William Faulkner's Wash

The style in which Faulkner writes this story allows the reader’s mind to wonder and put the story together their own

     William Faulkner is one of America's most talked about writers and his work should be included in any literary canon for several reasons. After reading a few of his short stories, it becomes clear that Faulkner's works have uniqueness to them. One of the qualities that make William Faulkner's writings different is his close connection with the South. Gwendolyn Charbnier states, 'Besides the sociological factors that influence Faulkner's work, biographical factors are of great importance…'; (20). Faulkner's magnificent imagination led him to create a fictional Mississippi county named Yoknapatawpha, which includes every detail from square mileage of the county to the break down of

Critic James H. Picker once wrote, “To classify, to regard fiction as an object can be taken apart and then put back together, is only one way to approach and participate in the work of literature; but it is not the only way. Once students grasp this truth, literature becomes dynamic, alive and ‘available”. In the short story, “A Rose for Emily”, writer William Faulkner uses plot, character and setting to demonstrate Emily’s refusal to transition into the “New South”.

    Analyzing character in a Faulkner novel is like trying to reach the bottom of a bottomless pit because Faulkner's characters often lack ration, speak in telegraphed stream-of-consciousness, and rarely if ever lend themselves to ready analysis.  This is particularly true in As I Lay Dying, a novel of a fragmented and dysfunctional family told through fragmented chapters.  Each character reveals their perspective in different chapters, but the perspectives are true to life in that though they all reveal information

William Faulkner was a 20th Century American poet, screenwriter, and novelist who won a Nobel Peace prize in Literature in 1949 and was an author of two Pulitzer prizes. He was part of a prominent family in Mississippi that lost its prosperity and power during the Civil War. “In his works William Faulkner used the American South as a microcosm for the universal theme of time…whose reappearing characters grow older and cannot cope with the social change” (Larinde 1). “A Rose for Emily” has an accurate portrayal of the historical period it was written describing the social attitudes, moral implications, and racism of the Old South during the post-Civil War time period.

In this paper, I will be comparing and contrasting three works that we have studied this semester. I will be writing about A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neill, and The Open Boat by Stephen Crane. All of these authors’ stories use setting to encompass the idea of freedom. Each author has a different perspective on liberty and they all express it differently through their writing. In each story the main character is trapped, either literally or metaphorically. They can all achieve freedom from their situations, but there are obstacles that stop them from reaching their goal. In A Rose for Emily, the main character is trapped in her house. In The Hairy Ape, the main character is stuck in

Faulkner grew up in Mississippi in the beginning of the twentieth century ('William Faulkner'; 699). He was the son to Murray C. and Maud Butler Faulkner (Hoffman 13). Growing up in the South in the early 1900's meant being exposed to harsh racism. He watched the blacks endure unbelievable amounts of cruelty and was amazed at how the blacks conducted themselves with such dignity. He witnessed, first hand, what discrimination is and could not comprehend why this goes on. In many of Faulkner's works I found that he portrayed blacks as quite,easy-going, well-tempered people. He attempted to show them as heroes. It is my belief that Faulkner writes about the south because that is the subject that has affected his life most.

If we compare William Faulkner's two short stories, 'A Rose for Emily' and 'Barn Burning', he structures the plots of these two stories differently. However, both of the stories note the effect of a father¡¦s teaching, and in both the protagonists Miss Emily and Sarty make their own decisions about their lives. The stories present major idea through symbolism that includes strong metaphorical meaning. Both stories affect my thinking of life.

Upon receiving the Nobel Prize for his excellence in writing, William Faulkner expresses his dismay towards the writers of the day and laid out what he terms “the writer’s duty.” In his acceptance speech, Faulkner is disheartened by the fact that young writers continue to discuss “the end of man” in their work. Faulkner advocates that authors must make all efforts to “help man endure by lifting his heart.” Because man leads a difficult life, writers are obligated to use their work to uplift and inspire the reader’s sprit. In his memoir, Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt raises the reader’s spirits by illustrating that although one may have a reprobate nature,

Faulkner proves us that it is impossible to sruggle with one's own heart . The moment when Sarty decided to choose morality over the blood pool and warned the de Spain's revealed his true character. Though this meant the death of his

The manner that Faulkner applies point of view in "A Rose for Emily" provides the readers with the idea of the dying values, traditions, and customs of the “Old South”.

The written word has become a domain for people of all ages and eras to learn from. Within the last century or so, there has been a procession of memorable writers with important messages to understand and learn from. It takes diligence when reading to understand what the author is saying within the context of their lives. Sometimes, the context of the reader’s life makes the writer’s story more memorable. In The Best American Essays of the Century, by Joyce Carol Oates, just in the range of 35 years, from 1901 to 1935, readers are told about things experienced, told, or imagined. Each essay tells a story or a lesson in the form of the written world. Although the authors most likely lived very different lives compared to each other, each essay portrays similar ideas or themes that can be interpreted by the readers. Only through writing can ideas, such as these, be preserved and shared with others in completely different situations as the author was. These essays’ themes have made them timeless, being able to apply to the past, the present, and the future. Within the first fifteen essays of this collection, the themes: the present is made from events in the past, strength can be stemmed from bad surroundings, and judgment is inevitable from those around us, are evident and important for readers to discover in order to understand the historic credibility behind them.

The birth of the modernist movement in American literature was the result of the post-World War I social breakdown. Writers adopted a disjointed fragmented style of writing that rebelled against traditional literature. One such writer is William Faulkner, whose individual style is characterized by his use of “stream of consciousness” and writing from multiple points of view.

A suspenseful tale of tradition versus change is told with the help of literary elements in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily. Foreshadowing and symbolism develop Emily’s tragic fate in a way the reader is exposed to how deeply death and sociatal change have effected Miss Emily. Faulkner displays how effective these elements are for a short story to truly have an impact on the

Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy. New York: Harpers Collins,