In the novel The Unvanquished, written by William Faulkner, honor is dealt with first hand throughout the novel. In some cases, like Ab Snopes, there is a major lack of honor. But the characters Bayard and his Grandmother, Granny, have honor, and lots of it. Though Granny dies, it is an honorable death that brings out honor in Bayard. Bayard is a young man and is changing, as he grows so does his honor. When in the end he displays his honor in many different ways. Ab Snopes is a conniving devious character that is only in the war for booty. Ab never shows true honor in this novel, and possibly anywhere because he has no honor. Honor plays a key part in this novel and is vividly shown by each character.
Granny takes care of Bayard and his black friend Ringo for most of the book. She dealt with hard times, and had to do some bad things, but she did it honorably, and taught the two boys about honor. Granny ran a business with Bayard Ringo where they stole mules and horses from the Yankees, then sold them back. She was a southern woman, and this was her way of fighting the war. Because she needed the boys help to do this, they had to do some sinful things. Granny took the burden of the sins: “I have sinned. I have stolen and I have born false wittiness against my neighbor, though that neighbor was an enemy of my country. And more than that, I have caused these children to sin. I hereby take their sin upon my conscience” (Faulkner 148). Though she is being a good grandmother, she is also taking the sin of two extra people. Granny shows honor here by taking the sins of the boys. Granny also showed the boys that it was not all right to steal.
When Granny walks into a situation unarmed to get some horses she demonstrates honor because she says to the boys that the men won’t harm a woman, she knows that she could die: “And now I am taking no risk: I am a woman. Even Yankees do not harm old women. You and Ringo stay here until I call you. We tried. I keep on saying that because I know now I didn’t” (Faulkner 153). Though she did die, it was not a dishonorable death.
Respecting your grandparents and elders is a given. Either if your mom warns you to do it or if you’ve just grown to respect them yourself, we all are taught to respect them. In the stories,”Abuela Invents the Zero,” and “Celebration of Grandfathers,” These usual teachings are amplified because respecting your elders would be considered the theme. In “Abuela Invents the Zero,” A teenaged girl named Constancia learns a valuable lesson on this topic, changing her personal values for a lifetime to come. Along with her realizations and now “opened eyes,” Anaya from the story,”Celebration of Grandfathers,” tells us about his life on the farm with his grandfather and growing up being with such a powerful role model. He tells us how these experiences shaped his
The Grandmother is a bit of a traditionalist, and like a few of O’Connor’s characters is still living in “the old days” with outdated morals and beliefs, she truly believes the way she thinks and the things she says and does is the right and only way, when in reality that was not the case. She tends to make herself believe she is doing the right thing and being a good person when in actuality it can be quite the opposite. David Allen Cook says in hi...
This essay will contrast a good and evil concept between two different stories. There is an obvious distinction that stands out between the stories; however they are similar in one way. In A Worn Path (Eudora Welty) and A Good Man is Hard to Find (Flannery O’Conner) the one thing that sticks out, is the main character in both stories. The main character in both stories being the grandmother. Grandmothers are of course an important part of the family. In each story we have a grandmother of a different race, appearance, and attitude. In each story the grandmothers take different journeys, but there is one thing they both face being treated disrespected. We live in a world in which the grandmother resides with the family and helps to take care of the grandchildren. In the world today things are different and times are still hard if not harder. We live in a time when respect is no longer earned. Now days it seems as if respect is not as important as it was in earlier years and it is evident in these two stories.
In the novel The Unvanquished, by William Faulkner, most of the characters strictly follow by a code of laws and moral values called the Southern Code. At the beginning of the book, the characters follow the Southern Code more strictly than at the end. Some of the rules which start to diminish during the course of the novel are as follows: no stealing, no profanity, no lying, treat women and the elderly with respect, and seek revenge on those who have caused you pain. The characters obey these during the start of the novel, and eventually as the novel progresses, the rules are broken.
What does it take for one to achieve the American dream? What kinds of struggles does one need to overcome to achieve their goals in life? In the classic novel The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, you can follow the Joad family in the pursuit to their dreams and the difficulties they faced and overcame. The Joad family faced numerous conflicts including; men, society, nature, and him/herself but overcame many to keep pushing them towards their dream; to go to California and find a better life.
Granny's displeasure with her daughter reaches far beyond just her whispering in the doorway. Cornelia is the closest character there is an antagonist in this story. When concerning her daughter, Granny can do nothing but criticize the way she does most everything. These criticisms on the surface are simply the reproofs of a picky old woman.
Honor can be defined by how one holds them in the public eye. Others may say that honor is how you live your life when none can see your actions. However defined honor can play major roles in how a person will act in a given situation. The Crucible by Arthur Miller has excellent examples of how honor can manipulate people’s decisions in times of importance. John proctor holds his moral standpoint and does not falter into the temptations of selfishness, while Elizabeth would describe honor as how a person lives their lives. Some can even describe honor as what is most important in life; family. Giles believed that his life was the ultimate object he could sacrifice to maintain his family’s happiness. However honor can be defined, one thing is certain; Everyone has some degree of honor in their lives.
In William Faulkner’s story, “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner uses symbolism as a literary element to keep the reader interested in his writing. There are many characters and materials that Faulkner placed throughout the story with hidden meaning. When he describes dust being in a scene, the reader may scan over it, not giving the element much thought. The dust, however, does hold a significant message. Dust was present in Ms. Emily’s home all throughout the story. Ms. Emily spent most of her time in her home. She used her house to recluse herself from society and is also where she died. With this being said, dust is a reoccurring object throughout the story that symbolizes aging, the state of being a recluse, and death.
In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the protection of honor can alter how a person looks at the family. For example, Prudencia Cotes, Pablo Vicario’s fiancée, said “I never would have married him if he hadn’t done what a man should do” (Marquez, 62). This shows the value honor has towards people other than the Vicario family. The love that Prudencia had for Pablo would have gone away if he didn’t enact some sort of vengeance on Santiago Nasar. The value of honor is high for a lot of Latin-American families and when it is taken repercussions are
Even though the Grandmother shows to be a victim of rudeness, hostile statements, and dangerous situations, she still stood by her morals regardless of the situations. In the first paragraph, the grandmother is a victim of her grandchildren and at the end, she is a victim of a murderer who ironically is much nicer to her than her own grandchildren! It is easily observed that the grandmother’s morals involve making her environment as pleasant as her personality. At the beginning, you can see how the grandchildren are making hostile comments towards the grandmother about going on the trip with them. As she sits in the back seat with the hostile children instead of allowing them to ruin her mood, she decides to point out the “ interesting details of the scenery- stone mountain’s; the blue granite, the brilliant red clay banks slightly streaked with purple”…. (pg 199). At the end while a victim of a murderer the grandmother still tried to make some good out of the situation. “Ain’t a cloud in the sky” he remarked. “Yes it is a beautiful day” said the grandmother. “Listen you shouldn’t call yourself misfit because I know you’re a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell.” The grandmother said (pg 205). As stated earlier the grandmother was dedicated to keeping her moral of making her environment as pleasant as her personality!
Light in August, a novel written by the well-known author, William Faulkner, can definitely be interpreted in many ways. However, one fairly obvious prospective is through a religious standpoint. It is difficult, nearly impossible, to construe Light in August without noting the Christian parallels. Faulkner gives us proof that a Christian symbolic interpretation is valid. Certain facts of these parallels are inescapable and there are many guideposts to this idea.
In this story Faulkner appears to be using Drusilla as the primary voice representing the old Southern honor system, an honor system that is distinctly masculine. As the grieving widow, it is Drusilla who seems to be pushing the hardest for retribution in the form of a duel—an option that would put Baynard’s life at risk. Baynard is barely home after his long ride back from college when Drusilla directs, not asks, him to take the dueling pistols (Faulkner 459). Drusilla expects Baynard to challenge her husband’s killer with "the long true [dueling] barrels true as justice" (Faulkner 459). She is inflamed and passionate about Baynard’s chance to kill and speaks glowingly of what so many Southern men in the same position must have thought: "to be permitted to kill, to be permitted vengeance, to take into your bare hands the fire of heaven that cast down Lucifer" (Faulkner 460). Drusilla expects that Baynard one day will be grateful for her support. She tells him that "you will remember me who put into your hands what they say is an attribute only of God’s, who took what belongs to heaven and gave it to you" (Faulkner 459).
Many people take the word honor very lightly and believe that it is incredibly easy to be defined as a person who shows their honor for the people around them, and that may be true for some people but not for others. Three people who easily fall into the group of being an honorable person includes, William Wallace from the Mel Gibson film Braveheart, Sir Gawain, and Beowulf. Honor may be mistaken for many different things, but the word honor easily falls into the category of being a hero. In order to be a hero someone has to be honorable, and being honorable includes the same characteristics of being considered a hero. There are specifically two different types of heroes including, an Anglo-Saxon Hero and Epic Hero. There are four very strict
In the tale Barn Burning, the author William Faulkner formally known for his short stories with a constant theme of Southern Renaissance, racism and modernism uses these themes as a constant reference throughout the story. Faulkner focuses in depth on the antagonist, Abner Snopes and his actions and how they impact other characters throughout the story. I believe Abner was continuously portrayed as a negative character throughout the short story by Abner’s aggressiveness towards everyone he comes in contact with, Faulkner’s depiction of Abner’s selfishness, and his jealousy for those around him and what he did not have.
In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, the image of honeysuckle is used repeatedly to reflect Quentin’s preoccupation with Caddy’s sexuality. Throughout the Quentin section of Faulkner’s work, the image of honeysuckle arises in conjunction with the loss of Caddy’s virginity and Quentin’s anxiety over this loss. The particular construction of this image is unique and important to the work in that Quentin himself understands that the honeysuckle is a symbol for Caddy’s sexuality. The stream of consciousness technique, with its attempt at rendering the complex flow of human consciousness, is used by Faulkner to realistically show how symbols are imposed upon the mind when experiences and sense perceptions coalesce. Working with this modernist technique, Faulkner is able to examine the creation function of symbols in human consciousness.