Traditional Ideals And Conventions Of A Southern Mother Figure In Faulkner's

The women of southern plantations are something that not many write about. There is a critical lack of information and books about them, which makes writing about her a difficult task. Many southern women are mentioned in many books only as part of the males. “It was not until the early 1970’s, with the advent of the women’s movement, that a book written by a Southern woman about Southern women was recognized as being of scholarly significance…”

O’Connor describes the children’s mother in contrast to the grandmother by what they are wearing; thus their clothes represent the age from which they are. The Children’s mother “still had on slacks and still had her head tied up in a green kerchief, but the grandmother had on navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white dot in the print”(O’Connor 118). The children’s mother is representative of the New South in which the Southern Lady is becoming less of a central figure within society. A lady of the old south would never wear slacks and tie her hair up in a kerchief to go out in public. Under an old south mentality these actions would be considered very unlady like. O’Connor illustrates the tension between the old and the new south by the constant struggle between the grandmother, her son, and the daughter-in-law.

Since Caddy eventually grew up and left home, assumedly there is no longer a female figure to care for the “children.” Moreover, in the South, the death of a Mother would result in the finding of a new woman to be in charge of the children and the home (Haynes 122). The loss of Caddy’s innocence marked her “death” and therefore started the end of the Compson legacy. Without Caddy, Benjy’s ability to function diminished causing him to “sexually assault” a girl walking by him home whom he thought was his sister (Faulkner 35). Caddy’s push for the future, complete with having her daughter, is very progressive and diminishes the notion of a stable South. Caddy is a representation of right of moving forward, however, now that she left she cannot come back. Her mother and brother Jason banish her from the family (Faulkner 131). Slowly the Southern ways are dying, and as more and more individuals leave, are forbidden from re-entering. Upon leaving, many do not want to return causing a shrinking population. Faulkner used the Compson family as a metaphor for what he perceived to be currently happening in the South.

William Faulkner born and raised in the South. Faulkner being a Southerner had intimate knowledge of the history of the south. Faulkner wrote “Barn Burning” on what he heard growing up. He would listen to stories of famers from the small town he grew up in. Faulkner’s family history gave him inspiration to write the story about Colonel Sartoris in “Barn Burning.” William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” is about a relation between a boy and his father. The young boy is expected to side with the family to protect his family and his father. In Joseph Flora’s essay about “Burning Barn” he points out “how two brothers in the same family could be so different” (Flora 755). Colonel Sartoris a young boy who is faced with knowing his father is a barn burner who has been getting away with his crime. Sarty must decide between family loyalty and doing the right the thing.

The cruel dominance of a father, can extinguish any flame of hope that builds in the people around him. In William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning," Abner is that father. The story portrays a nomadic life of a family driven from one home to another. Abner had a craving hunger to belittle those around him that thought they were "better than him." Although the family accepts the nomadic life, Sarty (the son) dreams of having peace and stability. To have this peace, it only requires a lack of conflict. The Snope family was doomed to struggle due to Abner's constant instigation of conflict, the ongoing domination of his family and his complete lack of respect

The Antebellum south was a very paternalistic society believing strongly in a social hierarchy that attempted to emulated the aristocracy of Europe. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 316) At the top of the hierarchy were the wealthy planters that believed in being treated with deference by those below them in the class hierarchy and were to care for those that were “inferior” like a father. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 316) The wives of these wealthy men were often “placed on a pedestal and expected to uphold genteel values of sexual purity, spiritual piety, and submissive patience,” as she managed the household and dealt with the hyper-masculine culture that surrounded her. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 316) Below these planters were yeoman farmers that strived to achieve the wealth of higher class, but owned smaller farms and a few number of slaves.

Mrs. Lincoln was raised in a wealthy, southern family (Baker 2002). Her family “represented the slaveholding gentry of a new community,” although she was uncomfortable with the southern slaveholding ways (Baker 2002). She lost her mother at the age of

     In the novel The Unvanquished, by William Faulkner, most of the characters strictly follow by a code of laws and moral values called the Southern Code. At the beginning of the book, the characters follow the Southern Code more strictly than at the end. Some of the rules which start to diminish during the course of the novel are as follows: no stealing, no profanity, no lying, treat women and the elderly with respect, and seek revenge on those who have caused you pain. The characters obey these during the start of the novel, and eventually as the novel progresses, the rules are broken.

Since Mrs. Garner is viewed as a sympathetic slave owner, Sethe admits that she “told Mrs. Garner on em’. She had that lump and couldn't speak but her eyes rolled out tears” (10). Mrs. Garner lacks a voice in the Antebellum South. Her identity as a woman fails to hold weight in the presence of white men, specifically with Schoolteacher and his nephews. Noticeably, there is a difference between Sethe and her slave master Mrs. Garner. Mulligan indicates that “owning slaves was a way for Southern women to both excel in their domestic role and exert high levels of dominance over the slaves” (Mulligan 8). As a slaveholding white woman, her prejudice and economic sentiments will not permit this stable protection that Sethe wants for her children.

When you think about women in the south in the 1920’s what comes to your mind first? Is it the hard work they did? Is it the fact that they were good family oriented women? Was it the way that they were self-sacrificing and took care of their husbands before themselves? Remembering the good can also come with some bad. Women in this time period had to go through many travesties, especially African American women who went through more than anyone else. The role that sexism played in their lives made it hard for them to be anything more than domestic workers, being easily disposable and wrongly treated. By virtue of

The second theme exhibited by the grandmother is her class and racial prejudice, as most characters in southern gothic stories do. The grandmother exudes a sense of self-righteousness that she explains is imbedded in her because she came from a good family. Throughout “A Good Man is Hard to Find” descriptions of the south come up often. Most of the images are portrayed when the grandmother is reminiscing about “In my time” and on the “plantation” (114). Her insistent attitude and obsession about visiting the plantation shows the grandmother truly enjoyed that time period and implies she had no problem with the racial segregation in that era. She remembers back to when she was a young girl and Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden would bring her watermelon. “but she never got the watermelon”, “ because a nigger boy ate it when he saw the initials E.A.T.!” (115). It is clear the grandmother feels it is appropriate to use the N word when referring to African Americans, even years after slavery era. As the grandmother glamorizes Negroes and life on the plantation, it is clear she admired the ways of the Old South, a true characteristics of Southern Gothic writing. Her stereotypical character projects a prejudice that leaves the audience uncomfortable throughout the story.

Faulkner’s works consisted of many dark touchy topics such as war, racism, mental illness and suicide in all of books, short stories, William Faulkner wrote about almost every part of life, from something that could be absurd at his time, to something real like racism in the American South. Throughout his life, Faulkner was kind of a rebel, notorious for his confidence, drinking, and he would often make up stories about himself. Faulkner wrote from experience and as a person who lived in the south during times of racism, he wrote about a lot of things in the south. To be exact his specific genre or style in which he wrote in is what some call “southern gothic”. Southern gothic is a unique style of writing and only expressed by very few authors. These stories usually take place only in the south and have darkness to them. His stories would use irony to examine the values of the American south. Instead of solely trying to add suspense with the style it is also used to explore social issues and cultural character of the south. Which leads me to one of Faulkner’s first important novels “Sartoris”. In Sartoris Faulkner focuses on a family during the world war era in the south. In the book the Sartoris family is one of the more important families in Yoknapatawpha County where the book is set. The Old Colonel, John Sartoris, represents an old and dying out order dating back to the mid 1900’s. His world revolves around his plantation home, his slaves and his

Elements of a Southern Atmosphere in O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” and Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”

“A Rose for Emily”, written by William Faulkner, tells the story of a lonely woman who is stuck in her own timeframe. Miss Emily refuses to adapt to the new ways of the South and keeps her own traditions instead. The town she lived in spread much gossip about her, they pitted her lost soul. “A Rose for Emily” highlights the traditions of the Old South vs the New, which is told through the life of Miss Emily who refuses to change.

William Faulkner’s unconventional writing style is widely renowned for his disregard of literary rules and his keen ability to peer into the psychological depths of his characters. His novel As I Lay Dying is no exception to his signature style. This book sets forth the death of Addie Bundren, her family’s journey through Yoknapatawpha County to bury her with her relatives in Jefferson, Mississippi, and examines each character in depth from a variety of perspectives. While this journey wreaks havoc among members of the family, As I Lay Dying serves as a dark reminder that life is to be lived and that happiness is within reach.