The Two Selections Described in the Books - Essay Example

Your Instructor’s Name Course Date Term Paper The two selections that I am going to discuss here are ‘Barn Burning’ by William Faulkner and ‘Paul’s Case’ by Willa Cather. Before discussing the two stories let us first understand the background of the two writers. Willa Cather was born in 1873, a Pulitzer Prize winner, has been celebrated for her exceptional works. Cather is especially appreciated for her depiction of ordinary people, she depicted the general life while at the same time expressed her frustration and loneliness in the stories as well. Of more interest has been her personal life as her sexual inclinations remain unknown even till now, even though there are speculations about her being a lesbian. Due to her own sexual inclinations, her characters too don’t show a definite sexual tendency. Her personal life has been a topic of speculation and people try to draw her inclinations from the characters she wrote. William Faulkner, a Nobel Prize winner, was born in 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi. William Faulkner is well known for his stories that unravelled the history of the South In an attempt to create a saga of his own, Faulkner has invented a host of characters typical of the historical growth and subsequent decadence of the South. The human drama in Faulkners novels is then built on the model of the actual, historical drama extending over almost a century and a half Each story and each novel contributes to the construction of a whole, which is the imaginary Yoknapatawpha County and its inhabitants. Their theme is the decay of the old South, as represented by the Sartoris and Compson families, and the emergence of ruthless and brash newcomers, the Snopeses (William Faulkner-The Nobel Prize in Literature 1959). William Faulkner explains the same conflicts intricated in a well planned plot in Barn Burning as well, the story stands out in with its plot of a family where the protagonist and antagonist try to provide their views. The first selection, ‘Paul’s Case-A Study in Temperament’, is the story of Paul, a high school student, who finds the idea of living like his father and other people, who lead a life of routine, preposterous. The scene opens with Paul being questioned about his ‘questionable’ behaviour, he had been suspended for a week before this, and the scene provides a clear depiction of what people think of Paul. However, the story turns interesting when Paul starts expressing his own views about various things, his romanticism with art and the lavish lifestyle of artists; he wants to live it all, except that his father doesn’t think of art and artists highly. The story intricately develops on Paul’s character which itself explains for his actions and desire to escape with all the money to live a life of his own. Perhaps Paul always knew that sooner or later he will be found, so he lived the time to the fullest, the ending shows how worthlessly he had lived his life, he himself knows that there were too many things he left undone. As the name indicates the story is just an open case of a person, and it is left for readers to decide what exactly was Paul’s character, and as a reader I can only say that Paul leads a life romanticizing about things, it isn’t exactly wishful thinking on his part, but I think that the author also wanted to indicate that usually people who live their life trying to acquire all the wealth and success are the ones who lead it frivolously, Paul dreams of lavish life as well but then his repugnance for everything that normally people do and the way they lead their dull life attracts my attention. His rebellious attitude does not make him a hero, but his innate desire to fulfil his wish for at least once makes him better than most of us, who perhaps keep our innate desires at bay. Can anyone disagree to thinking of leading the kind of life that Paul lived? The author has developed symbolism in the story very carefully; in fact the colours indicate Paul’s feelings and enhance reader’s capability to understand him. The main colours mentioned in the story are yellow, blue, red, purple, and black. Yellow indicates everything that Paul despise like the “horrible yellow wallpaper" in his bedroom which disgusts him to the core, the colour also stands for Paul’s fear and cowardice, his incapability to fight for what he stands for with gusto, instead his ways of escaping from all that he fears makes him hollow (Carpenter-Houde). "Paul never went up Cordelia Street without a shudder of loathing. . . . He approached it tonight with the nerveless sense of defeat, the hopeless feeling of sinking back forever into ugliness and commonness that he had always had when he came home (Cather)”. The colour blue is Paul’s way of escaping from the dull life to his own dream world which includes "Raffellis gay studies of Paris streets and an airy blue Venetian scene", "blue Rico", "blue-and-white Mediterranean shore” (Cather). The colour red has a rather powerful depiction in the story considering the story starts with the mention of a red carnation about which “faculty somehow felt was not properly significant of the contrite spirit befitting a boy under the ban of suspension (Cather)”. This red was Paul’s way of indicating his rebellion towards the normal social order. “His need to distinguish himself from the rest of society and to see himself as superior is evident in his fascination for red (Cather)” The colour purple indicates his love for “luxury, royalty and prosperity”. During his indulgence in New York, “surrounded with all the beautiful people, fresh flowers and champagne, Paul "felt now that his surroundings explained him. Nobody questioned the purple; he had only to wear it passively"”. At the end of the story, when the “red carnations in his coat were drooping with the cold, he noticed; their red glory all over (Cather)”, it indicates the end of Paul as well. The other selection we are going to discuss is “Barn Burning”. The main theme of the story involves the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist, and the reason for the conflict arises because of protagonist’s dislike for the dubious ways of antagonist who also happens to be his father, so the protagonist, Sarty, is confused between what to choose from morality and family. Sarty is a young kid, and as a kid one always wants to find a role model in his father, however, in his attempt to find a role model in his father, who by no means is the kind to be accepted as a role model, finds his own sense of justice and his father’s behaviour conflicting. However, the end signifies an important conclusion about how one needs to step ahead of the things that restrain him from choosing the right path. The symbolism indicated in the story is through fire, the fire represents the hatred and anger of Abel Snopes, the antagonist. The burning of barns of each of his “foes” indicate that he is filled with hatred and his almost blinding rage doesn’t differentiate between anybody, the only people who are secure against his attacks are his ‘blood people’ and everybody else is his enemy, which is the reason for his attitude of disrespect towards everybody including his employers. During the final barn burning episode, Abner’s total disrespect for other people encourages Sarty to break the ties and follow the right path. When Sarty tries to save the barn from burning by warning DeSpain, he in fact had already unconsciously decided to choose the right path and to escape from the bondage of his father. The setting in fact is a perfect example of symbolism, when Sarty says that “he found that he had been asleep because he knew it was almost dawn, the night almost over (Faulkner)”, it indicates that his long tryst with darkness, or injustice, was over and that he had finally done the right thing. “He was a little stiff, but walking would cure that too as it would the cold, and soon there would be the sun. He went on down the hill, toward the dark woods within which the liquid silver voices of the birds, called unceasing-the rapid and urgent beating of the urgent and inquiring heart of the late spring night. He did not look back (Faulkner).” The two selections discussed here might seem totally different from one another, but in fact the two selections are similar in that they try to represent particular class of people and provide an exceptional description of the way society works. Both have a common thread of being able to connect to its readers through an emotional connection where readers feel various emotions for the characters and try to learn through the character’s own actions. The two authors provided very interesting readings and need to be applauded for their effort in bringing out almost perfect short stories. Bibliography “About Willa Cather”. Retrieved on 18 March 2009. Bernando, Karen. “Willa Cather’s ‘Paul’s Case’”. Retrieved on 17 March 2009. . Cather, Willa. Paul’s Case-AStudy in Temperament. Retrieved on 18 March 2009. . Cather, Willa. Pauls Case- Great Short Stories by American Women. Ed. Candace Ward. New York: Dover Publications, 1996. 111-129. Carpenter-Houde, Ren. “Symbolism in Paul’s Case.” Hohonu 2:2 (2004). Cuizon, Gwendolyn. “Barn Burning by William Faulkner.” 2009 (6 June 2009). Faulkner, William. “Barn Burning.” Harper’s Magazine. New York: Harper and Brothers Publications, 1939. “Paul’s Case-Summary”. Retrieved on 17 March 2009. . Ramaswamy, Jayashree. “The Burning Issues in William Faulkner’s Barn Burning.” Chillibreeze. 2009. (3 March 2009). . Roberts, James L. “CliffsNotes on Faulkners Short Stories.” 2009. (3 March 2009). . “William Faulkner.” Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia. 2001 ed. “William Faulkner-The Nobel Prize in Literature 1959.” Nobelprize.org. Retrieved on 5 June 2009. Read More