Dry September

As the first half of the 20th century ushered in both the Modernist and Southern Renaissance literary movements throughout the United States, the need for new forms of expression inspired innovative new writing styles. From the story’s imaginary setting in William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County to its shifting narrative style, symbolism, stream of consciousness, and fusion of time, the author explores Southern identity and history using these new modes of storytelling.

For example, while the narrative style of “Dry September” alternates between heavy passages of dialogue and elegant layers of prose, the text represents a departure from the more traditional, linear short story format. While such narrative ambiguity may disorient the reader, it demonstrates a desire to uproot the past and view it from a new perspective within the framework of Modernist ideals. In addition, the rapid-fire succession of dialogue from one character to the next infuses the story with a sense of immediacy that matches the growing agitation of the lynch mob.

Dense layers of imagery juxtapose the natural world against the will of man. For example, as Hawkshaw pursues the mob, the moon (“twice-waxed” or full) is only a rumor below the horizon (175). As McLendon calls for Will at the ice plant, the moon has risen, heavy in its “wan hemorrhage,” and it illuminates the dead air and the dust as if to reveal the horror of the violence to come. Once Hawkshaw jumps from the car to escape a role in Mayes’s murder, the moon is even higher and is “clear of the dust at last” (179). When McLendon returns home and goes to the porch, the “dark world seemed to lie stricken beneath the cold moon and lidless stars” (182). At each point, the moon is in a different position even though the action of the mob cannot be stopped. It illuminates the dust like molten lead at the most depraved moments of violence. Hawkshaw escapes the dust even as he leaves Mayes to his fate; his attempts to thwart the mob were futile, but he was pulled into McLendon’s evil. Finally, the moon in the closing moments with McLendon is simply cold, and neither the lidless stars nor the reader can look away from his evil.

In terms of setting, Faulkner reimagines the space of his hometown through the invention of Yoknapatawpha County in order to distance himself from his otherwise intimate relationship with the South. Free from his family legacy and traditional Southern norms, Faulkner can explore the tensions of the South frequently in conflict with the often-romanticized image of Southern hospitality and gentility embodied within the text of “Dry September.”

For example, while the women of Jefferson represent the idealized vision of Southern charm, beauty, and kindness, their treatment of Miss Minnie reveals a darker nature rooted in malicious gossip and societal alienation. Likewise, as John McLendon is characterized as a war hero, the murder of Mayes and subsequent abuse of his wife reveal his brutality. McLendon relies on his experience and reputation as a war hero to spur the others to violence, proving he is neither courageous nor noble.

Next, the setting of the barbershop is infused with toxic masculinity, typifying the exclusive space of financial, political, and social discourse historically denied to women. Recalling Victorian notions of womanhood, the women of “Dry September” don’t have jobs outside the home, and the only activities they publicly engage in revolve around their physical appearance and leisure activities. However, in sharp contrast to the wealthy, aristocratic women of Jefferson, McLendon’s wife symbolizes the victimization of lower-class women as unwilling participants caught in an unbreakable cycle of domestic violence.

Lastly, as the subtext of Part 4 of “Dry September” testifies, Miss Minnie’s friends have genteel facades that mask falseness. They seem solicitous to her feelings and ask if she’s strong enough to go out, but their eyes are glittering, and they insist that when she feels stronger, Minnie must reveal everything about the incident with Will Mayes; they give away that their concern for her is only prurient curiosity. When the four women reach the square and the friends point out that the Black citizens of Jefferson are absent, they speak in “hissing exultation.” They vicariously enjoy the attention Miss Minnie is attracting, but the auditory imagery of the snake and the repeated references to their glittering eyes are deeply unsettling. They take Miss Minnie home and continue to care for her, but in doing so, they call her “poor girl” and search for gray in her hair while they smooth it. They both delight in her faded youth and contribute to the fantasy that she is still young. When Miss Minnie is forced to reconcile the reality of what she’s done and who she is, she becomes hysterical. The women, who previously wanted to hear everything, try to keep her quiet when she expresses genuine—but uncontrollable—emotions resulting from her crisis. Faulkner’s portrayal of Miss Minnie’s friends in Part 4 of “Dry September” exposes the hypocrisy and shallowness beneath their genteel exteriors.