"The Brooch" by William Faulkner

After reading “The Brooch” by William Faulkner, I reminisced in my mind about the literature we have read this semester and how it has adapted and changed through the course of time. We opened the semester reading Cotton Mather’s “The Christian Philosopher,” among others which explored deep issues like where “we” come from, and how the world was formed. At least for me, it was hard to even stay awake, let alone comprehend these nevertheless, great excerpts. However, now we have gotten into more scandalous, racy stories which grab my attention and draw me in to what happens next. Never was this the case before. Still I feel my change of heart towards the readings comes because of the change of time. Each week our stories kept getting more and more liberal. The freedom of writing was epitomized by the author’s scandalous plots and topics of political issues such as slavery. Faulkner’s “The Brooch” is no different as he constructs a dramatic and mysterious plot with scandalous references that would be thought of as coarse by today’s standards. Such graphic nature by males and sexual openness by females, Faulkner demonstrates how society has changed and become more accepting of such atypical topics out in the open. From a cheating wife, to female beating, Faulkner develops a plot which illustrates in my mind how the people have changed and become more liberal to such issues. Most significantly, I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next, rather than when was it going to end, like before.