The world of short stories in America flourished in the twentieth century with the arrival of new writers who aimed at creating a niche of their own. The subjects that were dealt with in the stories were of various themes, but most of the writers were particular about giving a message through their works. Some of the stories conveyed moral messages, while some others contained theological ideas of the authors. Many of the works were of religious and social importance. Subjects of relevance at that time also included racism, which was common among the native Southerners. Such stories described the life and beliefs of the local native people. In the twentieth century, there emerged a number of short story writers like Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Flannery O’Connor, John Cheever and Raymond Carver. William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor are two of the finest writers of this period. This paper deals with the similarities and contrasts in their style of writing. For this purpose, ‘A Good Man Is Hard To Find’ and ‘Everything That Rises Must Converge’ by Flannery O’Connor and ‘A Rose For Emily’ and ‘Barn Burning’ by William Faulkner have been chosen.
The fact that both Faulkner and O’Connor were from the South and that they wrote during almost the same period led to many similarities in their style of writing like the religious themes and foreshadowed violence which both of them used in the works. Both of them depicted the typical southerners of their period who were arrogant, and often ignorant. At the same time, not everything about their writing was the same. There are contrasts in their ways of narration. Faulkner’s narration and characterization were more complex and concerned not only the religious righteousness but also the social issues of that time. There were similarities and contrasts in the point of view that they used. To be specific, the purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast their characterization, setting, point of view, foreshadowing and theme.
William Faulkner, born in Mississippi, led a multifaceted career as a novelist, a short story writer and a poet. He is known as one of the most popular writers in twentieth-century American literature. His first book was published in 1924. His themes were mainly about his characters’ rigidity to something or to change something. “But I believe that the themes of rigidity (compulsion) as a personal and social evil and the need to rebel against rigidity in order to gain freedom (will) are so important to Faulkner…” (Malin, vii).
His stories contained an element of violence in them probably to show the aftermath of the civil war. Racism and moral and social issues came up in his stories which he meant as a means of telling the people to live the right way. Flannery O’Connor, a Southerner like Faulkner was born in Georgia. She has authored two novels and thirty-two short stories, out of which her first short story was published in 1946, a few years after William Faulkner began. She followed the Southern gothic style in almost all her works and gave perfect depictions of the South. Though she is considered as one of the best American short story writers of the 20th century, her works have been deeply criticized for the barbarism that they contained.
To begin with, both of them did not believe in depicting a hero who defeats the villain in the story. Instead, they believed in narrating stories showing the natural life of people, their mistakes which leads to ruination at the end of the story. The characters possess certain negative qualities which are very like the people of the South at that time. To take Faulkner’s ‘Barn Burning’ as an example, a father-son relationship is shown, wherein, the father is a representative of the older generation with jealousy and arrogance. His indignance at being oppressed is the reason for his burning of the barns. The son betrays his father to choose righteousness against his own family. O’Connor’s ‘Everything that rises must converge’ presents a very similar relationship, only that it is a mother-son relationship. The mother in the story is a typical Southerner who is arrogant and ignorant about the changes that have come in society. She despises the black people due to the racism in her. Her son represents the next generation who is more literate and reasonable. In ‘A good man is hard to find’, she presents a family in which almost every character has at least some negativity in him. The grandmother is a very similar character to the one in ‘Everything that rises…,’ manipulative and irritating. The son, Bailey is a good-for-nothing man, and his children are rude and disrespectful towards everyone, especially the grandmother. The misfit is the murderer in the story who kills the whole family because the grandmother recognized him. In Faulkner’s ‘A rose for Emily’ too, almost all the characters possess negativity. The main character is Miss Emily, who disagrees to move on with life by holding onto her past. She behaves rudely to other people, does not pay the taxes and does a murder which is revealed only at the end. The society is rude to her too. They are nosy, like the people of that time. They gossip about her without knowing how exactly her life is. In ‘Everything that rises…,’ the mother too lives in the past. She does not accept realities as they are. Characters in all four stories experience conflict throughout the stories. However, Faulkner’s characters experience more of an internal conflict. The conflict in ‘Barn Burning’ is inside the son’s mind, of whether to support his father or his values. The conflict in ‘A rose for Emily’ is inside her mind about holding onto her past instead of moving on with life. In O’Connor, the conflict is between good and evil and not in the grandmother’s mind. The author wants the readers to understand this conflict. The grandmother and the Misfit are only tools for this. In ‘Everything that rises…’, the conflict is between the mother and the son. Here too, the readers are made to understand the conflict between two generations. In her works, the characters do not experience internal or personal conflicts, unlike in Faulkner. Instead, the readers are explicitly made to understand what the theme is through the conflicts. As far as these four stories are concerned, there is another contrast between the two writers. Faulkner’s character, Miss Emily, or the society does not undergo any change even at the end of the story, though it conveys a message. But, O’Connor’s grandmother is transformed at the end when she receives the grace of God, even she dies at the hands of the murderer.
The setting in both Faulkner and O’Connor is the decaying South where people at that time, did not give importance to religion or social values. The stories described the racism that still lingered at the time and the crimes that took place. For this reason, most of their stories had violence in them. In ‘A rose for Emily’, the main character, Miss Emily, kills a man because he decided to leave her. O’Connor’s ‘A good man is hard to find’ shows real savagery when the Misfit kills the whole family at the end. Likewise in ‘Barn Burning’, the father burns many barns for silly reasons like low pay and jealousy. In ‘Everything that rises ….,’ the mother who is a protagonist dies at the end of the story which shakes the readers. Both the writers wrote in after-war periods when the native people were indignant because everyone was treated equally after the war. The difference is that while Faulkner wrote in the post-civil-war time, O’Connor wrote in the post-World-war time. (Interactives). The point of view in most of the stories of Faulkner and O’Connor is the third person point of view. They narrate the stories as if they witnessed it in a third person but convey the thoughts from a particular character’s perspective. In ‘Barn Burning’, the thoughts of the boy are described. The story is seen from his perspective of things. Similarly, in ‘Everything that rises…’, the narration is made from the perspective of the son. His thoughts are explained as if the author can read them. There is a difference in ‘A rose for Emily’; the author uses a third-person point of view in this story too. But, he uses only very few dialogues in the story. He doesn’t very often try to read what the thoughts are inside the mind of the other people in the society about the woman. Instead, he gives a very neutral narration giving the readers a chance to interpret the story in their own way. In ‘A good man is…,’ O’Connor makes use of the third point of view to describe the thoughts of the main character, the grandmother. At the same time, at times, she changes the thought perspective from the grandmother to the whole family, thus giving an account of the incidents from the perspective of the family too. (Flannery O’Connor ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find )
Both Faulkner and O’Connor use suspense as an element in their stories. The climax either shocks or surprises the readers, with a sudden twist and violence both of which are common in their works. Hence the necessity for foreshadowing is generally seen in their stories. In ‘A rose for Emily’, the readers come to know of Homer’s murder by Emily only at the climax. But the author has foreshadowed it in many ways. The bad smell that comes from the house and the detail that Homer was not seen suddenly, are hints about the death. The mentions about the poison that she buys from a shop are all hints of an unexpected twist. (Knickerbocker). This is seen in ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’ too. The murder of the whole family by the Misfit is foreshadowed by references about graveyards and tombs, and the phrase ‘Gone with the wind’. Also, the grandmother refers to her death at the beginning of the story. When comparing the other two stories, ‘Everything that rises…’ too foreshadows the death of the mother through a few hints. In the beginning, after she wears the atrocious hat, colored purple and green, the author mentions the sky is the color of dying violet. Julian also describes her purple-faced, which is another example that foreshadows her death. But ‘Barn Burning does not quite have anything to be foreshadowed because the evil starts at the beginning itself and the son is transformed gradually in the story. There is an element of suspense though when he betrays his father in the final part.
The themes of these writers are very similar in that they basically deal with religion, theology, social issues, racism and so on. Both believed that the right thing to do was to follow the right path of Christianity. The racism that still prevailed is mentioned in most of their works. Both of them believed that a better way to convey their message to the readers was to shock them with violence and then explain the importance of being religious and righteous. Both of them wrote stories with obscure themes, which included a lot of imagery, symbolism and allegory. But Faulkner’s themes were more complex. His subjects were more social than religious, while O’Connor’s works aimed at conveying a religious message. The language that he used was often indirect. ‘A rose for Emily’ can be taken as an example. The story seems strange in its language and theme because who the woman is or what her character is not clearly described anywhere in the story except that her family held a high position in society in the earlier times. “His sentences are long and hypnotic, sometimes he withholds important details, or refers to people or events that the reader will not learn about until much later.” ( William (Cuthbert) Faulkner (1897-1962)-Original Surname Until 1924 Falkner). O’Connor’s stories though difficult to be understood, used easier language and dialogues. She conveyed her messages more directly than Faulkner.
In the book, ‘Hawthorne and O’Connor: A Literary Kinship’, the influence of Faulkner’s works had initially, on Flannery O’Connor, is mentioned. (Alsen, 127). Faulkner and O’Connor were two of the most spectacular short story writers of the twentieth century. Their works have made people think deeply about the questions that are raised in them and the messages that are conveyed through them.
O’Connor’s style of writing (Flannery O’Connor’s Writing: A Guide for The Perplexed). Barn Burning’s review (Pennjoe). (Whitt, 28).
Works Cited
- Alsen, Eberhard. The New Romanticism. Routledge. 2000. Web.
- Flannery O’connor’s Writing: A Guide for the Perplexed. The Free Library. 2009. Web.
- Interactives. 2009.
- Flannery O’Connor ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find. Essortment. 2002.
- Knickerbocker, Eric. William Faulkner: The Faded Rose of Emily. Mr. Renaissance. 2003.
- Malin, Irving. William Faulkner an Interpretation. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1957.
- Pennjoe. Review of “A Barn Burning”, by William Faulkner. Progressive u. org. 2006.
- William (Cuthbert) Faulkner (1897-1962)-Original Surname Until 1924 Falkner. Books and Writers.
- Whitt, Jan. Allegory and the Modern Southern Novel. Mercer University Press. 1994. Web.