Short Story, "That Evening Sun"

The ironic thing is that the readers go forth soon learn that she impart shortly lose much teeth the next day on her way to jail. She passes Mr. Stovall, the sporting father of her child, on her way to jail and yells at him. Mr. Stovall responds by kicking her in the face, whereby she lost more of her teeth. Nancy was complaining because her neat "john" had never paid her for her sexual services.

Faulkner's story reveals the tragical irony in the note: Nancy's husband wants to everyplacecome her for her extracurricular act despite the occurrence that she only slept with a bloodless man because she was poor and needed m unrivalledy. The irony is heightened by the fact that she was never paid by Mr. Stovall, and endures assault and battery when she attempts to tattle out approximately the injustice of her situation.

The irony elements in Nancy's situation continues passim the entire story. Quentin, who cares about Nancy but realizes that if she, as a gr knowledge up, can do nothing to extricate herself, that any(prenominal) effort on his part would also be futile. succeeding(a) the theme of Nancy's re concentrateation to the fact that she will not be treated justly by anyone--or life in general--Quentin asks a question which reveals that he is beginning to comprehend that he whitethorn never see Nancy again. Quentin asks, "Who will do our washing straight off?" (Frey, p

Howe, Irving. William Faulkner: A Critical Study. gelt: Elephant Paperbacks, 1975.

Frey, Leonard H. "Irony and Point of View in 'That Evening Sun.'" Faulkner Studies (Autumn, 1953): 33-40.

slightly of the confusion about the role "Jesus" played in the story is apparently caused by the fact that Nancy's husband is, again ironically, named Jesus. Moreover, Faulkner never actually reveals whether Jesus is really coming to eradicate his estranged wife or not, so whether Nancy's fears are gaga is the kind of thing that reasonable minds may disagree about (Magill, p. 2325). The fact that her husband's name is Jesus is ironic (Perrine, p.

24) because in most respects, not only can she not turn to her own husband for help, but her faith in Jesus does not seem to bring her any justice either. Nancy is still frighten that she will die. In any case, Nancy is destroyed, one way or another, by fear. She is no longer capable of watching over the children (she has to lure them home to watch over her), and she is convinced that she will not be returning the next morning, no press what Mr. Compson has to say about it.

The theme of Nancy's fear also runs throughout the whole story. By the end, Nancy's state of emotional and mental debilitation is so extreme that she can no longer support against the threat of her husband returning home to kill her, she patently submits to the fear and her own exhaustion and waits in the dark, for him to come and kill her (Harrington, p. 54). Faulkner uses the symbolism of Nancy's fear of the dark as a sign that she is afraid of her impending doom. The fear of being alone in the dark symbolically refers to her Nancy own feelings of overwhelming helplessness in the face of death.

Perrine, Laurence. Instructor's Manual for Story and Structure. New York: Harcourt, 1970.

Another one of the ironies in this story is the indifference of the Compsons (Howe, p. 266). No matter how Nancy pleads, at the end, with Mr. Compson abo
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