Faulkner's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

                “That Evening Sun,” set in the early 1900s in the South, introduces characters that display aspects stated from William Faulkner’s acceptance speech such as “courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion…” Nancy, a black woman who works for a white family, is one of those characters; she kept yelling “When you going to pay me, white man? When you going to pay me, white man? It’s been three times now since you paid me a cent—(Faulkner 168)” to Mr. Stovall even though he constantly attacked her and used her for sexual purposes. Nancy showed persistence and courage to Mr. Stovall.  Through Nancy, Faulkner demonstrates the theme of strength towards adversity.

                Faulkner also uses pity in “That Evening Sun,” especially when Nancy accepts her fate and becomes fearful of what Jesus could do to her. She talks about being gone and Caddy says, “Gone where, Nancy?” Caddy shows some pity for Nancy. However, the children only cared about the dishwashing that Nancy does. Faulkner, through the character Jason, displays pride in this story because Jason denies his racial background by repeatedly saying “I ain’t a nigger. (Faulkner 170-171)” Through these characters, Faulkner writes about courage, honor, pride, and pity because they “help man endure by lifting his heart,” because the heart is in conflict with itself.