Intelligent White Trash in the Snopes Trilogy
William Faulkner's three novels referred to as the Snopes Trilogy submerge the reader into the deepest, darkest realms of the human mind. The depth of these novels caused the immediate dismissal of any preconceived notions I had toward Faulkner and his writings. No longer did his novels seem to be simple stories describing the white trash, living in the artificial Yoknapatawpha County, of the deep South. The seemingly redneck, simple-minded characters of the Snopes family, when examined closely, reveal all the greed, guile, and brilliance in the human heart and mind. The means by which the Snopes family lives, the means by which it survives, causes the reader to contemplate the boundary between survival and stealing, between necessity and evil. Is it wrong for a greedy person to manipulate another greedy person, using his or her own greed against them? Can evil swallow itself up, consuming an evil person by means of another evil person? The Snopes Trilogy reveals the consuming effect of deceit combined with ambition and displays the genius of the human mind despite an outward disposition that seemingly denies any intelligence at all.
Flem Snopes intrigued me from the very onset of the Trilogy in The Hamlet. His simple appearance, slow, methodical movements, and lack of speech only added to his mystery and intensity. Flem's exterior also fooled Jody Varner, who said, "His face was as blank as a pan of uncooked dough" (22). Little did he know that later Flem would supercede him in his own store, causing Varner's plan to keep the Snopeses from burning his barns to blow up in his own face. Flem's outward appearance is possibly his most valuable survival gift. His uncouth facade c...
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...ses others as a means of survival. Being a Snopes, he has been raised to succeed with evil. It is the only means he knows. Flem either has no idea that he is destroying others, or he has been taught not to care. Flem has been hardened; he does not even see the evil in his actions. Obviously Flem has no remorse whatsoever in his sinful actions or destruction of others. To him, he is merely surviving. Faulkner adds another question to today's morality. Is a person guilty if they do not know that they are sinning? Flem never thinks twice, never hesitates, never regrets any of his actions. So how does he cope with his conscience? He doesn't. He does not realize that what he is doing is wrong; therefore, he feels no guilt. Flem lives, survives, and prospers the only way he knows how.
Works Cited:
Faulkner, William. The Snopes Trilogy. New York: Random House, 1957.
It has been stated that while doing what is right is not always easy, it is in fact doing what is right despite it being difficult that is quite the accomplishment. Justice one finds to be one of the major themes throughout “Barn Burning”. The notion of intuitive justice presents itself as a characteristic explored throughout William Faulkner’s literary masterpiece “Barn Burning” through the protagonist Colonel Sartoris Snopes, also referred to as Sarty throughout “Barn Burning”. Faulkner presents Sarty and demonstrates his sense of justice through literal actions and dramatic context.
Many students and adults have read Harper Lee’s to To Kill a Mockingbird, but not all know the connections it has to a modern book written by american author, Bryan Stevenson. Some of these similarities include but are not limited to, racial profiling, theme of morals, corruption of the judicial system, as well as racial injustice and poverty.
There are many ways the media influences society, but in the 1920’s the main source was newspapers. The New York Times was one of the most popular and prestigious papers of this time and also one of the most influential. Many people had fait in what they read and never second gu...
William Faulkner elected to write “Barn Burning” from his young character Sarty’s perspective because his sense of morality and decency would present a more plausible conflict in this story. Abner Snopes inability to feel the level of remorse needed to generate a truly moral predicament in this story, sheds light on Sarty’s efforts to overcome the constant “pull of blood”(277) that forces him to remain loyal to his father. As a result, this reveals the hidden contempt and fear Sarty has developed over the years because of Abner’s behavior. Sarty’s struggle to maintain an understanding of morality while clinging to the fading idolization of a father he fears, sets the tone for a chain of events that results in his liberation from Abner’s destructive defiance-but at a costly price.
In the note “Evils Imminent,” Erik Larson writes “Beneath the gore and smoke and loam, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow” [xi]. The purpose of this novel is to compare and contrast the book's main characters, Daniel Burnham and Henry H. Holmes. The characters have contrasting personalities and feelings, but a few similar motives to a certain extent.
When Horatio reads the letter that he has received from Hamlet, the reader is informed of how Hamlet has evaded Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Also, the events occurring in Norway reach the court by means of an emissary, Voltimand, sent to check on Fortinbras. These events have a strong and direct relevance to the plot and movement of the play. Shakespeare uses contrast to highlight the qualities of the characters in Hamlet. This contrast shows up in the minor characters.
“The Passing of Grandison” debunks the stereotypical image of a slave in the 19th Century. The author Charles Chesnutt uses his personal background and ability to pass himself as a white man to tell a very compelling story. Grandison was more than an uneducated farm hand doing his masters bidding. “The Passing of Grandison” provides evidence that while the society of the time thought of slaves as nothing more than property to be bought and abused, slaves could be much more than what was on the surface. In Chesnutt’s “The Passing of Grandison” Grandison is a plantation slave in the early 19th Century who through his actions eventaully escapes and aquires his own freedom as well as that of several family members. Most people have been in a situation where they wish they could outsmart or outwit another. Whether it is a peer or a higher-up, many wish they had the ability or courage to get the better of others. Is it possible for a subordinate to really fool their superior and eventually gain what they really wanted in the end? This is accomplished through the actions of an trickster figure. A trickster is a character in literature who attempts to outwit and outmaneuver his or her adversaries. The trickster uses whatever means necessary to reach whatever goals they might desire. , Trudier Harris states, “tricksters achieve their objectives through indirection and mask-wearing, through playing upon the gullibility of their opponents” (Harris, 1). In “The Passing of Grandison”, Chesnutt uses a trickster figure to achieve that one-ups-man ship and plot twists while providing social commentary to present part of his own belief system as it relates to the treatment of slaves in the 19th century. Two characters in “The Passing of Grandis...
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“American Media History is the story of a nation. It is the story of events in the long battle to disseminate information, entertainment, and opinion in society. It is the story of the men and women whose inventions, ideas, and struggles helped shape the nation and its media system.”(Fellow) The evolution of media has influenced countless societal and cultural changes leading to the present day. But it didn’t get this far over night. It is estimated to have begun more than 30,000 years ago through the process of cave painting. (Crewe) Following cave painting, came the invention of books being printed on blocks “The Diamond Sutra”, the Gutenberg printing press, newspapers in 1640, photographs, the radio in 1894, television, and recently computers; which lead all the way to modern day social media. Through the hard work of multiple inventors the media was able to reach where it is today. It has changed the way people communicate with each other, mostly for the better.“ The way people experience the meaning, how they perceive the world and communicate with each other, and how they distinguish the past and identify the future.” (Gitelman) Or as we know it as: a new way of communicating information from person to person.
One of this many changes that have occurred over time is media. Media has played a
Joseph STRAUBHAAR and Robert LaROSE (2002). Media Now. Communications Media in the Information Age, 3rd edition. Belmont, Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.
Digital technology has caused a recent surge in the way our culture consumes mass media. Mass media involves the basic characteristic of communication to large audiences. Communication is a vital characteristic which people use everyday. This communication can be done through pleura of methods such as radio, print newspapers, broadcast television, Internet, telephones, etc. Digital technology has allowed for far more possibilities for productivity than traditional methods before. Digital technology has given people the power to express themselves via blogs, social media sites, pictures, and other user-friendly programs. Digital technology has come a long way and constantly is being improved everyday. Due to the rising surge in digital technology, traditional mass media producers have changed to accommodate the trend of using digital technology.
Salman, A., Ibrahim, F. and Hj. Abdullah, M.Y. et al. (2011) The impact of new media on traditional mainstream mass media. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal. [online] 16(3): 7, pp. 1-11. Available at: http://www.innovation.cc/scholarly-style/ali_samman_new+media_impac116v3i7a.pdf [accessed 10 December 2013].
In the last 40 years, media influence has grown fast with the today`s advance technology. First there was a radio, then a newspapers, magazines, television and now there is a radical type of connection which has revolutionized the whole world that is the internet. Media is a way for the members of the society to keep themselves informed about what is happening and/or what will happen all around the world while they are staying at home, work or even on a vacation.
Print media: remain the leading media over a time now have got competition from television, which has brought a positive change in our society. Apart from these two major media Radio is still providing news as well as entertainment to a larger section of the society. Then comes to new media technologies whose proliferation in the society has changed the every aspects of news, views or entertainment.