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Transcript

Theme

Although the story touches on such aspects of early twentieth century southern life as the imposition of technology on a culture of traditional handicrafts, the awkward and frequently cruel adjustments of the races to social change, and the inequality of the races under the law, “That Evening Sun” is mainly a story about fear—fear rendered all the more terrible by Nancy’s total isolation among others who cannot understand, share, or relieve it.

Conflict

Main Characters

Climax

Nancy Has taken the compson children to her house, where she can't keep the kids entertained, and also there is a possibility of her common-law husband waiting outside her house to kill her.

Nancy:

Nancy is an African-American washerwoman working for Quentin's family since their regular cook, Dilsey, is taken sick.

Caddy Compson:

Caddy is the middle child of the three Compson children of "That Evening Sun." She likes Nancy and can sense Nancy's fear, but is too young to understand what is frightening Nancy.

Candace Compson

Jason Compson:

At age five, Jason is the youngest of the Compson children. He is quite childish, and he is also selfcentered. He keeps repeating "I ain't a nigger" to Nancy, and she is especially worried he is only concerned about such matters as whether Dilsey will make him a chocolate cake. Like his mother, Jason represents the indifference of many white people to the problems of their black employees.

Quentin Compson:

Quentin narrates the story. He is nine. We see very little of his personality come out in this story; of the three children, he speaks the least. Yet we do learn that he has the most responsibility of them all.

The climax in this short story is when Quentin our protagonist takes the kids and leaves the cabin leaving Nancy all alone to possibly die

Setting

summary

The story takes place in the early 1930's in midwest USA

Rating

Quentin narrates the story in the turn of the century, presumably at age twenty-four, telling of events that took place fifteen years before. Nancy is an African-American washerwoman working for Quentin's family since their regular cook, Dilsey, is taken sick. Jesus, Nancy's common-law husband, suspects that she is pregnant with a white man's child and leaves her. At first Nancy is worried about going home at night and running into Jesus, but soon she is paralyzed with the fear that he will kill her, and having delusions of him being hidden in a ditch outside her house.Quentin and his siblings witness all of this, given that they are present for every major conversation between their father and Nancy. Mr. Compson tries to help her up to a certain extent, first by taking her home at night despite the fact that Mrs. Compson mother feels jealous and insecure that her husband is more worried about protecting some "Negro woman" than herself. He puts her up one night at Quentin and Caddy's room when she is too afraid to stay alone in the kitchen. The kids, however, have no idea of what's going on, and cannot understand Nancy's fear.

As the narrative progresses, Nancy becomes crippled by her fear. One night she feels so impotent that she talks the kids into going home with her. There, she is not able to attend to them, tell them proper stories or even make them some popcorn. Jason, the youngest, starts to cry. Their father arrives and tries to talk some sense into Nancy, who fears Jesus will come out of the darkness of the ditch outside as soon as they go away. The story ends as the father walks the children back—not the least bit affected by Nancy's situation, the kids still teasing each other and the father scolding them.

Symbolism and Figurative Language

  • Iron poles bearing clusters of bloated and ghostly and bloodless grapes: In this image, referring to electrical poles with clusters of clear glass insulators that protect electrical wires, Faulkner draws attention to the sterility of the story's Southern culture.

Point of View

The story is told through the first person narrative by our protagonist Quentin Compson.

That Evening Sun By: William Faulkner

By Renton and Anthony

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