Dry September by William Faulkner

Dry September

“Dry September” transcends its text of a short story about a trivial situation in a small town to explore the tensions between race and gender that is a substantially widespread problem of modern day society. Through the creative use of irony depicted in the actions and attitudes of the characters, William Faulkner criticizes the outlived and immensely flawed social customs of the South, such as practices of racism, sexism, and violence. In addition to irony, symbolism is a significant rhetorical device in Dry September. One of the main symbols is the idea of dryness in which the novel’s depiction of a parched environment represents the dismal periods of the lives of the characters. In this way, Faulkner paints a background that is representative of his characters, who are buried in a conflict between conforming to social expectations and following their own justified conscience.

Faulkner first sets the scene of the novel by introducing a questionable rumor that has “spread like fire.” This rumor plays the role of initiating the conflict of the novel. “Through the bloody September twilight, aftermath of sixty-two rainless days, it had gone like a fire in dry grass: the rumor, the story, whatever it was” (Faulkner 169). Southern white men fear that blacks, whom they believe to be subordinate members of society, threaten their dominance and superiority; therefore, the white men inflict violence upon those inferior members in order to uphold a prevailing cultural ideology. Hawkshaw, the barber, is the first to introduce and defend Will Mayes. Because of this, he is a deviant in society due to his prioritization of justice over social prejudice. Putting himself at a risk in order to defend a black man by cha...

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...red to be uncultivated as that of an animal because of his impatient and violent nature. “He went on through the house, ripping off his shirt, and on the dark, screened porch at the rear he stood and mopped his head and shoulders with the shirt and flung it away. He took the pistol from his hip and laid it on the table beside the bed, and sat on the bed and removed his shoes, and rose and slipped his trousers off. He was sweating again already, and he stooped and hunted furiously for the shirt” (Faulkner 183). Faulkner uses vivid images of violence as well as provocative verbs and adverbs to show McLendon’s immense strength. The idea of dryness is used as a background—an excuse—for his behavior.

Works Cited

Faulkner, William. "Dry September." Collected Stories of William Faulkner. Ed. Erroll McDonald. New York City: Vintage Books, 1995. 169-183. Print.