Wash By William Faulkner: Poem Analysis

Chaos driven Wash Jones thirsts for power and he is willing to go to any lengths to get it. “Wash,” by William Faulkner has all of it, relationships, a drive for power, and it ends with a fiery ending. The thought and ideas behind the setting, conflict, and characters, in particular Wash Jones, is phenomenal, emotion-filled, and written with so much heart. The historical time period was, a difficult time of history; it was the period between the end of the civil war and the blacks finding home and life away from the plantation. Wash believes that he is still above the blacks and yet, had absolutely no money or any idea of what to do after they were liberated by the North. Many chose to stay and work on the plantation because it …show more content…
First, they were coming out of a very controversial war within the same country, North and South, one reason for the war was for the liberation of slaves. Second, this also may have been possible, but not necessarily legal; the prostitution of his fifteen-year-old granddaughter and especially the murder of at least three innocent lives, Wash would for sure be sent to prison, though the story did not necessarily say that he did not. Also, there are probably several destinations that you could compare plantations to in the present, but none of them are even remotely close to the actual plantations in the sense of how women, slaves, and children were treated, it just simply would not happen in today’s society at such extremes. A vast majority of the story is conflict, after conflict, both external as well as internal. External conflicts are used with Sutpen and Wash’s status in the hierarchy of the plantation, Sutpen in a drunken state, and Wash in his unwillingness to go to war. Within the conflict of Wash not going to war there is a sub-conflict where the slaves bully Wash for being a coward and not going to war. External could also include the fact that Milly gave birth to a girl not a boy whom Wash so dearly …show more content…
One would think Colonel Sutpen would be at the top considering he owns the plantation, but his affinity for horses and how they are higher than humans, as well as his drunkenness, puts him lower. Wash thinks that he runs the plantation although he does not own it, and he lives in what could barely be defined as a house; but Wash’s ability to get Sutpen drunk anytime and how Sutpen treats him as an equal, when he is drunk at least. Wash with what he makes up for with “street smarts” he lacks in EQ (IQ, but for emotion and human contact). Even though he has quite a love of Milly, he loves his horse and the thought that he can own the plantation more. He wants to own the plantation so much he is willing to kill his granddaughter, great-granddaughter, and Sutpen by setting the house on fire. Wash is very similar to a reality show one might see today, maybe a soap opera, but the brilliance behind the characters, plot, conflict, and thoughtfulness. Faulkner is an example for all writers to write with emotion and not with the glands, and that is the only way to make good