life are mother surrogates for him” (Moore). Each of them is a substitute who in a different manner allow for the portrayal of parts of his mother fixation. Moore makes a very solid case for the presence of an unresolved Oedipal complex and mother fixation in the “Sound and the Fury”. At the very least the close chronological proximity to “A Rose for Emily” means Faulkner was aware of and thinking of these themes and I believe he based the story around them.

The story “A Rose for Emily” is told in five parts by a narrator who seems to be a townsperson of Jefferson near in age to Emily. However, the story that the narrator tells is scrambled and confusing at best. He uses the first-person plural almost 50 times over the course of the novel and most commentators seem to agree that he speaks not just for himself but for the culture at large (Dilworth). The narrator is at least as important to the story as Emily’s former lover Homer Barron. He impacts the way we perceive events that he relays to us. The relationship between Emily, the narrator, and the society that he represents is central the story and it seems in many ways that “the narrator and Emily are foils for each other” (Dilworth). By having an affair with Homer, Emily rebels against the south and its values and then by ending her relationship with him she seems to conform to their morals. She killed Homer at least partially because she wanted to placate society. It would not be outlandish to suggest that the reason the narrator tells what could be a far simpler story in such a convoluted way is because he is trying to direct away from his and his neighbors guilt in the killing of Homer Barron.

The narrator and the town at large could not have known about the killing of Homer prior to the murder, but they did in part supply the motive (Dilworth). And after the murder had taken place, they should have put the pieces together and at least investigated Emily for Homers disappearance. The townspeople both idealized Emily as a standard of exclusive white southern womanhood and use her as a scapegoat for the murder of Homer (Dilworth). They knew of Emily’s purchase of poison, they were always watching her house and never saw Homer leave, they smelled the stench of his decaying corpse near her house, they knew when they finally enter her house after her death what is in her bedroom (Dilworth). And yet they never begin an investigation into his disappearance, they turn a blind eye to his murder because it appeases their morality by ending the affair.

Faulkner deliberately and skillfully inserts Oedipal fixation into Emily’s character and that hidden secret is the theme of the story. Emily Grierson had an unresolved Oedipal complex that upon her father’s death was transferred onto Homer Barron. We do not have to superimpose this theory onto Emily as there is plenty of proof, both internal and external, that Faulkner deliberately inserted Oedipal motif into the composition of the story.

Sigmund Freuds theories on sex had permeated by April of 1930 when “A Rose for Emily” was published. We can be sure that Falkner knew of and was influenced by Freuds thinking like many other American authors, and there is even evidence of fixation and the Oedipal complex in his other works. Because of this it is strange that Emily’s relationship with her dad has not received much scrutiny. Even Faulkner himself told us the significance of their relationship when he used the Freudian concept of repression. He remarks “In this case there was a young girl with a young girls normal aspirations to find love and then a husband and family, who was brow beaten and kept down by her father, a selfish man who didn’t want her to leave home because he wanted a housekeeper, and it was a natural instinct of -repressed which- you can’t repress it- you can mash it down but it comes up somewhere else and very likely in a tragic form,… (Scherting)”

William Faulkner’s comments should be given careful consideration when analyzing the story because he wrote it. He says Emily’s dad repressed her from maturing sexually in the normal way. Because of this her sexual drive emerges in a strange , tragic, and very weird way. Her affair with Homer is illicit but would Faulkner have described it as tragic? No, what then is Faulkner calling tragic? It appears that Homer and Emily’s relationship is normal but if we remember that Emily’s oppressive father prevented her from moving on from her Oedipal attachment to him and Homer has become a substitute for her dad. If that is the case their relationship is indeed strange and unnatural. And we can find further evidence for this Oedipal motif within the text itself.

Emily’s father was a man who was very proud of his family’s standing in Jefferson as well as their southern heritage. We see him repressing Emily as Schwab points out “He had constantly imposed himself between Emily and any male interested in courting her” (Schwab). “Her father had prevented her from transferring her libido to an outside object, intensifying her libidinal dependence on him” (Scherting). It is no surprise that her father’s death had such an impact on her. So much that she was unable to cope with it and even denied for three days that it had happened while his corpse remained in her house (Schwab).

After her father’s death Emily went back into her childhood. This explains why she cut her hair short “making her look like a girl”. Emily became an emotional orphan searching for her father. Emily met Homer Barron in the summer following her father’s death while he was in the town for work. Much to the surprise and the chagrin of the townsfolks she began an affair with him that lasted for two years. The town could not understand why she the idealized southern woman would have a relationship with this commoner who was also a Yankee. This apparently incomprehensible behavior is understandable if we realize that she had replaced her father with Homer. “Her deceased father was the subject of her desire; Homer was merely the object on which that desire had been fixed” (Scherting).

Faulkner hints at this parallel between Homer and Mr. Grierson within the story. Both are described as strong-willed men, and in different scenes both are depicted holding a horse whip. Yet most importantly is the fact that Emily uses Homers corpse to replace the corpse of her father which the townspeople took from her. Faulkner later reinforces this parallel by using specific language in the final scene. He first uses the word profound while describing both men to suggest a connection between them. At Emily’s funeral there is a painting of her father “musing profoundly” by her coffin, then later the people who gazed upon Homers remains were confronted with a “profound and fleshless grin”. Homer was not just someone like her father to Emily; he had become her father to her and was the object of her unresolved Oedipal complex.

The title of the story has long been debated and yet like every part of the story it is carefully chosen to match the main point of the story. Scherting says “Roses had a definite symbolic meaning for couples and were offered as pledges of fidelity in passion” (Scherting). Although Emily had an affair with Homer, she was in a very sad way powerless to be unfaithful to her father. “In ancient Rome, a rose suspended in a room signified that nothing that transpired sub rosa was not to be divulged to the world” (Scherting) just as the Oedipal desires expressed through Emily’s relationship with Homer were never noticed by the townspeople. Everything that happened in Emily’s rose-colored room was kept undisclosed until her death. Emily’s father-fixation is the secret that must be disclosed to fully appreciate the true meaning of the story.

Emily Grierson had severe psychological issues. And yet she is not the only one to blame for Homer Barron’s murder. The town and society that let her get away with it is also responsible. As is her father who through extreme over protectiveness and a belief that no one was good enough for his daughter stunted her sexual growth permanently imprisoning her as a child obsessed with him. “A Rose for Emily” is a cultural commentary on the problems with old southern morality and the damage it can cause. Emily’s messed up psych is not just a small part of the story; it is the main theme of the story.

Works Cited

1. Dilworth, Thomas. “A Romance to Kill for: Homicidal Complicity in Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily.’” Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 36, no. 3, Summer 1999, p. 251. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9220601&site=ehost-live.
2. Moore, Kathleen. “Jason Compson and the Mother Complex.” Mississippi Quarterly, vol. 53, no. 4, Fall 2000, p. 533. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=6473429&site=ehost-live.
3. Scherting, Jack. “Emily Grierson’s Oedipus Complex: Motif, Motive, and Meaning in Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily.’” Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 17, no. 4, Fall 1980, p. 397. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=7134648&site=ehost-live
4. Schwab, Milinda. “A Watch for Emily.” Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 28, no. 2, Spring 1991, p. 215. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9705013782&site=ehost-live.
5. Quinodoz, Danielle. “Theban Parents, Corinthian Parents: The Dichotomisation of Oedipus’ Parents.” Romanian Journal of Psychoanalysis / Revue Roumain de Psychanalyse, vol. 8, no. 2, July 2015, pp. 219–235. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=111670928&site=ehost-live.

I, William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer born in 1897 and died in 1962. During my life I achieved many awards including the Nobel prize in 1949 and published many of my books during the 1920s through 30s. I am known for my short stories, but I also wrote essays, poetry, and even a play.

was born in New Albany, Mississippi and had three younger brothers and a hard working mother and father. As a child I worked with my father at his business and spent my free time listening to the stories people had to tell about the war or slavery. I came from a decently rich family due to my father’s Railroad company and hard working mindset. After selling the company we then moved to Oxford, Mississippi where I would live mostly for the rest of my life. When I became a young adult I met Philip Stone who was about my age and influenced me to strengthen my writing career. By the time the war came about I was encouraged to enlist but was saddened when they told me I was too short to join at only being 5’5. Not letting that get to my head I instead joined the British Royal Air Force.

After the war my name was changed from Falkner to Faulkner due to a careless mistake made by a typewriter. At once I got back to writing and scribbled down short stories hoping to get them published but nothing actually happened until 1925 where I wrote my first novel, Soldiers Pay. In the summer of 1927 I attempted to write my first fictional novel set in Yoknapatawpha County; the book was called Flags in the dust. Even though the book was considered good it got rejected, not letting that pull me down I took to writing again. I then began working on a book called the Sound and The Fury, which was much more complete than my first attempt.

Two years later I married Estelle Oldham, my highschool sweetheart who had actually been previously married and brought with her two children that I love very dearly. As a teenager I dated Estelle and was planning to marry her but my plans got shattered when another boy that she was also was dating asked before me. Even though she did not want to marry him she was forced to by her parents. Her marriage only lasted about 10 years and after getting a divorce returned to me, her true love. While married and having kids I wrote during the day and worked at night.

After publishing As I Lay Dying, I was in desperate need of money. To gain some cash I worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood, making new friends along the way such as Howard Hawks. Me and good old Howard enjoyed hunting and drinking together when we were not working. I sadly had a lifelong drinking problem but I didn’t drink while writing because I wanted to stay focused. During the 30’s my books became widely known and my short stories were placed in famous papers such as the Saturday Evening Post. In 34 I took up the skill of flying my own airplane, and after flying it a bit I gave it to my youngest brother Dean. Encouraging him to become a pilot I was stricken with grief after learning about his death in crashing the plain.

A few years after this tragic event I wrote another book called Absalam, Absalam! that was a great success which caused many people to read it. In an attempt to create a saga of my own I rewrote the stories of Yoknapatawpha County a themed in the south in The Sound and The Fury, Sanctuary, and Requiem For a Nun. Due to these books I was mostly known in the 20’s and 30’s but in the south I was somewhat of a legend. Later I would write more books along the way and in 1950 I accomplished the great achievement of earning the Nobel prize which greatly impacted my private life and reputation. Since I had already won this reward it seemed to me that a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders and i took to drinking and traveling. I traveled all over Europe and Asia even being a screenwriter in Egypt. When I got home I gave a Nobel Prize speech on how the humans as a people could survive through this new nuclear age. I took to speaking publicly about my ideas about politics and race actively at home hoping to make a difference. Settling down and getting back to paying attention to my children and other activities such as hunting and horse riding I then bought a new house in Rowan Oak.

In 62 I published my last novel called The Reivers, which was a comedy. A month later I died due to a several not so smart decisions. All through my life I was a drinker which caused my liver to shrink. I also suffered from a heart attack which was the cause of death and got seriously injured when I fell off of too many horses that were to big for me. I was 64 years of age and I was buried in St. Peter’s cemetery in Oxford where my life had been lived along with many of the stories I had written.

After my death I am not only remembered as a great author but as one of the best writers of the 20th century. I had written 13 novels along with many short stories and at age 52 I won the Nobel Prize. My typewriter is even placed in a museum within my hometown and many of my books are still remembered today as well as my quotes. “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shores”-William Faulkner

Would you ever think that Southern Americans would write stories based on morality in the early 1900s? Probably not based on the fact that slavery was abolished only a few years earlier. Authors, William Faulkner and Flannery O’ Connor were far from exceptions to this. In the short story “Barn Burning” written in 1939, author William Faulkner shows that discerning between right and wrong is difficult when it comes to saving your family. After the father, Snopes, burns down a servant’s barn, Colonel Sartoris is expected to lie on his father’s behalf to save him from the charges. In real life, William Faulkner grew up in Oxford Mississippi where he joined the Canadian Air Force; later on, he worked in a bookstore where he published several poems. Faulkner’s great grandfather led a violent life which translated into one of his characters, Colonel John Sartoris. In the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” written in 1955, author Flannery O’ Connor shows that finding a good man is hard in the American South. After a family plans a trip to Florida, they crash becoming stranded, later on, the Misfit and two boys show up where eventually they end up shooting everybody. In real life, Flannery O’ Connor grew up in Savannah, Georgia where she began drawing and writing in school. Later in life, O ‘Connor is known for her bizarre characters and contradictory elements. When compared, O’ Connor and Faulkner use similar Southern Gothic Elements of grotesque, morality, and hypocrisies to present their individual stories of the American South.

In the short story, “Barn Burning” William Faulkner uses the grotesque to present the American South. The definition of grotesque is the focal point on the strange and ugly referring to a physical body, however, it can also relate to death and violence. An example of this is “Again he could not see, whirling; there was a face in a red haze, moonlike, bigger than the full moon, the owner of it half again his size, he leaping in the red haze toward the face, feeling no blow, feeling no shock when his head struck the earth, scrabbling up and leaping again, feeling no blow this time either and tasting no blood, scrabbling up to see the other boy in full flight and himself already leaping into pursuit as his father’s hand jerked him back, the harsh, cold voice speaking above him: “Go get in the wagon.” This shows that Snopes is not a very good father because of his grotesque towards his son. The pain felt throughout the body with this much force reveals that the father is willing to do whatever it takes to save himself from being charged with arson. The violence conveyed through the use of words such as blow, shock, struck, blood all relate to the grotesque characterization of the father. Secondly, the American South in the early 1900s was known for its violence and protests because of human rights activism. The south was notorious for Jim Crow which were laws passed to discriminate between people of color and whites.

Comparatively, Flannery O’ Connor uses the grotesque to present the American South in her short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”. Surprisingly, both authors use very similar techniques to convey the grotesque and American South. An example of this is, “There was a piercing scream from the woods, followed closely by a pistol report. “Does it seem right to you, lady, that one is punished a heap and another ain’t punished at all?”. This shows the grotesque in the Misfit with the fact that he can kill a family with a baby with no remorse. The “piercing scream” came from the mother and little girl being shot. While the grandmother was having a normal conversation with him, he was having his boys kill innocent people. The strange and ugly referred to earlier is prominent in this example. However, the misfit then goes into talking about equality while people are being shot. Once again, the American South was experiencing human rights protests and racism during this time period which is what the Misfit is referring to. Comparing these two short stories with how they use grotesque shows the similarities between authors even though they lived in separate states revealing that human rights were a colossal problem in the early 1900s.

Morality is the second element that William Faulkner introduces in his short story “Barn Burning”. The definition of morality is “the branch of knowledge concerned with right and wrong conduct, duty, responsibility, etc.” An example of this is “His father, stiff in his black Sunday coat donned not for the trial but for the moving, did not even look at him. He aims for me to lie, he thought, again with that frantic grief and despair. And I will have to do hit.” This shows the morality that the son has to make to save his father from being charged. Is lying for his father right or wrong? Most people would lie for their family to a certain extent, however, when does that line get crossed. The father expects the son to do nothing less than lie even though he knows he committed the crime. However, the son knows it’s not right and ends up running away to get away from the toxic relationship. Secondly, Snopes and his family are slaves, therefore, they are probably treated unfairly. Snopes burned the barn down to get revenge on one of his servants and was planning on doing it again. Is burning a servant’s barn down justified when they treat you unfairly? This is a question that comes up based on morality because they are slaves in the American South.

Similarly, Flannery O’Connor applies morality in her short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” to justify the killing of an innocent family. An example of this is “… “and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can-by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness,” he said”. This shows that in the Misfits’ eyes it is right to kill somebody for fun. It is never right to kill somebody especially for fun, however, this is exactly what the Misfit does. Shortly after this, he kills an entire family he found on the side of the road justifying that he doesn’t believe in morality. In the Misfit’s words “No pleasure but meanness,” and living a life just to be mean to people must be miserable as confirmed by the Misfit. The authors use morality in similar ways to describe right vs. wrong in the American South.

Lastly, William Faulkner uses hypocrisies in his short story “Barn Burning” to reveal a hidden meaning in the American South. An example of this is “You’re getting to be a man. You got to learn. You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you.” The hypocrisy in this is that Snopes is not a man himself. A father who beats their child to save themselves is not a man what so ever. If the father stuck to his own blood, then he shouldn’t have to beat his children anyways. A man is someone who is honest and mature and cares for his family, the total opposite of Snopes. Furthermore, the hypocrisy of this statement reveals the hidden meaning of “Burning Barn” which is obedience to the law. In the American South, the majority of people were protesting and breaking laws because they were unfair, however, change didn’t come from protesting. Change came from peaceful meetings and gatherings. If Snopes followed the law, he wouldn’t have to hide the truth.

In like manner, Flannery O’Connor uses hypocrisies to reveal a hidden meaning in her short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”. An example of this is ““I’m sorry I don’t have on a shirt before you ladies,” he said, hunching his shoulders slightly. “We buried our clothes that we had on when we escaped, and we’re just making do until we can get better.” The hypocrisy in this is that the Misfit is worried about not having on a shirt in front of the innocent women he is about to murder. Based on the Misfit’s actions, he kills for enjoyment and experiences no remorse. The hidden meaning behind this is that the American South focused on the irrelevant issues in the 1900s instead of what mattered. Simply put, the American South focused on racial segregation instead of recognizing that we’re all humans inside no matter what race. Both authors use hypocrisies to reveal the hidden truth behind their short stories.

To finalize, William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor use the Southern gothic elements grotesque, morality, and hypocrisies to present the American South in the early 1900s. It is obvious that Faulkner and O’Connor wanted the Southern culture to change through the symbolism of the Southern Gothic elements.

About author and his early life

Americans have given the world great people among every field of life. If we look at the history of America we see that there are great novel writers, story writers, poets, actors, sportsmen or politicians. One of these great men was William Faulkner. William Cuthbert Faulkner was born on American soil on 25th September; 1897. He was born in New Albany. He was eldest his brothers and his parents were Murry Cuthbert Falkner and Maud Butler. After a year of his birth the family moved to Ripley. When he was five years old his family moved to Oxford where he lived for the rest of his life. His family and most particularly his mother and his nanny were fond of his brilliant imagination. They tried to teach him a visual language as both were painters as well as photographers. His mother valued education a lot and encouraged all of his sons to read and learn.

Much of the great thinkers and philosopher believe that the beast education and manners a man can get is through his mother. Same was the case with William Faulkner. As his mother taught him to read even before going to school. Thus He was a bright student in his early age but later on his interest in studies reduced and he ended up never graduating. During his teenage period he enjoyed drawing. He also found a pleasure in reading and writing. He also mimicked some actors when he was 12. He spent his early age listening to the stories of slavery and wars. He was also told stories of his great grandfather who was a great businessman and civil war her. Moreover he was also a writer.

At the age of seventeen he met a man who was his inspiration to write and influenced his wittings. That man was Philip Stone. William Faulkner was a gifted writer and he impressed Stone by his poetry at the beginning of his career. He encouraged William a lot. Stone was mentor to Faulkner. He pointed out his mistakes and helped him to correct them. He also introduced Faulkner to the efforts of greater writer and helped him a lot towards the path of great glory. When he was 20 years old he started writing poems and short stories but that were rejected when stone sent them for being published. That was the moment when Faulkner learnt that great glory comes after failure and failures are always a beginning of triumphs. Failure always gave a important lesson. He spent most of his life in Mississippi. He was a perfect blend of many arts. He was a great novel writer. His screenplays mesmerized people. His poetry always left marks on people’s heart. His essays were full of great endings. He was also enrolled in Ole Miss in Oxford but was dropped out. As he skipped classes he often received a D grade in English. But he continued to write his poems in the university and was much appreciated and some of his poems were able to make themselves to the campus publications. He is always famous for his novels and short stories. These novels and short stories were written in fictional Yoknapatawpha County.

Yoknapatawpha is derived from two different words Yocona and petopha which mean split land. This based on a Mississippi County which was Lafayette County. Faulkner was very proud of his County so he often referred to it as “my apocryphal county”. Besides his novels “A Fable, Pylon and The Wild Palms”, all other novels were set in this county. More than 50 of his stories were included in this county. Faulkner admitted in his speech at Virginia that the idea of Yoknapatawpha word came in his mind from the actual Yocona River. His work published in 1919. This was very early but yet his work was admired throughout the entire American land. The peak of his era was during 1920s and 1930s. Mississippi had produced a great number of people which worked for the betterment of nation but no one got a Nobel Prize.

In 1949 due to his extraordinary efforts in the field of literature, William Faulkner was the first man born in Mississippi to be awarded Nobel Prize. This was the era when William Faulkner became famous throughout the world and his work was admired around the globe. After then, he started to win other prizes like in 1954 he won Pulitzer Prize for Fiction on his novels “A Fable” and “The Reivers”. These two novels were considered to be a mastercalss of fiction. “The sound and the fury” was another great novel written by William Faulkner. It gained popularity among the novel readers. So by the Modern Library this novel was ranked sixth among the list of hundred best novels of English language of the twentieth century. A man is deeply affected by the environment he lives in, so was Faulkner. Faulkner was influenced by the history of America and the culture of black and white races. Due to his height he was not suitable for US Army.

Barn Burning

This story occurs in Yoknapatawpha County. This story was set in 1930 which was an era of depression and tensions. Faulkner had a unique style of addressing his readers through the use of long sentences. Faulkner suggest that human behavior changes with the changing environment. It is a story of social inequality. The story explores the implication of having to try to run away from blood and your fathers own reputation. Ban burning is written in a point of view of an objective third person. Abner is the father in this story. He is a cruel man and does a lot of crimes because of which his family is unable to live in one place .They have to move every time due to the crimes committed by Abner. The main theme of this story is the fact that is blood thicker than water. To some people murdering someone isn’t a problem.

Life of someone is priceless to them. In the story Abner warns Sarty he is always going to be with his own blood and family. He is not going to change. He would always be a tenant farmer who gives part of crops for rent and his barn burning father. At the age of ten Sarty,s other brother were like his father. They think and behave the same way as their father does but Sarty was different from the rest of his brothers. Sarty think differently from his father. His thinking was different and had depth which his father lacks. He understood things from a different perspective. Sarty,s full name was Colonel Sartoris Snopes. His name also expresses a conflict that was arising from within him. Colonel Sartios which was his first name was a well known and was considered hero and an honest man. This name was in conflict with his last name as he was snopes-sharecropper and a barn burner. From beginning of the story it is obvious that where Sarty,s loyalties lie. Despite the fact that he knew his father would hit him, he was going to tell them about his father burning Harris’s barn. And when the time came he stood strong with what is right then sticking to his own blood. Sarty’s conflict within himself are clear and in the end when Abner survives the gunshot Sarty started walking as his family moves in an opposite direction. Barn Burning is a tough story for some of the readers as the writer hides some of the details within the story that were important. He does not give the plot easily rather you have to struggle and think upon it for the exact plot. But the story goes deep as you move forward to read.

The questions of family and loyalty to the family make it worth reading. Faulkner used settings to engage the readers in his writings. The first was the living condition of Snopes family which was much different from the landowners for whom they worked for and the story moves on by the destruction of property by snopes. Another unique setting of this writing is the courthouse which is simply a general store and is used for legal proceedings. This was the place where snopes was found to be guilty of crimes and was punished. Snope thought that he was not treated fairly as the court house wasn’t a real court house. When Sartoris sees de home he again thinks of courthouse this time rather bigger one because he had only seen the courthouse which was a general store. At the end of story, Sartoris was able to get rid of his father and escaped but the impact of this escape on his family is not stated which is unique perspective if Faulkner’s writing. Readers have to go through the story in depth to solve these puzzles left by Faulkner.

Dry September

Dry September was published in Scribner’s magazine in 1931.The story is about a rumor of a white woman and an African-American man. As the town was small so the rumor spread like a fire. Everybody in the town was gossiping about the two. No one exactly knew what had happened but most of the people believed that the woman was harmed. The man was kidnapped by some other men and was murdered and those who were the murderers were never punished. The picture that is made in the mind of reader after reading the first sentence of dry September creates a story’s scheme of imagery. The clear picture of a bloody twilight comes into the minds of readers that enlighten the fact that as we go further in the story there would be a lot of violence and drama. The writer builds up the horror caused by a murder in the mind of reader by using image that raise the sense of violence death and horror. As the barber rushes towards the street after McClendon and others the lights in the street in a violent suspension. The air seemed so calmed and terrifying.

The bloody September twilight had turned into evening leaving the light and hustle of day behind. The dark ruled all across. There was dark everywhere he looks. The sky seemed to be very clear as fresh waters. As the car moved it sounded like a blast. The fear of Violence and death rules the story. The violence of bloody September twilight has burned itself out the only remaining thing was the red dust. The murder of an innocent black man was not prevented by Hawkshaw, but he lives and can limp home. The ones which are not controlled by the races of men like Hawkshaw and continue to commit violence and inhumanity are finally absorbed by the eternal dust. The dust swallow them all leaving behind no mark. After some time no one even knew that they existed. The glare the charm everything was buried with them. Faulkner suspends one violent moment which was going to occur in a southern town, but the eternal cycle of life and death of timeless motion can absorb even the moments of violence.

The story is divided into five parts. Each part is full of suspense. The first and third part of story is about Hawkshaw. Hawkshaw is the barber and he tries to convince the mob not to hurt Mayes. Part two and four are about the white woman which is one of the most important characters of the story. The fifth and the last part of the story explain the violence of the story. In the story no section is devoted for the explanation of the victim Mayes. It may be due to the fact that he had not played any role in creating violence and violence was the main agenda of the novel. Only three characters from the entire story eager for violence. These three characters are McClendon, the youth and the drummer. These are the people who think they are the one who should dictate the ending of any event. The main conclusion for the readers in this writing is that sometimes no proof is required for someone to be guilty of a crime only a few rumors and accusation do the job.

References:

1. New York: Random House, 1974; revised one volume edition, 1984
2. Nicholas A. Basbanes, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for books(New York: Henry Holt,1999)
3. Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, 09-25-2013, https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/09/25/william-faulkner-paris-review-interview-writing/
4. Sparknotes. Barn burning by William Faulkner. https://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/barn-burning/section1/
5. Owlcation. June 6, 2018. https://owlcation.com/humanities/Summary-and-Analysis-of-Barn-Burning-by-William-Faulkner
6. Catherine Sustana. Feb 23, 2019. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/analysis-william-faulkners-dry-september-2990479

William Faulkner is regarded as one of the best and most influential authors of the 20th century. Noted for his excellent technique and styles, Faulkner’s effects on literature are immeasurable. In 1949 Faulkner won a Nobel Prize for his advances in literary techniques of American writers. Almost all of Faulkner’s works are affected by his upbringing and origins in the south.

Faulkner’s original interest was Victorian era literature (Ward 55). However, in his twenties while living in New Orleans (which was seen as “an oasis for artist in the land of Jim Crow” ) the vibrant and “Avante Garde” atmosphere led him into modernist writing (Ward 55-56). His time spent living in New Orleans manifests itself in his early works, mostly poetry, such as Portrait which was published in “the double dealer” a New Orleans magazine in 1922 (Ward 56). In his twenties, Faulkner dwelled in New Orleans and wrote his first fiction book there and “laid the groundwork for his transformation from Victorian dilettante to modernist genius”. Singal argues that Faulkner is much more than what the Nobel board recognized him as, and they ignored his “Victorian urge toward unity and stability he had inherited as a child” (Ward 55). Faulkner, through his works, hoped to spread his world view of modernist ideology : no simple morality, no fixed truths (Ward 56) . Faulkner’s time in New Orleans helped evolve Faulkner into a modernist genius, pushing him away from his “Victorian oxford” (Ward 56). He learned from the new and dandy of New Orleans “Avante garde” arts (Ward 56). New Orleans in the 20s was considered the “bohemian paradise” (Ward 56). Cities like Paris of course and New York were hotspots for modernism but for Faulkner New Orleans was “an oasis for artists in the land of Jim Crow” letting him stay connected to his southern roots while at the same time learning new techniques and writing styles (Ward 56). Robert Crunden classified New Orleans in the 20s as an “American saloon” where “ both the residents and the city fostered the spirit of modernism” (Ward 56). There were many salons in New Orleans and a rich history which fostered growth for Faulkner’s literary styles (Ward 56).

By no accident Faulkner does not avoid writing about land. His works are closely related to his views of philosophy and natural law (Breaden 344). Faulkner was heavily influenced by philosophers such as John Locke (Breaden 345). John Locke proposed that all the worlds problems come from land ownership, and this view is present in Faulkner’s writings (Breaden 345). According to Breaden, Faulkner’s opinion on the southern land is that it is “ cursed by the origins of its land titles and that the land is owned by all” (Breaden 345). Faulkner often alluded to his beliefs that land ownership was communal in his works (Breaden 347). In Faulkner’s Unvanquished, for example, a character states “People don’t own the land, it’s the land that owns the people” (Breaden 347). According to Faulkner in “A justice”, collected stories of William Faulkner land titles are “legal fiction” (Breaden 348). Faukkmers story’s are very vocal of his opinions. Faulkner’s Shingles for the Lord demonstrates the evils of land ownership and in Fox Hunt he shows his contempt with the actions of the whites to the natives (Breaden 352-354). According to Breaden “he loves the south and because he loves it, he abhors its injustices and cruelties” (Breaden 356).

Faulkner is famous impart for his unique narration style. His most well known style is called stream of consciousness. According to britannica.com stream of consciousness is “narrative technique in nondramatic fiction intended to render the flow of myriad impressions—visual, auditory, physical, associative, and subliminal—that impinge on the consciousness of an individual and form part of his awareness along with the trend of his rational thoughts.” This writing style was used and transformed by James Joyce ( Parvathi and Harinath 3). Faulkner’s biggest example of stream of consciousness narration is The Sound and the Fury (bowling 552). Bowling states:

On the basis of the author’s use of the first person and the past tense, the reader assumes that the story is going to be an ordinary first-person, objective rendering of a past experience, similar in technique to Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. In the first two pages of the book, there is nothing to contradict and everything to support this assumption, until the reader encounters the italicied paragraphs on page three. This passage introduces the first main hurdle in the book and requires detailed consideration, for without a clear understanding of what is taking place here, the reader can never hope to get even to first base with The Sound and the Fury (Bowling 553).

While using stream of consciousness Faulkner often changes speakers and thus it can be confusing to the readers. An integral part of stream of consciousness narration is insight into characters minds, for this reason Faulkner changes his writing styles when writing as different characters (bowling 552). In Williams use of Stream of consciousness he shows the readers both “the graveness of the situation and exposes the unspoken thoughts of his characters” (Parvathi and Harinath 4).

William Faulkner’s is most famous, by far, for his southern Gothic writing. William is regarded by many as the best southern Gothic writer. In the southern Githuc genre “irrational, horrific, and transgressive thoughts, desires, and impulses; grotesque characters; dark humor, and an overall angst-ridden sense of alienation” are present (Bjerre 2017). The wrongdoings if the south: “slavery, racism, and patriarchy” are very prevalent in southern Githuc (Bjerre 2017). Faulkner’s made up Yoknapatawpha County is the perfect example of southern Githuc literature (Bjerre 2017). It is upset about the civil war, and includes the “following social, racial, and economic ruptures in the lives of its people. These transformations, and the resulting anxieties felt by Chickasaw Indians, poor whites and blacks, and aristocratic families alike, mark Faulkner’s work as deeply Gothic.” (Bjerre 2017). In this context readers can see the presence of the fight between “the old and new south” (Bjerre 2017). Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily highlights the old south vs new south. Bjerre writes

The story, narrated from a plural point of view by inhabitants of the small town, tells of the spinster Emily Grierson, who after her father’s death scandalizes the community when she takes up with the northern carpetbagger Homer Barron. When Homer disappears shortly after Emily has purchased arsenic, rumors abound in town. Decades later, after living a reclusive life, Emily dies. When the townspeople break open the door to an upstairs room, they discover a man’s “fleshless” corpse on the bed, the remains of him “rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt.” Next to the corpse is a pillow, with “the indentation of a head” and “a long strand of iron-gray hair.” The story’s themes of necrophilia, sin, and secrecy mark it as obviously Gothic, yet Richard Gray argues that it also “offers an unerring insight into repression and the revenge of the repressed.” Emily’s actions should be seen as “a perverse reaction to the pressures of a stiflingly patriarchal society,”.

(Bjerre 2017). Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! Is another great example of southern Githuc. In this story Faulkner places tons of gothic characteristics (Baehl 2010). Two of these characteristics are southern decay, and a dysfunctional family model (Baehl 2010). Richard Gray called Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! Was Faulkner’s “greatest and most seamlessly gothic narrative” (Bjerre 2017). Thomas Stupen, the main character of Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!, is gothic in nature are he is “emerges as an elusive but tragic figure” (Bjerre 2017).

Williams southern heritage deeply effects his writing. Ms. M. Parvathi and Dr. P. kusuma Harinath write: Faulkner seems to produce his best work when writing about his imaginary Yoknapatawpha County which is a mythical county in Northern Mississippi, the author’s own locale, is inhabited by characters that Faulkner has created in the image of the people who actually live there, or who have lived there. Several characters of Faulkner are archetypal folk types – as the Southern plantation owner, the peddler or drummer, the country storekeeper, the tenant farmer, the farmer’s wife, the moonshiner, the horse trader, and the Negro servant. Tall tales, anecdotes, and yarns are another form of folklore used by Faulkner, and in colorful local dialect, these characters make wisecracks, quote proverbs, and make humorous conversations. He created his characters based on factors such as history, family, race, class, gender relations of American South that was presented, in contrast to its historical picture based.

William Faulkner is widely known for his unique sentence structure. Absalom, Absalom! is regarded as one of Faulkner’s greatest works that makes use of complex language, sentence structure, and literary technique (Scott 92). Scott states that the way that Faulkner introduces the story has been described as ingenius; it is made up of jagged divisions that are each narrated by a different person, with each person exhibiting a different narrative style (92). Faulkner’s composition is unique in that each sentence is longer than a typical sentence. This is displayed in the first sentence of Absalom, Absalom!, which is comprised of over twenty lines (93). Scott states that Faulkner purposely uses excessively long sentences to instill upon the reader as much information as possible in one compact effort (93). Scott also mentions that Faulkner’s long sentences in Absalom, Absalom! are not meant to merely describe the natural setting of the story to the reader, but rather are intended to go in depth about certain aspects that are important to the novel (93). An example of this is in the first sentence of Absalom, Absalom!, when Faulkner paints a portrait of the old lady while describing several circumstances that have molded the lady into the person she has become today (93). One of Faulkner’s main purposes of his complex and unique sentences is to allow the reader to interpret things for themselves (96-97). Scott describes Faulkner’s literature as a “detective story for the emotions”, leaving the reader to interpret what is missing (96-97).

Faulkner’s sentence structure stands out in the sense that Faulkner’s choice of vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, and word placement creates the uniqueness and complexity of his works (Scott 98). Scott states that Faulkner’s sentence structure in Absalom, Absalom! is like nothing we would ever see today (93). He makes use of comma omission in certain areas such as “a dry vivid dustry sound”, but when nouns are present, he keeps the commas – “for father, sister, northusband” (93). Faulkner’s addition of images and modifiers to his sentences regardless of how they may impact sentence structure can be credited to his expansive imagination (94). For example, “for is she had iron shinbones and ankles” is a sentence that causes the successive sentence to sound awkward (94). Scott mentions that Faulkner also gives his own unique twist on the meaning of simple everyday words (94). For example, this is displayed when looking at the following sentence by Faulkner: “Listening would renege” (94). As Scott describes, Faulkner chooses not to be a prisoner to the rules of language and he is not afraid to stray away from the norm (94). The presence of adjectives within Faulker’s sentences is definitely a distinguishing factor of a Faulkner sentence (95). Faulkner’s sentence structure often consists of many adjectives piled on top of each other, with some examples being “Dry vivid dusty’” and “Impotent and static” (95). Scott describes Faulkner’s use of adjectives as tautological because of his juxtaposition of adjectives with similar meaning, which creates emphasis ( 95).

A prominent theme in some of William Faulkner’s works is biblical allusion. Biblical allusions are seen through text and titles such as Faulkner’s “Go Down, Moses”, however in the following excerpt, there are references to Genesis:

It was of the wilderness, the big woods, bigger and older than any recorded document. … It was of the men, not white nor black nor red but men, hunters, with the will and hardihood to endure and the humility and skill to survive, and the dogs and the bear and deer juxtaposed and relieved against it, ordered and compelled by and within the wilderness in the ancient and unremitting contest according to the ancient and immitigablerules which voided all regrets and brooked no quarter…. (Go Down, Moses qtd. In Meeter 597-598).

Meeter states that in As I Lay Dying, several of the characters’ quotes reference the Bible (599). For example, while discussing Addie’s death, characters state things like “The Lord giveth,” “It comes to all of us,” and “If God wills it” (As I Lay Dying qtd. in Meeter 599). The first phrase verbally resembles Job 1:21, while the second and third phrases sentimentally resemble Ecclesiastes 3:20. (599). In Absalom, Absalom!, it is evident that there are parallels drawn between the house of David and the house of Sutpen (601).

Cover 1 of Sanctuary 1931 by William Faulkner represents the theme of the story best because of the offsetting nasty vibe it sets off. Also the picture of the woman all ripped up and damaged represents Temple Drake due to the horrors she went through that most likely scared her for a lifetime. In the background is a green stained, slimey and chipped concrete wall and clearly dirty which represents the sneaky and slickness of the deep south of rural Mississippi and Tennessee. There is also an orange liquid on the grimey wall that is possibly moonshine or some sort of alcohol that is illegal because of the prohibition. It is also ironic that the book’s title is Sanctuary 1931 which is defined as a safe place as refuge, and the book’s cover is quite the opposite as there is no sanctuary from the evil hidden among the southern society. Horace Benbow is symbolic of the early Southern tradition, which as the story continues he believes less and less of it as he digs deeper into the hidden evil in his southern home. The mixing of social classes is the ultimate downfall of our main characters, because their ideas are in conflict with one another. Sanctuary is not just about the good and evil; it is also about the breakdown of the southern traditions and ideals and new sets of heritage that begin to emerge. The social class and southern ideals are the central issues with Sanctuary, and demonstrates that with mixing the social classes and resulting in conflict and violence.

In this novel, William Faulkner represents the tradition, culture, and ideas during the southern prohibition. The characters failed to communicate with each other about their ideas and culture, in which if they were apart the same social classes wouldn’t need to be discussed or announced. The plot of the novel is based on whether or not certain characters can communicate with each other and whether it would be a relationship or a conflict. The smashing together of the social classes makes it very difficult to trust one another and creates a sort of paranoia into who and who not trust.

The social classes are represented early in the book when we are introduced to two of the main characters and their social classes. Horace is “a tall, thin man, hatless, in worn gray flannel trousers and carrying a tweed coat over his arm” (Faulkner 3). Horace is described as an intelligent and wealthy man. Popeye is introduced as “a man of under size, his hands in his coat pockets, a cigarette slanted from his chin. His suit was black, with a tight, high-waisted coat. His trousers were rolled 5 once and caked with mud above mud-caked shoes. His face had a queer, bloodless color, as though seen by electric light; against the sunny silence, in his slanted straw hat and his slightly akimbo arms, he had that vicious depthless quality of stamped tin.’ (Faulkner 4). The differences between the two men are noticeable, and Horace considers Popeye to be intimidating, but believes that he is socially below him. They find themselves in situations where it is difficult to have a conversation with each other and start slitting and misunderstanding each other without really knowing one another. Slites come from both of the men like Popeye asking “Do you read books” (Faulkner 5) and Horace commenting “I don’t suppose you’d know a bird at all, without it was singing in a cage in a hotel lounge, or cost four dollars on a plate” (5).

Another example is Temple Drakes rape where two social classes clash for another misunderstanding that leads to a horrific crime. She turns to Ruby for protection, but Ruby has no sympathy for her so Temple uses her social class as a coat of protection against the world by repeating “My father is a Lawyer.” She’s very convinced that because of her social class that she will be protected but where she is no woman is perceived as lady-like. She tries convincing herself that she is safe and protected by telling her baby “if bad mans hurts Temple, us’ll tell the governor’s soldiers, won’t us” (Faulkner 56). Popeye and the men in the Frenchman Place view Temple Drake as a “whore” and Temples teasing in reaction to the whistles and comments about her strengthen their belief that she is a “Lady of the Night”. Popeye and the rest of the men in the Place don’t care about her social class or who her father is and view her as another prostitute.

Towards the end of the story it is very evident that many characters of different social classes have different meanings to truth and justice. Some of the views are not even the same within the same social class and the loss of the values that once everyone shared leads to conflict and crime. Lee’s trial is the example of lost order and honesty in southern ideals. Ruby is pulled out of the hotel that Horace finds for her and the preacher goes on about how “Goodwin and the woman should be burned as a sole example to the child” (Faulkner 128). The preacher clearly has his mind made up before the trial begins and thinks Ruby and Lee are guilty. Ruby’s character is immediately tested when she takes the stand, with the attorney stating that Lee and Ruby are not married. This then goes on into the Corncob used in the rape of Temple Drake. This is literally and figuratively the nail in the coffin for Lee, as said by the District Attorney that “this is no longer a matter for the hangman, but for the bonfire of gasoline” (Faulkner 284). Lee was on trial for the murder of Tommy, but the identifaction from Temple Drake that Lee was the man who raped her sealed his fate.

Lee’s death was a message sent to all social classes lower class to higher class of society, to not over step boundaries of your social class. Do not be something that you are not. A bootlegger would not be hung for the murder of another bootlegger, but a bootlegger accused of rapping the duaghter of a judge will be severally punished as Lee was. If Temple Drake was a black woman or in a lower class like Rubys there would be a much different outcome with Lee possibly still being alive.

William Faulkner’s Sanctuary is about the social classes who had voices and were voiceless of the southern culture of rural Mississippi and Tennessee. Some worked for their classes or some just had no say and were born into their social class. The mixing and blending of the social classes is what put the main characters in certain situations where it was controllable or uncontrollable due to their social status. Communication could have put themselves in better situations that could have been avoidable but used stereotypes to judge people before they meet or met the person they are judging. If simple communication was used and social classes ignored social classes stereotypes the whole plot would be avoided as a whole.

References

1. Wheelwright, Philip. Sanctuary, by William Faulkner. 1931.
2. Thompson, Alan Reynolds. Sanctuary by William Faulkner. 1931.