Teaching Absalom, Absalom!

Instructions for You

Objective: Although they're widely read, studied, and loved today, William Faulkner's publications were once the center of a ton of criticism. Apparently people didn't always like reading about racial tension, rape, incest, and general weirdness. Some shortsighted critics thought he was just a gross dude who wanted to write about these topics for shock value.

Luckily, eventually the critics stopped being so, well, critical and wised up a bit. Now we can recognize Faulkner's publications for what they really are—harsh and effective commentary on a pretty crappy society.

In his work, Faulkner sought to remind readers of what he called universal values—compassion, love, honor, sacrifice, and pity. However, how do controversial issues such as race and rape implore readers to be sacrificial and loving? Faulkner's thinking was that when we're reminded of the awfulness of these things, we recall how important love, honor, sacrifice, pity, and compassion really are.

Now who's got the acoustic guitar ?

Materials Needed: Huffington Post's "Good News" page, "Good News Network" site, a copy of the novel and/or Shmoop's summary.

Step 1: Faulkner believed that all authors have the responsibility to remind his or her readers about what he called "universal values." These values included pity, compassion, love, honor, and sacrifice. Some of these might seem a little weird to us, but let's think about it. Have a discussion with your class, asking them to respond to the following questions:

• Do you think these values are, in fact, universal? Why or why not?
• Should everyone seek to exhibit these values?
• Why is each one important?
• What are some examples of each in everyday life?
• Pity? Really? Why would Faulkner include this value?

Step 2: As we know, Absalom, Absalom! doesn't immediately scream "universal values" to its readers. Or does it? Continue the conversation:

• Faulkner believed it is the author's duty to remind people of these values. Does he accomplish this in Absalom, Absalom!? How?

You should use your powers to guide your students to consider that Faulkner uses vivid examples of evil in order to emphasize the need for good. Instead of just writing a story about how everyone is equal, compassionate, and, you know, doesn't kill each other, Faulkner goes the other way. What we think Bill is saying is that we don't really appreciate these important values until they're absent.

Step 3: Ask students to surf around on Huffington Post's "Good News" page and "Good News Network" site. It's a sad fact that our newspapers and networks are often full of depressing stories and bad news. That's where these websites come in.

After students have looked around on the sites and read a few stories, come back together. Ask them:

• When considering Faulkner's tactic of focusing on the bad to emphasize the good, and then reading all of those inspiring stories, which made you consider the "universal values" more? Which tactic motivated you, personally, to implement the values more in your own lives?

We predict that the knee-jerk reaction will be that inspirational good news stories emphasize the universal values more readily. However, help your students really think about the question. They might find that Faulkner's story of seedy individuals and yucky Southern brutality powerfully reminds people of the importance of exercising these universal values in our everyday lives.

Step 4: Students will re-write a scene or section of Absalom, Absalom!, changing the narration of the story to stress the universal values instead. The piece will be in the form a "good news" story like the ones they read on the website, and should emphasize the lessons of kindness, generosity, etc. that can be found in the novel.

Students should choose specific events in the story to incorporate into their narratives, and the story should be 200 to 300 words, in the style of the articles that they just read, so giving the who, what, when, where and how of what happened.

Once everyone's done, you can ask them to spread the cheer and share their faux-reports with their fellow students.

Instructions for Your Students

The world can be a pretty crummy place. All you have to do is turn on the news and you're bombarded with pretty terrible stuff happening all over the world. It's enough to make a person swear off TV, news, and the outside world altogether.

However, hiding isn't the answer, as Absalom, Absalom! shows us. Today, we'll have a look at how William Faulkner confronted some of humanity's worst traits, and how his book conveys some pretty positive values, and why he focused on such horrible happenings in America's past.

Step 1: William Faulkner believed that all authors have the responsibility to remind their readers about what he called "universal values." These values included pity, compassion, love, honor, and sacrifice. Some of these might seem a little weird to us, but let's think more about it. We're going to discuss the following as a class:

• Do you think these values are, in fact, universal? Why or why not?
• Should everyone seek to exhibit these values?
• Why is each one important?
• What are some examples of each in everyday life?
• Pity? Really? Why would Faulkner include this value?

Step 2: As we know, Absalom, Absalom! doesn't exactly scream "universal values" to its readers, or does it? Continue the conversation by talking about this question with your classmates and teacher:

• Faulkner believed it is the author's duty to remind people of these values. Does he accomplish this in Absalom, Absalom!? How?

Maybe we don't really appreciate these important values until they are absent...

Step 3: Now surf around on Huffington Post's "Good News" page and "Good News Network" site. It's a sad fact that our newspapers and networks are often full of depressing stories and bad news. That's where these websites come in.

After you've looked around on the sites and read a few stories, come back together. Discuss the following as a class:

• When considering Faulkner's tactic of focusing on the bad to emphasize the good, and then reading all of those inspiring stories, which made you consider the "universal values" more? Which tactic motivated you, personally, to implement the values more in your own lives?

Step 4: It's time for you to spin some gold out of straw. You'll rewrite a scene or section of Absalom, Absalom!, changing the vibe of the story to stress the universal values instead. The piece will be in the form a "good news" story, like the ones you just read, and should emphasize the lessons of kindness, generosity, etc. that can be found in the novel.

You should choose specific events in the story to incorporate into your narrative, and the story should be 200 to 300 words. Since it should mirror the articles you just read, make sure to include the "who, what, why, when, and how" of whatever scene or event you're describing.

Once everyone's done, you can share the good cheer by reading your "good news" report out to your class buddies. Sitting down for a rendition of "Kumbaya" is optional.