The Town (Faulkner novel)

Last updated
The Town
TheTown.jpg
First edition
Author William Faulkner
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series Snopes trilogy
Publisher Random House
Publication date
1957
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages388 pp
OCLC 24181257
Preceded by A Fable  
Followed by The Mansion  

The Town is a novel by the American author William Faulkner, published in 1957, about the fictional Snopes family of Mississippi. It is the second of the "Snopes" trilogy, following The Hamlet (1940) and completed by The Mansion (1959).

Contents

Plot summary

Each chapter is narrated from the point of view of one of three characters: Chick Mallison, Gavin Stevens, or V.K. Ratliff.

Chapter One
(Narrator: Chick Mallison)

Flem moves into Jefferson; is cuckolded by de Spain. De Spain's election. Flem is made power-plant supervisor. Flem steals brass from the plant. Flem plays Tom Tom and Turl off against each other; Tom Tom cuckolds Turl. The firemen hide the brass in the water tower.

Chapter Two
(Narrator: Gavin Stevens)

Eck Snopes saves a Varner Negro, breaking his neck in the process; he is "never in the world a Snopes." He changes jobs several times. Discussion of Snopes family structure, economy. I.O. Snopes comes to town and moves up (e.g., becomes schoolmaster). Children of Eck and I.O. The Snopes Hotel opens.

Chapter Three
(Narrator: Chick Mallison)

Jefferson gossips about Eula. The Cotillion Ball is planned; de Spain invited after some debate. De Spain squeals his tires; under Gavin's instigation, Gowan finally manages to pop one of his tires. De Spain sends Gowan a special corsage; the town experiences a corsage panic leading up to the ball. At the ball, Gavin challenges, fights, and is beaten by de Spain.

Chapter Four
(Narrator: V.K. Ratliff)

Recap: trial of Mink Snopes for killing Jack Houston. Gavin prepares an indictment against de Spain, as mayor, for Flem's theft of the brass at the power plant, largely motivated by his desire to stand up for "the principle that chastity and virtue in women shall be defended whether they exist or not." Gavin receives an anonymous note ...

Chapter Five
(Narrator: Gavin Stevens)

Gavin meets with Eula in his office at night. She offers to sleep with him, out of a desire to keep him from being unhappy. (93) Gavin deduces that Flem is impotent. Gavin analyzes his own personality and Eula's motives, and declines her offer.

Chapter Six
(Narrator: V.K. Ratliff)

De Spain outmaneuvers Gavin on the brass-stealing indictment, rendering the investigation moot. Ratliff speculates about why de Spain appeals to Eula, while Gavin does not. Gavin leaves for Heidelberg.

Chapter Seven
(Narrator: Chick Mallison)

Gavin joins the French service in WWI; catches pneumonia while carrying a stretcher for them. Eck Snopes blows up a gas tank and himself, too, while looking for a missing child, Cedric Nunnery; his neck brace is all that can be found to bury. Montgomery Ward Snopes, in France, goes into the "canteen business," then opens the Atelier Monty when he gets home. Chick and Ratliff form their ice-cream/Snopes-watching association. Bayard Sartoris accidentally kills his grandfather, the Colonel, with that damned newfangled car. Byron Snopes steals money from Sartoris's bank. Wall Snopes begins to set up his trade empire. Brother (?) of Ab Snopes and the watermelon patch. Gavin is home from Europe.

Chapter Eight
(Narrator: Gavin Stevens)

Gavin speculates on the principles of Snopesism (hermaphroditic but vested always in the male); on the relationships between himself, Eula, and de Spain. Flem rises in the bank hierarchy, trading again on Eula; also trading on the fact that he makes good Byron's theft; acquires methodological knowledge of banking. He withdraws his money and deposits it in a competing bank. Wall Snopes graduates, marries a woman who hates the Snopes clan and all they stand for, and goes into business for himself. Flem blocks Wall from getting a loan to expand; Wall expands anyway and opens a wholesale.

Chapter Nine
(Narrator: V.K. Ratliff)

Chapter consists entirely of these sentences: "Because he missed it. He missed it completely."

Chapter Ten
(Narrator: Chick Mallison)

Uncle Willy Christian's drugstore robbed of money and narcotics; night marshal Grover Winbush is nowhere to be found during the event. This starts a chain of events leading to the uncovering of the Atelier Monty as a "dirty picture" "magic lantern," which is why Grover Winbush was not available to catch the perpetrators of the robbery. Flem tries to influence Gavin in the handling of the Montgomery Ward case, then plants whiskey in the Atelier Monty.

Chapter Eleven
(Narrator: V.K. Ratliff)

Chapter consists entirely of this paragraph: "And still he missed it even set--sitting right there in his own office and actively watching Flem rid Jefferson of Montgomery Ward. And still I couldn't tell him." Here, Ratliff is aware that Flem is ensuring that Montgomery Ward will be sent to Parchman (for the whiskey) rather than an out-of-state prison (for the porn, a federal charge) so that he will have a chance to trick Mink into attempting to escape.

Chapter Twelve
(Narrator: Chick Mallison)

Linda is meeting Gavin; Gavin's motive is to "develop her mind." Linda comes to dinner with the Stevens/Mallison family; her boyfriend Matt objects, driving up and down in his racing car. Matt attacks Gavin in his office leaves after giving him a good beating.

Chapter Thirteen
(Narrator: Gavin Stevens)

In which Linda cries a great deal and it becomes apparent that she is willing to marry Gavin, although she doesn't really want to get married at all, despite the fact that she loves Gavin.

Chapter Fourteen
(Narrator: Chick Mallison)

Matt follows Linda around town, gets in a fight with a McCallum boy, and is forced out of town. Gavin buys Linda a traveling case.

Chapter Fifteen
(Narrator: Gavin Stevens)

Gavin speculates on Linda's good name and on the nature of the quality of innocence. He attempts to manage carefully the town's perception of his relationship with Linda by making their encounters seem coincidental. Gavin and Linda avoid each other, then try to meet. Eula reveals her plans to attend the Jefferson Academy for Women (or whatever it's called); Gavin is horrified. He goes to call on Linda, who explains how Flem bought his furniture. Eula asks Gavin to marry Linda. The details of Eula's dowry are clarified.

Chapter Sixteen
(Narrator: Chick Mallison)

(Cf. the short story "Mule in the Yard.") The story of Old Het. Mr. Hait's death; Mrs. Hait snopeses I.O. Snopes over the matter of the killed mules. Mrs. Hait invaded by mules. Her house burns down, but she saves her money. Mrs. Hait buys the mule that burned the house down from I.O. at a reduced price, and shoots it; then she sells it back to I.O. before he discovers that it's dead. Flem forces I.O. back to Frenchman's Bend permanently. Ratliff hypothesizes on Flem's plans and motives, esp re: Linda. Flem, he argues, must now have respectability.

Chapter Seventeen
(Narrator: Gavin Stevens)

Gavin speculates on Flem's "untimely" interest in money. Flem's method/motivation in withdrawing money from his own bank; the effects this had. Gavin speculates on Eula's sexual motives, plus those of Varner & de Spain. Speculation about how Eula disrupts the economy of Snopesism. Flem gives Linda permission to go away to school because he has extracted something more valuable than he gives her. Flem tells Mrs. Varner that Eula is cheating on him.

Chapter Eighteen
(Narrator: V.K. Ratliff)

Ratliff gives Flem a ride out to Frenchman's Bend. Uncle Billy drives in early.

Chapter Nineteen
(Narrator: Chick Mallison)

Polio comes to Jefferson; Chick and schoolmates get an extended holiday while the town officials try to figure out what to do. No one will explain the de Spain-Eula affair to Chick. Ethnography/history of Jefferson. The affair is finally actually public instead of just semi-publicly gossiped about. Eula gives Chick an envelope to give to Gavin.

Chapter Twenty
(Narrator: Gavin Stevens)

Eula's note asks Gavin to meet her in his office at 10pm. Mr. Garraway disapproves of adultery. Geographical description of Yoknapatawpha County. The town waits for the affair to blow up. Eula visits Gavin; reveals how Linda was sent to the Academy, that Flem is impotent, and what Ratliff's first and middle names actually are. Asks Gavin again (several times) to marry Linda.

Chapter Twenty-one
(Narrator: Chick Mallison)

Eula has killed herself. The town is outraged at de Spain; he has to leave. Eula's funeral arrangements are made.

Chapter Twenty-two
(Narrator: Gavin Stevens)

Gavin insists to Linda that Flem is her father; Linda is doubtful.

Chapter Twenty-three
(Narrator: V.K. Ratliff)

Flem's social/financial position is apparently solidified. Eula's monument is delegated to Gavin; he arranges for it. Ratliff suggests that Gavin marry Linda. Linda makes travel plans and departs after she and Flem see her mother's grave.

Chapter Twenty-four
(Narrator: Chick Mallison)

Ratliff/Gavin's theory about Eula's motive for suicide: Eula was bored. The half-Apache children of Byron Snopes come to visit, then are sent back.

Critical analysis

Andrew Lytle has noted Faulkner's particular focus on Flem as the key protagonist of the novel, and discussed the multiple levels of social respectability depicted in the novel. [1] Raymond J Wilson III has examined the mutual corruption of the town of Jefferson by Flem Snopes, and vice versa, as well as details in narrative inconsistencies between events mentioned in The Town and other Faulkner novels. [2] Paul Levine has discussed the recurring themes of love and money in the course of the trilogy. [3]

Owen Robinson has noted the contrast in the narrative style and tone between The Hamlet and The Town. [4] Thomas H Rogers commented critically, in his contemporary review of the novel, in his comparison between the literary merits of The Hamlet and The Town. [5] Peter Swiggart has noted that the events and style in The Town reflect Faulkner's attempts to create a more realistic social milieu compared to his other works. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Faulkner</span> American writer (1897–1962)

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of his life. A Nobel laureate, Faulkner is one of the most celebrated writers of American literature and often is considered the greatest writer of Southern literature.

<i>Light in August</i> 1932 novel by William Faulkner

Light in August is a 1932 novel by the Southern American author William Faulkner. It belongs to the Southern gothic and modernist literary genres.

<i>The Pursuit of Love</i> Book by Nancy Mitford

The Pursuit of Love is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1945. It is the first in a trilogy about an upper-class English family in the interwar period focusing on the romantic life of Linda Radlett, as narrated by her cousin, Fanny Logan. Although a comedy, the story has tragic overtones.

<i>The Sound and the Fury</i> 1929 novel by William Faulkner

The Sound and the Fury is a novel by the American author William Faulkner. It employs several narrative styles, including stream of consciousness. Published in 1929, The Sound and the Fury was Faulkner's fourth novel, and was not immediately successful. In 1931, however, when Faulkner's sixth novel, Sanctuary, was published—a sensationalist story, which Faulkner later said was written only for money—The Sound and the Fury also became commercially successful, and Faulkner began to receive critical attention.

<i>Sartoris</i> 1929 novel by William Faulkner

Sartoris is a novel, first published in 1929, by the American author William Faulkner. It portrays the decay of the Mississippi aristocracy following the social upheaval of the American Civil War. The 1929 edition is an abridged version of Faulkner's original work. The full text was published in 1973 as Flags in the Dust. Faulkner's great-grandfather William Clark Falkner, himself a colonel in the American Civil War, served as the model for Colonel John Sartoris. Faulkner also fashioned other characters in the book on local people from his hometown Oxford. His friend Ben Wasson was the model for Horace Benbow, while Faulkner's brother Murry served as the antetype for young Bayard Sartoris.

<i>As I Lay Dying</i> Novel by William Faulkner

As I Lay Dying is a 1930 Southern Gothic novel by American author William Faulkner. Faulkner's fifth novel, it is consistently ranked among the best novels of the 20th century. The title is derived from William Marris's 1925 translation of Homer's Odyssey, referring to the similar themes of both works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biff Tannen</span> Fictional character from the American sci-fi film trilogy Back to the Future

Biff Howard Tannen is a fictional character and a major antagonist in the Back to the Future trilogy. Thomas F. Wilson plays Biff in all three films as well as the Universal Studios ride, and voiced the character in the animated series. Aidan Cutler played him in the original West End production of the first film's stage musical adaptation, and Nathaniel Hackmann plays him in the Broadway production. Biff is the main antagonist of the first and second films. Biff's great-grandfather, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, is the main antagonist of the third.

<i>Sanctuary</i> (Faulkner novel) 1931 novel by William Faulkner

Sanctuary is a 1931 novel by American author William Faulkner about the rape and abduction of an upper-class Mississippi college girl, Temple Drake, during the Prohibition era. The novel was Faulkner's commercial and critical breakthrough and established his literary reputation, but was controversial given its themes. It is said Faulkner claimed it was a "potboiler", written purely for profit, but this has been debated by scholars and Faulkner's own friends.

<i>Go Down, Moses</i> (book) Short story series by William Faulkner

Go Down, Moses is a 1942 collection of seven related pieces of short fiction by American author William Faulkner, sometimes considered a novel. The most prominent character and unifying voice is that of Isaac McCaslin, "Uncle Ike", who will live to be an old man; "uncle to half a county and father to no one". Though originally published as a short story collection, Faulkner considered the book to be a novel in the same way The Unvanquished is considered a novel. Because of this, most editions no longer print "and other stories" in the title.

<i>Intruder in the Dust</i> Novel by William Faulkner

Intruder in the Dust is a 1948 crime novel written by American author William Faulkner. Taking place in Mississippi, it revolves around an African American farmer accused of murdering a Caucasian man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Rose for Emily</span> Short story by William Faulkner

"A Rose for Emily" is a short story by American author William Faulkner, first published on April 30, 1930, in an issue of The Forum. The story takes place in Faulkner's fictional Jefferson, Mississippi, in the equally fictional county of Yoknapatawpha. It was Faulkner's first short story published in a national magazine.

"Barn Burning" is a short story by the American author William Faulkner which first appeared in Harper's in June 1939 (pp. 86–96) and has since been widely anthologized. The story deals with class conflicts, the influence of fathers, and vengeance as viewed through the third-person perspective of a young, impressionable child. It precedes The Hamlet, The Town, and The Mansion, the three novels that make up Faulkner's Snopes trilogy.

<i>The Hamlet</i> William Faulkners first part of the Snopes trilogy

The Hamlet is a novel by the American author William Faulkner, published in 1940, about the fictional Snopes family of Mississippi. Originally a standalone novel, it was later followed by The Town (1957) and The Mansion (1959), forming the Snopes trilogy.

<i>The Mansion</i> (novel) 1959 novel by William Faulkner

The Mansion is a novel by the American author William Faulkner, published in 1959. It is the last in a trilogy of books about the fictional Snopes family of Mississippi, following The Hamlet and The Town.

<i>Requiem for a Nun</i> 1951 novel by William Faulkner

Requiem for a Nun is a work of fiction written by William Faulkner. It is a sequel to Faulkner's early novel Sanctuary, which introduced the characters of Temple Drake, her friend Gowan Stevens, and Gowan's uncle Gavin Stevens. The events in Requiem are set in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County and Jackson, Mississippi, in November 1937 and March 1938, eight years after the events of Sanctuary. In Requiem, Temple, now married with a child, must learn to deal with her violent, turbulent past as related in Sanctuary.

<i>The Long, Hot Summer</i> 1958 film by Martin Ritt

The Long, Hot Summer is a 1958 American drama film starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, and Orson Welles. It was directed by Martin Ritt, with a screenplay by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr., based in part on three works by William Faulkner: the 1931 novella "Spotted Horses", the 1939 short story "Barn Burning" and the 1940 novel The Hamlet. The title is taken from The Hamlet, as Book Three is called "The Long Summer". Some characters, as well as tone, were inspired by Tennessee Williams' 1955 play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a film adaptation of which– also starring Newman – was released 5 months later.

"Spotted Horses" is a novella written by William Faulkner and originally published in Scribner's magazine in 1931. It includes the character Flem Snopes, who appears in much of Faulkner's work, and tells in ambiguous terms of his backhand profiteering with an honest Texan selling untamed ponies. "Spotted Horses" was later incorporated into The Hamlet under the title "The Peasants: Chapter One".

<i>Intruder in the Dust</i> (film) 1949 film by Clarence Brown

Intruder in the Dust is a 1949 crime drama film produced and directed by Clarence Brown and starring David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr. and Juano Hernandez. The film is based on the 1948 novel Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner, and was filmed in Faulkner's hometown of Oxford, Mississippi.

<i>The Sound and the Fury</i> (1959 film) 1959 film by Martin Ritt

The Sound and the Fury is a 1959 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt. It is loosely based on the 1929 novel of the same title by William Faulkner.

Gavin Stevens is a lawyer and the county attorney in Jefferson in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. He was educated at Harvard and Heidelberg universities.

References

  1. ↑ Lytle, Andrew (July–September 1957). "Review: "The Town": Helen's Last Stand". The Sewanee Review. 65 (3): 475–484. JSTOR   27538664.
  2. ↑ Wilson, Raymond J, III (Winter 1980). "Imitative Flem Snopes and Faulkner's Causal Sequence in The Town". Twentieth Century Literature. 26 (4): 432–444. doi:10.2307/441454. JSTOR   27538664.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ Levine, Paul (December 1961). "Love and Money in the Snopes Trilogy". College English. 23 (3): 196–203. doi:10.2307/373006. JSTOR   373006.
  4. ↑ Robinson, Owen (Fall 2003). "Interested Parties and Theorems to Prove: Narrative and Identity in Faulkner's Snopes Trilogy". The Southern Literary Journal. 36 (1): 58–73. doi:10.1353/slj.2003.0039. JSTOR   20078382. S2CID   159797192.
  5. ↑ Rogers, Thomas H (Autumn 1957). "Review: Farce and Anecdote". Chicago Review. 11 (3): 110–114. doi:10.2307/25293383. JSTOR   25293383.
  6. ↑ Swiggart, Peter (April–June 1960). "Review: The Snopes Trilogy". The Sewanee Review. 68 (2): 319–325. JSTOR   27540585.
Preceded by Novels set in Yoknapatawpha County Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.