The public was eagerly awaiting William Faulkner's acceptance speech because he was known not to speak in public. Attentive listeners were careful not to make a sound because they struggled a little to clearly understand Faulkner's thick Southern accent. He was confident that his audience would be able to reflect and understand the message he was trying to convey because the audience was a group of former Nobel Prize winners and other outstanding intellectuals of the time. Documents following the Nobel Prize speeches stated that Faulkner's speech was what it should have been