William Faulkner Essays (Examples)

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Faulkner and Joyce
illiam Faulkner famously said that "The human heart in conflict with itself" is the only topic worth writing about. Several short stories have proven this quote to be true. The narrators of both illiam Faulkner's "Barn Burning" and James Joyce's "Araby" are young men who are facing their first moments where childhood innocence and the adult world are coming into conflict. Both boys, for the text makes it evident that both narrators are indeed male, tell of moments in their youth when they first came to realize that childhood would not be eternal. Each boy believes has come to a point where he has to make a choice whether or not to follow his own convictions or to follow along with the mandates of the adults around him. The stories each have a young male presence narrator, an experience with the adult world that forces growth and maturity,….

illiam Faulkner
Call it charisma, call it verve, call it a self-contained personality with a zest for life; any of the aforesaid descriptions seem to fit the bill in describing Caddy, the only member of the Compson family in Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury to escape the almost self-fulfilling tragic prophecy of a family clearly obsessed with the seemingly more romantic past of its ancestors. ith such a personality, it is inevitable that Caddy is the one with the deepest impact on all the Compson family members, albeit in different ways. If two of her brothers, Quentin and Benjy share a deep abiding love with Caddy, her other sibling Jason has a deep resentment and hatred for his sister.

Quentin's love for Caddy is as complex and obsessive as his own personality. In fact, the root cause of Quentin's suicide is not his love for Caddy or his devastation at her….

William Faulkner
A renowned novelist, William Cuthbert Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897 (The Columbia Encyclopedia). Eight years prior to his birth, his grandfather was killed by an ex-partner in business. William Faulkner was the eldest of the siblings. During his school life, William loved sports and was a quarterback in the football team and his passion for writing poetry existed since he was only 13 years old. However he lost interest in school and before he could graduate, he dropped out. Faulkner tried to get enlisted in the army but due to his short height, he was refused and thus enlisted himself with the Canadian Air Force after lying about facts and figures and convincing them that he was British. Although Faulkner did serve with the Canadian Air Force in World War I, the war was over before he could experience any action. However he still related….

Furthermore, Emily's inability to have a romantic relationship with Homer once again calls attention to the disconnect between Emily's south and Homer's. Instead of becoming one with Homer's new south, Emily kills him and keeps him in her own personal sanctuary in an attempt to preserve not only him, but also life as she thought it should be. Thus, neither as an institution nor as a personal refuge can old South miss Emily and new South society be reconciled.
Just as Faulkner's portrayal of Miss Emily's relationship with society suggested an attempt to cling to the death of traditional Southern culture in the midst of modernization, so to does her relationship with herfather echo this sentiment. In much the same way that Emily clung to Homer's body in an attempt to hang on to the decaying traditional southern culture, so to does her attitude toward her father's act as a….

Faulkner Stories
William Faulkner's short stories were told by an omniscient narrator who probably represented the author, and in plot, characters and symbolism have often been classified of Southern Gothic horror. Certainly his characters were horrors, and often satirical, humorous and bizarre caricatures of the different social classes on the South from the time of slavery to the New (Capitalist) South of the 20th Century. They are often violent, deranged, frustrated, and also physically and psychologically isolated. In "A Rose for Emily," the reader knows very little about the thoughts or inner emotional state of Miss Emily, only that she was a recluse her whole life and completely isolated from human contact. Her father was a stern patriarch who controlled her life completely and probably continues to do so even after his death, which opens the story to all many possible feminist readings. She is a prisoner in everything but name,….

illiam Faulkner uses opposition and tension to great effect within his story, "Barn Burning." He explores oppositions like Sarty's blood ties to his father vs. The pull of moral imperative, and decent behaviour to society in general. These oppositions help to create the tension and mood in the story, and serve as a literary device to illustrate his themes of the initiation of the adolescent into adult life, and the triumph of the personal conscience over family loyalty.
Sarty's blood tie to his father vs. The pull of moral imperative to society in general is likely the major opposition within "Barn Burning."

As the story begins, Sartoris Snopes is in court, hoping that he does not have to testify in the arson case against his father, Mr. Snopes. Sarty knows that his father is guilty, but is willing to lie in court because he feels that his blood tie, to his father,….

Her persona and life have become dependent on what other people said about her, and she was not given the chance in the story to assert her true self. Thus, through the third-person voice, Faulkner showed how Emily had been and continued to be suppressed by her society, being a deviant single woman who kept to herself rather than mingle with her neighbors. Despite Emily's defiance to the community's norms, she was still victimized by the people's intolerance to her being different. Even after her death, the image of her as a scorned woman-turned-murderer remained, all on the basis of a member of the community's narrative (the third-person voice/narrator).
"Metamorphosis," meanwhile, presented the depiction of the individual who wanted to assert himself/herself in a society governed by fixed norms and rules throughout many centuries. Gregor Samsa, who had shown exhaustion from working and supporting his family, was able to assert….

illiam Faulkner, riting Techniques
A great deal of readers fails to understand why illiam Faulkner is one of the greatest writers who have ever lived. This is primarily due to the fact that his style makes it difficult for some people to gain a more complex understanding of the messages that he wants to put across. Maybe this is actually what the writer wanted: to have a select group of readers while other people are unable to understand his writings. Even if this can be considered boring for some, Faulkner did not hesitate to write long sentences in an attempt to engulf a series of his ideas within a single continuous phrase.

Faulkner also uses many complex words as he tries to provide readers with a vivid account regarding the concepts that he is interested in putting across. One is probable to feel that he or she is provided with the opportunity….

William Faulkner
One of the most dominant themes that emerge in the story is the conflict between the traditional and modern society, with Miss Emily representing the traditional society and her community as the modern one. Faulkner uses Emily's ancestral home in order to depict the old and fading memory of the traditional society in the eyes of the members of the modern society. In this example, the house becomes a metaphor synonymous to "old," "traditional," and fading memory of Emily's time.

Faulkner gives his readers a new twist to the meaning of "love," "honor," and "respectability" in the story. Honor and respectability given to Emily based on traditions and not due to the community's real respect for the woman. Love is given a grotesque meaning in the story, where Emily's love for Homer Barron led to his eventual death when it became apparent that the woman's feeling was left unreciprocated by….

hen she passes away, the neighbors unbolt the door to an upstairs bedroom, where they find the rotted corpse of Barron in bed, with a head print in the pillow next to him.
Faulkner's story is meant to expose the great lengths that people will go to in order to hold on to love. Emily has never experienced love from a man - she has only gotten a small taste from an ultimately insincere, disinterested party. Still, the prospect of going without love, which she figures will be her destiny if Barron leaves her, frightens her to such an extent that she is ultimately driven to the extremes of madness.

orks Cited

Faulkner, illiam. "A Rose for Emily." Retrieved 30 January 2008 at http://www.ariyam.com/docs/lit/wf_rose.html.

Kurtz, Elizabeth Carney. "Faulkner's a Rose for Emily." Explicator. inter 1986: 40.

Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. St. Lucie County Library, Ft. Pierce, Fl..

ut the word haunted is the key word here, for his stories are never happy ones. They have authenticity, however, despite the sometimes bizarre happenings and sinister events. His characters think and talk like real people and experience the impact of poverty, racism, class divisions, and family as both a life force and a curse. Faulkner wrote in the oral tradition. His "writing shows a keen awareness of the regional sounds of language and speech" (McDonald 46).
An example is "arn urning," a short story about a boy whose angry and abusive father is mentally ill and burns down the barns of people he envies and hates. The family is dirt poor and constantly has to move. The farmers his father works for own property so there is constant tension between rich and poor. Unlike Hightower, the male character in Light in August, an impotent man who seeks to restore….

" (the Kenyon eview, pp. 285)
Faulkner uses some common themes in most of his works including the aforementioned conflict. He frequently employed the literary devices of symbolism, foreshadowing, anti-narrative etc. To create desired atmosphere and to achieve maximum desired results. His style appears complex to many as Clifton Fadiman writes, "[Faulkner's method is] Anti-Narrative, a set of complex devices used to keep the story from being told... As if a child were to go to work on it with a pair of shears" but there is something truly intriguing about the way Faulkner's stories unfold. Nothing is given away too soon and while the atmosphere is conducive to unique possibilities, the very nature of those possibilities is never made obvious to keep the readers guessing till the very last line. The power of his narrative is hidden in its apparent incoherency as Kazin writes, "Perhaps the most elaborate, intermittently incoherent….

Together, the chapters present a beautiful glimpse into the minds' of Faulkner's characters, as well as a peek at the author's own stream of consciousness, his process of getting a fully formed story from his mind to the paper.
Other than as I Lay Dying, Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning," contains elements of stream of consciousness. This can be best realized through segments of the story in which the narrator allows the reader into the mind of young Colonel Sartoris Snopes (Sarty), a young boy named for an important military man. For instance, as the judge prepares to call the boy to testify for his father, the boy's internal though process is depicted by the following stream of consciousness:

Enemy! Enemy! he thought; for a moment he could not even see, could not see that the justice's face was kindly nor discern that his voice was troubled when he spoke to….

William Faulkner's short story, "Rose for Emily" offers two radical different depictions of the South. On the one hand, the South is depicted as a place that is steeped in tradition and traditional approaches to things and to virtue. Indeed, this sort of traditional aspect is embodied by such characters as Emily, herself, and Colonel Sartoris, who represent an older and more traditional order. Secondly, Faulkner depicts a new and developing group of Southerners that re more interested in modernization. In the final twist of his story, Faulkner parodies the tendency of the older generation of Southerners to keep latching on to outmoded values that are "dead" or decaying.
One of the ways that Faulkner depicts the South is as a place that is very much married to tradition and he uses Emily herself as an example of Southern tradition. As an institution of sorts in this small town she represents….

illiam Faulkner on Toni Morrison
Great writers always bring their own flair and style to their genre, but even the best in literature do not work in a vacuum. riters are often influenced by their predecessors, and Toni Morrison is no different. The type of work first immortalized by illiam Faulkner is clearly evident in her novels, and she not only uses some of the same techniques but takes them to new levels. Both Faulkner and Morrison write in a complex dialect and stylized manner that can be difficult to decipher on a superficial level. Both writers cover similar subject matter in their novels: complex familial relationships, including incest. And, Faulkner and Morrison both frequently address issues of race and identity in post-slavery America.

Black characters populate the novels of both Faulkner and Morrison, and they speak in the natural rhythms of their dialect. In Go Down, Moses, the use of….

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Essay

Children

Faulkner and Joyce William Faulkner Famously Said

Words: 1061
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Essay

Faulkner and Joyce illiam Faulkner famously said that "The human heart in conflict with itself" is the only topic worth writing about. Several short stories have proven this quote to…

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2 Pages
Term Paper

Family and Marriage

William Faulkner Call it Charisma Call it

Words: 608
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Term Paper

illiam Faulkner Call it charisma, call it verve, call it a self-contained personality with a zest for life; any of the aforesaid descriptions seem to fit the bill in describing…

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8 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

William Faulkner a Renowned Novelist William Cuthbert

Words: 2581
Length: 8 Pages
Type: Term Paper

William Faulkner A renowned novelist, William Cuthbert Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897 (The Columbia Encyclopedia). Eight years prior to his birth, his grandfather was killed by…

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3 Pages
Essay

Literature

William Faulkner's A Rose for

Words: 1056
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Essay

Furthermore, Emily's inability to have a romantic relationship with Homer once again calls attention to the disconnect between Emily's south and Homer's. Instead of becoming one with Homer's…

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4 Pages
Essay

Literature

Faulkner Stories William Faulkner's Short Stories Were

Words: 1876
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Essay

Faulkner Stories William Faulkner's short stories were told by an omniscient narrator who probably represented the author, and in plot, characters and symbolism have often been classified of Southern Gothic…

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3 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

William Faulkner Uses Opposition and Tension to

Words: 1081
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Term Paper

illiam Faulkner uses opposition and tension to great effect within his story, "Barn Burning." He explores oppositions like Sarty's blood ties to his father vs. The pull of moral…

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3 Pages
Essay

Family and Marriage

William Faulkner & Franz Kafka

Words: 852
Length: 3 Pages
Type: Essay

Her persona and life have become dependent on what other people said about her, and she was not given the chance in the story to assert her true…

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2 Pages
Research Paper

Literature

William Faulkner Writing Techniques a Great Deal

Words: 544
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Research Paper

illiam Faulkner, riting Techniques A great deal of readers fails to understand why illiam Faulkner is one of the greatest writers who have ever lived. This is primarily due to…

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1 Pages
Term Paper

Sports - Women

William Faulkner One of the Most Dominant

Words: 338
Length: 1 Pages
Type: Term Paper

William Faulkner One of the most dominant themes that emerge in the story is the conflict between the traditional and modern society, with Miss Emily representing the traditional society and…

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1 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

William Faulkner's A Rose for

Words: 334
Length: 1 Pages
Type: Term Paper

hen she passes away, the neighbors unbolt the door to an upstairs bedroom, where they find the rotted corpse of Barron in bed, with a head print in…

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4 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

William Faulkner Barn Burning Although

Words: 1498
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Term Paper

ut the word haunted is the key word here, for his stories are never happy ones. They have authenticity, however, despite the sometimes bizarre happenings and sinister events.…

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6 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

William Faulkner 1897-1962 Is Known

Words: 1588
Length: 6 Pages
Type: Term Paper

" (the Kenyon eview, pp. 285) Faulkner uses some common themes in most of his works including the aforementioned conflict. He frequently employed the literary devices of symbolism, foreshadowing, anti-narrative…

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4 Pages
Thesis

Literature

William Faulkner Haunting Stream of

Words: 1160
Length: 4 Pages
Type: Thesis

Together, the chapters present a beautiful glimpse into the minds' of Faulkner's characters, as well as a peek at the author's own stream of consciousness, his process of…

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2 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

William Faulkner's Short Story Rose for Emily

Words: 643
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Term Paper

William Faulkner's short story, "Rose for Emily" offers two radical different depictions of the South. On the one hand, the South is depicted as a place that is steeped…

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2 Pages
Term Paper

Literature

William Faulkner on Toni Morrison Great Writers

Words: 651
Length: 2 Pages
Type: Term Paper

illiam Faulkner on Toni Morrison Great writers always bring their own flair and style to their genre, but even the best in literature do not work in a vacuum.…

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