“Dry September” delves into the Southern traditions and mindsets about racism during the first half of the nineteenth century through the events following an alleged rape of white woman by a black man; however, Faulkner engages the reader and makes the topic unique and interesting by using rich characterization and imagery, though minimal, that show how societal pressures cause racism to continue. Each and every character is both socially motivated and limited. The barber advocates for justice for Will Mayes, but comes along and takes part in his beating to prevent his own societal defamation and exclusion. McLendon attempts to maintain his military glory and honor through the lynching, while Minnie Cooper accuses the innocent Will for the attention of men she lost with age. These motivations concoct this web of emotions and lies that Faulkner uses to show the pervasiveness of racism and the stagnating ability of the societal traditions in which all the characters take this low route for self-preservation. Furthermore, by incorporating multiple characters and their perspective, he fills in small nuances and backgrounds giving way to this injustice and limitedness with which the reader can connect and make his own judgments. This style and argument thus give the story a myriad of perspectives and interpretations as to how and why racism continues. Lastly, the imagery of the environment and the characters further augments this argument of stagnation. The “rainless days” and “vitiated air” give further sense of the stagnation. The culmination of this display of motivations, consequences and limitations taking around this often-occurring tradition of lynching, thus makes Faulkner’s text interesting and worth reading. ( )

The setting of the story plays a key role in Faulkner’s “Dry September” because the description of the evening as being like a “bloody September twilight” foreshadows the violence that will occur later in the story. Also the rumor that Minnie Cooper was raped by Will Mayes is described as spreading through the town like “fire in dry grass” which is an indicator that the 62 days of drought in the town has made the townspeople susceptible to violence and short tempered to the point where the slightest spark such as a lie or rumor will set them off. Also, the act of Hawkshanks leaping out of the speeding car is symbolic of his disgust of how readily his fellow townsfolk are willing to be consumed by the “fire” as seen in the formation of the lynching mob before Will Mayes ever gets a fair trial. This act could also be the result of Hawkshanks being disgusted with himself for joining in the beating of Will as the black man lashed out at the passengers in the back seat in an attempt to escape. However Hawkshanks running from the scene can also be seen as a cowardly act in that he is only willing to travel “so far down the road” to help out Will. Hawkshanks reaches a point where he realizes the situation is hopeless and flees seemingly to save himself from being beaten or killed for taking believing a black man’s word instead of a white woman’s word. Finally the fact that during Minnie Cooper’s chapters she fails to give one thought to Will Mayes whose life she has potentially taken as a result of her rumor shows the apathy and amoral attitude of white people towards black people that was widespread throughout the southern culture at that time.

I have to admit that I had to read it a couple of times: once to get the story down and again to focus on the details. However, I’m glad I did, because what I noticed I found extremely interesting.
Overall, it’s very clear based on the focus of “Dry September” that it’s about racism. The story focuses on the rapidly forming lynch mob out to punish Will Mayes for supposedly raping Minnie. There’s never the perspective of the supposed criminal (a black man, in this case). You can tell that this mob doesn’t have any facts, especially since the barber tells them to wait for the facts and they just ignore him. The forming mob was waiting for an excuse.
But looking deeper into the story, I found it interesting in how many ways Faulkner hammered his message home. He never answered the question about whether or not Will did indeed rape Minnie, but he made me question that.
First of all, Will was portrayed as an innocent man would when he’s accused wrongly. He was written to seem helpless, which gained him my sympathy.
Also, based on the information given, there was quite a bit of doubt surrounding Minnie. Based on the gossip written, Minnie seems like the “boy who cried wolf” type. So it makes it seem like she’s lying. However, in the end, more doubt is added. We see her trembling and then laughing hysterically, acting like she’s traumatized. So then it starts to feel like maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe she was raped.
But then doubt comes back when we see the mob leader, McLendon, who treats his wife violently as is portrayed as a violent man.
Faulkner provides clues, and we have to play Sherlock Holmes. It’s an interesting approach, and being the problem-solving-lover that I am, it was fun to read.

Faulkner’s “Dry September” is an interesting read, and it provides a glimpse at the characterization of racism. While the story is written in a minimalist fashion, the diction used throughout the story provides the readers with hints necessary to understand this elusive story. Words like “bloody” foreshadow events to occur, and words like “stale breath and odors” creates a negative connotation in association with the racist white males in the story. Through shared dialogue, stereotypical character Butch reveals that he does not care whether or not Will Mayes (a black man accused of raping a white women named Minnie) is guilty or not. Butch’s blatant desire to harm a black man for any reason or no reason is exemplary of racism in the south: hate without rational reason. While the story does effectively demonstrate the grotesque and unethical face of racism, the story is, at times, difficult to follow. The chapters in the story jump from scenes with the men in the barbershop about to jump Billy Mayes to suddenly talking about how Minnie was once popular but is now no longer. However, the purpose of doing so is to allow the audience a look into Minnie’s character, and this demonstration allows the audience to make the decision as to whether or not Minnie was lying or telling the truth about Will Mayes. Overall, this short story is an interesting piece of writing that certainly evokes thought and consideration; it is a worthwhile read.

As much as society would like to believe they have evolved, evident racism is still a considerable issue faced by many facets of people. In William Faulkner’s short story “Dry September” he addresses these issues in a post World War II, southern community after an African American man is accused of raping a middle-aged white woman. The question then becomes who to believe, the Negro or the desperate, washed up lonely woman. The most effective tool that Faulkner utilizes to incorporate an aspect of interest to his piece is adding in the idea of minimalism. Faulkner chooses to switch from character to character in regards to his narration style, which allows the reader an interesting view of the situation and a chance to see how each character views the issue of racism. Further more Faulkner chose to not reveal to the reader in the end if the woman was truly raped or not, which allows the reader to maintain their initial instinct and make the decision for themselves. In the end it is Faulkner’s use of this minimalism that keeps the reader connected to the story and desperate to keep reading to discover the fate of the woman, rapist, and everyone that gets involved.