Faulkner

Faulkner's ideologies from his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech are very present in his short story "That Evening Sun."  Faulkner presents the idea that a writer can "help man endure by lifting his heart" by writing about courage, honor, hope, pride, sacrifice, compassion, and pity. He also believes that problems of the human heart are the only thing worth writing about. Faulkner, in his acceptance speech, makes a direct call to future writers and poets to do their part. "That Evening Sun," emulates his beliefs.
Nancy, a black servant, is mistreated yet symbolizes many of Faulkner's descriptions for a good story. "When you going to pay me, white man? When you going to pay me, white man?" (Faulkner 168). Nancy is displaying courage by standing up knowing her question will earn her a beating. Faulkner establishes a sense of pity in the story. “I just a nigger. It ain’t no fault of mine” (Faulkner 175).There is the pity Nancy feels for herself, and there is the pity the reader feels for Nancy. The pity the reader feels for Nancy engages our "spirit capable of compassion" and pulls at the emotions of our heart. One cannot help but have an emotional reaction seeing Nancy's situation. She is grossly mistreated by the townspeople, and has a fear Jesus, her husband, will kill her fro having another man's child."That Evening Sun" is filled with real life problems, problems of the heart, because a story with no heart lacks meaning.