alexismid’s Reviews > New Orleans Sketches > Status Update

Yo ho was a story about white men on an expedition. They’re racist and one of them killed “native people.” It was really boring but it’s obvious that Faulkner is trying to juggle themes of race/racism. He’s done batter with it in other stories but not so good in this one imo.

Country mice was a boring story about transporting liquor. It was all dialogue. I did not like it.

The liar felt like it was a Story about Appalachian people. It was really interesting to see that it was also very self reflexive. I liked it.

The kid learns was almost fantastical with the appearance or hallucination of death at the end. It’s about a boy trying to protect his girlfriend from danger/ another guy who is trying to hurt them. It was good.

Sunset was a really good story! I thought it was amazing. It follows a black who is trying to get to Africa but he is misguided by a southern white man., which leads him to (I’m assuming) get lynched. One thing that makes this story great is the writing, not the events. It’s interesting to see Faulkner condemn white men and lynchings. That’s how I read/understood the story.

Chance was nota good story tbh. I didn’t like it.

The cobbler is a story told from foreigner’s perspective. It has a lot o regional qualities that are from protagonists home. It felt very blue ridge and southern Appalachia. I liked it. And it felt like it was a monologue.

The kingdom of god follows a bootlegger and his disabled brother. It details when the bootleggers partner takes out his frustration on the disabled brother for his disability. I feel like this conflict is supposed to juxtapose the title because people are cruel towards each other on earth when the title implies paradise.

Out of Nazareth could be about leaving the past behind bc there’s dialogue about representing the present and writing accurately. Couple with the statue of Andrew jackson it kind pf creates a dichotomy b/w the past and present bc statues commemorate the past. But the writer doesn’t seem interested in doing that. They are interested in representing things accurately in their writing.

Chest was a story full of dialogue and I didn’t really understand or like it.