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Faulkner Gender Roles

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William Faulkner possessed a wildly progressive mind for a man living in a time where racism ran rampant, women were expected to act like women, and men were expected to act like men. In many of his novels, Faulkner challenged these beliefs. He portrayed women with qualities that would usually be associated with men. Men are shown being emotional and subordinate to certain women. He even portrayed immigrants and blacks as equals. Faulkner challenged the views of the Old South and portrayed a New South, where sexual promiscuity, new gender roles, and a new view on race were the norm.
William Faulkner portrayed elements of the South that had rarely, if ever, been written about. One of these elements was the changing of gender roles in the New South. In Faulkner?s novel The Sound and the Fury this theme was prevalent. The young men in the story were given traits that had been almost exclusively been associated with women in the Old South. The main female character in the novel, Caddy, was given traits that were considered masculine. Throughout the novel Caddy is put in a position of power over her brothers and eventually the frustrated males become emasculated and the Compson bloodline ends.[endnoteRef:1] [1: Lisa Villamil. ?Gender Roles of a New South in The Sound and the …show more content…

By using slavery to gain wealth and prosperity it was only a matter of time before both Sutpen?s life and the economy of the South collapsed. [22: William Faulkner. Absalom, Absalom! (New York: Vintage Books, 1990) 212.] [23: ?Reflection of History in Absalom,

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William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” critiques the American South Describing Emily’s vibrant life full of hope and buoyancy, later shrouded into the profound mystery, Faulkner emphasizes her denial to accept the concept of death. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” takes place in the South during the transitional time period from the racial discrimination to the core political change of racial equality. Starting from the description of her death, “A Rose for Emily” tells the story about the lady who is the last in her generation (Emily Grierson). Being strong, proud and a traditional lady of southern aristocracy, Emily turns into an evil, unpredictable and mysterious old lady after the death of her father. Even though “A Rose for Emily”

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