William Faulkner's Impact On Society

William Cuthbert Faulkner was born September 25, 1897 and died July 6, 1962. His hometown was New Albany, Mississippi where he spent most of his life. Faulkner was in fact very intelligent, but never earned his high school diploma. He really enjoyed reading, writing, and art. Eventually, he made his way to the University of Mississippi. In his life there were two major influences that affected his writing. His mother was a “colored” woman and Faulkner really “held tightly to her ways”, according to (biography.com). For example, the most common theme he writes about is the aftermath of the civil war. He really seemed to incorporate her actions in many of his novels or writings. In addition, “Phil Stone nurtured Faulkner’s passion
for
writing”, (biography.com), therefore, paving the way for an amazing writer. William
Faulkner was a very frightful and creative author in his short stories, controversial and dark themes, and affects on society.
One frightful short story, “A Rose for Emily” demonstrates how creative and very bizarre
Faulkner’s writing is. The short story is mainly about a woman named Emily who was very timid and brought up by her father. When he passed she was really struck by it, and isolated herself from the town. Eventually a “Negro” man caught her attention and it seemed possible that they would get married. The man disappeared, years passed and she had died. When people eventually entered her home they found the man’s body dead and next to it was a grey hair. This short story was very blue and strange at first. Then all of a sudden we are reading about how she Chavez 2
Karina Chavez
English 3 Research Paper
S.McBurnette- Arguelles
November 20, 2015 killed a man. The part where the shift happened was when her father died and started
acting peculiar. So, the theme that Faulkner demonstrates in this story was that “people can't let go of the past.”(SparkNotes.com) All the customs and teachings people have just don't evaporate. That really was the center of his story. The theme of moving on, which is found in “A Rose for Emliy” is also found in many of
Faulkner's writings. In addition to that Faulkner also wrote about Southern topics between the
North and the South.
He began writing about “places and people” from his
“childhood”,(Biography.com). Then later, “developing great many colorful characters……on real people he grew up with”, (Biography.com). Like mentioned before he used his mother as an allusion to the theme he wrote most of his novels and short stories. Additionally, Faulkner wrote very dark and mysterious short stories which portrays the dark diction used in “A Rose for
Emily”. Even though he combined the southern theme, he specifies the darkness as well. “......a gothic horror tale, a study in abnormal psychology…..”(Frank.A Littler). Lastly, William Faulkner impacted society both during his lifetime and after his death. For example, (Andre Malraux, New York Times), said “He was moody and different from anybody else”. He was labeled as weird and always seemed to contradict what he was writing about. Yet, other people thought very differently about him. “ - in his twilight years- best selling author”,(The White Rose of Memphis). Chavez 3
Karina Chavez
English 3 Research Paper
S.McBurnette- Arguelles
November 20, 2015 In summation, before I was introduced to William Faulkner I was completely ignorant.
I had done some research on a couple of people and when I eventually read a little on him. I thought he was brilliant, noteworthy, and amazing. I had read a little summary on his novel “As I
Lay Dying” and I was awestruck. Now that I have done my deeper and thorough research on him, I'm finding out that he was incredible. In moments I actually that he was crazy, a little psycho, and bizarre like his stories. In all honestly I can't comprehend how someone can maybe be a little strange yet, an outstanding writer. I could only imagine what he was thinking about when planning out his strategies and thoughts into paper. This may sound very ludicrous, but I would love to go back in time to meet him, ask questions, and maybe mentor me. If you enjoy and love to feel suspense, curiousness, and adrenaline all in one, you should maybe try to pick something of William Faulkner's and read it.