The main purpose of the short story “Dry September” is an indictment of Southern culture, specially racism.  In the story, a young black man is murdered.  He is accused of attacking an elderly white woman, Miss Minnie, but is completely innocent.

A common theme in stories of racism in the American South, when a white woman accuses a black man of anything he is innocent until proven guilty.  The story is an indictment of Southern culture because of the following:

1. A white woman accuses a black man of a horrible crime just to get attention.  Miss Minnie is an old spinster just reaching for the spotlight.  She basks in the glory after her accusation and the murder, then returns to being unimportant.
2. Black men are assumed guilty.  Will Mays is murdered for attacking a white woman even though there is no proof that he did it.  He is guilty, and no one bothers to see if he is innocent.
3. Vigilante justice in the form of white mobs killing black men.  There is no trial.  A group of white men kill Mays as soon as he is accused.
4. Murder of a black man is commonly accepted.  No one in the community seems to care that the man might be innocent.  Although they begin to suspect nothing really happened, they are not disturbed by it and Miss Minnie is just upset she is no longer the center of attention.

As you can see, all of these things are terribly wrong and are only present in a terribly racist society.

How is the conclusion of Faulkner's "Dry September" a devastating critique of the South?

“Dry September” is an indictment of the American South’s racism.  The sad story was repeated throughout the American South for many years.  A black man is accused by a white woman, and dies having done nothing wrong.  Even today, blacks are far more likely to be executed in the South than whites.

In this story, an old spinster named Miss Minnie Cooper releases her sexual frustration and loneliness by accusing a black man named Will Mayes of attacking her.  In those days, that was all it took.  He is murdered by a group of white men with no trial.  The reason this story is a devastating critique of the culture of the American South is because it describes an instance that occurred often in real life of vigilante whites murdering blacks for no reason.