William Faulkner: A Critical Analysis of Two Short Stories

Ambigious Psychological Themes in Faulkner's Fiction

For the purposes of this essay, I am going to cite and explain a thematic ambiguity that is present in two short stories written by William Faulkner: "A Rose for Emily" and "Barn Burning." Faulkner is known for writing about the American South. However, the themes present in his stories are not alike the themes that are conventional to that genre. The main characters in these two stories are both involved in a psychological struggle created by their histories of dependence on their fathers. However, after their fathers' deaths, both characters are confronted by an independence and free will they had not known before. Although the two stories employ ambiguous psychological themes of mind as both dependant and free, they seem to show the latter triumphing over the former, suggesting that ideals are ultimately proactive.

William Faulkner was considered a modernist author. Modernists were writers, artists, and musicians who promoted a new way of life—a break from the past and its traditions. They believed that the ideals of the past were hindering movement into a new social, political, and cultural society. One aspect of modernism was its philosophy which based many of its ideas on existentialism. Both Faulkner’s modernist views and modernism’s existentialist principals become evident when examining the psychological thematic ambiguities in “Barn Burning” and “A Rose for Emily.”