That Evening Sun
Encyclopedia
"That Evening Sun" is a short story by the American author William Faulkner
, published in 1931 on the collection These 13, which included Faulkner's most anthologized story, "A Rose for Emily". "That Evening Sun" is a dark portrait of white Southerners' indifference to the crippling fears of one of their African-American employees, Nancy. The story is narrated by Quentin Compson
, one of Faulkner's most memorable characters, and concerns the reactions of him and his two siblings, Caddy and Jason, to an adult world that they do not fully understand. The African-American washerwoman, Nancy, fears that her common-law husband Jesus is seeking to murder her because she is pregnant with a white man's child. The title is taken from a blues song by William Christopher Handy, although there is no mention of this in the story.
he commits suicide at age nineteen), telling of events that took place fifteen years before. Nancy is an African-American washerwoman working for Quentin's family since their regular cook, Dilsey, is taken sick. Jesus, Nancy's common-law husband, suspects that she is pregnant with a white man's child and leaves her. At first Nancy is worried about going home at night and running into Jesus, but soon she is paralyzed with the fear of him murdering her, and having delusions of him being hidden in a ditch outside her house.
Quentin and his siblings witness all of this, given that they are presented in every major conversation between their father and Nancy, who tries to help her up to a certain extent, first by taking her home at night. Their mother feels jealous and insecure that her husband is more worried about protecting some "Negro woman" than herself. He puts her up one night at Quentin and Caddy's room after not being able to stay alone in the kitchen. The kids, however, have no idea of what's going on, and cannot understand why Nancy is afraid of Jesus in the first place.
The situation gets out of hand as Nancy begins to be crippled by her fear. One night she feels so impotent that she talks the kids into going home with her. There, she is not able to attend to them, tell them proper stories or even make them some popcorn. Jason, the youngest, starts to cry. Their father arrives and tries to talk some sense into Nancy, who fears Jesus will come out of the darkness of the ditch outside as soon as they go away. The story ends as the father walks the children back—not the least bit affected by Nancy's situation, the kids still teasing each other and the father scolding them.
The substitution of Jubal for Jesus likely was made for censorship reasons.
J.D. Salinger, in his 1964 essay "A Salute to Whit Burnett
" (the editor of Story Magazine
, Burnett was Salinger's mentor whose class in short story writing at Columbia University
he attended in 1939 and who was the first professional to publish one of his stories), said that it was Burnett's use of "That Evening Son Gone Done" in the class that taught him the importance of the author's relationship with his "silent reader".
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
, published in 1931 on the collection These 13, which included Faulkner's most anthologized story, "A Rose for Emily". "That Evening Sun" is a dark portrait of white Southerners' indifference to the crippling fears of one of their African-American employees, Nancy. The story is narrated by Quentin Compson
Quentin Compson
Quentin Compson is a fictional character created by William Faulkner. He is an intelligent, neurotic, and introspective son of the Compson Family. He is featured in the classic novels The Sound and the Fury and Absalom, Absalom! as well as the short stories, That Evening Sun and "A Justice"...
, one of Faulkner's most memorable characters, and concerns the reactions of him and his two siblings, Caddy and Jason, to an adult world that they do not fully understand. The African-American washerwoman, Nancy, fears that her common-law husband Jesus is seeking to murder her because she is pregnant with a white man's child. The title is taken from a blues song by William Christopher Handy, although there is no mention of this in the story.
Plot summary
Quentin narrates the story in the turn of the century, presumably at age twenty-four (although in The Sound and the FuryThe Sound and the Fury
The Sound and the Fury is a novel written by the American author William Faulkner. It employs a number of narrative styles, including the technique known as stream of consciousness, pioneered by 20th century European novelists such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. Published in 1929, The Sound and...
he commits suicide at age nineteen), telling of events that took place fifteen years before. Nancy is an African-American washerwoman working for Quentin's family since their regular cook, Dilsey, is taken sick. Jesus, Nancy's common-law husband, suspects that she is pregnant with a white man's child and leaves her. At first Nancy is worried about going home at night and running into Jesus, but soon she is paralyzed with the fear of him murdering her, and having delusions of him being hidden in a ditch outside her house.
Quentin and his siblings witness all of this, given that they are presented in every major conversation between their father and Nancy, who tries to help her up to a certain extent, first by taking her home at night. Their mother feels jealous and insecure that her husband is more worried about protecting some "Negro woman" than herself. He puts her up one night at Quentin and Caddy's room after not being able to stay alone in the kitchen. The kids, however, have no idea of what's going on, and cannot understand why Nancy is afraid of Jesus in the first place.
The situation gets out of hand as Nancy begins to be crippled by her fear. One night she feels so impotent that she talks the kids into going home with her. There, she is not able to attend to them, tell them proper stories or even make them some popcorn. Jason, the youngest, starts to cry. Their father arrives and tries to talk some sense into Nancy, who fears Jesus will come out of the darkness of the ditch outside as soon as they go away. The story ends as the father walks the children back—not the least bit affected by Nancy's situation, the kids still teasing each other and the father scolding them.
Variation
This story appears as "That Evening Sun Go Down" in The Best American Short Stories of the Century by John Updike, Katrina Kenison. In this version of the story, Nancy's husband is called "Jubal", not Jesus, although a frightened Nancy whispers the word "Jesus" three times in Part II when Caddy is interrogating her.The substitution of Jubal for Jesus likely was made for censorship reasons.
J.D. Salinger, in his 1964 essay "A Salute to Whit Burnett
Whit Burnett
Whit Burnett was a writer and writing teacher who founded and edited the literary magazine Story. In the 1940s, Story was an important magazine in that it published the first or early works of many writers who went on to become major authors...
" (the editor of Story Magazine
Story (magazine)
Story was a magazine founded in 1931 by journalist-editor Whit Burnett and his first wife, Martha Foley, in Vienna, Austria. Showcasing short stories by new authors, 67 copies of the debut issue were mimeographed in Vienna, and two years later, Story moved to New York City where Burnett and Foley...
, Burnett was Salinger's mentor whose class in short story writing at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
he attended in 1939 and who was the first professional to publish one of his stories), said that it was Burnett's use of "That Evening Son Gone Done" in the class that taught him the importance of the author's relationship with his "silent reader".
Resources
- BookRags (commercial) Study Guide on That Evening Sun
- Anthology of Thirties Prose Variant text That Evening Sun Gone Down