The Use of Imagery in Fitzgerald's "May Day" and Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" Michael Stutz Intro To Fiction Dr. Burchmore In "May Day", F. Scott Fitzgerald uses his unique descriptive writing style which is loaded with imagery. This is characterized partly by his sensitive desciptions of inanimate objects. For example, "When Edith came out into the clear blue of the May night she found the Avenue deserted." (The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, pg. 126) The 'clear blue' referring to the May night says is all, and reinforces the tone of the novelette. Also, "The wealthy, happy sun glittered in transient gold through the thick windows of the smart shops, lighting upon mesh bags and purses and strings of pearls in gray velvet cases; upon gaudy feather fans of many colors; upon the laces and silks of expensive dresses; upon the bad paintings and the fine peroid furniture in the elaborate show rooms of interior decorators." (pg. 104) These still-life images are so vivid that one can see the quiet, dusty shops, and almost feel the passing threads of hope that Gordon Sterrett felt before his untimely suicide at the end of the story. Fitzgerald makes the reader feel for Mr. Sterrett through the use of these subtleties. By the end of the story, one actually feels the complete despair that Mr. Sterrett feels, partly due to the images Fitzgerald uses: "He looked at the dusky gray shadows in the corners of the room and at a raw place on a large leather chair in the corner where it had long been in use. He saw clothes, dishevelled, rumpled clothes on the floor and he smelt stale cigarette smoke and stale liquor. The windows were tight shut." (pg. 141) Furthermore, I noticed that Fitzgerald uses a lot of metaphors and similies, which brings to mind English poets such as Robert Browning in his "Prospice." For example, "The windows of the big shops were dark; over their doors were drawn great iron masks until they were only shadowy tombs of the late day's splendor." (pg. 126), compares the closed doors of the shops to places of burial not unlike Browning compared death to fighting a battle. And like Keats, in his "Ode to a Grecian Urn", where he addresses the urn as is it was a human being, Fitzgerald uses the abstract images of a "Mr. In" and a "Mr. Out", two doors, walking down Broadway at dawn, and makes colorful images of them "...dizzy with the extreme maudlin happiness that the morning had awaken in their glowing souls. Indeed, so fresh and vigorous was their pleasure in living that they felt it should be expressed by loud cries." (pp. 135-6) This almost comic passage relates deeper images on the moods of life and the fact it does keep moving even when one has left it, which is part of the central theme of "May Day." In "The Sound and the Fury", William Faulkner's imagery is characterized by the fact that almost all of it takes place through the minds of the narrators Benji, Quentin and Jason. The Dilsey section is the closest to his own thoughts and images. In the Benji part of the novel, all of the imagary is very basic and physical, but Faulkner has mastered this so well that it is hard to believe that the words were written by a sane, educated man. For example, "Versh's hand came with the spoon, into the bowl. The spoon came up to my mouth. The steam tickled in my mouth." ("The Sound and the Fury", Norton Critical Edition, pg. 16) This is so simple and basic that it is great. I would have never thought of 'the spoon' moving as an inanimate object; a regular narrator would have said something to the effect of 'Versh's hand guided the spoon'. Also, the steam 'tickling my mouth' is a simple observation reinforcing my point about the section being more physical/sensory than anything else. "We watched the tree shaking. the shaking went down the tree, then it came out and we watched it go away across the grass." (pg. 46) This is another example of Benji's simple, idiotic but observant view of the world. Moreover, in the Quentin section, the imagery tends to be more like Faulkner's own words, like "Through the wall I heard Shreve's bed- springs and then his slippers on the floor hishing. I got up and went to the dresser and slid my hand along it and touched the watch and turned it face-down and went back to bed." (pg. 47) The slippers 'hishing' is a staple Faulkner image, which I will discuss shortly. This passage also shows Quentin's unrest and mental despair, like Gordon Sterrett's in "May Day", through the use of small descriptive images, the ones in this section coming from Quentin's mind/mouth rather than an omniscient narrator. The slight action Quentin made with his watch is a nervous one which foreshadows his destruction of it, and later his eventual suicide. "...feeling the eyes animals used to have in the back of their heads when it was on top, itching. It's always the idle habits you acquire which you will regret." (pg. 47) This comes almost directly after the first quote, and it reinforces the nervous, 'I-can't-run-away-from-it' feelings that Quentin has. And furthermore, in Jason's section of the book, his images and descriptions show his as the shallow, evil person that he is. "...gobbing paint on her face and waiting for six niggers that cant even stand up out of a chair unless they've got a pan full of bread and meat to balance them, to fix breakfast for her." (pg. 109) This, part of Jason's opening statements, displays his complete lack of respect and outright hatred for his family and servants. Him picturing Caddy 'gobbing paint' on her face rather than 'applying makeup to her face' or something or other clearly shows this. And his view of Dilsey: "She was so old she couldn't do any more than move harldy. But that's all right: we need somebody in the kitchen to eat the grub the young ones cant tote off." (pg. 112) The images of her 'eating grub' and of him pushing her around is another display of his dastardly evilness. And he views the music being played: "The band was playing again, a loud fast tune, like they were breaking up." (pg. 148) This and all of the other images used throughout this section portray Jason as the bastard he is. Lastly, in the last, narrative Dilsey section, Faulkner's own thoughts and images are pictured. The first sentance, like Quentin's slippers, has many of the sensitive, subtle Faulkner images along with his other technical, observant ones: "The day dawned bleak and chill, a moving wall of gray light out of the norteast which, instead of dissolving into moisture, seemed to disintegrate into minute and venemous particles, like dust that, when Dilsey opened the door of the cabin and emerged, needled laterally in her flesh, precipitating not so much a moisture as a substance partaking of the quality of thin, not quite congealed oil." (pg. 158) The paragraph continues into more description of the same vein, getting technical and prescise, but at the same time letting Faulkner keep his composure as the observant Southern gentleman. This displays his brilliance as a writer and his ability to create moods and tones with his scenes. In my opinion, a whole paper could be written on just the words he uses in those first five paragraphs, creating a breathtaking view of a common scene. The images he uses to describe Jason in this section portrays him just like the reader had already pictured him: "...cold and shrewd, with close- thatched brown hair curled into two stubborn hooks, one on either side of his forehead like a bartender in caricature, and hazel eyes with black-ringed irises like marbles..." (pg. 167). His use of images and the descriptiveness of them gives a firm base to the ideas and themes that the reader interprets through the reading of the novel. These images build upon the 'disintegration' theme as well as all others, and probably in different ways to different readers. But there is no question that the images get ideas across. From this comparison I learned that both authors use slightly similar images (they are both sensitve, Fitzgerald has a more apostrophic, metaphorical approach in this novel, and Faulkner is more technical and 'scientific', for lack of a better term) in their works to portray the central theme along with subthemes, which for the most part I believe are up to the individual for interpretation. Both are masterpieces which were not as accepted in their time as they are today (Fitzgerald received only $200 for his work, and the critics didn't exactly jump on Faulkner's boo, they said it was confusing among other things). I believe that imagery is an integral part of both these author's styles, and I hope that I made it clear through this essay.