When I first saw that our reading assignment was William Faulkner I dreaded it a bit. In high school I had to read the Sound and the Fury and I had a really hard time interpreting Faulkner’s stream of consciousness writing style and figuring out what exactly was happening in the story. I was surprised to see that the stream of consciousness writing style that Faulkner was famous for was not present in “Dry September.”
There were however, several themes that we have seen in our other readings present in this story. Right from the third line of the story when it says “Something about Miss Minnie and a Negro” (439) you know that the class structure dividing whites and blacks is evident. It is not said that Miss Minnie is a white woman but the tone Faulkner uses leads readers immediately to this assumption. This story is not set during the time of slavery; blacks are “free” but are still not considered equal citizens so there is also the theme of racism.
It was also interesting to note that Faulkner packs each sentence with detail, so much that by the time you finish a sentence you have almost forgotten what the beginning of the sentence was. As much detail as Faulkner uses though, as a reader I was still unable to form a picture in my mind either of the characters or of the surrounding area. Faulkner uses detail to convey those points that he feels are most important. In Chapter I, detail is focused on the stale air and odors from sweat and emphasizes that it hasn’t rained in 62 days, all of these detailed elements contribute to the mood and restlessness that the men were feeling. We know all of the men introduced were white but if asked I could not describe them because we only knew enough about each man to understand his opinion. The opinions are what is important. In Chapter II, there is more detail given to Miss Minnie because we need to understand her and what would lead to her lying. The feelings and the type of people each character was emphasizes the themes of racism and society dictating the separation of blacks and whites and white superiority.
It was also interesting to note that for white men, blacks were used as property, to make a profit. Miss Minnie used Willie the same way; she used him in a game where he was merely a disposable piece, so that she could regain her status in society. Also, because Hawk stood up for Willie, he was seen as being just as bad as a black man.
“Dust” was a recurring image throughout the story. “They went on; the dust swallowed them; the glare and the sound died away” (445). The dust was caused by the dry weather that created the tense/on edge mood but it also worked to cover things such as the actions of the white men against Willie. No one questioned what happened to Willie, he just disappeared.
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I like how you pointed out that for standing up for Will Mayes, Hawk was just as bad as a black man. I think this has a lot to do with the idea that these vviolent acts were male bonding time. Like Professor Wells pointed out in class, if one did not participate then his masculinity, and also his whiteness would be questioned. In "Dry September," the other two barbers talk about how bad it was going to be for Hawk if he got involved against McLendon. " 'What can he do?' the first said. The second one was saying 'Jees Christ, Jees Christ' under his breath. 'I'd just as lief (gladly) be Will Mayes as Hawk, if he gets McLendon riled.' "
I also agree that Faulkner's writing style can often be hard to follow. He writes very "full" scentences, and uses very strange grammer rules. I noticed this a lot more when I was writing my blog. I was using quotes and thinking to myself: "wait this is not right." It was really hard to quote him because I had to keep going back and making sure that was how he really wrote it.
I thought he did make some sentences hard to understand. However, I did get the main gist of the story especially when the teacher went over it in class. I just hate reading about how blacks were discriminated against. It's horrible and I wish it never happened. In the story, I can't believe they accused the black man of raping the white woman when they didn't have any evidence. That was very wrong. They should have gotten the facts straight until they jumped to that conclusion. That's just the way it was, I guess, they just blame the black people for everything.
After picking apart Faulkner's writing, I was exhausted. He describes every aspect of his story with great detail that it is hard to understand what he is saying. I noticed this more with "An Odor of Verbena." His sentences ramble on into long paragraphs. When I picture Faulkner, I see a man that has so much to write that he has trouble getting it all out.
But, Faulkner's underlying story is very interesting. He focuses on his many characters, and a rumor that is spreading rapidly throughout the town. I also like Faulkner's writing techniques because he allows your mind to wander. There are so many questions about what is going on. We never really know if Minnie was raped or insulted. There is evidence to both sides. Shortly after this supposed rape, Minnie was out to the movies and seemed to be having a good time. To me, this would indicate that nothing happened. But then she has a hysterical breakdown, which indicates that something may be bothering her.
Upon our discussion in class today, I noticed that people had completely different views and interpretations of Faulkner's work. Maybe that was one of his goals.
I have to completely agree with you that the only character that is described in great understandable detail is Miss Minnie. I also picked up on the whole society thing and it didn't seem that Professor Wells mentioned it in class (I may have missed it because I was out Friday), but Miss Minnie was kind of second-class because she was spending time alone with the widower/banker. So the children start calling her cousin instead of Aunt (seriously how do you explain that to your child "No, No honey you cannot call Minnie Aunt Minnie anymore you must call her Cousin Minnie" "Why Mama" "Because darling she is a bad woman she's spending time with a married man." Sorry just had to play it out) I don't truly understand how claiming rape truthful helped her because everyone seemed to be talking about her like she was an act in the freak show, but if she thinks it helped her!
I totally agree with you on the symbol of the dust. As I said in my comment to Kate, I think the dust is an ultimate symbol, showing the end of things: the day at the beginning of chapter III, Hawkshaw's opposition when he jumps out of the car and the description of the dust returning to the eternal dust, like all people return to ashes and dust in death.
I usually dread the readings that we have to do as well, but I found that Faulkner actually caught my attetion and i really enjoyed readig it. Faulkner like you said does pack every sentence with detail and therefore i think that brings more to the text and undestanding. I love the description of the heat in the beginning. And also the description of Minnie Cooper as an older/ Middle aged, unmarried woman. I was also unable to gain an understanding and/or a picture of the surroundings. I was able to picture the charcters though. I think that Faulkner characterizes them with great detail.
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