Dry September

In “Dry September, the theme of “racial purity” is a pervasive aspect of the story’s exploration of racism, prejudice, and mob mentality in the American South. The concept of racial purity reflects the deeply ingrained belief in white supremacy and the fear of racial contamination that permeated Southern society during the early 20th century. Many Southerners held this fear in tension with the reality that white men often raped and fathered children with Black women enslaved on their land before the Civil War. These children, because they were not considered legitimate offspring of their fathers, were born into slavery and experienced the same horrors as other enslaved people.

William Faulkner captures the pervasive but hypocritical white fear of Black men in “Dry September.” Black men, “considered overly sexualized and sadistic,” were perceived as a threat to the virtue and respectability of white women (Amende, Kathaleen. “‘A man with such an appearance was capable of anything’: Imaginary Rape and the Violent ‘Other’ in Faulkner’s ‘Dry September’ and Oz’s ‘Nomad and Viper.’” Faulkner Journal, 2010). As Faulkner makes clear in “Dry September,” white men excused brutality against Black men with the justification that they were honor-bound to protect white women.