I Am Crazy, By William Faulkner

As Lemony Snicket wrote in The Blank Book, “People don’t always get what they deserve in this world.” 1930s America was fraught with racism, especially in the southern states. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a Negro man by the name of Tom Robinson was put on trial. Although he was not guilty, the jury convicted him because of the colour of his skin. During the trial, others showed injustice towards Tom and people that were on his side. As Tom’s lawyer, Atticus Finch was not admired by many of the white citizens of Maycomb, the town in which the novel takes place. Although Atticus and Jean Louise Finch (Scout) were white, they were still treated unjustly as a result of helping and supporting Tom Robinson. Scout, Atticus’

In literature, readers often see topics that one can relate to; topics that mimic everyday life, personal anecdotes or situations one has experienced . “A Rose for Emily,” a fictional story written by William Faulkner, shares eerily similar details with an article written in the Philadelphia Inquirer on January 30, 1987, “A Woman’s Wintry Death Leads to a Long-dead Friend,” by Dick Pothier and Thomas J. Gibbons JR. Faulkner’s narrator depicts the reclusive life of Miss Emily Grierson and the events leading to the discovery of a dead man’s body that had been locked away in her 2nd story bedroom for over forty years. In the article, Pothier and Gibbons report how a woman named Frances Dawson Hamilton was found to have “lived with the skeletonized remains” of her long-time companion for over two years after being discovered frozen to death in her home (153). Faulkner’s short story heavily relies on the narrator’s knowledge in addition to his point of view and experiences whereas Pothier and Gibbons report facts observed on scene or learned from interviews of neighbors, police, and investigators. Although fear of solitude initially motivated both women to behave so outlandishly, it is the authors’ distinct portrayal that illustrates each individual’s intentions.

In William Faulkner’s Barn Burning, Abner Snopes is a main character and father of Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty), who is also a main character. Abner is a very poor looking man, unclean and unshaven. He always seems to wear the same thing, a dirty white button up shirt with a dirty black hat and coat.

On September 25, 1897, William Cuthbert Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi. He stands as one of the most preeminent American writers of the twentieth century. His literary reputation included poetry, novels, short stories, and screenplays. Faulkner won two Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction and the Nobel Prize in Literature. “A Rose for Emily” is a short fascinating story written by William Faulkner and it was his first short story published in a national magazine. The story involved an old woman named Emily Grierson, the daughter of a rich man that was considered a hero in the town where they lived. The story takes place in the fictional Town of Jefferson, Mississippi during and after the civil war between the Northerners and Southerners. Emily’s childhood was never easy; her father was always overprotective with her even when she was a grown woman. Charmaine Mosby an English Professor of Western Kentucky University in his work analysis of “A Rose for Emily” writes, “Miss Emily Grierson had been cut off from most social contact and all courtship by her father.” This was the principal reason why Emily Grierson was always a lonely soul.

In the short fiction “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner we experience the conflict between Sarty and his father Abner Snopes. “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.” (Faulkner, p.199). Sarty has an internal conflict choosing right over wrong resulting in being unfaithful to his Father. Author William Faulkner served in the air force and was a clerk at a bookstore before he started writing which lead him after several prize-winning works to writing screen plays in Hollywood. The setting of the story take place in civil war times, where the author William Faulkner grew up 1897-1962 (Faulkner, p.196). Sarty must choose what he feels is

George Washington once said, “I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality”. While America has yet to reach an era where injustice is nearly or completely eradicated, we have most definitely progressed from the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II. In World War II there was a black American fighter pilot group, named the Tuskegee Airmen, who suffered the racial prejudices of America despite fighting for America. Similarly, injustice is widespread in Maycomb County, a fictional town set in the Great Depression of the 1930s. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird characters, like Scout and Atticus, face injustices that they must overcome. Similarly, in the Achieve 3000 article “America Says

“‘...Mockingbirds...don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us [anyone and everyone]. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird…’” (Lee 119). In the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of 1961 To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells the story of a young girl by the name of Jean Louise (Scout) Finch and her older brother Jeremy Atticus (Jem) Finch, and what their lives were like growing up in Maycomb, Alabama during 1933-35. Scout and her brother Jem are both children of the morally passionate lawyer, Atticus Finch, and both are exposed to the same experiences that shape their sense of right and wrong. Yet Scout and Jem come to dramatically different conclusions about good and evil and the essential nature of humankind.

The main theme in As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is family. It is not a pleasant topic throughout the book. Poor or no communication creates intense barriers of misunderstanding and resentment between family member, but not particularly siblings who are rivals for their mother’s love. The family from the beginning isn 't based off love because of the sort of arranged marriage of Anse and Addie Bundren. Most of the explaining of the families dynamic is all explained in Addies one and only chapter.

William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning,” is about a southern white family that resides in a rural county in Mississippi. The low-income family members are the mother Lennie Snopes, the older brother, two sisters, and an aunt. The story’s main characters are, Colonel Sartoris Snopes, a 10- year-old boy, the father Abner Snopes, the property owner Abner’s boss Major de Spain, and his wife, Mrs. Lula de Spain. Abner Snopes characterized as the antagonist, and Faulkner describes him as an evil, vengeful man that dislikes the upper-class landowners. Sarty Snopes, the protagonist in “Barn Burning,” struggles with being loyal to his father Abner, or stand up for right and wrong.

In the short story “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner escorts the reader through the peculiar life of the main character Miss Emily Grierson. The gloomy tone of the story is set by the author beginning his tale with the funeral of Miss Emily. During course of the story, we are taken through different times in Miss Emily’s life and how she was lost in time, with the town around her moving forward. Through the use of southern gothic writing style, narrator point of view, and foreshadowing, Faulkner aids the reader in creating a visualization of Miss Emily and the town in which she lives while also giving an insight into her sanity.

It makes sense for Atticus to defend Tom Robinson, even if others thinks it 's stupid just because of Tom’s color. Harper Lee was the Author of the number one book in America, To Kill A Mockingbird. The book starts off with Scout talking about her family, Jem and Atticus. Then Scout talks about someone named Dill, who comes only during summer. When Dill did come over, Jem, Scout, and Dill would try to get Boo Radley to come out of his house. The kids were afraid of Boo; and when Scout told Atticus that they were trying to get Boo out of his house, Atticus told them to stop because they didn 't know how he feels and that “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 30). This made Scout understand how Boo Radley felt and became less scared of him and wanted to become his friend more than anything else. But what Atticus said also ties in with his case with Tom Robinson, who is a black man being accused of rape. But, people in the book think it doesn 't make sense for Atticus to defend Tom Robinson; because of Tom’s color. It makes sense to me for Atticus to defend Tom Robinson because if Tom was white, he wouldn 't have to deal with all this, along with Atticus. Since Tom is black, they are going to give him a hard time.

As a child, there are many moments that contribute to growing up and losing innocence. Some of these moments help define a person and enrich their personalities as adults. These can be as little as meeting a new person or as large as moving across the world. Being a child in a new environment exposes them to many new opportunities they may not have had prior. This can be very important when it comes to growing up. Every experience and conflict an adolescent has to overcome makes them lose a portion of their innocence and become more of an adult. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout Finch experiences many things such as starting school, playing with her neighbor Boo Radley, witnessing a rape trial, and living with her aunt Alexandra.

William Faulkner is a writer from Mississippi. Faulkner is a very famous writer with most of his most famous works being short stories. Two of his most popular short stories are “A rose for Emily” along with “Barn Burning”. Faulkner has many other popular works, but “Barn Burning” was one of his well-known stories because of the many different of elements of literature in which Faulkner chose to include. Faulkner was known as a writer who could properly convey many different elements of literature, such as symbolism, conflict, tone, and many other elements of plot within his stories. In “Barn Burning”, William Faulkner most commonly uses symbolism and conflict to emphasize the obstacles that Sarty has to face in his youth years.

Faulkner is known to be one of the greatest authors in the world. His style of writing and creative use of diction has made him a favorite among many to read. Although his writing can be confusing and hard to understand, it still remains a tour de force. As I Lay Dying is one of Faulkner’s best novels to show off his unique writing style. His technique of using multiple perspectives in the novel contributes to the reader’s understanding of the ideas contained in the text.

Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” is a poem that could be endlessly applied to where America stands today. This poem illustrates the morals, ideas, and visions set forth by those who found this country and how America has begun straying from those principles. The poem expresses that America is made up of all walks of people and that no man should be crushed by those above him, but rather be given the same opportunity as those above him. Hughes desire to make America great again can be shared in some way or another by most Americans making this poem everlasting. “Let America Be America Again” has the personalization, the language, the connection shared by every American, and the rhyme to allow readers of every race, gender, or religious belief to be brought together as not only people but as Americans.