William Faulkner's "That Evening Sun"

William Faulkner’s “dislocation of narrative time and his use of stream-of-consciousness techniques” are definitely evident in “That Evening Sun”. In my opinion, the storyline jumps from scene to scene and the use of stream-of-conscious is especially evident in Jason and Caddy. Jason interjects random thoughts spontaneously. I had a difficult time following and understanding what his comments meant at certain points in the story. Nancy’s thoughts are also presented quite erratically as if she was not a good state of mind. It seems possible she could be dealing with some type of mental disorder as she unsuccessfully and then talks again of committing suicide.

Nancy’s life depicts the type of lives many Negro women endured during this time period. With few employment opportunities for black women, they simply had to support themselves in whatever manner they found available. Faulkner alludes to the idea she may be participating in prostitution; a reason her husband Jesus would have to not be pleased. It is disturbing the physical way in which she was treated, being assaulted by Mr. Stovall, then being beaten by the jailor. Then Faulkner contrasts this to the treatment by Jason, the father. He seems to be overly protective and concerned for her welfare. At one point, I had to wonder if he was possibly having some sort of relationship with her. He was willing to upset his wife in order to attend to Nancy’s needs.

I was surprised the exposure the children of the home had to the “negros”. They were exposed to quite a bit of black culture and adult conversation which they questioned of things they did not understand. Their questions did not seem to ever be answered though; they just normally led to some out of context comment from Jason. Normally, the children were not allowed to spend much time with the “hired help” especially those of a different race.

I either totally misunderstood the end of the story or it ended quite abruptly. The only thought I had to explain it was how quickly they could have dismissed Nancy from their minds and lives if she were to follow through with her threat to commit suicide.