William Faulkner Essay -- essays research papers

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 1900s 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, for the first time hand, what discrimination is and could not comprehend why this goes on. In many of Faulkners works I found that he portrayed blacks as quite,easy-going, well-tempered people. He attempted to yield them as heroes. It is my belief that Faulkner writes about the south because that is the subject that has affected his life most.     Faulkners Barn Burning takes place in the late nineteenth century South. Primarily a layer about the relationship between father and son, the story presents itself through the use of symbolism. The most vital sign being fire. The f ire is much like the main(prenominal) character in the story, Abner. Both Abner and the fire are uncontrollable and destroy anything in its representation, having appraise for nothing. Sarty, Abners son, dislikes what his father does out of acts of hate and tries to stop it (Faulkner Barn 23). He attempts to put up out the fire inside his father. He is sick of his familys way of life and is ready for a change no matter what it takes, even if it means going against his induce blood. No matter what is done, they can not stop Abner from lashing out and burning buildings. Through his sheer enjoyment of the negative sides of his anger and power, Abner rips his family apart. He does so by forcing his family to put up with the consequences of his actions. In a way, Faulkner writes as a moralist. He demonstrates, through his character Abner, why a reasonable approach to failure and letdowns is necessary, to avoid allowing ones problems to get so bad that they can engulf the subject li ke an inferno. In this story Mrs. DeSpains nigger acts loyally and tries to save his owners animals from the fire that were in the barn. Faulkners daybook Intruder in the Dusk, is the story of a Negro, Lucas Beauchamp, who is wrongfully accused of murder by many whites in the town of Jefferson Mississippi. Instead of telling everyone that he not the murderer, he actually pretends to be the killer and wishes to be innocent... ...and half-Negro (Faulkner Bear 65). The write up of this particular story is Ike maturing and following his southern traditions. He grew up to become an excellent hunter that showed respect for his fellow hunters as well as the wilderness. As John Lyndenberg wrote, The hunters from Jefferson are gentlemen and sportsmen, representing the ideals of the old order at its best, the honor,dignity, and courage of the South (Lyndenberg 385).     As hard as it whitethorn be at times to read Faulkners writings, I believe that it is well worth the effort. I found some of his writings, particularly his early ones, difficult to go out because he sometimes changes tense in the middle of a sentence and he also seems to enjoy writing with a Southern accent which does not make his writings any easier to read. For example in The Bear and in "Barn Burning, Faulkner consistently uses hit instead of it. He has a very down to Earth theme throughout his works The theme being the coming of age type issue. All the stories I wrote about contain this maturing theme in one way or another. Faulkner is both a writer and a teacher-there is much to learn from his works.