Southern Characteristics In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

William Faulkner is a southern writer who incorporates the characteristic of race on his story “A Rose for Emily.” Southern writers often use multiple southern characteristics in their writing. While Faulkner incorporates a variety of those characteristics race is one of the major southern characteristics he uses. This essay will recognize southern American characteristics, summarize a southern American story, and identify southern characteristics in “A rose for Emily.” Southern literature uses multiple southern characteristics in their stories. In The Southern Myth by Irving Howe, Howe says “the southern writer did not have to cast an out for his materials, he hardly enjoyed a spontaneous choice in his use of them, for they welled within

When they arrived the old Negro greeting them and led them to the parlor. Once the Negor opened the blinds they noticed the cracked leather and dust in the room (Faulkner 99). Faulkner uses the word Negro, whose name is Tobe, over and over again throughout the story to emphasize his race. Faulkner also mentions how the Negro is the servant of the home which is common in southern literature. Faulkner says, “The construction company came with niggers and mules and machinery, and a foreman named Homer Barron… the little boys would follow in groups to hear him cuss the niggers, and the niggers singing in time to the tide and fall of picks” (Faulkner 101). By referring to the blacks as niggers shows how Faulkner used the history of how the south treated African Americans. As well as when he is describing the company Faulkner refers to blacks at the same times as mules and machinery which categorizes them as being less than a white man which is a common theme in southern literature. When Miss Emily became sick the town did not know because no one could even get information out of “[T]he Negro. He talked to no one, probably not even her, for his voice had grown harsh and rusty, as it from disuse” (Faulkner 104). Faulkner writes about how Tobe’s voice is “rusty” because he has not spoken to anyone in years.