Ideas for Reports and Papers
1. Define what constitutes a legend and analyze the mythic elements within the novel that help classify Faulkner's story as a legend.
2. Identify the various methods Faulkner employed to provide his novel with a historical context. What stylistic techniques can authors use to vividly portray the past?
3. Examine the roles of women in Faulkner's story, focusing on Rosa, Ellen, and Judith. Do you believe these women are exploited by men? Discuss the different forms of exploitation that occurred in the South during the Civil War era.
4. Create a character who embodies the stereotypical image of a "Southern gentleman."
5. Discuss the concepts of capitalism and materialism as perceived by the residents of Yoknapatawpha County. Did these ideas dominate during the Civil War era, and do they continue to dominate today?
6. Explain the concept of possession as it relates to the mindset of nineteenth-century Southern society.
7. Exploitation takes various forms in Absalom, Absalom! Discuss the exploitation that occurred in the Antebellum South as it pertains to African Americans, women, and the land.
8. Analyze the significance of how Quentin and Shreve reach their conclusions about Sutpen's story. Discuss their process of arriving at these conclusions and illustrate how this process mirrors the construction of a literary work of fiction.
9. After reading Absalom, Absalom!, the reader understands that the divide between blacks and whites was so ingrained in Southern culture that miscegenation was considered a crime worse than incest. Recount the details from the novel, especially focusing on Henry's murder of Charles Bon, that support this claim.
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