Social

concepts in
Faulkner’s
works
An analysis of two short
stories by Charles Declercq
 Introduction
• "A Rose for Emily" is a short story by American
author William Faulkner, first published on April
30, 1930. The story takes place in Faulkner's
fictional Jefferson, Mississippi, in the equally
fictional county of Yoknapatawpha.
• "Dry September" is a short story by William
Faulkner. Published in 1931, it describes a lynch
mob forming (despite ambiguous evidence) on a
hot September evening to avenge an alleged (and
unspecified) insult or attack upon a white woman
by a black watchman, Will.
• Analysis under the notion “Relation entre
l’individu et le groupe” :
- Similarities : Stories about facts
- Differences : Themes
- The Southern Belle : an idea that leads to
hypocrisy and violence
Stories about
social facts

• Both short stories are about social

issues concerning mad women
and rumors spreading.

• There is always an uncomfortable

atmosphere that makes us
understand the context.

• There is the group, the society

against the alone person.
Different themes

• Dry September is about racism and narrow-minded

people who only want to express their will of violence or
just their madness.

• A Rose for Emily deals with the hypocrisy and lack of

compassion of people in the appearance society.
The Southern Belle : an idea that leads to
hypocrisy and violence

• Minnie Cooper is mad and she only wants to be seen,

thanks to that myth of the pure woman protected by
violent men, and Miss Grierson is discriminated in the
name of the southern belle.

• That social oppression makes everyone mad, because it

creates a machine of feelings and reactions among the
society, and the only solution to be happy seems to be
the exil from the world, as did Emily.