William Faulkner Trivia

1. Perhaps the most quoted line from this very famous novel is "My mother is a fish." Which character settles on this idea as a way of understanding mortality?

From Quiz William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying"

Answer: Vardaman

Vardaman is the youngest child who associates the death of a fish in time and his memory with the death of his mother. He comes to believe that his mother actually has to be a fish. Shortly after coming to this conclusion, he actually bores holes in his mother's coffin to allow her to breathe.

From Quiz The Works of William Faulkner

Answer: Absalom, Absalom! (1936)

"Light in August", whose main character is Joe Christmas, is significant in various themes, including its depiction of the Calvinist religion; a good start for emergent Faulknerians. "The Wild Palms" is actually two novellas. "Sartoris" is about the Sartoris clan and is the first novel set in Faulkner's famous fictional county (called "Yocona" in this novel), and is a dramatically cut version of his later novel, "Flags in the Dust".

From Quiz "Light in August" by William Faulkner

Answer: She's alone, pregnant, and on the the road to find her future child's father.

She ventures out in search of Lucas Burch, who left her six months prior and promised to return for her. He never meant to keep that promise.

From Quiz "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

Answer: 1929

It became his fourth novel published.

From Quiz "A Rose for Emily"

Answer: Grierson

This is stated in the first phrase of the story. The Grierson family was an important family in the Antebellum society of Jefferson.

From Quiz The Works of William Faulkner

Answer: Nobel Prize Speech, Stockholm, December 10, 1950.

Faulkner's statement reflects his philosophy of writing and is seen in most of his works. About Ernest Hemingway, Faulkner said, "Hemingway has never been known to write a word that would send a reader to the dictionary."

From Quiz "Light in August" by William Faulkner

Answer: Lucas Burch

When Lena catches up to him, he escapes her through a window.

From Quiz "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

Answer: Caddy

Faulkner revealed Caddy as his "heart's desire" in a University of Virginia seminar some years after publication of "The Sound and the Fury".

From Quiz Absalom, Absalom! The novel

Answer: French

I think the French architect is really just a catalyst for the chapter where Sutpen describes his youth to Quentin's grandfather. Or does he stand for something more important....?

From Quiz William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying"

Answer: Jewel

Jewel and his half brother Darl have a seethingly passionate and antagonistic relationship.

From Quiz The Works of William Faulkner

Answer: Joseph Blotner

Joseph Blotner's biography, "Faulkner: A Biography" (1991), includes photos, a bibliography and index. Blotner was a friend and colleague of Faulkner's at the University of Virginia. Dr. Karl Kirkland is a renowned Faulkner scholar who is a contributor to "Teaching Faulkner", a prestigious Faulkner publication and also teaches a course entitled "Faulkner for Medical Students" at The University of Alabama School of Medicine. Clifton Fadiman (1934-1942) and Brendan Gill (1953-1957) were critics at "The New Yorker". Fadiman's intense dislike for Faulkner's work makes interesting reading.

From Quiz "Light in August" by William Faulkner

Answer: He does it with a razor.

There is a fire, but only after she is already dead.

From Quiz "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

Answer: Quentin

He deliberately lied to his father in claiming incest with Caddy.

From Quiz "A Rose for Emily"

Answer: Tobe

Tobe was Miss Emily's only link to the outside world - he would shop for her, but would not talk to the townspeople about Miss Emily.

From Quiz William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying"

Answer: Coffin

Faulkner divides his novel into fifty-nine sections. Nineteen of these sections are in the troubled, profound mind of Darl, the second oldest brother. In Cash's section, the reader sees his meticulously accurate mind at work. His section is a numbered list, beginning "I made it on the bevel." His final line in this section is, interestingly, number 13, "It makes a neater job." The first section, Darl's, refers to Cash sawing, to the "chuck" "of the adze."

From Quiz The Works of William Faulkner

Answer: Yoknapatawpha

Yoknapatawpha (pronounced YOK na pa TAW fa) County is the fictional site of most of Faulkner's novels. The Tallahatchie is a real river in Mississippi. Oktibbeha is a real county in Mississippi. Yocona (pronounced YOK nuh)is also an actual Mississippi river, an abbreviated form of Yoknapatawpha and was the original name for Yoknapatawpha County in the early novel, "Sartoris".

From Quiz "Light in August" by William Faulkner

Answer: $1000

Joe Brown does his best to collect on his exfriend's bounty.

From Quiz "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

Answer: Jason

He blames the Jews for his failures and discriminates against the blacks.

From Quiz Absalom, Absalom! The novel

Answer: Wash Jones

The weapon Jones uses is a rusty scythe--the scythe that Sutpen gave him to cut down weeds. (Implication about Sutpen?)

From Quiz "A Rose for Emily"

Answer: Jefferson

This is stated in the last sentence of the first section. Jefferson is a fictional town and which state it is in is not mentioned.

From Quiz The Works of William Faulkner

Answer: Choctaw Indian word

While Faulkner never disclosed the source of the name, one Faulknerian did a study of Choctaw Indian words and concluded it was a combination of Choctaw words meaning "a plowed field". Cherokee Indians did not live in Mississippi in any significant number, while there was a substantial Choctaw population at one time. I made up the other answers.

From Quiz "Light in August" by William Faulkner

Answer: She died from jumping out of a hotel window.

She was having an affair which resulted in the town's displeasure towards the Reverend.

From Quiz "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

Answer: Dilsey

Jason dislikes her because he knows she's suspicious of his doings. She takes Benjy (the man child) along with her to church for Easter Services.

From Quiz "A Rose for Emily"

Answer: Homer Barron

After Miss Emily dies, the townspeople find Homer's body in an upstairs bedroom of her house.

From Quiz William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying"

Answer: Addie

Dewey Dell, Addie's daughter, is highly troubled because she is pregnant. In this comic-tragic novel, Dewey Dell tries to find a way to fix her "problem." A pharmacist deceives her along the way with one of his remedies, which is not the kind of remedy she wanted at all. The whole experience for seventeen year old Dewey Dell confirms her sense that she feel[s]"like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth" (66). Addie's section after her death explains her affair and her thinking about the non-relation between words and action. She sees them as horizontal and vertical lines--never meeting.

From Quiz The Works of William Faulkner

Answer: Sutpens and Compsons

The Sutpens were the subject of "Absalom, Absalom!". The Compsons are principally depicted in "The Sound and the Fury". The Snopes are one of the most "pernicious" families in all of Faulkner. (Blotner, J., "Faulkner: A Biography".) The Sartoris clan are referred to briefly in "Requiem for a Nun", later in "Sartoris" (or "Flags in the Dust") and "The Unvanquished".

From Quiz "Light in August" by William Faulkner

Answer: Grandfather of Joe Christmas, he spies on Joe as he grows older.

Doc Hines condemns his daughter for having this child and sends him to an orphanage on Christmas Day (from where his last name is given to him). Doc is employed there and urges the other kids to harrass young Joe until he is adopted by a farmer named McEachern.

From Quiz "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

Answer: "Man with a red necktie".

Together they let the air out of the tires from Jason's vechicle and take from Jason a substantial amount of money.

From Quiz "A Rose for Emily"

Answer: iron gray

One of Miss Emily's hairs was found on a pillow in the same bed as Homer's body.

From Quiz William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying"

Answer: Darl

Finally, Darl's involvement in setting the fire is made public, in part because of the seething relations among the family and also because the barn owner is furious at the lost of his property. By the end, Cash, the judicious one, agrees that Darl, his brother, should go to Jackson, the institution, because what is right may just be what the majority of people think is right after all. He, Cash, therefore will side with the majority who think that Darl needs to be put away.

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