Sanctuary | Topics for Discussion & Projects

Sanctuary Key Questions

Faulkner's concerns reverberate with equal force today because they touch on issues which have remained as troubling as they had been for him at the time of writing. Sanctuary provokes readers to think about the nature of social problems such as the death penalty, the meaning of law and order, truth and justice, crime and punishment, as well as the continuing presence of victims and abusers, or the rich and the dispossessed in society. In forming your response to this disturbing novel you may wish to consider the following questions: 1. What are the most scandalous or disturbing aspects of the novel? Did it lose any of its shock value in the intervening decades?

2. Given that Faulkner himself described his book as a potboiler, do you think his is a fair assessment? Would you have perceived the novel differently if you knew only that it had been...
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