Faulkner's Acceptance

Faulkner’s acceptance speech was the first of his words that really spoke to me since the semester began. I read somewhere that Faulkner used to go to gas stations or street corners and ask people for definitions of words and synonyms. I posted this finding on my Facebook earlier in the semester and believing I was insulting Faulkner I got allot of opposition on that post especially from family members strangely enough. My cousin in California even posted that very Banquet Speech and I read through it for the first time. Rereading it now in relation to Temple and Popeye I see allot of Faulkner’s same feelings or expressions in the writing of their reflections on what occurred during Sanctuary. I feel some days as though I am watching the end of the world when I hear what people say about the same-sex marriage I’m fighting for and what other events they relate it to like the Boston Marathon Bombings. I began a novel in Fiction Workshop that I have been writing since last semester and I came to a point where I wrote a suicide narrative for my main character. She did not die, but she was in the same way as Temple reflecting on the possibility of escaping this world and its evils. I was pouring my own reflections into my writing through that character and I believe that is what Faulkner was perhaps doing in Sanctuary with Temple and because these words were ones he would rewrite in many other works it made its way into his acceptance speech. This version is more positive and depicts the conclusion that Faulkner came to himself about what he would do to fight this inevitable end of humanity. I believe humanity dies every day but only in an individual case and here Faulkner refuses to let his humanity die. I finally found a reason to at least respect Faulkner through this speech because those are things that I strongly believe in as well. As a teenager who has experienced every form of homophobia through being harassed, discriminated against and blackmailed all for the sake of my sexuality I saw fit at some point in both my high school and college journeys to end my life. I am very fortunate to have found a reason to live in my fight for the rights of every other LGBTQ student that can gain acceptance from my sacrifices here at McMurry. I relate the concluding words of Faulkner’s speech to the future; “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. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.” I am a writer, a poet and I will not let my voice be extinguished. Faulkner and I share that same view and I am happy to have finally found something noteworthy in this author.