In my term paper, I will discuss the themes, styles, and techniques of William Faulkner in his works. In order to find the common themes, styles, and techniques of Faulkner, I found some sources, including online articles and websites that contain many of the major themes and the background of William Faulkner. Though it was a bit difficult to find sources, I found enough to research the major themes and the background of Faulkner’s life. The authors and editors of these articles and website pages all show what Faulkner did, the themes he used, his background on why and how he wrote about the topics that he did, and the common techniques he used in his writing. Faulkner used many different themes, styles, and techniques in his work, which helped shape how he was as a unique, modernist writer. I am writing this paper to tie together his background and techniques with the major themes and styles of his works. His background helped develop his common techniques, who he was, how he wrote, and what type of people he wrote about.
THEMES
In his works, William Faulkner seems to use many themes relating to the culture of the American south. Faulkner seems to use these themes within his common setting of the American south. Background. Particularly, he uses themes such as isolationism to tell his stories about the people of the American south. The biography.com page William Faulkner talks about Faulkner’s depression and sadness while writing works. The biography.com page says “Personally, Faulkner experienced both elation and soul-shocking sadness during this time in his career. Between the publishing of The Sound and the Fury and Sanctuary, his old flame, Estelle Oldham, divorced Cornell Franklin.” This shows how Faulkner was going through tough times and was sad while writing his works. His sadness and depression led to his themes, and how he used his themes in his works. Also, Ole Miss article writer John B. Padgett talks about how Faulkner saw many things going around while him growing up in Mississippi, in his biography article William Faulkner. Also mentioned in this article, Padgett says that Faulkner failed at poetry and became a story writer because he failed at this. Many of the things that occurred in his early life led to how he focused on the themes relating to the American south. At the time of when he was writing, there were many things happening not only in his life but in society as a whole. All of these articles and links show how William Faulkner may have looked around and saw what was going on around him, sparking him to write about the things happening in the modern world around him. Faulkner was inspired to write about what was right and what was wrong with society, in relation to his life.
Decline of the South/Isolationism. In the Edit911 blog entry, the writer states, “As I mentioned at the outset, Faulkner’s work chronicles the decline of the South due to its fatal flaw or original sin, if you will, of slavery, which itself represents the universal of humanity’s struggle against outrageous and blind circumstance.” This shows how Faulkner uses the decline of the South as one of his major themes. In his article Faulkner and the Theme of Isolation, Lawrence Edward Bowling says “William Faulkner’s The Sound and Fury portrays the disintegration of a Southern family,” which shows a specific example of how William Faulkner used the decline of the south as one of his major themes. Lawrence Edward Bowling mentions in his article, “… should indicate what is causing the disintegration and what the relation is between this particular family and the modern world,” which shows how Faulkner uses isolation in his works. Bowling talks about how Faulkner used the disintegration of this southern family and showed how their disintegration basically isolates them from the world. Conflict Another theme that Faulkner uses in his work is the theme of conflict, notably of the human heart or one character in conflict with himself/herself. In the Edit911 blog, the writer says, “As Faulkner put it in his 1950 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, he is concerned mainly with ‘the human heart in conflict with itself. The writer’s duty is to write about man’s soul and his capacity for endurance and compassion and sacrifice.’” This shows how Faulkner himself says that he is concerned with mainly the human heart in conflict with itself. These sources show how William Faulkner used many themes, especially relating to what was wrong with modern society at the time of when he was writing his works. He was concerned with certain themes, especially the themes of the decline of the south and conflict, especially the more specific theme of the human heart in conflict with itself.
STYLE
In his works, William Faulkner uses a style of modernism and tradition, especially how it comes to play in the lives of the people in the American south. Social issues with Modern South and modernism. In the biography.com page William Faulkner, the writer of the page says “He also boldly illuminated social issues that many American writers left in the dark, including slavery, the "good old boys" club and Southern aristocracy.” This citation shows how Faulkner, though many other people did not want to write about this, highlighted what was wrong with the tradition of the American southern people. Like the writer of the biography.com page stated, many of the American writers of Faulkner’s time did not want to write about what was wrong with American society, but Faulkner had the courage and creativity to do this. Also in the biography.com article William Faulkner, the writer says “Faulkner created an impressive literary legacy and remains a revered writer of the rural American South, having expertly captured the immense complexities of both the region's beauty and its dark past.” This citation also shows how Faulkner commonly used a style of writing about the American south, its past, and its present. In The French Quarter Apprentice: William Faulkner's Modernist Evolution, the writer, Benjamin Koch says, “The key to comprehending Faulkner is the Nobel laureate’s failure to reconcile ‘the Victorian urge toward unity and stability he had inherited as a child.’” This shows how William Faulkner developed his style of writing, about what is wrong with society in particularly the American south. Because Faulkner did not want to live how he was taught to as a child, he decided to not conform with his Victorian style of being raised. He did not believe that this Victorian style of being raised was right. This urged him to write about what was wrong with society, not about what was right. The let.rug.nl page William Faulkner says, “Faulkner's themes are southern tradition, family, community, the land, history and the past, race, and the passions of ambition and love.” This is another website which shows how Faulkner highlights southern tradition and other themes. The Edit911 blog writer says, “His ethical system is grounded in a romantic hatred of modern civilization which he feels has destroyed much of the essential goodness of natural man.” This shows how Faulkner’s modernist style was affected by the way he thought. Due to him thinking that civilization has damaged man, he uses this modernist style in his works. William Faulkner’s style of modernism and tradition is prominent in his works, as shown by the sources mentioned.
TECHNIQUES
In his works, William Faulkner uses techniques such as using different voices and points of view to tell his stories. This is highlighted on the let.rug.nl page William Faulkner. The page says, “An innovative writer, Faulkner experimented brilliantly with narrative chronology, different points of view and voices (including those of outcasts, children, and illiterates).” This shows how Faulkner used many points of view to tell his stories. In his works, Faulkner used many different types of characters to develop his themes and make his stories. Also on the let.rug.nl page, the quote “Most of these novels use different characters to tell parts of the story and demonstrate how meaning resides in the manner of telling, as much as in the subject at hand” shows how William Faulkner used different characters to tell his story. In the biography.com article William Faulkner, the writer says, “Faulkner's next novel, Light in August (1932), tells the story of Yoknapatawpha County outcasts. In it, he introduces his readers to Joe Christmas, a man of uncertain racial makeup; Joanna Burden, a woman who supports voting rights for blacks and later is brutally murdered.” This source shows a specific example how Faulkner uses many different types of characters to develop and tell his story. These characters that Faulkner developed tie into his many different themes, notably the themes of isolationism and decline of the American south.
Experimenting. Faulkner also used a technique of experimenting in his works. The FamousAuthors.org page William Faulkner, says “Faulkner’s work has widely been appreciated for its experimental manner, contemporary themes and the often used stream of consciousness technique.” This shows how Faulkner used experimental techniques in his works. Also, he has been appreciated by many for the experimental techniques in his work. On the britannica.com biography, Michael Millgate says “Oxford provided Faulkner with intimate access to a deeply conservative rural world, conscious of its past and remote from the urban-industrial mainstream, in terms of which he could work out the moral as well as narrative patterns of his work.” Millgate shows how Faulkner used his background to develop his common technique of using narrative patterns and different voices in his works. At Oxford, Faulkner saw a “deeply conservative rural world” which greatly affected how he wrote his works. By seeing this “deeply conservative rural world,” Faulkner was able to work out the “moral and narrative patterns of his work.” These sources show how William Faulkner used an experimental technique in writing his works. The sources show how Faulkner used many different techniques, notably his common use of different voices and points of view, his stream of consciousness, and his use of many different types of characters to tell his story.
Conclusion
From the research I did, I found that Faulkner’s major themes, styles, and techniques were very unique but all tied together to his background. The sources I found contained many of his themes, styles, and works. Not only did the sources contain these, but they also contained specific examples of how Faulkner used these in his works. The works also showed Faulkner’s background, the events of his life while he was writing, and how his works were affected by his background. The authors and editors of the websites, articles, and other online sources all showed how Faulkner was a very distinct author and had his own very distinct ways of writing, themes, and techniques. I found that his themes and techniques were heavily influenced by his life growing up in the south and failing at some things in his early life. His themes, techniques, and styles showed how he was very groundbreaking, unique modernist writer.