What Is William Faulkner's Impact On African Americans

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William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi. He grew up in a very comfortable home, money wise, thanks to his great-grandfather who was a railroad financier, but his father was an alcoholic and liked to control his family. While Faulkner was also an alcoholic himself and his life full of many hardships, that didn’t stop him from writing. Faulkner’s great-grandfather was a major influence to his writing and to how he viewed the South. He is most known for his works, A Rose for Emily, As I Lay Dying, The Sound and The Fury, and many more. William Faulkner was also the winner of a Nobel Prize and two Pulitzer Prizes. Throughout all of Faulkner’s stories, he is best known for addressing serious topics in the South such as war, racism, mental illnesses, and a slew of other things. Barn Burning is …show more content…

While Major de Spain is seen as very wealthy with the many things that he owns and the elegance of his mansion, the Snopes are poor and their belongings are seen as the “sorry residue of the dozen or more movings” (Jotted Lines). Throughout history, the many struggles of the poorest of white Americans have been documented but not to the same extent as African Americans. When Abner mentions that the mansion is because of “nigger sweat” he is suggesting that the status of poor whites is equal to that of blacks (Jotted Lines). Money is seen as everything and the struggle without it is severe. Abner is described using words like “stiff”, “ruthless”, “iron-like”, etc and to me these describe such a barbaric character. One that has seen so many hardships that they have basically become immune to the world and its favoritism to those who seem to have everything and continue to get it. As if he is trying to “convey what dehumanizing effects the economic and social conditions of a society can inflict on an individual” (Jotted