I never read anything on William Faulkner, but I must say, I really enjoyed this piece. I Liked the fact that he didnt sugar coat anything. He wrote the story from a realistic point of view, for example, in the reading the white men use the word "nigger" alot. Im not saying that I like this awfull word. Im saying that its realistic, this is how the "white man" spoke about black people in the south and I believe still happens.
In the reading there is this black man by th name of Will Mayes. He is accused of hurting a white women. He is accused of either assulting her or raping her. The scene takes place in a barber shop. There are men debating whether the man is innocent or not. One of the mans name is Hawk he believes that Will Mayes is innocent. He doesnt think that the man is capable of doing such a thing. He believes that the white women is lying. Then there is another character by the name of Butch he doesnt agree with what Hawk thinks.
In my opinion he doesnt care if the man is innocent he just cares that the man is black so, right off the bat the man is guilty. Hawk continues to stick up for Will Mayes. He gets called a "nigger lover" and they compare him to the men in the north, sort off like calling him a "yankee". But Hawk has some interesting opinions as to why the women could be lying. He mentions the fact that the women is middle aged and has never had a serious relationship. I think he is pointing at the fact that the women could be lying and doing this for some attention.
This story was interesting to read because you finally got an understanding of what different white people thought about black people, and that not all white people are not races like Hawk who thought Will was innocent the whole time. Then you have people like Butch who make all whie men look bad. Its interesting to read southern lit and how it was in the past because some of these things are still happening now in day.
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I really like two points you bring up. One is the way the term “niggerlover” is used. Since Hawkshaw thinks that facts should be accumulated before a man is killed, he is labeled with this term, derisively. It reminded me of the way males will be called “gay” today for any minor deviation from a standard display of manliness. In both cases, I think that the labelers are showing themselves to be unenlightened. There is nothing wrong with sticking up for black people or being different than a “typical guy,” but the vocal majority can make it seem like there is. The men in the Southern barbershop in this story and sometimes men today worry about their own masculinity being threatened and thus label others to avoid being ostracized themselves.
I also liked the point you make about Minnie possibly manifesting the rape because she had not been given attention by males in a long time and desired some attention. This line of thinking coincides with an idea Kate Chopin expressed in her works; women are sexual creatures with sexual desires too.
I agree that Faulkner doesn't "sugarcoat" anything. This reminds me of Frederick Douglass' narrative. Douglass gave us a realistic view of the South during an era of slavery. Faulkner gives us a view of the South after slavery. I don't know how much time has lapsed between the writing of these two pieces, but it's interesting to see that the treatment of black people hasn't changed much.
In Douglass' narrative, we encounter physical beatings of slaves, derogatory terms used against slaves, and the lack of food, shelter and clothing provided to them. In Faulkner's piece, we see the beating of Will Mayes. Faulkner's piece also uses the "n" word. You also mention how they assume Will Mayes is guilty just because he is black. This just goes to show how black people have not received anymore rights, since being freed from slavery.
I agree, I like what you say about the reading. I think that the whole reason why they wanted to kill the slave was just to ensue thier control over the afican americans. because they can feel it slipping away, with each new freed slave, or slave that is educated. they know they are losing control and they step to any length to try and fix this, or stop it. thus they acuse any black man of any crime to ensue a fear in them that they might hope will keep them to afraid to become anything but slaves. the social pressure for them is growing with each new day and it is a pressure that builds on every southern gentlemen.
I agree that this story was interesting to read because in the same story we got more than one perspective of the black people during the same time period. I think that this is really good because it compares the two extremes that we know of. This story is also powerful in that sense because it shows how hard it was at that time to stand up for a black man, regardless of whether or not he was innocent, or if anyone even knew. When the other men insulted Hawk, he continued to defend Will. I think this took a great deal of courage on Hawks part.
I think that Hawk did a really good job at playing the sensible man when you look at al the abuse he had to withstand in order to do so.
I felt the same way as I was reading the story. No one but Hawk seemed to care that Will could have been innocent. It seemed to me that they just picked a random black guy and accussed him of the crime that may have not even existed. No one even cared enough to look into the matter and see if the crime even took place, and if Will was the person who did it.
I really like what you say about the part about using the "n" word. In Faulkner's writings it's used really like it's just a common word I also like what you say about how it's not hard for the other men in the barber shop to jump on the band wagon of thinking Willy is the person who raped her just because he is black. I mean this kind of stuff still happens today. I see it everyday at my job. I work in crossgates and it's funy to see some security guards jump right on younger african american kids just because of their color.
I think that the fact that Faulkner didn't "Sugar coat" anything was also what caught my attention. The language that was used like "Nigger" was what made it more beleiveable. I totally agree with you, that it was the way that white men referred to black people back then and for Faulkner to incorporate that so bluntly into his writing, i thought was good. Yeah as I mentioned i think in my own blog, that the color of the man was the main reason for his conviction. Since he was black that was all that the white men looked at. They didn't care about whether he really did it or not. I really liked the points that you made.
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