99,000 Essays & Term Papers: Where You Buy Essays and Papers Online
Direct Essays, Where You Can Buy Essays and Papers Online

Instant Access to Buy Essays and Papers Online!
Acceptable Use Policy
Customer Service
Site Search


Login to View Essays and Papers Online

Join Now - Instant Access to Essays and Research Papers!

  Essay and Research Paper Topics
Acceptance Essays
Arts Essays
Custom Essays
English Literature Essays
Foreign
History Essays
Miscellaneous Research Papers and Essays
Movie Essays and Papers
Music Term Papers
Novels
People and Biography Research Papers
Politics Research Papers
Religion Research Papers
Science Essay Topics
Sports Research Papers
Technology Research Papers
 
  FAQ
Technical Support
Site Map
Direct Essays
 

 



Welcome to Direct Essays

This is a short summary of this paper!

Already a member? Go here to log in and view the entire paper!


Join Now!
by: Credit Card
Join Now!
by: Online Check
Join Now!
by: Phone 1-900
Special! View this paper for FREE!
  

Dry September

It is important to bear in mind that William Faulkner's short stories take place in the fictional county of Yoknapatawpha (Northern Mississippi). It is also important to stress that Faulkner lived the greater part of his life in the town of Oxford, Mississippi, which served as his model for the fictional Jefferson, the setting of many of his short stories.

Faulkner's family lived during the prosperous decades of Mississippi. However, after the war broke out, they went through a very critical time. Faulkner meditated on the story of his family, as well as on his own, and made use of it to create his fiction.

"Dry September" is a story in which he deals with very polemic issues, such as racism, violence, and the position of women in society. This story opens our eyes to several problems that affect our society, as well as to the question of prejudice, which is inherent in all human beings.

The story revolves around a rumor that a black man called Will Mayes had raped Miss Minnie Cooper - a white unmarried woman in her late thirties: "... it had gone like a fire in dry grass - the rumor, the story, whatever it was.". As Jefferson is a small town, rumors fly like fire in a dry field.

The conflict is presented to us at the very b


Women were expected to marry, and when they did not, something suspicious was thought to be going on. Single women were rejected by society and subject to all sorts of malicious gossip. When Minnie Cooper is seen with the widower cashier, for example, the townspeople simply assume that she is having an adulterous affair, despite the lack of evidence.

McLendon's behavior also causes us to reflect on how hypocritical our society is. He feels he has the right to punish Will Mayes for having attacked Minnie Cooper, yet at the end of the story he strikes his wife for an absurd reason. Through this scene, Faulkner illustrates the helplessness and vulnerability of women in the male-dominated Southern society.

In the denouement, we find out that the furious white men lynched Will Mayes, and left him somewhere out of town to die. The violence of the lynching scene is shocking. Will Mayes is completely defenseless. He can be compared to game that had been trapped by a group of hunters. Had Will Mayes not been murdered, the story would have had a completely different meaning.

It is important to stress that in "Dry September" the significant revelation comes only to the readers. After Will´s murder nothing changes in Jefferson or any of the characters. Yet, anyone who finishes reading this short story is surely left with several questions to ponder on.

The air in the town is described as "vitiated", which means "corrupt"/"degraded"/"perverted". With this description, the author is criticizing the mentality of the citizens in Jefferson. The idea that the white men in town decide to lynch a black man without even bothering to investigate whether he is actually guilty triggers a lot of indignation on the readers, but that is how things happened in the South of the United States at the time. Slavery had just been abolished, and white people were having a very hard time accepting this new reality. Racism was taken to its ultimate consequences. The truth is that the abolition of slavery in the country did not make black people's lives any better. The social, economical and political segregation remained, leading to serious racial conflicts that last until the present day.

One of the barbers tries to calm the angry men down and to convince them that Will Mayes is incapable of doing such a terribl

Some common words found in the essay are:
Minnie Cooper, Dry September, September Jefferson, Civil War/, United Slavery, Oxford Mississippi, World War, minnie cooper, Northern Mississippi, William Faulkner's, dry september, fire dry, affect society, , fire dry grass, causes reflect, rainless days, sixty-two rainless, rape story, society subject, southern society, gone fire dry, sixty-two rainless days, miss minnie cooper,
Approximate Word count = 1556
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)


  

More Essays on Dry September

Dry September1428 words
Dry September367 words
comparative essay Dry September A Rose for Emily925 words
William Faulkner His Life and Stories: Barn Burning, A Rose for ...2617 words
shortstory paper2132 words

Look at even more essays on Dry September
More English Essays

Professional Papers:
Evaporation and Intermolecular forces This laboratory invest372 words
Evaporation ampamp Intermolecular Forces This laboratory invest372 words
Depression and Anxiety Among Adult Children of Alcoholics How1907 words
Chemistry Experiment1971 words
Nursing Associations3064 words
The Condom Industry1921 words
Special! View this paper for FREE!
Click here to JoinNow!
by: Credit Card
Click here to Join Now!
by: Online Check
Click here to Join Now!
by: Phone 1-900

 

All papers and essays are for research and reference purposes only!
Copyright 2002-2009 Direct Essays , LLC. All Rights Reserved. DMCA
Webmasters make $$$$
Saved Papers