"There Was a Queen"

I feel like in this work, Faulkner is presenting his reader with some very interesting ideas about both the condition and the character of women. For one thing, the title of this piece suggests a forgotten brilliance and importance of a woman, though the reader is really never able to identify whether the "Queen" is a figure in the story or a more broad representation of women worldwide. The fact that there was a Queen, suggests a sort of fall from grace, or a diminishing quality. To me, though Faulkner is a bit ambiguous in this text, the Queen seems to be Miss Jenny, a woman who never married and seems to be the matriarch of the household. In fact, in the very beginning Faulkner makes note of the entire Sartoris family tree, but defines the men of that family as the sons of mothers, and the husbands of wives. This sort of emphasis on the female as the trace of a blood line is pretty unusual. In this piece, it also seems that Faulkner may be alluding to a shift in the character of women over the time period discussed (from 1869 to the early 20th century), and nothing highlights this shift more than when he juxtaposes Miss Jenny and Narcissa. Miss Jenny seems to be steadfast, and believes that women are truly autonomous and in many cases (for instance, when she says "You can thank your stars it was just men your grandfather fought.") more resolute and tougher than men. I think when Faulkner places these two women together, he is making a comment on how the inner character of the woman has changed over time. He inventively does this by having the house servants (particularly Elnora) comment on the characters of both Miss Jenny and Narcissa. For instance, Elnora describes Narcissa as "trash" and Miss Jenny as "quality." Even the stark contrast of the women's two names seems to hint that Narcissa is a product of a more selfish breed of woman. Interestingly enough, the issue of time and change over time seems to be of importance in this piece with regard to how women have evolved. When Elnora is describing Miss Jenny to her son she is trying to tell him that women of Miss Jenny's quality do not exist, or they are slowly becoming extinct. She relays this message by saying to him that "you don't know nothing about, because you born too late to see any of it except her." This statement implies that not only is Miss Jenny of a certain "quality," but that other women joined her in this category; women who are now no longer around. I think it is interesting that Faulkner is making the statement that the character of women is what has deteriorated, not their condition in society. Perhaps this piece is aimed at criticizing those women who would abuse the new-found powers that society afforded them, instead of embracing them genuinely.