William Faulkner's "That Evening Sun"

William Faulkner in "That Evening Sun" depicts a world of violence he shows to be a legacy of the slave era, showing how the evils of the past persist in the present and shape the lives of all classes in society, and in this story he creates an image of slavery transferred from society at large to an abusive marital situation much like those described today. The Compson family represents a form of local Southern aristocracy, while the sometime maid Nancy and her husband represent the poor blacks in that society. The two groups need one another, but there is also tension between them. In addition, underlying each group is a degree of interpersonal violence that is also a legacy of the slave era.

As noted, the Compson family may consider itself more enlightened than its neighbors, but members of the family also have to live with the legacy of slavery and the past. Nancy is the black woman they hire when their own maid, Dilsey, is ill, and her growing fear of her husband becomes an ongoing point of tension in the Compson household. There is no social justice in the world that the slave era has left behind. Nancy tries to kill herself in her jail cell, and when the guard cuts her down, he also beats her. She is arrested, and when she challenges a local white man for not paying her for her sexual favors, he beats her as well. The black women in the community seem to do all the work, while the black men have been emasculated and left to their own devices. Jesus is such a

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we now call the "N" word--this is a word used by the whites, and the attitude that blacks are much lower on the social scale has been adopted not only by the whites but by the blacks themselves, as in Nancy's case. Mr. and Mrs. Compson do not use the word--the father says "Negro," showing at least a different level of politeness. Father is also more prone to see blacks as human beings, though not of his class, but still not the sort of dehumanized entity Nancy seems to see and also seems to be. The picture of nancy is the picture of a beaten wife, always afraid that her husband is waiting outside in the ditch. She simply knows that he is there and repeats this again and again. Mr. Compson goes outside and looks. He finds nothing, but Nancy remains convinced. The image of the broken home of nancy contrasts with the unified home of the Compsons, and the degree to which the home is a protection from the outside world rather than a place of fear is also in that contrast. Jesus sees himself as a martyr, and his name brings this to our attention. He is unlike the religious Jesus, though, in every respect. When the children are revisiting in his kitchen while nancy cooks, he complains about it: I cant hang around white man

Category: Literature - W