Faulkner's Nobel Prize Acceptance Letter

Faulkner’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech addresses the next generation of writers in the world.  He challenges them to write about the human spirit.  Faulkner states, “The young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat” (Faulkner 176).  He provides this challenge to the younger generations because writing has strayed from focus on the human heart and spirit.  We must write about the human spirit because it motivates people and helps people understand and get through their lives.  Until a writer looks into the nature of the human spirit, his or her stories will lack depth and meaning.  This can be seen in the quote, “He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, and victories without hope and worst of all, without pity or compassion” (Faulkner 176).  Without tapping into the human spirit, our writing will mean nothing.

            We see Faulkner dive into the human spirit in his short story, “That Evening Sun.”  We see fear, which Faulkner describes as ‘the basest of all things,” (Faulkner 176) in the characters Nancy and Jason.  Nancy fears the dark and her husband Jesus.  These scare Nancy because they threaten death.  Jason, although just a little boy, is frightened of many things, including the dark and getting in trouble.  Another theme found Faulkner’s short story that he addresses in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech is the desire to live and thrive.  Nancy shows this in the, “That Evening Sun,” through her fear of Jesus.  She says, “When yawl go home, I gone,” Nancy said.  She talked quieter now, and her face looked quiet, like her hands. “Anyway, I got my coffin money saved up with Mr. Lovelady” (175).  Nancy fears that Jesus will kill her when she is left alone.  She tries to postpone the inevitable so she can live as long as she can.  This shows the desire of humans to live and thrive in the time they have on Earth.

        Faulkner said  “It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past” (Faulkner 176).  We see Nancy showing courage in the past when she confronts Mr. Stovall and says, “When you going to pay me, white man?  When are you going to pay me, white man?  It’s been three times now since you paid me a cent” (Faulkner 168).  Nancy shows courage by standing up to Mr Stovall in the racist community she lives in.  Her reward for it was a kick to the mouth from Mr. Stovall.  This shows the strength of the human spirit in writing.  Faulkner encourages other writers to follow his example by writing about the strength of the human spirit.