Faulkner’s Themes

William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi. He went on to become the greatest writer of his time, writing numerous works. Five of his works include A Rose for Emily, Hair, Barn Burning, Two Soldiers, and Shall Not Perish. Faulkner’s writing discussed issues in society relating to external events occurring around the time he published the work. Both A Rose for Emily and Hair discussed the social stigmas associated with women in the Roarin’ Twenties, identifying their how these women differed from the traditional viewpoints typically identified with women. Two Soldiers and Shall Not Perish describe the experiences of a fictional family, the Griers, when the United States entered World War II. Barn Burning tells the story of the Snopes family, focusing on class conflicts and poverty and subsistence living in the South after Reconstruction. Faulkner correlated the internal conflicts and societal ideologies of individuals with external events occuring when he wrote the work.

Faulkner wrote A Rose for Emily and Hair in 1929 and 1931, respectively. These years marked the end of the Roarin’ Twenties; however, the societal norms and stigmas broken by women in these years truly shook the traditional ideology and viewpoints associated with women previously. Before the ’20s, it was seen as very unfortunate and socially unacceptable for a woman to be unmarried by the age of 30; however, in A Rose for Emily, Emily represents a rebel, not marrying her entire life. Although she once had a lover, she murdered him and kept him to never let love slip out of her…