The Mind of a Great Reader

Have you ever questioned if your life could get any better when everything
appears to be going well? One's life may be improved in a variety of ways, including
thinking optimistically, spending more time with family, being open to change, and
listening to others. In the interview, the way of “listening to others” helped William
Faulkner drastically since it helped him create his most highly praised piece called “The
Sound in the Fury”.

Upon watching the video, I can say that William Faulkner is an open-minded and
a determined man. It was said in the video that his friend Sherwood Anderson, a gifted
writer from Ohio, gave Faulkner the idea to write about where he came from and to
keep the story’s setting in Mississippi, his home. Faulkner grasped this idea and
implemented it and soon was born his work entitled “The Sound in the Fury”. Being
open-minded is a fantastic attribute to have since learning to listen and consider what
others advise us to do will help us make our lives better. Faulkner's involvement in
poetry composition at the age of 12 indicated his determination. He practiced
sufficiently that he was able to publish his first piece, "The Marble of the Faun."
Furthermore, I realized that Faulkner is a wordsmith and a conceptualist as a writer.
Knowing that even when he was young, he was able to compose his own work and
have it published. I didn't even have the capacity to compose a piece of work as good
as his by the time I was 12. I believe it is a talent that he can use words to create
something lovely. Moreover, Faulkner envisioned the use of culture in order to create
an atmosphere in which one may experience what it is like to be in the story's setting.

Faulkner gave a short speech in the Stockholm City Hall, his speech was about
his opinion about the difference between good and bad writing. It was said that
Faulkner considered bad writing as problems in our world that would soon be forgotten.
He also mentioned how little purpose a bad writing served. To be honest, who wants to
read a work that has terrible language, incorrect punctuation marks, unclear phrases,
and too many cliches? It is preferable to disregard these and read something else
instead. Faulkner's concept of good writing, on the other hand, was ageless and
focused largely on difficulties of daily life that we all experience at some point or
another, hardships that transcend generations, and things that unify us all so that we
may better understand and connect with one another.

Faulkner was given an idea by his friend Sherwood Anderson and that was the
beginning of his journey that made him a great writer. Anderson pitched him a brilliant
idea of writing about where he was from. So Faulkner wrote about Mississippi because
it was the place that he could describe by heart since it was the place he called home.
Faulkner believed that a writer’s mission is to write about things that will help man in
battle, it can be done by making him feel better through reminding him of the glory of
his past which are honor, courage, pride, hope and compassion.

In 1949, Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize. He also won two National Book
awards and two Pulitzer Prizes. Although these achievements of his along with his great
attributes, made him one of the great writers of the 20 th century. He was also an
individual who recognized the value of sharing the information acquired in life with
other people in order to follow his own paths one day.

As a person who is not big fan of reading, the video gave me a purpose to read
his works. I saw how amazing of a writer he is and how inspiring of a person he is to
help other writers by giving them advices, the same thing with what his friend did to
him that made a great impression on his career.

After watching the interview, I was able to know how important it is to be open
to other people’s suggestions and ideas. I saw how it made a great impact in Faulkner’s
life and maybe it can make a great impact in my life too. I also had a clear vision as to
what good writing truly is. It is about the hardships in life and how it holds us together
so that we can understand and emphathize with one another.