William Faulkners That evening sun go down - Coursework Example

That Evening Go Sun Down William Faulkner’s “That evening sun go down,” is a short story that features Nancy, a Negro woman that does laundry and housework in Jefferson neighborhood. The story features great indifference from white folks that seemingly care very little about their regular house servant that does their dishes, prepares their meals and cleans their laundry-perhaps because she is black and ill mannered according to them. Nancy’s woes seem to have begun much earlier, and the happenings in the story are just a culmination of her daily habits. From the start of the story the readership learns that Nancy’s major work is to do dirty laundry in Jefferson’s neighborhood for the white folks (Faulkner 1). However, she is also at times called upon to make breakfast in her master’s house. Apart from her daily life and chores Nancy seems to have a tumultuous personal life that leads her from one disaster to another. Firstly, her marriage does not seem to be a very good one. From the story we learn that other black men in the neighborhood help their women to carry and transport the dirty linen for washing and back to the owners. However, Nancy’s husband Jubah does not do so, for reasons that are unknown, but allude to his uncaring nature: “Sometimes the husbands of the washing women would fetch and deliver the clothes, but Jubah never did that for Nancy…(Faulkner 1).” Apart from the not so good marriage, Nancy is engaged in substance abuse and prostitution with white men in Jefferson’s neighborhood. The readership learns of her substance abuse habits, when she declines to go and prepare breakfast at her master’s house. In the particular instance the master’s children called at her house in their usual way, by throw of stones. Surprisingly, she came out naked shouting at the kids and saying that she was going back to sleep and therefore could make no breakfast: “I ain't studying no breakfast," Nancy laid. "I going to get my sleep out (Faulkner 1).” This was perhaps due to her being under influence. Later we learn that she indeed fails to make the breakfast and the master’s children get late for school. Later, in the story, during her arrest the readership comes to realization that indeed Nancy practices prostitution and uses abuses more than just alcohol. Nancy is arrested probably for being under cocaine influence and not whiskey as told by the narrator. The narrator’s statement: “So we thought it was whiskey until that day when they arrested her again…(Faulkner 1).”-alludes to the fact that she might have been under the influence of a drug other than alcohol. During the arrest, Nancy accosts Mr. Stovall demanding pay for her service delivery in what is not explicitly told, but implied to be prostitution services because Mr. Stovall who is a deacon in the local Baptist church gets so furious to the point that he kicks her teeth out. In the commotion that ensued Nancy kept shouting: “…When you going to pay me, white man? It's been three times now since you paid me a cent (Faulkner 1).” This implies that she perhaps regularly delivered sexual services to white men including Mr. Stovall. While at the jail she shouts and yells and finally tries to commit suicide, by hanging herself with her dress. All these antics during the arrest and custody suggest imply that she might have been under the influence of something stronger than alcohol, because the jailer states that: “…it was cocaine and not whiskey, because no nigger would try to commit suicide unless he was full of cocaine, because a nigger full of cocaine was not a nigger any longer (Faulkner 1).” The whole story’s unfolding shows Nancy’s lack of responsibility and accountability for her own life. This causes her husband to desert her, when he learns that apart from her substance abuse, Nancy was pregnant with another man’s child-most probably a white man. This greatly angers Jubah, who when asked by the master’s children about the source of Nancy’s belly painfully comments that: “I didn't," ... "It wasn't me that give it to her. But I can cut it down, same as if it was (Faulkner 1).” This implies that Jubah was greatly disappointed with her. All the white folks that Nancy served seem to hold her responsible for her misfortunes, which according to them were as a result of her bad behavior and substance abuse. At some point while escorting her home, her master tells her that it was her fault that all the problems had befallen her. The master states that: “If you'd behave yourself, you'd have kept out of this ... "But it's all right now. He's probably in St. Louis now. Probably got another wife by now and forgot all about you (Faulkner 1)." This implies that Nancy’s bad behavior had been the main reason as to why she had landed in the kind of problems that she was in at that moment. This was a form of rebuke from the master for her bad self conduct. Further on, he even advices her to let go white men if she wished for the best in her life as shown by this statement: "Well, he's gone now," ... "There's nothing for you to be afraid of now. And if you'd just let white men alone (Faulkner 1)." From the story we also learn that no one seems to have pity for her situation because their actions tend to imply that they do not care, because she was the main cause of her own problem. This can be exemplified by the jailer, who instead of empathizing with her when she tried to hang herself, cuts her down, beats her and whips her mercilessly for trying to commit suicide. This implies that she bore full consequences of her action. In another part of the story, when unable to go her home due to the fear of Jubah, the mistress of the house states that: “"You'll leave me alone, to take Nancy home?" mother said. "Is her safety more precious to you than mine? (Faulkner 1). " This implied that no one seemed to care and they all laid blame on her for her own woes. Further in the story, the mistress even declined to have her sleep in her house because she cared little about her. It is thus apparent from the story that all the white folks hold Nancy responsible for her problems, with the only excuse accorded to her problems being that stated by the jailer, who blames her suicidal behavior on cocaine and not herself. In all this unfolding Nancy seems to deny her responsibility and the fact that all that has begotten her is as a result of her own behavior. She keeps on reiterating that it’s not her fault as evidenced by the following recurrent soliloquy "I done got tired,”… "I just a nigger. It ain't no fault of mine (Faulkner 1). " She seems to believe that the problem is not of her own making. She perhaps thinks it is the white man’s problem. This is also evidenced by the fact that she expects some one apart from herself to come to her own rescue. In the conversation with her master, she states that: "Can't nobody do nothing with him…(Faulkner 1).” By this she implies that the threat posed by Jubah is not only hers and someone should respond too in assisting her. Jubah also denied responsibility as witnessed in the statement in which he stated that he was not responsible for her pregnancy. In turn, the denial implied that all that she underwent were her own problems and not his because he believed that he played no part in what was taking place in her life. However, from the background information we may deduce that she actually played a part because we learn that he was not a caring and loving husband as others that would assist their women in their duties (Faulkner 1). From the story we can learn and deduce the fact that most of what begot Nancy was as a result of her own doing. Engagement in immoral activities such as prostitution and excessive substance abuse would neither find her favor before Jubah nor the eyes of the actual Jesus, because these were sinful acts, and therefore she was highly likely to be accorded the same treatment by all, by virtue of her conduct. Works Cited Faulkner, William. That evening sun go down, retrieved on 2nd December, 2011 from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/white/anthology/faulkner.html, 2011, web Read More