Arushi Bahuguna

789

Examine how Faulkner’s short story ‘Dry September’ encodes and subverts
racial discourse.

William Faulkner’s Dry September (1931) is a short story that narrates the
murder of an African American man by a gang of racist men. The story portrays
the extremely racist ideology of American society in the South and how those
who do not subscribe to it are forced to comply and maintain white
supremacy. Faulkner subverts racial discourse by exposing racial stereotypes as
false and racist violence as an attempt to efface the crumbling of white
superiority.

Faulkner’s critique of racism begins from the very first line of the story as he
introduces the “rumour” about “something” that happened (or didn’t)
between Will Mayes and Minnie Cooper. By making the rumour as vague as
possible, Faulkner shows how racist violence doesn’t result from a particular
event, but from hatred perpetuated by racial discourse. The rumour does not
even name Will Mayes, it just identifies him as a Negro, signifying that it is his
race and not what he did or did not do which will determine people’s reaction
towards him. The story demonstrates how racial ideology guides the
perceptions and actions of different people in the white community. The
responses of different characters to the rumour are related to the economic
position they occupy. Hawkshaw the barber is the only one earning a decent
income and he is also the one who takes Will Mayes’s side. However,
Hawkshaw’s defence of Will Mayes does not classify him as a white man
speaking for equality among racial groups. While other characters
disapprovingly see Hawkshaw as a defender of the “black sons”, Faulkner
shows how he too subscribes to racial ideology. Hawkshaw calls Will Mayes a
“good nigger” and later in the story refers to the black community of Jefferson
as the “best niggers”. His belief in Will Mayes’s “good” character is dependent
upon Will’s compliance to the racial ideology and acceptance of white
superiority. Hawkshaw’s belief in his innocence is also contingent on the
circumstances. It is the fact that Minnie Cooper’s sexuality is not under any
male control and the stereotypes associated with spinsterhood that convince
him of Will’s innocence. His clients – all white men- do not place sexist
stereotypes above racist ones. They construct the image of Will Mayes in the
stereotype of the aggressive and bestial man who is a physical threat to the
white community. Nobody responds to Hawkshaw’s description of Minnie
Cooper as a sexually frustrated woman as for them her “word” as a white
woman is all that matters. They perceive people’s actions not as individuals but
as members of a racial group. Unlike Hawkshaw, they do not even take Will’s
name, and for them he can be replaced with any black man:

“Maybe you know who did it, then. Maybe you already got him out of town,
you damn niggerlover”

For racist extremists, when Hawkshaw defends a black man he is not defending
an individual but the stereotypical black man whose aggression needs to be
checked by a united white community. Faulkner encodes racial discourse by
illustrating construction of racial stereotypes and how they facilitate racial
violence despite there being very little evidence of actual aggression from the
black community against which the whites feel the need to unite.

Faulkner repeatedly emphasises the “mild, stubborn tone” in which Hawkshaw

counters the views of his clients who are convinced that Will Mayes is guilty.
His tone is contrasted with the assertive tone of his clients and the incredulity
that they show at Hawkshaw’s act of defending a black man “in this town”.
Hawkshaw is told that “the south don’t want (his) kind” and that he is “one hell
of a white man” by his clients. He runs the threat of being socially excluded
and also suffering financially if he does not comply with the racist extremism of
his clients. Faulkner’s critique of racism becomes powerful as it shows how a
man who becomes “sick at the stomach” by racist violence is a part of the
lynching gang. Racist ideology is therefore shown to be suffocating to a white
man as it is to the black community. There is a feeling of claustrophobia to
Hawkshaw’s compliance yet revulsion at racial extremism. This is implied
subtly in how “mildly” he has to disagree with his clients, and overtly in his
pleas to McLendon to let him “get out”. Hawkshaw’s difficult position is
illustrated by the manner in which he has to leave his shop and follow
McLendon and his other clients. His incomplete sentence as he leaves: “I can’t
“ is ironic as he wants to convey that he can’t let them lynch innocent Will
Mayes, but it actually means that he cannot afford staying away from the
lynching gang, for that would mean social exclusion and subsequent poverty.

Hawkshaw’s compliance with racial codes is reluctant but it reveals how crucial
it is for the whites to maintain racial hierarchy as they owe their privileged
economic position because of the suppression of the black community.
Faulkner does not merely subvert racism through showing racist violence but
in examining the motivations of the perpetrators of that violence. Except
Hawkshaw, all men who end up lynching Will Mayes occupy an economically
lower position. Their racist belief of superiority over the blacks clashes with the
reality of their economic inferiority. As Janet Elizabeth Barnwell points out,

“the young man Butch, who has not yet made his way in the world, the
drummer who is an outsider, and McLendon who has been decorated for
valour in the First World War but who lives in a house described as a “bird
cage” most vehemently argue to have Will Mayes killed”. 1

While their lower economic position drives them towards violence, Faulkner
shows how in the beginning their racial hatred is only limited to assuming that
Will Mayes is indeed the assaulter and they are more concerned about
convincing Hawkshaw. It is with McLendon’s arrival that an urgency to act is
created and all men are challenged as white males to accompany him.
Faulkner’s critique of racial discourse is deepened by his examination of how
gender identities are connected to racial identities. Before McLendon’s arrival
everyone condemns Will Mayes verbally, but they are sprung to action as
McLendon’s challenge becomes an affront to their masculinity. McLendon uses
the rumour to suggest that Will Mayes’s assault on a white woman is a
castration of all white men as incapable defenders of their women. This makes
Hawkshaw’s argument that Minnie is a sexually promiscuous woman lose its
strength altogether. As a white woman, she is not just a symbol of white
superiority over the blacks but also a repository of the white male’s
masculinity. Once they convince themselves that the rumour is true, Will
Mayes’s assault is read as doubly disruptive of both white and masculine
identities of these men. Faulkner’s description of McLendon presents him as a
1
Barnwell, Janet Elizabeth. NARRATIVE PATTERNS OF RACISM AND RESISTANCE IN THE WORK OF WILLIAM
FAULKNER. December 2002.
hyper masculine man whose “heavy-set body” and “bold glance” is able to
capture the group’s attention. Not only his poise, but his words appeal to their
sensibilities as youthful men to emulate his conduct and follow his lead.
McLendon uses very graphic language to convince them of the urgency to act:

“Are you going to sit there and let a black son rape a white woman on the
streets of Jefferson?”

McLendon seems to be echoing Iago who uses compelling graphic imagery to

convince others of his disgust at a black man’s sexual encounter with a white
woman. McLendon appeals to the anxiety of a white man who feels shaken by
the changes in social hierarchy as the blacks are now able to occupy a higher
position than before. Lynching becomes an important act of reinstating
superiority of the whites as it is a way of terrorising the black community and
deterring their attempts to be a part of the elite class. Racial discourse calls for
an organised white community to suppress the blacks by whatever means
necessary. This is why the drummer despite being “an outsider”, and hence
having no ties to the community of Jefferson, agrees to join McLendon. Even
though the rumour serves to stir the men’s sense of duty as protectors of
white women, Faulkner lays continual emphasis on the men’s inferior
economic condition as the real cause of their actions. The end of the story
shows how “the defender of white womanhood”2 beats his own wife for
simply waiting for him to get home. McLendon’s attack on his wife stands for
his frustration with the private space- his limited and impoverished existence
in the bird cage that is his home. Once a captain who commanded men to
inflict violence on the enemy, he continues to spew violence on people who
emphasise his loss of control and inferior social position.

McLendon and the gang’s encounter with Will Mayes subverts racial discourse
as it presents a stark contrast between the stereotypical image of Will Mayes
that the men had formed and his actual character. He is not the aggressive and
bestial man who threatens to upset the racial hierarchy dictated by the whites.
On the contrary, he is completely compliant to behaving with them as
superiors and is terrified as he is approached by the gang. It is with the aim of
striking terror in the hearts of the blacks that McLendon and his gang decide to

2
Volpe, Edmond L., “Dry September”: Metaphor for Despair
lynch him. However everyone is not as confident in partaking in the crime as
they project to be. Though McLendon is an ex-soldier whose ego would be
satisfied by the lynching act, another soldier in the group is rather passive in
his approach as he doesn’t want “everyone in town” knowing about it. Later in
the story even McLendon’s pride in being identified as Will’s murderer is
proven to be just false confidence because he makes sure it is dark when they
approach Will Mayes. Faulkner underlines the irony in the fact that these men
who are so proud of their white skin use darkness to mask themselves as they
approach the black man. Will Mayes is unable at first to see who the attackers
are as he looks “from dim face to dim face”.

Faulkner exposes the unjust power that racist ideology grants the white
community and the disadvantaged position of the blacks by making the
“negro” a night watchman. Will’s frightened state and his question: “what you
all say I done, Mr. John?” signify that his job of night watchman does not grant
him any kind of authority over white men as it is supposed to. The one
entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the safety of Jefferson is ironically
the one who feels most unsafe. The irony becomes heightened when one of
the men “produces handcuffs” and it is the night watchman who is handcuffed
by a gang of murderers. Hawkshaw’s complete failure to “not let” the men
harm Will Mayes is highlighted again as he too “struck” him like all of
McLendon’s companions. As Lawrence Jay Dessner suggests, it is Hawkshaw’s
reflex action to strike even when he knows that Will only accidently hurt him.
For a man who accompanied the gang with an aim to deter them, it is
significant how he ends up striking the black man who he knows is innocent. It
is this complicity of people who know the injustice of racial ideology and yet
become perpetrators of violence that makes Faulkner’s critique remarkable.

Dry September offers a deep insight into how racial discourse informs the
actions of a community and the anxieties that it is used to efface. Faulkner
subverts racial discourse by contrasting the stereotypes it constructs with the
actual disadvantaged position of the blacks. He presents the picture of a
society in flux, a society where hierarchies established by racial ideology are
shaken up because the blacks are in a position to compete for social mobility in
the same sphere as the whites.