CONTRAPUNTAL ~ELATIONSHIPS IN - SELECTED STaRIES-OF FAULKNER - ABSTRACT

Th1s thesis examines n1ne of Faulkner's short stories ta show the contrapuntal relationsh1ps existing between them,. and to suggest how th1s contrapuntal techn1que glves a new d1mension and a clearer perspect1ve to each of the stories. To this end, the thes1s traces the theme of man's confrontation w1th the human c0ndition, and his response to the world of experience after he has left the innocent security of childhood. The thesis ls d1vlded lnto three sections, each of which anproaches three stories from a similar perspective. In the first section, d1s- cussion centers on three storles which are concerned w1th an innocent chlld being brought face to face with the Rdult world of reality. The second section focuses on three stories whose central characters suffer in thls w0rld of experlence, and who are morally destroyed by lt. In the thlrd section the emnhasls ls on three stories in whlch the

main characters, d~s~lte thelr sufferlng, ~amentarlly win a

thln margln of victory by preservlng thelr ~oral lnte~rlty in their struggle wlth this world. By reviewing the contra- puntal relRtlon between the child's approach to the harsh reality of the human condition and man's two possible

resnonses to lt, the thesls attempts t~ show that added

depth ls gi7en to each story. As well as enrlchln~ an

indivldual st'Jry, lt can also be seen that the use .')f +;he

contraountal technique creates a set of reverb~ra~ln~ l1nks

wh1ch 5i ves progress ~0n an1 'ln1 ty not ')nly ~o th<:'s~ stories

~ut to the c011ectlon as a \fhol~. CONTRAFUNTAL RELATIONSHIPS IN SELECTED STORIES OF FAULKNER

by M1chael A. Kenneally

A thesis subm1tted ta the Faculty of Gradu~te Studies and Research in partial fulf1lment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.

McG1ll Un1versity, Montreal. July 1971.

l TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

INTROOOCTION. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • l

SECTION ONE. "Barn Burn1ng" "Uncle W11ly" "A Justice" 16

SECTION TWO. -, "Dry September" "That Evening Star"

"Go Id en Land" 48

SECTION THREE. "The Tall Men" "Red Leaves" "Death Drag" 8 5

CONCLUSION. . • • . . • • . • . . • ...... • • • • . • • • • • 116

FOOTNOTES. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 121

BIBLIOGRAPHY ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• , 123 INTRODUCTION

Faulkner's crltlcs are ln total agreement that the short story form was partlcularly sulted to his unique klnd of gen1us. and that he wrote, perhaps, a half-dozen of what may be consldered great short stories. Malcolm Cowley. an editor and frequent correspondent of Faulkner, does not conslder h1m pr1mar1ly a novellst, but bel1eves, rather, that "he 1s most effect1ve 1n deallng w1th the total sltuat10n that 1s always present in his m1nd as a pattern of the South, or else in shorter units that can be conceived and written in a s1ngle burst of creat1ve effort. wl Michael Millgate believes that wFaulkner is perhaps more consistently at h1s best in the short stories than he 18 in the novels, and in h1s moet successful stories we find an intensity of effect. al11ed with directness of style and firmness of themat1c treatment, which pute them indisputably among his greatest achieverrents. w2

Gl~en ttis recognition of his mastery of the short story form one would expect tnet more critical attention would have been paid te the stories of Faulkner. But, 2 outs1de of a handfu1 of stor1es wh1ch have been repeated1y antho1og1zed and exam1ned, the major1ty of the stor1es have rece1ved practlca11y no attention. Of the more than fort y stories wh1ch appeared ln Co11ected Storles 1n 1950 only a few have rece1ved serlous treatment. Others have been examlned only becanse they shed some llght on the rest of Faulkner's work. Storles llke ·Wash· and ·There Was a Queen· have been examlned ln the llght of the various changes and modlflcatlons they went through before they became an 1ntegral part of Absalom, Absalom: and Sartorls. Frequent use ls made of such storles 1n arr1v1ng at a fuller understandlng of charRcter mot1v1at1on or ln trac1ng FaulkDer's changlng use of h1s material. Such storles as "The Bear,· ·Old Man," and ·Spotted Horses· are usually treated as short novels, or as lntegral parts of Go Down, Moses, The Wild Palms, and The Ham1et. Perhaps the only reason that such storles as those 1n The Unvangulshed and Go Down, Moses have

recelved due crlt1cal attention 1s because they hav~ be~n collected and pub1lshed as novels. But, the greRter majorlty of Faulkner's stories have received only cursory treatment and, generally, have been 19nored as :3 un1que and lndependent creations. Th1s essay does not hope to rectify this situation, but it will begln to look more c1ose1y at some of Fau1kner's stories which deserve attentton and exam1nat1on. Because of the nature of thi~ essay on1y a limited number of stories w111 be examined in deta1l. These will be taken exc1us1vely from the 1950 edltlon of Col1ected Storles, wh1ch Faulkner went to painstaklng care ln arranglng and compi11ng. It ls 1mportant not to th1nk of th1s volume as mere1y an aggregate of 1nd1v1dua1 stories. Instead, we shoulè respect Fau1kner's arrangement of these stories, and see each of them as an lntegra1 part of a total organ1zat1on. Whl1e he was se1ectlng and preparlna thls co11ect1on Faulkner wrote a 1etter to ~a1co1m Cowley whlch, l belleve, ls essentla1 for a complete appreclatlon of what he was attemptln~ to do. Speaklng of a retum a1r tr1p from a vlslt to Cowley, Faulkner wrotel It wasn't too dul1 because l spent the t1me thlnk1ng about the co11ect1on of storles, the wh1ch the more l th1nk about, the better l 11ke. The only book foreward lever remembered was one l reaà wher. l was about slxteen l suppose, in one of Slenckewlcz (maybe that's not even spe11ed rl~ht). which, 4

l don't even rememberl Pan M1chael or what, not the actual words e1therl sQmethlng 11ke 'Th1s book wr1tten •• , ~aulkner's punctuat1og? travail (he may even have sa1d agony and sacr1fice) for the upl1ftlng of men's hearts.' Wh1ch l bel1eve ls the one worthwh1le purpose of any book and SQ even to a collection of short stor1es, form, 1ntegrat1on, 1s as 1mportant as to a novel - an ent1ty of 1ts own, s1ngle, set for one ~1tch, contrapuntal 1n 1ntegrat1on, toward one end, one f1nale,3 Th1s statement 1s 1mportant ln understand1ng Faulkner's prlnc1ple of organ1zat1on 1n the Collected Stor1~s. AlI the st0r1es 1n th1s volume had been publ1shed before, but some of them had not been collected prev1ously. The real importance of thls publ1cat1on 1s Faulkner's select10n and organ1zat1on of the storles 1nto s1x d1fferently t1tled sect1ons. Consequently, Faulkner emphas1ses the 1mportance of see1ng h1s stor1es as part of an 1ntegrated whole. The first sect1on, t1tled "The Country," 1s a group of stor1es that ls concerned w1th the Ind1an, farmer, and poor wh1te 1nhabltants of northern Mlss1:s1ppi. 1he second section, -The Village,- establlshes the sense of Jefferson as a place and communlty, and explores

d1fferent aspects of 11fe there. The th1rd ~d fourth

sections have a un1ty of sett1n~ and tone which seems self-explanatory as a basls of organlzation. The 5 former, -The W1lderness,- cons1sts of four storles about Ind1ans, whl1e "The W~stel~d" consists of flve stor1es which deal wlth Wor1d War I. The fifth sect1on,

"The Mlddle Ground," ls a more heterog~neous collpction of e1even stories with var10us subjccts An~ settlngs. But, on c10ser examinatlon, lt may be sepn that most of the stor1es are concerned wlth themes of defeat and dls1l1uslon, wlth the dlsruptlon of 11fe pnd the 10ss of a sense ef ldentlty. The flna1 sect1on, "Beyon~,­ appears to conslst of two groups of thrpp· stor1es - one dea1lng with the world of the supernp.tur~l, the othpr w1th a moment of revelat10n or trAnscendencp of the fam111er.

Although we c~n see thRt Faulkner uses topogra~h1ca1 consideratlons, at 1east in the supprflcl~l

1evel of org~lzatlon of the stories, and p.lthough a worthwh11e study of the stories could be m~de froID this polnt of vlew, the essay wll1 ex~1ne se1~cted storles from thls coll~ctlon ln the llght of sppclflc themes thAt

recur thrcughout the book. This approach cqn be justlfl~d

in terms of Faulkner's bellef thAt p collection of stor1ps should have -form and lntegration,- no less thAD a nove1,

and should have "an ent1ty of lts own, sln~1e, spt for 6 one p1 tch, contrnpunt~.l 1n 1ntegrat ion, toward one end, one f1nale." Thematic motifs of the whole collpct1on of stor1es will be exam1ned as they mRn1fest thems~lves in the stor1es under d1scuss1on. The essay w1ll be d1v1ded 1nto three sections, each of wh1ch 1s concerned w1th a ~articular kind of story. The f1rst type of story 1s concerned wlth R ch11d's observat1on of the adult world of experience, which AS yet he does not unèerstand. From h1s vAntage ~olnt of 1nnocence the youth exper1ences some cruc1al pvent ln hls development wh1ch he ls unable to ass1m1late fully bec"use of hls IFlck of knowledge of the real1ty of the adult worlè. In Most of the storles concerned wlth th1s theme the narrator is the child h1msplf. The reAder, from his ~ersp~ctive, 1s more full, aware of the contrast between the unspolled world of the ch1ld and the cruel l'1orld that ex1sts beyond the capacit1es of his vision. -Sam Burn1ng,· ·Shingl~s For

The Lord," ·Two Soldiers," -Oncle Willy," "Th~t Will Be

Fine," "A Just1cp ," and "My Gran~mother Millard" are aIl typical examples of th1s kind of story. For the purn0S~S of thls essay, however, consif.eration will be givpn to three stories that appear part1cular1y central te this theme. They are "Barn Burn1ng,· ~Jncle Willy," en~ "A 7 Justice." These have been chosen not only because they appeared to me to embody the wi~est ~ossible variations within this theme, but also because they cross the topographical lines that Faulkner has set up and, consequently, enhance his statement of wh~t form a collection of stories should take. The second kind of story is concerned w1th the presentation of a particular response to the world the youth beheld but d1d not comprehend. This t1me, however, it 1s presented from the p01nt of view of one who has to face the reality of itB Buffering aB a

permanent condition. The intenBity of thi~ situation forces the character to lOBe his moral integrity and te seek in vain for ways of escane. Central tn this theme

is the despair, frustration, ~-lld dis1llusionment th~t 1s character1stic of the lonely and isolated ind1v1dual who exists in, but ls not part of the community. This person 1s, llke the boy, an outslder but, in thls case,

the character 1s c~~clally lnvolv~d in the actions descrlbed, though he has 11ttle or no control over them or thelr effect on h1m. Because so much of Faulkner's

fiction ls wrltten agalnst the backgroun~ of hls Southern myth, invar1ably, 1n depecting this s01led and cruel world, he 8 uses the locale of the South as a touchstone to hls the.e. In some storles, "Golden Land" and "Dr. Martlno" for example, th1s theme ls treated ln settlngs outslde the South, but 1t ls ln such "Southem" storles as "A

Rose For Em1ly," "That Even1ng Sun," and "Dry S~ptember" that 1t ach1eves 1ts flnest treatment. Consequently, l will dlscuss the latter two storles, along wlth "Golden Land," as representatlve of th1s klnd of story. The th1rd type of story to be dlscussed deals wlth a dlfferent response to thls adult world of experlence. It ls concerned wlth a characterts ablllty to malntaln hls

ldentlty, along w1th hls prlde, honour, and hum~nlty, ln the face of a fluld and encompasslng reallty, whlch ls Rllen and threatenlng. In these storles (the. examules dlscus~ed are "The Tall Men," "Red Leaves," and "Death Drag"), Faulkner admlres the dlgnlf1ed qnd pat lent endurance of the central characters in thelr response to l1fe anrl thelr

qulet sto1c acceptBnce of death. No matter in wh~t soclal

context they operate, whether lt ls the agrarian b~ckwoorls of the McCallums ln "The Tall Men," or the fleeting and

nefarlous world of Glnsfarb ln "Death Drag,· F~ulkner

ldentifles wlth their desire to cont1nue llving ln R worlè that, 1f not openly hostile to them, certalnly reveals 9 l1ttle 1nc11nat1on to f1nd a ~l~ce for them w1th1n 1ts boundarles. Essentlally, they are represented as p~op1e on the edge of society, but thelr predicpment c~n be ultlmately traced to the genera1 human strugg1e to survlve. For Faulkner they approach the stature of heroes becRuse of three major achlevementsl they have successfully surVived the transition into the wor1d of exper1ence that the youths in sectlon one must face, they have wlthstood the strain of llving thelr lives wlthout becoming warped or devold of mora1s such as the characters ln section two, and, flna1lY, although they have not trlumphed ln thelr struggl~, they have conèucted themselves wlth dlgnlty and self-respect, ann they have 1earned to accept patl~ntly the nAtural procFss of death. Although l have divlded the storles lnto three separate grouplngs, lt ls lmportant to re~llze thRt they al1 desl wlth dlfferent aspects ot the same theme. The wor1d of erperlence and adult responslbll1ty whlch the youthful characters ln the first type of stary see, but do not understand, ls the same wor1d treated in th~ second group of storles. There, however, the emphasls 18 on the 10 moral decadence and corrupt1on of the world. The most v1vld characterlstlc of these stor1es ls the stra1n this world places on those characters who attempt to lIve out their lIves w1th1n It. The protagonists are unable to w1thstand th1s straln w1thout compromlslng thelr moral IntegrIty. The third type of story presentR another k1nd of response to the threats of the worlè. The characters here have progressed from 1ncomprehens1on, have avo1ded moral destructlon, and h~ve ach1eved some k1nd or accommodatlon wlth the sordld reallty of the1r situatlon.

It ahould be understood, also, th~t a partl­ cular story ls not restr1cted to the sect10n ln wh1~h l dlscuss it. The categor1es are arbltrary and most or the storles could be d1scussed as representatlve of another sectIon. -That Evening Sun,- for examüle, contains the perspectlves whlch are to be found ln aIl three sect1ons. Although l have ulAced it ln the second section, as a representation of the pain and loneliness or the adult world, It could very well be treated ln either or the other two sect1ons. Since the story 1s a series of im~ressions which the boy Quentin c~not 11 relate to, it ls typlcal of the story in whlch the 1nnocent records events of the aduit worid whlch he falls to comprehend. Llkewlse, the story coulrl just as easlly be examlned as a representat1ve of sect10n three. Nancy's quiet acceptance of her death, after she hAS reallzed that no one has the 1nclln~tion or the power to save her, ls typlcal of the char~cters ln th~ thlrd section. Ber stolc acceptance of her situation, ~fter her horror and fear have sUbs1ded, lends a dimenslon of dignlty to her character that helps, to a certain degree, in counteractlng the plcture of th~ immoral wom~ we have seen ln the rest of the story. -That Evenlng Sun" ls, then, an excellent exemple of the many facets to a Faulkner story. Although each type of story deals .ith dlfferent aspects of the same theme, the value of dividlng the storles lnto three sectlons ls that it allows us to see the contrapuntal relatlonshlps of the varlous storles.

-Uncle Willy,- whlch l have chosen as qn exampl~ of the flrst type of story, ls concerned w1th th€ 1nnocent v1e.lng the world of experlence. The emphas1s ln the story ls on the nalve yout.'s lnabil1ty to comprehend 12 the real implications of Uncle Willy's hedon1stic and selfish v1ew of l1fe. The reader, hcwever, 1s fully aware of Uncle W1l1y's faults and moral shortcom1ngs. He 1s also aware ot the predlcament of the youth, who has yet to understand the meanlng 'of th1s moral decadence.

Stor1es 1n sect10n two, such as "Dry Se~t<>'~~er" and "Golden Land," present examples of oharacters who hAve been morally destroyed by the1r contact w1th the adult world. The reader's awareness ot these fa11ures de~pens both the reader's knowledge ot the moral def1c1enc1es ot Uncle W111y's character, end the nature of th1s world. In read1ng these storles the reader 1s rem1nded aga1n of what the youth must contend w1th 1n the J'l.dult 'World.

Th~ reader's sympathy for the youth's predlc~ment ann h1s fears for th~ youth's safety are deepened when he learns the extent of the world's evll from the cumulat1ve effect ot the stories 1n sect10n two. The emot10nal tle between the reader and the youth ls strengthened when the story ot Uncle Willy's moral collapse 1s counterp01nted wlth the moral collapse ot the c~aracters in th~ stor1es ot section t"o. Slmllarly, the stor1es 1n section two are 13 counterpolnted to the stories ln sect10n three. In -Golden Land,- a story l have placed ln sect10n two, the moral d1s1ntegrat1on Of Ira Ew1ng 1s he1ghtened by the contrast between h1m and the fort1tude and endurance of his parents. Th1s themat1c motif of endurance, estab11shed in ·Golden Land," becomes the central concern of the stor1es in sect10n three. In readlng such stor1es as "The Tall M~n· and "Red Leaves," where the emphas1s 1s on fort1tude and d1gn1ty, the reader, by lmp11catlon, 1s rem1nded aga1n of the extent of Ira Ew1ng's 1mmoral conduct. The contrapuntal relat10nshlps between the

storles ccmes full c1relF when the themes of the stor1~s 1n the f1rst sectlon counterpoint the stories 1n section three. If -Oncle Willy· were cons1èered alone or only counterpolnted to the stor1es ln sectlon two, our response to the youth's situation wou Id be conf1ned to comp9ss1on and s,mpatnJ because we would feel that only defeat and moral dlslntegration la1 ln store for him. We woul~ feAr

that the realit1 of the adult world, whtth th~ youth 1s

unable to recognlze at present woul~ corrupt Rnd destroy hlm when he became an adult, as 1t had done tn aIl the 14 characters in section two. But, when -Oncle W111y· 1s counterpo1nted to the stories ln section three, our response to the youth's sltuatlon can be somewhat more optlmlst1c. We can hope that the youth wl11 respond to the adu1t wor1d wlth the seme dlgnlty and endurance ~s do the characters ln section three. When "Oncle Willy" 1s counterpointed simu1taneously to the storles in sectlons two and three we gee the two possible respcnses of the youth to the wor1d of experlence. Whether the youth wlll be morally destroyed 11ke Ira Ew1ng, or whether he wll1 reta1n h1s humanlty and dlgnlty llke the McCallums ls stl11 an open question and depends on the youth's abll1ty to wlthstand the pressures of the adu1t world. The adult world ls the forum where he wl11 be tested to see whether he ls strong enough to survive wlth his lntegrity intact, or whether he wlll be morally corrupted because of hls weakness. Ve see, then, that the contrapuntal re18tionshlpR between the varlous storles add dlmenslons to the stor1es whlch would not have been emphas1zed 1f they had been exam1ned separately. As Mlchael ~lllgate has ~o1nted out, "The experlence of readlng the central sect10n accord1ng to Paulkner's scheme ls one of continual recognltion an~ 15 awareness and reverberat10na The recurrence of ch~.racterSt settlng, s1tuations, and themes provokes the recol1ection and hence the cont1nulng coexistence of the earlter story or stories and produces a total effect of progresslve enr1chment.·4 Each story enhancesthe impact of the other, and to exam1ne the relatlonshlps between them ls to emphas1ze the themat1c mot1fs of the whole col1ect1on . of stories. In this way Faulkner, br his method of -contrapuntal in integratlob,- achieves his aim of creatlng ·one end, one finale- throughout the collection. 16

SECTION ONE

-Barn Burnlng" occuples an lmportant posltlon as the flrst story, not only of "The Country," but of the complete collectlon. It sets ln motlon various themes wh1ch flnd expresslon throughout the collect1on. the conf11ct between l01alty to famlly and home and a commltment to unlversal, non-partisan moral obllgatlons, the deslre tor both a personal treedom and a posltlon ln a structured social framework, and the tenslons between the opposlng wllls ot tather and son. Although the essay wlll touch on the se aspects of the story, the maln emphasls wlll be on treatlng the story as representlng the clash that occurs when the lnnocence of Youth comes ln contact wlth the fallen world of experlence. The boy Sart y, who ls named after Colonel Sartorls, seems to embody those qualltles of justlce, honor, and wlsdom tor whlch the clv11-war hero ls remembered. He ls the archetypal lnnocent, reveallng

an lnnate wlsdom, a baslc slmpllclty, and ~ intu1t1ve apprehenslon of moral values. Hts prototype ls the 17

Words~h1an pure innocent who, a1though close to God and -trai1ing c10uds of glory,-_loses his brightness as 1t gradually becomes dlmmed in the soi1ed wor1d of real1tl. Sarty, ln hls conf11ct w1th h1s father, shows an inherent understandlng of moral values whlch are diametr1cally opposed to the immoral standar~s of his tather. The conf11ct arises when the boy is tom between the bel1ef in these values and hls filial ob11gations to h1s father. Essent1al1y, lt is a conf11ct between two wor1ds, the world ot 1nnocence that he 1s part of, and the wor1d of h1s father to wh1ch he 1s being forced to subscr1be. Through his father he 1s forced to recogn1se the exlstence of an lmmora1 wor1d which comes into d1rect conflict w1th his pure world of innocence and his sense of moral values. He is tom ln h1s response to the rlew reality. The story dea1s w1th Ab Snopes, a whlte sharecropper who, ln 1ess than ten years, has 11ved in a do zen practlcally 1dentlcaJ two-room houses with his wife, hls four chlldren, and hls ~lster-ln-law. At the last of these he burned a farm ln revenge for

belng charged a dollar pound-te~ to get baek the hog 18 he refused to keep fenced 1n. Although the case cannot be proved aga1nst h1m 1n court, he ls advlsed by the judge to leave the ne1ghbourhood. In h1s new sltuatlon, when he dellberately rulns an expens1ve rug of h1s landlord, Major De Spaln, and 1s chRrged twenty bushels of corn to pay for 1t, he sues De Spaln, be11evlng that the damages be1ng charged are too h1gh. Even when the penalty 1s reduced to ten bushels or corn, he sets flre to the Major's barn. H1s son Sart y, ln an agony of exasperat10n and despalr over h1s father's act1ons, betrays h1s fether by wam1ng De Spa1n. He 1s then forced to run away, leavlng h1s father and fam1ly beh1nd. The story opensw1th the tr1al of Ab Snopes who 1s accused of sett1ng f1re to the barn of the man who had 1mpounded Ab's p1g. The scene takes place, appropr1ately, ln the town courthouse, symbol of commun1ty law and just1ce. The emphas18 1s on descrlb1ng the react10ns of the boy as h1s father 1s be1ng publicly chastized and thrown out of the community. The youth ls strugg11ng hard to recognlse the blood-ties of family by accept1ng his father's acttons. As he

llstens to the proce~1ngB of the court hp concentrates 19 on trylng to ldentlfy hls father's enemy as hls enemy. wour eneml he thought ln that despalr, oum: mlne and hlsn bothl He's ml father!"(4).5 At thls polnt ln the story the boy ls sympathetlc to hls father's cause, a1though he does not anprove of hls actlons. The tles of faml1y and b100d are sufflclent1y strong to overcome the whlsperlngs of an unconsclous mora11ty. Be1levlng that he wl11 have to testlfy ln defense of hls father, he comes to the grlm rea1lzatlon that "He alms for me to !!!... And l wl11 have to do hlt W(4). In hls deslre to force hlmself to ldentlfy wlth hls father's cause, he repeats to hlmse1f that everyone ls -Eneml~ Eneml"(4). Because he ls forced to slde wlth hls father, he must accept hls father's lnterpretat10n of events. Hls exper1ence of the rea11ty of the &duIt wor1d ls lnfluenced by belng part of hls father's strugg1e wlth that world. If he ls to become a man he has "got ton be hls father's klnd of man. "You're gettlng to be a man. You got to 1earn. You got to 1earn to stlck to your own blood or you sdn't golng to have any blood to stlck to you"(8). The father ls passlng on hls vengefu1 and mlstrustful vlew of the world to the boy, who ls belng forced to aooept thls lnterpretatlon of rea1lty 8S the on1y 1egltlmate one. 20

As a result the boy's exlstence ls one or despalr and fear. He despalrs that the corrupt reallty to whlch hls father lntroduces hlm ls, because of hls blood, the only reallty he wlll ever experlence. Slttlng ln the courtroom, he feels "Just a llttle of fear ••• [Dut] mostly of despalr and grlef, the old pull of blood"(3). Hls despalr arlses from the knowledge that, to exlst ls such a reallty he wlll have to compromlse hls moral lntegrltYI ~e al ms for me to Ile, he thought agaln wlth that frantlc gr1ef and despRlr. And l wlll have to do hlt"(4). Hls fears stem from wbat he senses the consequences would be lf he were to act accordlng to hls concept of rlght and wrongl "I could run on and on and never look back. never need to see hls face agaln. Only l can't. l can't"(2l). He would be pun1shed by hls father and lsolated from hls home and fam1ly. In addlt10n he would have to bear the burden of h1s freedom ln unknown and allen surroundlngs. Consequently, the boy rema1ns tom between the world hls father prescrlbes for hlm and the des1re for some other posslble world based on hls sense of moral values. For a moment, when lt appears that he wlll be questloned about his father's burnlng of Harris' barn, 21 lt seems he wlll have to state his alleglance to one of these mutually excluslve worlds. At that tlme, -durlng those subsequent long seconds whlle there was absolutely no sound ln the crowded little room save that of qulet and lntent breathlng lt was as 1f he had swung outward at the end of a grape vlne, over a ravlne, and at the top of the swlng had been caught ln a prolonged 1nstant of mesmerlzed gravlty, welghtless 1n time-(5). Durlng thls moment the boy ls hover1ng on the invisible but crucial borderline between innocence end experience.

If he has to testifY, he wl1l Ile and, thus, wlll h~ve renounced the moral values of chl1dhood lnnocence and so11ed his hands wlth the worln of erperlence. He does not have to make that decislon yet, hOlfever, and, consequently, he remalns in the world of innocence. As a boy he is lmmune to such soclal responslbll1tles as havlng to glve testlmony in court. He ls pulled back trom the brlnk that ls the borderllne of innocence. -now t1me, the fluld world, rushed beneath him sgaln, the volces comlng to him agaln through the smel1 of cheese and sesled Meat, the fear and despsir and. the old grief and blood-(5). He remalns in his chl1~hood world and he ls st1ll tom between the ties of blood 22 and h1s 1ntu1t1ve sense of morallty. The fact that Sarty's bel1efs are based on an lntultlve sense of moral good and ev11 ls seen when hls father beats h1m because he suspects that the boy, 1f he had test1fled, would have told the truth about the barn burnlng. At

the t1me Sart y cannot expla1n why he thlnks h1s f~ther ls wrong and h1s enemles are rlght, but WLater, twenty years later he was to tell hlmself 'If l had sald they wanted only truth, just1ce, he would have hlt me agaln.' But now he sald noth1ngW(8). Inst1nctlvely Sart y knows that his father's actions are morally wrong but he 1s unable to artlculate that feellng. Even lf he could he would have to supress 1t beneath the stronger force of hls father's wlil. Hls pred1cament 1s part of what Faulkner descr1bes as -the terr1ble hand1can of ba1ng young, the l1ght we1ght of h1s few years, just heavy enough to

prevent his soar1ng free of the world RS 1t seemed to be ordered but not heavy enough to keep hlm footed solld 1n lt, to res1st lt and try to change the course of lts events-(9). As a chlld he cannot testlfy and so remalns

an observer of the ~ct1on ratl:er than a part1cipant ln

1t. Yet, the role of observer 15 an agonlzln~ one for 23 him. He has suft1clent knowledge to reallze that he does not approve of hls father's actlons yet he lAcks the correspondlng power of control over those Actions. He is lorced to w1tness wbat he can nelther support nor change. Because of hls growlng sense of paralysls Sarty feels that the tlme ls comlng when he must" react to h1s lather' s act1ons. In the first hal! of"" the story he tries to g1ve hls alleglence to family solldarlty and the tles of blood. Perhaps, the reason behlnd this attempt ls the boy's lack of external proof that the lntultlve wlàdom and morallty of youth have any value outslde the realm of ch1ldhood. Also, as a chlld, he ls stll1 deeplr tled to famlly and, as yet, he cannot convlnce himself that he should sacrlflce thls attachment because of personal convlctlons. ConsequentlY, he trles hard to support his father. Hls fath~r's enemles are to be his enemles and, lf necessary, he wl1l protect hls fether br lying in court. But thls toreed mental alleglance has not been translated into positive actlon. The one time that he openly sunports his father

(when he attacks the boy who crled -b~rn bumer- at the famlly outside the courthouse) hls resnonse h~s been th~ 24 wrong one, and his father has to drag him away. When the Snopes fami1y has moved to yet another new home Sart y has a different response to the para1ysis of his situation. On. the way to the new home he hopes his father will change his ways 1

-Forever he thought. Malbe hels done s~tisfied now, now that he has ••• stopping hlmse1f not to say it a10ud even to hlmse1f"(6). Be ls afraid to believe that hls father will change and 1ead an honest normal 1ife, because he knows from experlence that such a deve10pment ls lmpossib1e. Consequently, he tries to reslgn hlmself to the world of despair and fear that he knows. The apparent wea1th of the np.w country, however, arouses hope in hlm that, even yet, the pattern of hls 1ife may change. Be reasons to hlmse1f that, even if hls father does not change, the inhabltants of this reglon, by thelr very wea1th, wll1 be impervious to his threatenlng actlonl -Thel are sare from him. People .nose lives are part of thts peace and dlgnlty are beyond his touch, he no more to them than a buzzlng wasp. capable of stlnglng for s_

~t1e moment but that's aIl, the spell of this pesee 21) and d1gnltI renderlng even the barns and stable and cr1bs wh1ch belong to 1t lmpervlous to the punI flames he m1ght eontr1ve ••• ·(10). Sarty belleves that he can tolerate h1s father's vengeanee beeause 1t wl11 be acted out aga1nst a world where d1gn1ty and peace are dom1nant eharacterlst1cs. He will thus have the comfort of knowing that there ex1sts a reallty other than that presented by his father, whlch embod1es justlce and truth and wh1eh he ean be11eve ln. Th1s bellef crumbles, however, wh en the father beeomes 1nvolved wlth Major De Spain over the rug. In an effort to reassure h1s father and prevent hlm from committ1ng arson Sarty shows his so11darity wlth h1m by stressing that De Spain wl11 never be able to get those ten bushels of corn from them. He even hopes that somehow the whole ine1dent w111 disappear. wMatbe 1t wl11 aIl add up and balance and van1sh - corn, rug, f1re i the terror and grlef. the be1pg pul1ed two ways 11ke between two teams of herses - Sone, done w1th for ever and everw(17). When both these hopes prove valn and Sart y dlseovers, to his utter shoek, that hls father ls golng to bum De Spa1n's barn, the boy's bellef that he can somehow aceommodate himself to the rea11ty of h1s f~ther's world 26 eollapses. Respondlng to an lntultlve sense of justlce he wams De Spaln of hls father's plans and then flees from home. He ls forced to flee the solled world of hls father because he ls unable to reconclle lt wlth hls world of lnnocence. Sarty's fllght ls, ln fact, an attempt to eacape lnto the past. By runnlng away he ls strlvlng to move backwards ln tlme to the secure lnnocence of youth, wbere he wll1 not have to deal wlth the dlshonest adult world. He hopes to retreat from the threshold of experlence and flnd comtort ln the protectlon of hls encloses chlldhood conceptlon of reallty. There he can st111 preserve a boy's archetypal conception of hls father as a herol • 'He was brave:' he crl*d sUddenly, aloud but not loud, no more than a whlsperl 'He was: He was ln the war: He was ln Colonel Satorls' cAv'ry:'· (24). Bavlng f1ed the fal1en world of his father, he wants to retum to the dream-world of lnnocence. There he can belleve that hls father was good and brave, and there hls father's depds wll1 not contradlct that bellef. Be senses that he can preserve ris world of innocence as long as he does not al10w the reallty of experlence to ta1nt lt. Inherently he ls aware that a loss of 27

1nnocence must be accompan1ed by an expuls10n from Eden 1nto the fallen world of rea11ty. He be11eves that, as long as he refuses to recogn1ze the ex1stence of that rea11ty, he w1ll not have to suffer that loss. Sarty's f11ght, however, 1s a journey towards real1ty and not away from 1t. Hls betrayal of his father and h1s f11ght from home have precip1tated h1s 1n1t1ation 1nto the werld of exper1ence. But, ,.st as he 1s 19norant of the true nature of h1s father's role 1n the c1v1l war, so, also, he 1s unable to recogn1ze h1s present dilemma. H1s actual s1tuat1on is obvious to the reader ln the closlng paragraph of the story. There he 1s 1dentlfled as part of the onward cycllcal movement of the natural world. The implications of the f1nal sentences 1nd1cate h1s predlcamentl Wfte went on down the hlll, toward the dark woods wlthin which the llquld silver volces of the blrds called unceAs1ng -

the rap1d and urgent beat1ng of the urgent and qu1rlng heart of the late spr1ng nlght. He d1d not look bac~· (25). Th1s ls not the return to the Eden of innocence that, perhaps, he th1nka 1t 1a. In fact, he ls about te enter the heart of nature where he wl1l have to

contend wlth constant growth and change. He will he 28 swept up by the -Urgent beatingWof Wthe late sprlng nightw and carried from the springtlme of 1nnocence to the summer of experience. Then he wl11 have to stand alone, bearing the responsibilitles of his moral convictions and the burdens of hls freedom. The themes which Faulkner has set forth in -Barn BumingW re-echo throughout the collection, thereby creating an atmosphere of recognition and reverberation that helghtens the lndividual and cumulatlve lmpact of aIl the storles. WShingles For the Lord,· the story immedlate1y to11owing -Barn Burn1ng,W la agaln concerned wlth the wor1ds of lnnocence and experlence. The juxtapOsitlon of these dlfterent real1tles, whlch helghtens the essentla1 difference between them,

~ ls again presented through the father-snn relationsh1p. The boy-narrator remalns a spectator and fal1s to comprehend the slgnlflcance ot events. w1 qult trylng to stay up w1th them. 1 jest stacked shlnglesW(J6). In

~o Soldlers w an elght-year old boy fol1ows hls brother to the Memph1s recrulting centre bellevlng that he can be

of help flghtlng too. He sees the &duIt w~r1d comp1etely through the nalve eyes of a ehl1d, and he presents simple, ehl1d-11ke solutlons to the problems of the adu1t wor1n. 29

Because he belleves that he ls no dlfferent from a man, an~thus, has a role to play ln the affalrs of the &duIt world, he ls brave and aggresslve. But, ln MemphlS, when he ls forced to accept that hls place ls at home with hls parents, he breaks down and crles, thereby re-afflrm1ng h1s ch1ldhood. He h~s to return to the shelter of hls father's Eden-l1ke farm when he dlscovers that a d1fferent set of rules gov~rn the world beyond lts boundarles.

A more complex treatment of the the.es presented 1n "Barn Burnlng" ls to bp found ln "Uncl~ W1lly," a story 1n "The V1llage" sect10n of the collectlon. Osten81bly, the story 18 connerned wlth the lnterference by some of the c1tlzens of Jefferson w1th th~ gently dope-addlct, Uncle Willy. They hope to sqve hlm from h1mself, and prevent hlm from having an adverse 1nfluence on the youth of the community. In their efforts to reform and rehabilltate Uncle Willy they depr1ve hlm of aIl that makes h1s l1fe tolprable and, 1n the end, they ftound h1m until he ls torced to comm1t suicide in order to escage from the1r "good" intentions. The narrator 1s a boy who has unlimited admiration tor Uncle Willy and who has helped Unole Willy 30

ln many of hls escapades. Although he reveals a deflnlte blas ln h1s presentation of the story. the self-r1ghteousness of the c1t1zens and the1r lnab111ty to see Unc1e Wl11y's v1rtues as we11 as h1s vlces are apparent to the reader. A central theme of the story, however, ls the effect the ent1re exper1ence has on the m1nd of the shrewd but i*press1onab1e youth. The dua11ty of the boy's nature ls the key to understandlng the mot1vat1ons for h1s actlons throughout the story. On the one hand, he has the character1et1c abll1ty of ch11dren to recognlse hypocr1sy and to feel symPathy for the weak. Hls acute sense of the hypocrisy of the people of Jefferson ls revealed 1n the openlng of the story when he says that lt lfPS ·the g('\od woman 1n

Jefferson ~h~ had dr1ven Uncle Willy out of town ••• • (225). Hts sympathy for Uncle Wllly ls obvious in his statement. ·1 follolfed him and d1d what 1 dld becauee l knew that Uncle Willy was on h1s last go-rcund and

this t1me when they got h1m again 1t woul~ be for good and !orever••• ·(225). These op1nions reveal a sympathetie and compasslonate attitude that le notlceably

absent fram such people as Reverend Schultz an~ 31

Mrs. Merrldew. The tollowing attitude explains the boy's actlons. "I went because Uncle Wllly WAS the flnest man lever knew, because even women couldn't beat hlm, because ln splte of them he wound up h1s l1fe gett1ng fun out of belng allve and he dled do1ng the thlng that was the most fun of aIl because l was there to hplp hlm" (225). Because of the boys sympathy and h1s sense of hypocrlsy he be11eves that Uncle Wllly is 1ntrinslcally a superlor person to most of the hypocritlcAl resldents of Jefferson. Inherent ln thls statement also ls the second slde of the bOY's nature. It shows that he ls essent1ally a chlld and he stlll sees much of the world through the eyes of 1nnocence. Desplte his shrewdness he 18 unable to see Uncle Wllly's faults. He has an unquestloning adm1ratlon for Uncle Wllly, and he shows a complete 19norance of the lmp11cat10ns ot Unc1e Wl11y's

use of heroln. He la the perfect lnnoc~nt, unaware of the concept of eVl1, and recognlz1ng only goodness. In retum for Uncle Wl11y's generoslty and frlendshlp he wl11 repay Uncle W111y by golng to any extreme in help1ng hlm to do "the thlng that was the most fun of all"(225).

Bls only lnterest ls ln respondlng who1eh~artedly to 32

Uncle Wllly's generoslty regardless of the cons~quences of hls response. The most lmportant lmplication of his statement of motivat10n, however, is hls bellef that the Most successful life ls the one that has the MOSt fun. In uslng fun as a cr1ter1on for measurlng a successful response to llfe, t~e boy ls superimposlng a chlldish value judgement on the &duIt world. If he can help Uncle W1lly to achieve hls goal, then. he belleves that. perhaps, he can learn from him the secret whlch wlll help him achleve hls own quota of fun. -1 went because l wanted to, because he was the flnest man lever knew, because he had had fun aIl hls llfe in splte of what they had trled to do to hlm or with him. and l hoped that Maybe if l could stay .1thhl. a .hile l could learn how to, so l could still have fun too .hen l had to get 01d-(239). In essence, thls hedonlstic wlsh reveals the boy's unconscious des1re not to ~ow up and face the reallty of experlence. He ls only .1lllng to cross the threshold lnto experlence it he ls allowed to l1ve by the rules and values ot the world of youth. He .ants to av01d the complexltles of adulthood, and remaln ln a world of chlldhood where good 33 and bad are values measured by their Rfun-quotient,R The boyts mot1ves are c10sely re1ated to those of Uno1e W1lly. Unc1e Wi1lyt s l1fe has been a devoted attempt to escape the comp1ex burdens of his env1ronment. His use of heroin is an effort to escape into the fantasy wor1d of the unrea1. His association with and interest in the ch11dren of the town reveal his inclination ~to return to the wor1d of chi1dhood innocence. His actions stem from a simi1ar mot1vation as that of the youth who, by associat1ng with Unc1e Willy, 1s search1ng for a magic formula that will preserve his wor1d of ehi1dhood. Unc1e Willy, by demanding nothing of 11fe except an increasing amount of fun, is rejecting his responsibl11tles to the &du1t communlty and is 1nsist1ng on living by the values of a chi1d, Raving experienced the sufferlngs of the adult world, Uncle Willy wants to return to the innocent and nostalgie world of chlldhood, wh1ch the youth does not w~t to 1eave. It must be remembered, however, that the world of ohlldhood is a self-centered world and, consequent1y, MOst of the youthts actions can be traced to a kind of seltishness. The motives tor his associqtion with Uncle W1lly, though they stem partly from sympathy and 34 revulslon at the hypocrlsy of the townspeople, ultlmately arlse from the boy's deslre to guarantee that he hlmself has contlnual fun. An awareness of the dual nature of the boy's ch~racter ls more clearly establlshed when -Oncle Wllly· ls counterpolnted to "Barn Burnlng." Sart y ls motlveted by an lntultlve sense of ldeal ethlcs, es opposed to ratlonal and lntellectual based prlnclples, end it ls because of these ethlcs that he belleves in such moral values as 1ntegrlty, justice, and honore It ls on the basls of these bellets that he tlnally rejects his f~ther's actions. Opposed to his father ls Major De Spaln who is the embodlment of the values he would like his father to posseSSe These are the two poles of good and evl1 that stand as examples for the boy. He chooses good on the bas1s of his moral princlples. In ·Uncle W1lly· the youth ls not aware of good and evil on a moral level, he does not measure actlon agalnst an ldeal standard of r1ght and wrong. Hls speclal abll1ty, rather, ls in recognlslng hypocrlsy ln the world about hlm. His motlvations stem from hls react10n to thls hypocr1sy,

comblned wlth ~ls sympathetlc but self1sh attltu1e toward llte. Unlike Sert y he ls not strlvlng efter 35 some concept of idea1 goodness. There is no Major De Spain to set an examp1e for him, and he is faced with the choice between the hypocritica1 citizens on the one hand, and Unc1e Willy on the other. He reacts against the citlzens because of their hypocrisy, and he is attracted to Uncle Willy not on1y because he feels sympathy for him, but a1so because of his se1fish desire for perpetual pleasure. Because the citizens are hypocritica1 and because, in the boy's view, they de11berate1y persecute Unc1e Willy, a potentia1 source of p1easure for him, the boy sees them as wrong and Unc1e Willy as right. His ch1ldish perspective causes him to view the events in terms of abso1ute good and bad, a110wlng for no gradation on his moral sca1e of values. The youth's value judgements are baspd on peop1e's abi1ity to provide him wlth fun, if a person's actions further increase his pleasure they are ~ood, if they oppose his p1easure they are bad. For him r1ght Rnd wrong are values based on se1f-1nterest, whereas for Sart y they are ldea1s based on his lntultlve sense of mora11ty. Se1f-lnterest moves Sart y to side at flrst with hls father because lt 18 the ea8iest and 1east painfu1 course of action. But, he flna11y rejects his father and responds to the ca11 of h1gher idea1s. In WUnc1e W111y· the youth does not strive after such 1deals; the gu1d1ng pr1nc1p1es of h1s actions are merely man1festat1ons of self-1nterest.

Because of ~he youth's self1shness he 1s 1n danger of becom1ng an Unc1e W1l1y when he grows up.

Since there 1s no Major De Spain figure to emulate there only rema1ns the attract1ve and hedon1st1c Uncle W11ly, whose effect on the impress10nable youth can do l1ttle gooè. He 1acks Sarty's strong sense of moral values and th1s, comb1ned w1th h1s self1sh desire for p1easure, places the youth 1n a much more dangerous pred1cament than Sarty. The reader senses that Sart y w111 surv1ve the ordea1 of in1t1at10n 1nto exper!ence w1th h1s moral 1ntegr1ty 1ntact. It 1s doubtful 1f the youth can ach1eve a s1m1larly successful accommodat10n to the world. The death of Uncle W1lly inricates that the youth's innocence 1s at an end and his ordeal of 1nitiation has begun. W1th Uncle W1lly's death the erpectat10ns of his child1sh dreams of eternal nleRsure have ended. At the end of the story he 19 cry1n~ for the loss of his pleRsurable world of innocence and for 37

Une le Willy, who was his means of maintaining that existence in the adult world. He fepls that Uncle Willy has somehow betrayed hlm by faillng to provide the world of pleasure he promlsedl "Because the dy1ng wasn't anything, it Just touched the outslde of you that you .ore around wlth you for comfort and convenlence llke you do your clothesl lt was because the old garments, the clothes that were not worth anything had betrayed one of the two of us and the one betrayed was me ••• "(247). He dlscovers that he has not only lost his world of innocence, but he has also lost the protectlve maglc garments whlch would

have tnsulated htm trom the threats of adult reallty. Consequently, he flnds hlmself in a world where he

feels threatened with compllcity in a mur~er. He is learning rapldly that a great part of the bureen of

exper1ence eonslsts in bear1n~ responslbility for his aetions. He cannot relleve himself of that burden beeause nobody can understand the motives for his aetions. He ls alone, asking questions whlch nobody

ean answer. In his final questlon, "How e~ I?"(247), the boy wonders how he ean make people understand what he did. This question might Just as weIl be asked in 38 relatlon to the boy's abillty to bear the responsibilltes for his actions. The plalntive tone of the sentences lndlcates his lack of hope for an answer. He ls beg1nnlng to see that h1s days of lnnocence are gone forever, and he ls about to begin the long journey through experience.

In "A Justlce" Paulkner 18 stll1 deallng wlth the central theme that l have examined ln "Barn Burnlng" and -Oncle W1lly." The story agaln concerns a young boy who ls presented with the ev1l world whlch he does not understand. In "A Justice," however, the presentatlon ot that world has been var1e4 because, s1nce lt 1s told to h1m by Sam Pathers, the youth 1s one step removed trom 1t. The world that Quentin learns about has been trozen ln the past, and he is not a w1tness to the events as are Sart y qnd the youth 1n -Oncle Wllly." The tacts come down to Quentln by a compl1cated serles ot narratlcns. Herman BAsket, who was 1nvolved ln the orlglnal events, told them to the young Sam Pathers when he .as Whlg enough to hear talk·(J45). Sam, much later in hls 11te, tells them to the boy Quentln. Now an &dult, Quentln tells these tacts to the reader by presentlng the story Just as 39

Sam Pathers told lt to hlm. He frames Sem's story w1th hls own lntroduction and conclusion, and the lmpact of th1s method of presentat10n ls that the reader can see the events through Quentln's innocent eyes whlle, at the seme t1me, evaluatlng theru from a mature perspectlve. The reader ls put through thls serles of narratlons ln order that he appreclate the mysterlous and nostalglc atmosphere that Sam created for the young Quentln.

The lmportant narration ln thls serlee ~s when Sem Fathers tells the story to the nalve boy. The core of Sam's story conslsts of the varlous manoeuvres of Crayflshford, Sem's fAther, whlch lead to the seductlon of Sem's mother and the conceptlon of Sam. Quentln ls unable to follow the compllcated serles of eventsl "1 was just twelve then, and to me the story dld not seem to have got anywhere, to have had polnt or end"(359). Quentln ls fasclnated by Sem's story, however, because lt ls about the Indlans and Negroes of "the old days"(344), with the1r strange names and mysterlous actlvitles. But

he ls completel, obll~ious to the cruel act10ns of the

central characters of the storyl the eru~l Doom who pol sons the ch1ef and h1s son and lntlmldates the other 40

Ind1ans 1nto accept1ng h1m as the new chief, Sarn's father who persecutes the black slave by chasing h1s w1fe and getting her pregnant, and the Indians' treatment of the Negroes, who are "won" or "traded" l1ke animaIs, and who must slave for months pushing a boat over land on rollers so that Doom will have a b1gger house. Quentin in his total innocence is unable to be affected by th1s world of evil which Sam Fathers recreates for him. Because Quentin does not come face to face with the ev1ls of the world, as do the youths in -Barn Burning" and "Oncle Willy," he does not have to accept it as threatening him in any way. For him 1t is a world of make-believe a fantasy story about "the old days·(344), the 11kes of wh1ch Sam would often entertain h1m with whenever he went to his grandfather's farm. Any evil implications of the story are lost on Quentin e1ther because he does not understand them or because he relegates them to the realm of fiction. At the same time Sam tells h1m the story he understands nothing and says to his grandfatherl • 'Noth1ng sir,' l said 'We were just talking' "(360). Quent1n f1nally understands the true nature 41 of the world that Sam palnts for hlm when he has matured and ls able'to recognlze lt for whet lt ls. Quentln, now relatlng the story to us as an adult, ls aware of the lmpllcatlons he was obllvlous to as a chl1d. The "Doom- world whlch Sam descrlbed to Quentln as a boy ls only fully revealed to Quentln when he himself has crossed the threshold, "through and beyond the suspenslon of,tw11ight- (366) lnto ex­ perlence. Samls story comes allve for Quentln when he has experlenced the passage from the twl1lght of innocence to the harsh dayllght of the adult world. When he ls faced with the reallty of hls own exper­ lence, Quentln begins'to understand the lmplications of Samls story and it helps him put his own experiences lnto perspectlve. Sam felt that the story would help Quentin evaluate the crisis of hls own particular inltlation lnto experlence, not only on a personal

level, but as part of a contlnuum of m~nls unlversel

condltion. He would reallze that every~ne must adjust

to the palnful adult world of ~xperience After hls expuls10n rrom the secure and happy innocence of chl1dhood. The lesson to be learned from SAm's story

ls that, desplte a corrupt an~ deceltful backvround, 42 the individual can raise himself above these consi­ derations and gain respect and dignity. S~ Fathers, "a clever carpenter," has lived out his 1ife doing his job thoroughly, and commanding respect from both the Negroes and his white bosses. His serene and dignified acceptance of the limitations of his origins hRS been sustained by an inner power. This was ref1ected in the calmness of his face which "was still a1l the time, like he might be somewhere e1se aIl the while he was working or when p~ople, even white people, talked to h1m, or whtle he ta1ked to me" (344). This calm and dignified acceptance of his fate ls the 1esson that Quentin can 1earn from the story of Sames reaction to his background. And, just as Sam has preserved it

aIl those lears, Quentin had to preserve it unti1 the tlme when he would need its wisdom because, a1though

bl then "Sam Fathers would be dead" (360), his ~ignity wou1d be an example and comfort to Quentin. In "A Justice" Faulkner has further varied the treatment of the central theme of the innocent

being brought face to faee with .the worl~ of ~xpprt~nc~.

The events of the story have bee~ ~istanced by both the narrative method and the use of the historical, almost myth1cal sett1ng. Faulkner has created th1s var1at10n because the emphas1s 1n "A Just1ce" 1s d1fferent from "Barn Burn1ng" and "Uncle Willy." In both of these stor1es the description concen­ trates on present1ng the actual cr1s1s of the youth!s in1t1ation from innocence to experience. MUch of the 1ntense 1mmed1acy felt in thpse stor1es is lost in "A Justice" because Faulkner 1s concerned not so much with Quentin's in1t1ation from innocpnce to experience, but in deI1neating the char~cter of Sam Fathers and h1s response to the rea11ty of his situation. Although the story does not deai directIy with Quentin's 1n1t1at10n 1nto experience, 1t does reveal Quent1n's character before and after th1s transition. Quentin 1s revealed in1tially as the youth to whom "the story did not seem to have got

anywhere" (359). Later, he is shown FoS the aduit

who, 1n perspective, comes to re~lize the value of Sam Fathers' impression on himl "That was 1t. l was just tweive then, and l would have to wait until 44 l had passed on and through and beyond the sus­ pension of twilight. Then l knew that l would know" (360). By implication, Sam Fathers' impres­ sion on Quentin has hplped him to make a successful transition from the naive youth who fa1led to under­ stand the story to the mature adult who can appre­ ciate the moral stature of its narrator. The influence of Sam Fathers' example has been a source of strength for Quentin in the cris1s of his 1nit1ation from innocence to erper1ence. The contrapuntal relat1onsh1ps between "A Justice" and both "Barn Burning" and "Oncle W111y· can be seen by the extent to which the three youths are prepared to adjust to the world of exper1ence after they have Ipft the innocence of

childhood. Sart y ln "Barn Burnlng" is presented with the talnted world of his father, and ultimp.te1y he responds by reject1ng it in favour of a world

that will correspond closer to his sense of mor~llty. His response to the fallen adult world ls dlctRted by th1s sense of morallty which 1s personifled for him by Major De Spaln's presence in the story. 45

The youth 1n -Oncle W1lly· fa1ls to reco~n1zp the potent1al ev1l 1n the world about h1m. He does see the hypocr1sy of the citlzens of Jefferson, and because of both that react10n and h1s sympathy for Uncle W1lly, he 1s attracted to Uncle Willy. However, s1nce the youth ls lnterested ln learn1ng, from h1s association w1th Uncle Willy, how to have permanent enjoyment 1n l1fe, part of h1~ attract10n to hlm can be attr1buted to a seJfishness that 1s suspect. And Uncle W1lly h1ms~lf 1s 1n~nequate as a su1table gu1de for the youth. In both, "Barn Burn1ngW and "Uncle W1llyW the youths sense the d1fficulties of the adult world ann both seek means by wh1ch they can best accommodate to those d1ff1- cultles. In wA Ju~t1ce,w on the other han~, Quentin ls prepared for the corrupt1on of the adult world, and is s1multaneously prepRred for the proper res­ ponse to it. Sarty's father 1n~roduces him to the world of evil, but hp presents him with no means of surmountlng that evi!. SArt y relies on his own

sense of moral values to successfully arco~mod~te

hlmself to the world. Ano, unllkp his father, he 46 strlves to preserve his sense of ethical values in the face of the threat of reallty. Uncle Willy 1ntroduces the unknowlng boy to the worlè of eVil, but the means whlch he provides for surmount1ng that evil are 1nadequate. Sam FRthers introduces Quentln to the evll world but, at the same time, he shows hlm by hls example what the nature of his response should be. Judglng from the presentat10n of Quentln's character ln "A Justice," 1t appears that Quentln has fully rea11zed the slgnlflcance of Sames story and has benefited from Sames exemple. Re has l~arned suff1clent hum1l1ty and patience to conduct himself w1th d1gnlt1 and self-respect in the world of exper1ence. In the other two stor1es there 1s as yet no such declslve resolutlon. Wp have seen that both of the youths are, unknowingly, 1nvolved in the actual rite of 1nitiat1on 1nto exPp r1ence. They have come to the end of the1r chilfhccr innocence and are about to be tested before the1 cen be cons1- dered responslble men. S1m1lar to Ike M~CAslin in

"The Bear" the youths must g0 ~hr~ugh ~h~ ri~~ of 47 initiation to learn humility, endurance and honore Sarty , at the end of the story, is alone in the wilderness where he must learn ~at1ence and endurance. The boy in -Oncle Willy" ls 1solated and unable to communicate wlth anybody at the end of the story.

He must show that he can learn humllity, ~d be able ta bear the burden of his lsolat1on. The youths can react to the1r sltuation ln e1ther of two ways. They can fa1l the tests of manhood, compro.lse their moral lntegrity, and spend their lives &drlft ln the world of experience wlth no ethical code to give them meanlng or d1rectlon. Or, the y can prevall over thelr predlcament, earn the

right to call themselves men, an~ live out the1r lives with dlgnity and honore These two reactions to the world or erper1ence wlll be dlscussed ln the next two sections of th1s essaYe 48

SECTION TWO

In thls sect10n l hope to deal more fully wlth those characters who have not sueeeeded ln bearlng the responslb111tles and burdens whlch the struggle wtth the world ot reallty entails. The emphasls ln these stories (-Dry September," "That Evenlng SUn,· and "Golden Land·) ls on adult characters who have lost thelr 1nnocence, and who are deeply lnvolved ln eoping wlth thelr ne. envlronment. Thelr lot ls one of despalr, frustratlon, and moral dls111uslonment, and they have 11ttle hope of breaklng free from the eonflnes of thelr sufferlng. Thelr struggle ls very much a loslng one and, ~lready, they show signs of erumbllng, elther mentally or physleally, under lt8 straln. Mlnnle Cooper in -Dry September" ls a typlcal example of the klnd of eharacter who 18 no longer able to bear the paln of be1ng trapped ln sueh a .orld. Her positlon ls that of the arehetypal splnster who ls threqtened by sexuql frustration and 49 advancing age. She can no longer bear the Rgony of her stereotype, and fantasy offers her the only means of escape. Rer situation is particularly frustrating because as a young girl with a "slender nervous bOdy"(174) she occupied an enviable posit1on in Jefferson, r1ding "the crest of the town's social life"(174). She gradually began to lose her status, however, and, "though she was the last to rea11ze that she was los1ng ground"(174), she soon found herself in a dull, bor1ng existence, lacking occupation and having no real 1nterest or direction in 11fe. At first she tried to 19nore the change that was

taking place. "She st111 carr1ed 1t [ner fac~ to parties on shadowy port1cos and summer lawns, 11ke a mask or a flag, w1th that bafflement of furious repud1ation of truth in her eyes"(174). As she got older her attempts to reject the rea11ty of her s1tuation became progress1vely more ppthetic. After overhear1ng a derogatory remark et a party, she refused aIl future 1nvitations in order to avo1d such confrontations w1th rea11ty. She askeâ her schoolmates to have the1r ch11dren cel1 her ·cousin" 50

1nstead of "aunt," and the citlzens began to notice "the scent of whisky on her breath" (175). Although she trled hard to keep up the façAde of her social posltlon by wearlng new dresses, going shopplng in the afternoon, and attending movips wlth friends ln the evening, "agalnst that back­ ground Mlnnie's I1ght dresses, her ldle and empty days, had a qual1ty of furlous unreal1ty" (17S). Mlnnle's 1magined rape ls yet another attempt to avold the real1ty of her sltuatlon, lt ls an effort to deny thp passage of time, regaln the status of her youth, and be, once aga1n, the focus of attent10n. But th1s 1s not the first time

that she hAS 1mag1ned such th1n~sl one of thp men ln the barber shop asks "wasn't there something

about a man on the kltchen roof, watchln~ hp.r undress,

about a year ago?" (171). Th~se fantas1es reveal

M1nnle's desperate efforts to re-establ~sh her femln1ne ldentlty in the town because she ls acutely

aware that ·the sltting and 10un~ing men did not. ~ven follow her with their eyes anymore" (175).

Rer f~~ciful rape by the Negro Will Mayes does, momentarl1y, change her status in the town. 51

When she goes to the movles that nlght she knows that aIl the men in Jefferson, from "the young men" (lBI) in the drugstore door to the "gentlemen" (lRl) on the s1dewalks are looklng at her. For a br~.ef moment she ls a woman agaln, an object of envlous interest and, perhaps, even deslre. But lt ls a false status, however, and at the movles she ls forced to recognlze the d1fference between reality and fantasy. The world presented on the screen, whlch ls epltom1zed by the young couples ln the audience, belongs to the glory of her younger days, and ls now alien to her experlencel

The llghts flickered awaYI the ~creen glowed sllver, and soon 11fe began to unfold, beautiful and passionate and sad, whlle stll1 the young men and g1rls entered, scented and sib1lant in the half dark, their paired backs ln sllhouette dellcate and sleek, thelr sllm, aulck bodies awkward, dlvln~11 youn~, whtle beyond them the sllver dream accumule.ted lnevltably on and on. (lBI) The passionate 11fe that ls presented here reflects

the des1res of ·the young men And girls· an~ 1s

completely lncongruous with the re~lity of Minni~'s s1tuation. It 18 a world of romant1c dreams cAtering to the aspirations of the ·dlvlnely young,· whose 52 presence at the movles reveals to the mlddle-aged Mlnnle the sharp contrast between them RDd her. She ls forced to recognlze that she ls no longer young and attractlve and, as a result, she ls aware of the futlllt1 of her fantasles. She reallzes that she ls unable to change her sltuatlon, that she ls lrrevocably trapped by lt. Thls reallzat10n ls tDO much for her to bearl she beg1ns to laugh and ls soon unable to control her laughter. By the end of the story lt has become a shrlek that ls not on11 lndlcatlve of Mlnnle's neurotlc condltlon, but betra1s the hysterla engendered ln one who has falled to cope wlth the rea11t, of her world. The nature of the world that Mlnnles exlsts ln ls, perhaps, f1rst lndlcated by the lmagery of the stor,'s open1ng sentence. -Through the bloody September twlllght, aftermath of slxt,-two ra1n1ess days, lt had gone llke a fire in dry grass - the rumour, the story, whatever lt was-(169). As Byatt H. Wagg~ner has polnted out, the 1mages here, the blood, the twll1ght, the dryness, the fire, are a1l associated wlth death.6 However, except for Wll1 Mayes who does 53 actually d1e, there 1s no flna11ty assoc1ated w1th thls death. Rather, the 1mages of heat, dryness, qno flre are assoc1ated w1th a more preclse ~spect of th1s world. It ls a phys1cal hell 1n wh1ch M1nn1e and the other characters experlenr,e the angu1sh of constant suffer1ng, where everyone, 1n fact, 1s a vlctlm. The 1magery ls not so much assoclated w1th actual death as w1th a llfe-1n-death, a l1v1ng hell from wh1ch only actual death can br1ng rellef. It 1s a hot, v101ent, ano pa1nful world where, except for the young couples at the movles who have been lulled lnsens1t1ve by the "s11ver dream" of the screen, the suffer1ng of the characters seems as endless as the endless summer. And the suffer1ng ls as mean1ngless as the lrrat10nal lyach1ng of the innocent Negro by the mob. In the de11neat10n of Minn1e Cooper's predicament "Dry Sentember" effect1vely reveals the hopeless condit10n of people l1ke her who l1ve in a small narrow-m1nded town and who are unable to c~nform to the socla1 patterns of the communlty. AlI her sufferlng can u1tlmate1y be traced to thls sltuatlon. Slnce she fal1s to flnd a husband and get marrled Mlnnle ls treated as an object of scorn by the respectable cltlzens of Jefferson. ·It was twe1ve years now slnce she had been re1egated lnto adultery by pUb11c oplnlon ••• "(174). But she ls ~lso condescendlng1y pltled by these people. • 'Poor Mlnnle! Poor glrl:' ·(182). She ls caught between these extremes of pub11c oplnion and ls denled a normal socla1 exlstence. Ironlca11y, her affalr wlth the Memphls banker, whlch was an attempt to achleve her prescrlbed socla1 ro1e as a marrled woman, dlmlnlshed what 11tt1e socla1 status she had, and eftectlvely prevented her from attalnlng a place ln the communlty. Because of that aftalr she ls consldered an adulteress who ls to be scorned or pltled, but not accepted.

Mlnnle's tal1ure to marry and, thus, flnd R place for herse1f wlthln a deflned soclal context 1eads to her sexua1 frustratlon. Slnce she has fal1ed 55 to f1nd a husband there 1s no other soc1a11y accepted way for her to express her sexuality in the sooiety in which she lives. It is this sexua1 frustration that 1eads to her mental disintegration, and 1t is indicative that her fancifu1 image of herse1f manifests itself in sexual terms.

Minnie's sexua1 f~stration can, in turn, be traoed baok to the basic human desire to receive love and kindness And to rec1procate those feelings. She is denied the opportunitl of demonstrating her humanity by giving her love to another human being. The consequenoe is an inhuman s1tuation where love has been stiff1ed and, as a result, beoomes warped. The denial of the opportunity to express her love builds up pressures that lead to Minnie's neurottc condition. She becomes a pathetic fi~re of despair and isolation .nen this mental disintegratlon confirma her pos1tion on the periphery of the social lire in Jefferson. Paulkner shows a profound sympathy for such lonely char~cters aa Minnie who are victime of the world they inhab1t. Michael Millgate h~ traced the development of "Dry Sentember" ln Faulkner's manuscrlpts and h1s dlscovery of the orlg1nal openlng sentences of the second paragraph reveals Faulkner's characterlstlc attltudes "Llfe ln such places ls terrlble for women. Llfe ln aIl plac~s ls terrlb1e for women. n7 Thls sympathy for Mlnnle's predlcament ls slmllar to Fau1kner's attltude toward Eml1y Grlerson ln nA Rose for Emlly." Both M1nnie and Emily suffer at the hands of fate and under the pressure of false values that consider an unmarrled woman a soclal fal1ure. Both are v1ct1ms of a world over wh1ch they have no control and from wh1ch there ls no esc~pe. Faulkner, speaklng of Fml1y's predlcament, cou10 be referrlng not on1y to Minnle, but to aIl the characters dlscussed in thls section of the essaya

That to me WRS another sad and traglc manlfestation of San's condltlon in whlch he dreams and hopes, ln whlch he ls ln conf1lct wlth hlmself or wlth hls environment or with others. In thls case there was the young g1r1 wlth a young g1r1's normal asp1rations to f1nd love and then a husband and a faml1y, who was brow­ beaten and kept down by her father, a se1flsh man who dldn't want her to 1eave 57

home because he wanted a housekeeper, and 1t was a natural 1nst1nct of - repressed wh10h - you can't repress 1t - you oan mash 1t down but 1t comes up somewhere el se and very 'llke1y ln a traglc form, and that was s1mp11 another manlfestatlon of man's 1njustlce to man, of the poor trag1c human belng stmugg1lng w1th lts own heart, w1th others, wlth 1ts envi ronment, for the slmple thlngs whlch all human belngs want. In that case lt was a young glr1 that just wanted to be loved and to love and to have a husband and a taml1y. Q. And that purely came from your lmaglnatlon? . A. Well,the stor1 dld but the conditlon ls there. It exlsts. l dldn't invent that cond1tlon, l dldn't 1nvent the fact that young glr1s dream of someone to love and chl1dren and a home, but the story of what her 0Wij partlcular tragedy was w~s lnvented, 1es ••• And, in Fau1kner's vlew thls ·conditlon· ls neither restrlcted to young glrls or Southern splnsters. It ls the un1versal predlcament of msn after he has 1eft the secure world of chl1dhood and has found h1mse1f in theadult world. Through no part1cular fault of thelr own these people are unable to wlthstand the tremendous pressure of thelr sltu~tlon and they co11~pse ln defeat. Mlnn1e's response to the rea1ity of her situation complements Emily's, and both are counterpo1nted by Uncle Wllly's escape lnto the fantasy world of hero1n. Because Mlnnle ls forced to turn more ~d more lnward to avold the agony of her s1tuatlon she seeks to escape lnto a world of sexual fantasles where she ls once agaln the object of lnterest and deslre. Llke Uncle Wllly sne trles to deny the passage of t1me and return to the lnnocence of her younger days. But, l1ke h1m also, she ls doomed, there ean be no actual escape untll death. McLendon and Hawkshaw are as much trapped ln thls Southern hell as 18 Mlnnle Cooper. They cannot assert themselves ln the face of thelr sltuatlon, and they remaln Just BS much the undeservlng v1ctlms of th1s world as ls W1l1 Mayes the needless vletlm of McLendon's v1olence. Ironlea11y, Wlll Mayes, by hls death has eseaped from the suff~rlng of hls envlronment. McLendon and Hawkshaw remaln trapped ln thelr hostlle reallty. McLendon's 1nvolvement 1n thls world 1s noted by W1lllam B. Bachee -He ls truly M1nnle's counter­ part. At flr8t McLendon ls 'h1sterlcal' and Mlnnie ls 10nely. atter the murder McLendon ls '10ne1J' and 59

M1nn1e 1s hysterlcal. They have exchanged one mlsery for another and are much worse off for the exchange. They have progressed withln a physlcal hell and lnto a moral hell."9 McLendon" s crlsis has been preclpatated by the comblnation of boredom and hot weather which has created tenslons ln hlm that can only be released through furlous and lrrat10nal vlolence. Though the causes of McLendon's frustrations are harder to trace than M1nnle's (thls ls, perhaps, to be expected since he is not the central character in the story), it ls 1nt1mated that he is 1solated from his w1fe and, thus, 11ke Minnie 1s denled both emot1onal and sexual release. In this context his actions throughout the story can be 1nterpreted as a desperate attempt to seek attention and recognltion ln much the seme way that M1nnie does by her fantasies. He has been denied emotlonal acceptance and his 1llog1cal behaviour is a reaction to that nenlal. He ls another isolated 1ndiv1dual strugg11ng in a hostile environment to estabIlsh his human 1dent1ty. McLendon's response to hls situation is one of perpetuaI motion whleh acts as a catharsis for 60 his frustration. He ls flrst seen crash1ng through the screen doors of the barber shop where he stops brlef1YI "polsed on the ba1ls of hls feet, rovlng hls gaze" (172). From then on he ls a sweating,

furlous b1ur of movement whlrllng throu~h the stor7, bu11Ylng and beatlng whom ever gets in hls way. When he has returned home hls throwing away the shirt, whlch ln a moment he seeks agaln, ls a parody of the futlilty of a1l hls actlons throughout the story. After he has flna1lY come to a stop, he stands stlll, pantlng, faclng a10ne the sllence of "the dark world Lthat.7 seemed to 11e strlcken beneath the coIn moon and the 1id1ess stars" (183). He remalns lnsecure and isolated and hls response to that condltion, hls bustllng, bravado-llke efforts to overcome it, are as much fai1ures as are Mlnnle's fantasles. The barber, Hawks haw , although he does not suffer the same agony and frustration as Minnie and McLendon, ls another character trapped in a wor1d from which there ls no escape. In his efforts

to prevent the lynchlng of Will Mayes he ~i8plays an lneffectualness and weakness that explains his 61 lnabl11ty to assert hlmse1f wlthln hls envlronment. Hawkshaw, presumab1y, ls meant to represent anorm of common sense ln thls lnsane wor1d, Yet, he ls unab1e to lmpress upon McLendon and the others thelr 1ack of any c1ear proof of Wl11 Mayes' gul1t. H1s ratlona1lty ls lost amld the feverlsh and emotlona1 excltement engendered by McLendon. Even Hawkshaw hlmse1f ls affected by the hot September nlghtl ln the tuss1e wlth the Negro he gets slashed ln the mouth with the handcuffs and he reta1lates by strlklng the Negro. Not only does hls ratlona1lty fal1 to have any effect on thls wor1d, but he cannot remaln untouched by lts lnsanlty. He has been talnted by hls assoc1atlon wlth the lynchers and hls retchlng ln the dltch can be seen as a futlle, symbo1lc c1eanslng of hlmself. He haB fal1ed tG llve up to hls role as the votee of common sense ln

a wor1d of chaos. Because of h1~ 1neffectu~lnesB qn1 weakness he has been unab1e to cope wlth hls

s1tuat1on and he remaln~ ll~~ Minnie and McLendon, trapped in his world. 62

In -That Even1ng SUn- Faulkner further develops the themea of suffer1ng, despalr, and lsolat10n wh1ch have been set forth ln -Dry September.- In terms of these e1ements of the story the central character ls Nancy, the Compson's washerwoman, who ls terrlfled of golng home because she fears that Jesus, her common-law husband, ls waltlng to klll her because she has - had an arralr wlth Stova1l, a whlte banker. She tries 4esperately to f1nd excuses to avold golng home and, when these have falled, she persuades the Compson ch11dren to accompany her to her cabln. When Mr. Compson comes to collect them, and her appeals ror protect10n are dlsmlssed by hlm, Nancy s1ts qu1etly ln her cabln wa1tlng for her death. She 1s so conv1nced that Jesus w111 kil1 her, no matter what she does, that she does not even bother to close the door. The emphasis ln the story ls on the mental and emotlona1 d1s1ntegratlon of Nqncy under the pressure of tremendous fear and surr~ring. The essence of her anguish stems from her complete isolation and abandonment; she is utterly alone and those around her are merely spectators to her tragedy. Speaking of her condition Faulkner saidl "the point l was making, which was that this Negro woman who had given devotion to the white fAm1ly knew that when the crisis of her need came, the wh1te family wouldn't be there.·IO And her isolAtion goes beyond her personal situation as a Negro in the South who has been cut off from both commun1ties.

Speak1ng of Nancy s1tting by the f1re awa1tin~ her death, William Van O'Connor says, "The scene and the story as a whole su~gest not merely a lOCAl hist~ry of exploitation, guilt, and ignorance, but human frustration, white and black, at the bleakest point of hopelessness and despa1r.·11 Nancy is liv1ng in a doomed world where there 1s no sav1our, and she 1s being pursued by a black Jesus, who, iron1cally, 1s a destroying devil, rather than the trad1tional figure of hope and salvation. The world she exists 1n i8, by the vory 64 lntenslty of lts pain and anguish, contrapuntel to the mlcrocosmlc hell presented ln "Dry September." The images used to suggest hell there - heat, dryness, flre, sun - are again evoked in "That Evenlng Sun." In the cabln wlth the ch1ldren Nancy ls constantly assoclated wlth both the flre and the lampa "Nancy was standlng by the lampe Her hand was on the lamp, agalnst the 11ght, long and brown"(303). As she sorted the popcorn she "poured the clnders lnto her apron and began to sort the grains, her hAnds long and brown"(30S). Thp. suggestlon 18 that Nancy 1~, as a result of the lntense sufferlng of her own prlvate hell, lmpervlous to the hot lamp and burning clnders. Rer mental agony has become so absorblngly real that she fails to notlce physlce.l paln, The assoclatlon of Nancy with fire ls strengthened by the statement that "Nancy bullt up the fire, 'Look at Nancy ~utting her hands ln the fire,' Caddy sald" (304). And agaln latera "She we.s sitting close to the flre, The lamp was turned up so h1gh lt was beglnnlng to smoke"(305). She 18 so strongly ldentlfled wlth the fire t~~t even her tears Are balls of f1re: -water began to come out on her face 1n b1g drops, runn1ng down her face, carry1ng 1n each one a 11ttle turnlng baIl of flre11ght l1ke a spark until 1t dropped offher chin-(306). Thls flre lmagery suggests that Nancy's angu1sh has reached such an 1ntense p1tch that she has become a symbol of hell 1tself. She 1s so strongly 1dentified w1th the agony of her sufferlng that the d1st1nct10n between lt and her hes become practically 1mpercept1ble, she no longer experlences the sufferlng but beeomes the suffer1ng ltself. Not only ls Nancy, as a victlm of a 11ving hell, counterp01nted to the pred1cament of Minn1e Cooper, but the causes of her suffer1ng are contrapuntal to those of Minnle. Nancy, llke M1nn1e, is 1solated from the communlty 1n whleh she lives. She has been caught between the two cultures, wh1te and black, and in her hour of angu1sh she 1s unable to cla1m the help of e1ther. Nancy has neglected her role as wlfe to Jesus and, because her affa1r ls w1th a whlte man, she loses her black 66 eommun1ty 1dentlty. Slnee she can never 'become part of the whlte eommunity she ends up alone and isolated, lack1ng the acceptance and securlty of communlty 11fe. Part of Naney's isolatlon from her communlty can, 11ke Minnle~, be traeed to her sexuality. Naney's oondltlon, however, resulta from the opposite sexual extreme, she loses her place ln the communlty when she crosses rac1al 11nes ln her sexual actlvitles. She fulfills what for Mlnnle can only take place ln her se.ual fantasles. Minn1e's serùal fantasies arouse a plty ln the cltlzens that confirms her isolatlon from the communlty. Nancy's sexual lnvolvement wlth the white banker lsolates her from the blaek communlty, anè arouses the .,ealousy and wrath of Jesus, whose threats reveal the extent of that lsolatlon. Ve see, then, that both Mlnnle's and Nancy's angu1ahed s1tuation can be tracpd in part to one extreme or other ln their sexuel and emotlonal lives. The contrapuntal relat10nship between the two stor1es he1ghtens the reader's awareness of the extent of both Mlnnle's and Nancy's lsolatlon and despa1r. They both ex1st on the per1pherles of thelr respectlve commun1tles, and thelr sufferlng stems from the lack of acceptance and secur1ty that results from thls klnd of ex1stence. Though Nancy ls ln more 1mmlnent danger than Mlnnle, the slml1arity of thelr baslc pred1caments polnts up the unlversallty of thls k1nd of falled response to the world of experlence. In both cases the welght of thelr problems ls greater than thelr lnd1vidual abillty to cope wlth them .1thout compromls1n~ thelr moral lntegrlty. Mlnnle loses her moral 1ntegrlty by allowing an 1nnocent man to be kllled, although she must know that she ls the only person ln a posltion to save hlm.

Nancy has lost .her moral lntegrlty by balng unf~lthful to her common-law husband and becomlng the pald whore of a whlte man. Although Nancy reacts to the reallty of her s1tuation ln a more vallant way than Minnle, she does not qulte attain the d1gnlty and stature of 68 the characters to be dealt wlth ln the thlrd sectlon of the essaYe L1ke Ab Snopes ln -Barn Burn1ng- she reveals a strength of endurance that ls admlrable, but whlch, ln the context of her moral short-comlngs, ultlmately loses much of lts value. Nancy and Mlnnle have been so affected by the evll reallty of thelr worlds that they have compromlsed such vlrtues as honor, justlce, and slmple humaneness in thelr efforts to survlve lts palns and sufferlngs. These efforts, of course, are ln valn and, lronlcally, both Mlnnle and Nancy end up alone and lsolated, pathetlc flgures of hopelessness and despalr. The flnal plcture of

Nancy slttlng awaltlng her death ls just AS p1t1ful as the scene where M1nnle 1s dr1ven to hyster1cal screech1ng. Nancy's response to the real1ty of her env1ronment 1s a subtle varlat10n of ~1nnle's f11ght 1nto sexual fantasy. Minnie reacts to her s1tuat10n by try1ng to create a new personal1ty, one that 1s younger and sexually attract1ve. N~cy attempts to depersonallze herself so that she 1s not responsible for her actions. Her excuse that • '1 aint noth1ng 69 but a n1gger ••• It a1nt none of my tault' " (29J) 1s a d1stanc1ng of hergu1lt that she hopes will allev1ate her fear. She tries to objectif y hers~lf so that she loses her ind1v1dual identity and becomes merely a part of her race. She can only accept her suffering and death if she does not interpret them as a personal punishment for her ~ctions, but, 1nstead, sees them as the fate of her doomed race. ft '1 hel1born, ch1ld,' Nancy sa1d. '1 wont be noth1ng soon. l go1ng back where l came from soon' ft (298). She 1s w1ll1ng to sacrifice her personal 1dentity to her racial 1dent1 ty wh1ch, in turn, 'dictates that even that ident1ty will be soon effaced and she will be "noth1ng." She seeks the complete obliteration of her 1ndiv1dual personal1ty wh1ch 1s defined for her in terms of her gu1lt. Whereas Minnie' s response to her stt.ue.t1on

conce~trates on creating a new 1dent1ty, Hancy's efforts are a1med at ridd1ng herself of her old one. The other characters in "That Even1ng Sun"

are as much trapped in the1r world as N~cy 1s in herse The story, -by implication, revea1s the ineffect'Jalness

and inab1l1ty of th~ peop1~ arounn N~cy to comb~t 70 the forces that are threaten1ng her. They fai1 to bear the responsibi1ities of the1r s1tuati~n and, in the face of the1r harsh env1ronment, they are rendered weak and impotent. Irv1ng Howe be11eves that the story "is not about the Negro cherac ter at a11. In the end 1t becomes c1ear that the lncldent of the Negroes has been used mere1y AS a test for the moral stamlna of the Compsons. Through­ out the story the Compsons 'do' vlrtua11y nothing, but ln their reactions to the c10seness of death - thelr p1ty or 1ndifferenee, the1r generos1ty or se1f1shness - they are brought to d1st1nct being,"l2 Whlle the v1ew that the story 1s not prlmarily coneerned wlth Nancy seems somewhat extreme, 1t ls elear that the Compsons' 1nab1l1ty to react pos1tively to Nancy's fear does underscore the universa1 implications of her p1ight. Thp situat10n has become a moral test for the Compsons and they have failed. Like Nancy they are trapped by thelr environment and, because they are weak and ineffectual, they are unab1e to assert themse1ves above it. Naney's situat10n 1s presented 1ndirectly 71 through the dlalogue of the Compson ch1ldren and. through thls method of presentatlon, Faulkner haB sharply contrasted Nancy's horror of the death she knows awalts her and the chlldren's fallure to appreclate fully that horror. Throughout the story the ch1ldren'. constant refraln of whlch of them 1B Most frlghtened of the dark helghtens Nancy's actual terror. Thelr compulslve talk on the way to and from Nancy's cabln ls,among other functlons, an attempt to depersonallze thelr fear that parallels Nancy's reactlon to her s1tuRtlon. Krs. Compson's lack of sympathy or apprec1at1on of Nancy's fear can be excused because of her complete and utterly selflsh nature. It ls Mr. Compson's lnabl11ty to act, however, that helghtens Nancy's lsolatlon and reveals the extent of her plight. He does take Nancy's terror serlously and he offers var10us solutlons ln an effort to calm her - havlng her stay with a frlend or ~utting the case before the police. But such measures as Nancy's sleeping with the Compson. are only temporarYI they provide no final solution to the threat Jesus poses 72 for Nancy. As Nancy herself real1zesl • 'Putting lt off wont do no good ••• l reckon 1t belong to me. l reckon what l go1ng to get aint no more than m1ne' ft (307). The truth of th1s statement only emphas1zes Mr. Compson's total 1nab111ty to help Nancy. She must face her sufferlng alone, and her terror ls lncreased by the knowledge that nobody can do anyth1ng to help her. Both shp ann Mr. Compson are trapped in their separate worlds and they are powerless to help themselves or each other.

Although the small town s1tuat1on, with lts narrow mindedness and soclal prejurlice, ls a favourlte vehlcle of Faulkner's for presentlng the

kind of situatlon that ls part or the exper1~nce of

the adult worl~, he 1s not solely restricted to that

milieu. In "Golden L~d" he presents the moral destruction and angulsh of a man from a sma11 town ln Nebraska after he has moved to Los Angeles.

Ira Ew1ng fled his Nebraska home wh~n he w~s fourteen and now, at forty-eight, he ls the owner of a

prosperous resl estate company, and h~ 11ves in a hundred-thousand-dollar house in Hollywood. 73

Rowever, he lives an empty and mRter1~llstic exlstence whlch has npither meaning nor direction. His marriage holds no lnterest for hlm, hls son ls a homosexual, and he has a daughter who ls Involved ln a Hollywood sex scandal whlch he Is not above exploitlng. He has become the vlctim of the false values of Los Angeles and it ls withln that settlng that hls sufferlng and moral collapse are delineated. It Is a world of corruption where the crlteriafor success are money and material wealth. Ira suffers in this worln because he has neglected the ethical code of his parents which lai~ stress on fortltude, honor ~d human dignlty. His failure as an indivt~ual stems from his inablllty to learn the lesson of hls parents who "h~d trled to explaln It to hlm - somethlng about fortttude, the will to endure" (702). In reactlng against hls poor back­ ground he identifies wlth thp. materiallstic values of his Californian envlronment. His assocl~tlon wlth such a world leads to his an~uished sltuption and moral collapse.

The world of experience ln whlch Ira Ew1n~ 74 exlsts ls typlcal of the hostile envlronment which faces aIl the characters dealt wlth ln thls sectlon of the essaYe Although the locale and clrcumstances have changed, the world which defeats and corrupts Ira Ewlng wlth the welght of Its burdens ls essentlally the same as the reallty whlch confronts both Mlnnle and Nancy, Llke them he experlences the lsolation, despalr, and frustratlon of one who ls a vlctlm of an

envlronment over whlch he has no control and from whlch there Is no escape. And, llke them, he ls trapped ln thls world of paln, where he ls unable to assert himself succes8fully, and where hls struggle leads to hls moral collapse. The contrapuntal relatlonshlp between the

three storles ls em~haslzed by the imagery used in wGolden Lande to deplct the envlronment ln whlch Ira Ewing ls a vlctim. Loa Angeles ls seen as an Immoral wasteland and It la descrlbed by hell Imagery slmllar

to that evoked ln wDry Septemberw and WThat Evenlng SUnW, the city ln the brlght soft hazl sunlight, random, seattered about the arld earth 1Ike so many gay scrap. of paper blown wlthout order, wlth its curlous alr of bein~ rootlesR- 75

of houses bright beautlfu1 and gay, without basements or foundat1ons, 11ght1y attached to a few inches of l1ght penetrable earth, l1ghter even than dust and laid 11ghtly ln turn upon the profound and prlmeval lava, whlch one good hard raln wou1d wash forever from the slght and memory of man as a flre hose flushes down a gutter - that c1ty of almost 1ncalculab1e wealth whose queer1y approprlate fate ls to be erected upon a few spools of a substance whose value ls computed ln bl1lions and which may be complete1y destroyed in that secondes instant of a careless match between the moment of strlklng and the moment when the striker mlght have sprung and stamped it out. (719) The 1mages here of dryness, heat, flre, and "primeval lava," coupled with the tit1e of the story, c10se1y ldentify the reality presented in "Golden Land" wlth the kind of he1lish wor1è of angulsh that we have seen in "Dry September" and

A~Ü'G' AC! "That Evening Sun." The description of L08 "'a.&a":!>_~_",,, as a modern verslon of he11 is an important metaphor by which the sufferlng cf Mlnnie, Nancy, and Ira Ew1ng are closely ldentified. The suggestions of hel1 ls further strengthened when the house in whlch Ira had llved first when he came to Los Angeles, and in whlch his mother now lives, ls described as being set "1nto a barren footh1ll combed and currled lnto a cyprus-and-marble cemetery dramatlc as a stage set and topped by an electrlc slgn 1n red bulbs whlch, ln the San Fernando Valley fog, glared ln broad sourceless rUby as though just beyond the crest lay not heaven but hell"{7l1). Not only ls Los Angeles deplcted as a llvlng hell but, becau8e of the proxlmlty of the house to the cemetery, there ls also the suggestlon that lt ls part of a death-ln-11fe ex1stence of pa1n and suffer1ng. It ls a world of warped values where the deslre for money wlll cause a father to betray h1s daughter, where love and human emotlons r.~ve become tw'sted. and where, ult1mately, there ls only despalr and 10ne11ness. And, llke the reallty wh1ch faces Mlnnle and Nency, 1t 18 a world from wh1ch there can be no escape untll deeth. The 1solat1on from the commun1ty presented ln "Dry September" and "That Even1ng Sun" 1a carr1ed to such an extreme ln "Golden Land" that there 1e no sense whatever of a communlty. Once Ira Ewln~ has d1vorced h1mself trom h1s home and famlly he becomes a pathet1c f1gure, dr1ven for compan1onsh1p to a 77 m1stress w1th whom he spends his n1ghts, dr1nk1ng 1n bars -tilled w1th the break1ng of glass and the shr111 cr1es of drunken women above the drums ~ saxophones ••• ·(701}. H1s only close t1e 1s to his mother whom he v1s1ts regularly every morn1ng. However, because he has abnegated her tradltional values, she has become an a11en f1gure for whom he can only show a condescend1ng tolerance. Ira, then,

1s as 1s01ated as M1nnie and Nancy 1 11ke them he lacks the sense of acceptance and security that 1s part of commun1ty 11fe and, 11ke them also, that

1s01at10n he1ghtens the agony of the r~ality wlth wh1ch he must contend. Ira Ewing's p11ght can, to a certa1n degree, be traced to h1s sexua11ty and, 1n this, h1s s1tu~t1on is counterp01nted to both M1nn1e's and Nancy·s. Because of his extrangement from h1s w1fe he ls den1ed, as M1nn1e ls denied, the opportun1ty to erpress h1s sexual des1res w1thln a soclally acceptable situe.tlon. Whereas for Minnie there only remains escape lnto sexual fantas1es, tor Ira there la the alt p rnatlve of a m1stress. But, l1ke Nancy, Ira becomes the v1ctlm 78

of h1s sexua1lty. Hls assoclat1on wlth a m1stress not on1y serves to keep h1m lso1ated from hls fami1y and home, but further increases the discrepancy between

the mora11ty of his actions and the high ethica1 code of his parents. For Nancy as mlstress, and for Ira as a keeper of a mlstress the consequences are the same. Because of thelr sexua1 11cence the1 have not on1y sacrif1ced the1r moral lntegrity, but have he1ped to brlng agony and frustration on themselves. As in -ory September- and -That Evening Sun" Ira's seXUel prob1ems arise from the slmple human need

to love and be loved ln return. Bpcause Ira ls not sexually involved wlth hls wlfe, he 1acks the emotlona1 secur1ty of both his marri age and his famlly. He is driven to a mistress to seek the love and affectlon he has been denied at home. And, pre s umably , llke aIl the èommoditles in th1s world of false values, he w111 only have thls affect10n as long as he can aftord lt. Although sex can be se en as one of the causes of Ira's pred1cament, 1t does not play such a central part 1n h1s sltuatlon as lt does ln the case of Mlnnlp and Nanoy. Sex in -Golden Land- has been used, rather, 79 es a symbol of the corrupt and decadent world of Ira Ewing's envlronment. The sexual perverslons lndlcated ln the story indlcate the warped values of the world descrlbed. There ls both the unnatural relatlonshlp between Ira and his wlfe and the situation between Ira and his mlstress, where sex ls dependent on Ira's f1nanc1al posltion. The homosexuallty of Ira's son ls a further mAnifestatlon of misplaced affectlon and tw1sted human emotlon. And, of course, the story ltself ls focused around the sex scandaI caused by Ira's daughter. Sex has become the ult1mate symbol of the degradatlon and lnversion of human values present in th1s world. Ira's failed response to the reallty of his env1ronment ls counterpolnted to Mlnnle's and Nancy's response to their world. In pursuing the goals of the corrupt society in whlch he llves Ira has been forced to cultivate its empty values, while neglecting such human virtues as honor, justice, and d.1gnlty. By attemptlng to live by the stA.nd~rds of thls world Ira ignores h1s family obligations and, thus, denles himself the Jopportunlty of ernresslng 80 hls human, emotlonal deslres. The result ls that he has completely dehumanlzed hlmselt. Whereas Nancy, ln response to hè~ sltuatlon, attempts to depersona­ llze her humanlty, and Mlnnie, because of the lntense pressure of her sutferlng, corrupts her hum~lty, Ira, by ~ealously pursulng the goals of the soc let y ln whlch he llves, loses hls humanlty. He trles to re­ establlsh hls human ldentlty by seeklng love and attentlon trom a pald mlstress. He com~lements thls effort b, turnlng, llke Mlnnle, to drlnk. Hls exls­ tence ln Los Angeles ls so lntolerable that he seeks nlghtly rellef, ln the company of a mlstress, through a -dreamless stupefaction of alcohol- (70l). Ira's attempt to assert his humanity not only fails, but leads to a turther corruption of Ira's character. The extent of Ira Ewlng's loss ot moral values can be properly seen when his ch~racter ls

compared wlth the most lmportant secondary ch~racter ln the stcry, hls mother. She ls a constant remlnder ot how tar short ot his parents' moral stRndards Ira

falls. Hts parents had come to the Nebrask~ outpost and by sheer strength of effort and -years of hardwork 81 and lncreaslng struggle wlth the unpredlctable and 1mplacable earth· (705) they eked out a llvellhood and endured wlth fortltude. As the outpost grew lnto a v1llage and then lnto a small town the stature of Ira's father grew untl1 lt reached "the proportlons of a glant who at some lrrevocable yet recent tlme had engaged barehanded ln some t1tanlc struggle wlth the pltl1ess earth and endured and ln a sense conquered R •• • (712). His parents llved out their lives by a pur1tanical eode of ethics, standlng ·slde by side ln an lrrevoeable lonellness as though strayed from another planet, not as husband and wlfe but as blood brother and slster, even twlns, of the same travall beeause they had galned a strange peaee through fortltude and the wlll and strength to endure· (712). The mother, on her arrivaI ln Los Angeles after the death of her husband, eomes to belleve that everyone does Dot have to personally experlenee thls klnd of hardshlp ln order to endure with fortltudel ·She .as wiser now, she saw DOW that lt .as not the repetit10n of hardshlp, she .ould mprely t~ke .hat 82 had been of value 1n hers and her husband's hard l1ves - that wh1ch they had learned through hardsh1p and endurance of honor and courage and pr1de - and transm1t 1t to the ch1ldren wlthout thelr havlng to suffer the hardshlp at all, the trava1l and the despalrs" (722 - 723). She ls forced, however, to recogn1ze that thls hope ls vain, that the demora­ l1z1ng values of the "Golden Land" are greater than the influence of her fortitude. The children become even more corrupted than thelr father. Ira's mother be11eves that he ls corrupted by the ease wlth wh1ch he becomes successfuls "she watched her son mak1ng money fRater and faster and eas1er and easler, ga1nlng wlth apP9rent contemptlble and contemptuous ease that substance for whlch ln n1ggard amounts her husband had strlven whlle stlll clinging w1th undevlatlng incorrupt1b1l1ty to honor and d1gn1ty and pr1de, and spendlng 1t, squanderlng 1t in the same way" (723). She be11eves that suffer1ng and hardsh1p are the only means by wh1ch she and her tamily can reta1n the1r dlgn1ty and honors • 'ThAt's

1t,' she sa1d. 'You make mon~y too easy. Th1s whole 83 country 1s too easy for us Ewlngs. It may be aIl rlght for them that have been born here for genera­ t1ons, 1 don't know about that. But not for us' " (724). Thls concluslon ls based on her observatlon of her son's fallure to preserve h1s honor and dlgnlty 1n the world of fleetlng values wlth whlch he ls confronted. Ira, then, takes hls place beslde Mlnn1e and Nancy as a vlctlm who ls trapped ln a world of pa1n and sUfferlng, and who ls morally corrupted ln h1s attempts to bear the responslbll1t1es of thls world of experlence. Faulkner has tremendous sympathy for these people and, though he does de11npate the sc ope and depth of the1r fallure, he cannot blame them for 1t. As already noted, Faulkner, ln h1s nlscu8s1on of, Emlly Gr1erson's predtcament, belleves that "the condit1on ls there. It exlsta," but 19 unable to expla1n 1t. 13 He understands why these people are suffering, ,but he does not understand why they must suffer. Some people, l1ke M1nnie, Nancy an~ Ira, are doomed to suffer. They sacrlf1ce the1r morals in a vain effort to assert themsplves a~a1nst that 84 that fate. Others are doomed also, but, l1ke Ira's parents, they conduct themselves w1th such d1gn1ty and fortltude ln the face of that doom that they not only endure but, because they have preserved thelr moral lntegrity, they prevall. This latter reaction to the world of exper1ence will be discussed in the next section of the essaYe 85

SECTION THREE

Fau1kner's sympathy for those people who co11apse under the stra1n of the1r s1tuat1on ls, perhaps, on1y exceeded by h1s admiration for those who manage to surv1ve and malntain thelr human 1dentlty 1n this world. To endure wlth dlgnity ls Fau1kner's measure of man's greatest success. It ls not sufflcient for man mere1y to endure, the qua11ty of endurance, in Faulkner'. oplnion, must be accompanied by human honor and goodness. In h1s acceptance speech for the Nobel Pr1ze, Faulkner states h1s posltlon. l be1ieve that man wl11 not merely endurel he wl11 preval1. He ls 1mmortal, not because he a10ne among creatures has an lnexhaustlb1e volee, but bec~use he has a soul, a spirlt capable of compass1on and sacriflce and endurance. The poet's, the wrlter's, dut Y ls to wrlte about these thlngs. It ls h1s privl1ege to h~lp man endure by 11ftlng his heart, bl remlndlng him of the courage and honor and hope and prlde and compasslon and plty and sacrl- fice whlch have been the glory of his pasto The poet's volee need not merely be the record of man, lt can be one of the props, 14 the pl11ars to help hlm endure and prevall. 86 Although Faulkner sees mAn's lot as one of angulsh and sufferlng, he be11eves that man can assert hls human ldentlty by conductlng hlmself wlth fortltude and honor ln the face of that p~ln. Man can endure lf he survlves the angulsh of hls lot, he can preval1 lf he does so wlth dlgnlty. Ab Snopes ln "Barn Burnlng" succeeds ln endurlng but, ln Fau1kner's terms, lt ls to no aval1 because ln dolng so he betrays hls moral lntegrity.

He ls an lnstrument of evi1 and c~uses hls re110w man sufferlng. Nancy, ln "That Evenlng SUn,· dls­ p1ays a stolca1 endurance ln the face of her sltuation that ls admlrab1e but, because she has sacriflced her moral values, she fa11s short of achlevlng man's greatast success. A stolcal en­ durance ln the face of hardshlp ls not sufttaient a10ne, lt must be accompanied by a dlsplay of honor and dlgn1ty. Dllsey ln The Sound and the

Furl successfully comblnes these qu~lltles of en­ durance and dtgnlty. She r~lses herself above the l1m1tatlons of her s1tuatlon and asserts her human goodness wlthout compromls1ng her moral v~lues. si

She ls the epltome of man's capacity not only to endure his predlcament, but to prevail agalnst it with honore Thls abi11ty 1s, with var10us mod1fl­ cat1ons, the deflnlng characterlst1c of the people dlBcussed ln th1s section of the essaYe In "The Tall Men" Faulkner presents the klnd of response to the world of exper1ence that he most adm1res. Tt is the story of the McCallums, backwoods farmers of Northern Mlssiss1ppi, whose flerce independent spirit and quiet pride sets them apart from their nelghbours. Their story is told by the town marshal to astate draft invest1gator who comes to Yoknapatawpha County to serve a warrant on the McCallum twlns, Anse and Luclus, who have failed to reg1ster for Select1ve Service. - The method of presentation is similRr to the stories in section one in that the drRft inves­ t1gator ia treated like a child who fails to und er­ stand the full implications of what he sees. Be is 1nstructedby the languorous marshal, who spoke ·down to the investigator as if he were a child ••• • 88

(53), 1n order that he May see the situat10n of the McCallums in its proper perspect1ve. The reader follows a similar k1nd of initiation into the world of the McCallums. Michael M1l1gate, speak1ng of the technical approach used 1n the story, notes that "further emphasis 1s obtained through Fau1kner's exploitat10n of the a11en and strong1y contrasted f1gure of the Government 1nvestigator: we see the McCa1lums more p1a1n1y because we see them 1argely through the investigator's appa11ed v1s1on." 15 Before he meets the McCallums the 1nves- tigator, 1n a passage that is 1ta11clsed to emphaslze his error, believes he knows what they wl1l be l1kea These people who 11e about and conceal the ownersh1p of land and property 1n order to hold rellef jobs wh1ch they have no intention of performlng, standing on thelr constitutiona1 r1ghts aga1nst having to work, who jeopardize the very job 1tself through petty and transparent subterfuge to acqu1re a free mattress whlch they 1ntend to attempt to sel1, who would re11nqu1sh even the job, 1f by so d01ng they could recelve free food and a place, aDY rathole, 1n town to sleep in, who, as farmers, make false statements to get seed loans wh1ch they w1l1 1ater mls- use, and then react ln 10ud vituperat1ve 89

outrage and astonlshment when caught at 1t. And then, when at long last a suf­ fer1ng and threatened Government asks one thlng of them ln retum, one thlng s1mply, whlch ls to put the1r names down on a selectlve-serv1ce 11st, they refuse to do it. (46) The McCallums, of course, are the very ant1the~s of such people, and Faulkner further helghtens the1r stature by thls 1nverse descr1ptlon. They are a f1ercely 1nd1vlduallst1c and 1ndependent­ m1nded family who live by a code of ethics whlch ls beyond moral reproach. The marshal expla1ns to the lnvestlgator that the1r stubborn pr1de w~s in1tl~11y ln evidence ·when the Government f1rst began to lnterfere wlth how a man faraed hls own land, ralsed hls cotton. Stabllizlng the prlce, uslng up the

surplus, they called lt, glv1ng a man advlce and h~lp, whether he wanted lt or not- (55). Rather than per- mlt the Government to dlctate to them what crops they are allowed to grow, the1 contlnue to plant the cotton they have always grown, although they cannot sell lt

and must bulld a s~eclal shed to store lt. They

stoutl, refuse aDJ offers of help from thp G~vernmpnt 90 and feel completely responslble for thelr actionsl • 'whl, we're much obliged,' Buddy says. 'But we don't need no help. We'll just make the cotton like we always donel if we can't make a crop of it, that wl11 just be our lookout and o_r loss, and we'll try agaln' • (55-56). They tolerate no encroachment of thelr freedom and believe that any Government regu­ latlon ls an undeserved limltatlon of thelr indivi­ dual rlghts. They ·still believed ln the freedom and 11berty to make or break accordlng to a man's fltness and will to work ••• ft (56). The weakness of the law ls revealed because lt 19nores the indi­ viduallty of those lt governs. As the marsh~l ex­ plalns to the lnvestlgatorl • 'Y~s, sir. We done forgot about folks. Life h~s done got cheap, and lire ain't cheap. Lire's a pretty durn valuable thing' ft (60).

CompRrable to thelr indepen~ent spirit ls the McCallums' capacity to endure hardship and sufferlng. As a youth of sixteen Anse McCallum walked from Mississlppi ta Vlrginla and fnught for 91 four years wlth Stonewall Jackson ln the Clvll War. Hls son, Buddy, fought ln the flrst World War where, desp1te an 1njury, he earned two medals for bravery.

The fam1ly survlve thro~gh the depres~1on, scornfully refus1ng any f1nanc1al aid from the Governmpnt, bel1ev1ng lt to be beneath their dignlty to accept money they have not earnedl ft 'Give that ~he mone~ to them that want to take it. W~ can make out' ft (57). Buddy aga1n reveals the McCallum courage and abll1ty to cope w1th suffering when hls leg ls 1njured in the mlll. He 1s more 1nte~ested in seeing that the twlns leave for Memph1s than he 1s in hls own pa1n. Desp1te the fact that he has only wh1sky as an anes­ thetlc, he encourages the doctor to ~o ahe~ and amputate h1s legl ft '1 could whet up one of Jackson's butcher kn1ves and f1nish lt myself, with another drink or two. Go on. Finish 1t' ft (51). Buddy's indifference to pa1n ls characteristic of the strength of the McCallum family. Faulkner, however, admires the McCallums for other qualities beside their independent spirit 92 and courageous attitude. They react against the war­ t1me draft not only because 1t 1s to them a l1mitation of the1r freedom, but, paradoxically, bec~use it 1s an 1nsult to the1r sense of responsib1lity. They as weIl as anybody are w1l1ing, even anxious, to f1ght for the1r country. But, they refuse to becom~, as the Marshal accuses the investigator of be1ng, "aIl fogged up w1th rules and regulat10ns" (59). They act accord1ng to the1r own pr1nc1ples wh1ch for Faulkner are their greatest strength, pr1nc1ples of "honor and pride and d1scip11ne that make a man worth preserv1ng, make him of any value" (60). It 1s these qua11t1es that allow them to respond pos1t1vely to the worl~ of exper1ence and prevent them from 10s1ng their moral identity. This central theme of the story can be seen to fit into the pattern of Faulkner's work that l have been d1scllssing. Once again the valu~ of the story is increased when its contrapuntal relationsh1ps w1th some of the other stories are exam1ned. Sam

Fathers in RA Justice" is the original "tall man ft of 93

Yoknapatawpha County. His strong sense of his own 1nd1viduality and 1ndependence, coupled with h1s dign1fled and self-respect1ng behav10ur sets an example which allows us to see the McCallums as his spiritual helrs. Another dimension ls also added to our conslderatlon of the McCallums' morAl strength when we see lt in the 11ght of Ira Ewin~ts complete lack of an ethical code. The relationsh1p between the two stories, with thelr completely opposed res- ponses to life, 1s manifested by a reference w1thin -The Tall Men- which could have been used to describe that Los Angeles presented in -Golden L~d-I the world aIl full of pretty neon 11ghts burning night ann day both, and easy, quick money scatterlng ltself around everywhere for any man to grab a 11ttle, and every man wlth a shiny new automo­ bile already wore out and throwed away and the new one de11vered before the first one was even paid for, and eve~y­ where a fine land grabble and snatch of AAA and WPA and a dozen other threp.­ letter reasons for a man not to work. ( 58)

The implication ls that the worl~ man must face 1s always the same. I~ 1s only mqn's 94 response to the world whlch varies, and it is through that variation that a man's character is defined. Ira Ewing falls to make an accommodation with hls envlronment and, consequently, he ls emotionally and morally destroyed by the reality of its suffering. It is people like the McCallums, the se "cur10us folks living off .here to themselves" (58), who are able to carve out a niche for themselves in the world of experlence, and who survive there w1th dlgnlty.

Yoknapatawpha County ls also the setting for "Red Leaves," another story ln whlch the central character behaves wlth dlgnity in the face of a host11e environment. But, in this instance the events are set in the pre-McCallum days of the Indians. The story covers much of the materlRl that has been described ln "A Justice." It 1s concern~d with the Chickasaw trlbe in the period after they have galned possession of Negro slaves by trading w1th the whltes. Issetlbb~ha, the chief of the trlbe who is known as the Man, has Just d1ed and the 95 story centers on the hunt for hls Negro slave who, because he ls consldered a possesslon of the chlef's, must be burled wlth hlm. The slqve has fled to escape thls tradltional rltual. The Indians after six days have caught up with the Negro who, because he has been running ln clrcles, has only reached a polnt whlch ls a half-day's journey from the plantation. The solemn method of Sam Fathers' narra­ tlve has been replaced in "Red Leaves· by a comio and parodlc approach that underlinps the immoral implicatlons of the story. Untl1 the arrivaI of the white man the Indians enjoyed a ritual-bound exis­ tence that was ln harmony wlth their land whlch con­ sisted ·of ten thousand acres of match1ess park1ike forest where deer grazed 11ke domestic cattle· (318). The wh1te man's lntroduction of Negroes and slavery disrupts the ldy111c peace of this setting. In 1m1tation or the wh1te man the Indians begln breed1ng and sel11ng Negroes so that they no longer have to work. They adopt the white man's values anrl these, comb1ned w1th the1r trad1t10nal r1tuals, brlng about 96 corruptlon and degeneratlon. The dlsruptlon of their llves by the whIte man's values ls volced by one of them. "'Thls world Is going tC" the dogs,' he sald. 'It ls belng rulned by whlte men. We got along fine for years and years, before the whlte man foisted thelr Negroes upon us' "(323). Beaause they have always burled the Man's possesslons wlth hlm, they see no harm ln also burylng his Negro servant. Meanlngless symbols, suah as uslng a paIr of red sllppers brought baak from Parls as the symbol of the chlef, reveal the extent of thelr decadence. Thelr vitality has been drained to suah a degree that Moketubbe, who has to lead the hunt because he ls the new Man, not only Is too fat to walk, he cannot retaln hls consalousness while belng aarrled ln a 11tter. Faulkner has used the hunt as a framework for his narratlve, and hls emphasls falls on the descrlptlons of the fugItive and the pursuers. In ·A Justlce" Faulkner referred to the Indians' prac­ tlee of runnlng Negroes "llke you would a fox or a eat or a coon"(34S). Thls chase of the Negro slave, 97 however, ls a parody of a resl hunt. The pursuers are not serlous ln their role of huntersJ their pursult ls slow and proces81on-llke. They would prefer to walt for the Negro to surrender than to track hlm down. They follow hlm at a lelsurely pace, without any regard for tlme. They allow hlm to determlne when the chase i8 to end. • 'We will give hlm time,' they sald. 'Tomorrow is Just ano­ ther name for to-day' • (337). They reallze that

the Negro wll1 be caught, ~d they are merely going through the rltualistlc motions of the hunt. That the Negro will be caught and kllled

ls c1ear to hlm from the moment of Issetlbbeha~s death. Dntil he actua11y dies he is living a kind

of 11fe-ln-death~ and Paulkner shows that the slave

ls aware of the na~ure of his ~reàicament. His sense of lso1ation is shown when, flpelng the plan­ tation, he passes another Negro in the fields.

·the two m~n, the one motlonless and the other rur.nlng, looked for an instant at each other as though across an actual boundary of two different

worlds· (331). Later, when he circles back and gets 98 some food from the Negroes who are plaY1ng the1r drums by the river, he is tolda "'Eat and go. The dead may not consort w1th the living, thou knowest that' "(332). He rea11zes thlsl - 'Yao. -1 know that' " (332) and, later, when he sees Moketubbe being brought ôut on a l1tter to begin the hunt for h1m, -the Negro, the quarry, looked quletly down upon hls irrevocable doom wlth an express10n as profound as Moketubbe's own" (334). The Negro knows that he is doomed to die, and he belleves that he can accept his fate. As a resu1t of thls be1lef he has a snake bit.e hlm ln the arm ln order that he might die sooner, e~d thus avert his capture. But, in trying to precip1tate his death the slave discovers to his amazement that he does not want to d1e, and that he w1l1 tolerR.te any amount of sUffer1ng before death.

He touched ~he snake'~ head and watchpd 1t slash hlm aga1n across hls arm, and aga1n, wlth thick, raking, awkward blows. 'It's that l do not wlsh to nie,' he saiè. Then he sa1d it again ~ 'Itis that l do not wlsh to die' - in a quiet tone, of slow and low amaze, as though it were somethlng that, unt11 thp words had sa1d themse1ves, he found th~t he had not 99

known, or had not lmown the depth and extent of hls deslre. (335) Faulkner, speaklng at the Unlverslty of Vlrginla, has explalned thls eplsode furtherl the snake eplsode was to show that man when he knows he's golng to dle thlnks that he can accept death, but he doesn't - he doesn't rea11y. The N~gro at the time, he saB, l'm a1ready dead, lt doesn't matter, the snake can blt me because l'm a1read,Y' dead., but yet at the end he stll1 wanted to put off - that man wll1 cllng to 11re, that ln preference - between grlef 16 and nothlng, man wl11 t~ke grlef always. As long as lt ls wlth1n hls power the Negro strlves to ~ostpone hls death, whi1e reallzlng at the same tlme that, u1tlmately, he cannot escape lt. Desplte the Negro's unw1111ngness to die he knows that hls death ls an lnevltab1e as t~t of the ants whlch he ests as they walked up the lO~1 "He ate them slow1y, watchlng the unbroken lln~ move up the log and lnto ob11vlous doom wlth a steady and terrifie undevlatlon" (334). The important dlfference for the Negro, of course, 18 that he 1s not obl1vlous to his doom. Hp 1s afrai1 of dylng and, though he cannot accept hls death, he ooes reco~ize lts 100

1nev1tab1l1ty. Faulkner 1s 1nterested 1n h1s behav10r 1n the face of that knowledge. Wh11e there 1s a poss1b1l1ty of post- pon1ng the 1nev1table the Negro str1ves to do so, and when escape 1s no longer poss1ble he faces death w1th d1gn1tYI "He watched them quietly unt1l one touched h1m on the arme 'Come,' the Inn1an sa1d. 'You ran weIl. Do not be ashamed' " (338). In Faulkner's terms the Negro has upneld h1s human- 1ty by conduct1ng h1mself with d1gn1ty and honor in the face of his doom. Regardless of the f1nal out- come of h1s situat10n he has "run weIl." For Faulkner th1s 1s the supreme success that man can achieve. Although the slave was defeated by the forces of the world of exper1ence, he need not be ashamed of his defeat becquse he did not betray h1s

human1ty or comprom1se his moral 1ntegrity. Irv1n~ Howe calls th1s passage 1n the story "an elegy for aIl human effort, ~11 defeat." 17 For Faulkner 1t 1s through such defeats that man can estab11sh h1s

ldent1ty and assert hls hump~tly. Although "Red Lpave8" 18 very d1fferent ~l ln subject matter from the storles ln section two, the central sltuatlon of a man suffering and belng defeated ln the world of experience ls counterpolnted te the characters and situatlons presented ln those stor1~s. The doemed.world of the Negroes and Indians ls contra­ puntal to the corrupted environment presented ln "Dry September," "That Evenlng Sun," and "Golden Land," The lmages of hell whlch were used to create the at­ mosphere of these storles are agaln evoked to descrlbe the reallty ln whlch the Indians exlsta "To Moketubbe lt must have been as though, hlmself lmmortal, he were belng carrled rap1dly through hell by doomed splrlts whlch, allve, had contemplated hls dlsaster, and, dead, were obl1vlous partners to his damnatlon" (335). Thls use of he Il 1magery to describe the world of experlpnce, whether 1t be the prlm1tive Indian plantatlon or the Los Angeles of Ira Ew1ng, lndlcates Faulkner's bellef ln the un1versal1ty of man's sufferlng. A second motif whlch Faulkner employs ln -Bed Leaves," and whleh he has used ln earller storles,

ls that of constant movement and runn1n~. McLendnn ln "Dry September" tries te escape h1s cenflnlng frustra- 102 t10n by h1s fur10us and v101ent movement through the hot September n1ght. It 1s h1s only way of res­ pond1ng to the pressures of h1s environment, and 1t leads to the murder of an 1nnocent man. In a s1m11ar way, Uncle W111y 1s dr1ven by the pressures of the world of experience 1nto an escapism that takFS the form of constant f'_ight and movement. H1~ act10ns prec1p1tate h1s own death and, perhaps, even contr1~ bute to the corruption of the young boy. In "Red Leaves· the Negro's flight 1s an attempt to escape the dangers of his env1ronment, but h1s movement has not been ta1nted by murder or corrupt1on. Th1s attempt reveals h1m as a human be1ng struggl1ng to overcome h1s hopeless s1tuat1on. And, when runn1ng 1s no longer of value, he faces the reality of his pred1cament w1th fort1tude and courage. It 1s this response of the Negro to the world of exper1ence thAt is the important ~istinction between "Red Leaves" and the stories in section two. Like the Negro's, both Minnie Cooperes and Ira Ewing's fate is to suffer in a host1le world bllt, in their struggle a~ainst that real1ty, they lose the1r 103 moral 1ntegrlty. The essent1al dlfference between the Negro's conduct and that of M1nn1e and Ira 1s that ln hls confrontatlon wlth the world of exper1ence the Negro ne1ther warps hls nature like Minnle, nor dehumanizes hlmself like Ira. In the1r strllggle with the world neither Mlnn1e nor Ira have -run weIl." Thelr only efforts to overcome their predlcament have resulted 1n the1r moral degradatlon. Minnie and Ira wll1 80 to any extreme ln the1r efforts to avo1d the sufferlng of thelr world. The Negro, once his struggle has proved va1n, stops running and quietly accepts h1s death. The d1gnity of his act10n 1s helghtened when 1t 1s contrasted to M1nn1e's and Ira's fa1led response to their worlds.

Nancy's fate, however, 1s clos~st to that of the slave, and lt 1s when both their responses are compared that the Negro's ach1evement can be fully apprec1ated. They are both doomed tn suffer and d1e, and their characters are defined in terms

of the1r l~sponse to that fate. The Negro in the face of h1s suffer1ng 1s, as we have seen, adm1rable because he -runs weIl- and he does not betray his 104 human1ty. Nancy, on the ot~er hand, blem1shes her record by her affa1r with Stovall. She has not Brun we11- because she has sacr1ficed her morallty. Although Nancy's conduct 1n the face of death 1nltia1ly seems comparable to the Negro's, lt is, on closer examlnat1on, someth1ng 1ess than 1dea1. Nancy does dlsp1ay a sto1ca1 acceptance of her death that ls admlrable. But, as we have seen, she 1s only able to display th1s courage because she depersonallzes her sufferln~ by attributing its causes to her racial background rather than to her own actionsi ft '1 a1nt nothing but a nlgger ••• It alnt none of my fau1t' B (293). She can to1erate her death as part of a collpctive raclaI condition, but she is unable to do so lndlvldually. By comparlson w1th the Negro's behav10r Nancy's sto1clsm ln the face of death loses much of 1ts power. He confronts his death squarely

and ca~ accept 1ts lnev1tab111ty w1thout rat1onal1z1n~ 1t 1n terms of h1s racial or1g1ns. He accepts that he as an 1nd1v1dual 1s a v1ct1m of a cruel world. He, who 1s appropr1atel1 anonymous, lacks the sense of rac1al 1ndent1ty that supports Nancy in her cr1aia 105 and, yet, he behaves w1th fort1tude and dlgnlty. ConsequeDtly, while Nancy's behavlor in the face of death ls worthy of admlration, lt fal1s to achleve the stature of the Negro's reactlon. It is clear,. then, that Nancy has nelther run weIl, nor is her

acceptance of her death as commendable as it ml~ht be lf she had confronted lt on an individual basls. The Negro, on the other hand, has not only run well,

but he accepta wlth ~~1et d1gnlty his death on an indlvidual level. Faulkner's descriptlon of man suffering in the world of experience is, perhaps, best reflected by the predicament of the Negro. The anonymous slave who suffers at the hands of the ritual-bound Indians can, in Faulkner's terms, be seen as a microcosmic reflectlon of the un1versal conditlon of man. The Indians have no particular hatred for the Negro and, in seeking to kill him they are merely following traditional hablts wbich they can nelther excuse or erplain. The Negro suffers at thelr hands simply because his role as servant to Isset1bbeha calls for his death. He 1s the vletim of the 1rrational 106 forces of ignorance and warped tradition which he can neither control nor escape. The Indipns themselves are, in turn, victims of circumstances over wr.lch they know they have no control - the corrupting influence of the white man and their rituals whose origins they have forgotten. Speak1ng of the s1gnif1cance of the title of "Red Leaves," Faulkner saida "that was pro- bably symbollsm. The red leaves referred to the Ind1an. It was the deciduatlon of Nature whlch no one could stop that had sUffocated, smothered, des- troyed the Negro. That the red leaves h~ nothlng aga1nst hlm when they suffocated and destroyed h1m. They had nothing agalnst h1m, they probably llked h1m, but lt was Dormal declduat10n wh1ch the red leaves whether they regretted lt or not, had noth1ng 18 more to say ln." Inherent ln thls stetement ls Faulkner's bellef that human sufferlng ls as 1nev1table and 1nexpl1cable as the natural cycle of b1rth and death. The 1eaves dle and smother whatever they fal1 on and, in the same manner, the Indians are the 1nstrument of the Negro's death, although in the process they themse1ves are a1so destroyed. Just as 107 the Indians have no control over the arrivaI of the white man with his corruptlng values, or over the tradltional rltuals of thelr ancestors, the Negro has no control over the process of hls destructlon. His fate ls, 11ke the McCallums, to suffer and, flnally, to dle. However, he can struggle agalnst that fate and, like the McCallums, he can establlsh his identlty by his conduct in that struggle.

"Death Drag" ls another story of a man who, through his stubborn pers1stence, manages to retaln his ident1ty and win at least a marginal victory in his conflict wlth hls envlronment. The central character, Ginsfarb is a stunt flyer whose trick 1nvolves switchlng back and forth between the roof of a movlng car and a ladder suspenrleà from a plane flying above it. With hls companion, Jock, an ex-fIler from World War l who pilots the plane, and Jake, who orlves the rented car into position beneath lt, Glnsfarb travels from one small town to another performlng thls trick. They put on their stunt wherever they are promised suff1clent money, and wherever they can be sure that no aviation official w111 check on the1r unllcensed plane. 108

However, G1nsfarb has put a prlce on hts llfe and wll1 not jump for less than a hundred dollars. But, when they arrlve ln Jefferson Jock and Jake agree, behlnd Glnsfarb's back, that they wlll pprform the "death drag" for less than thls amount. The cllmax of the story occurs when Glnsfarb refuses to jump because h1s fr1ends will not tell h1m how much they have been prom1sed for the tr1ck. In the m1dst of the stunt he 1s conv1nced that they have not been prom1sed the rlght amount. In h1s efforts to get b~ck to ground to make h1s compla1nts known G1nsfarb drops from the ladder, falls through a rotten barn and, m1raculously, 1s un1njured.

As the t1tle suggests the un~erly1ng concern of the story 1s w1th neath. G1nsfarb h1m­ self, who speaks "1n a dead vo1ce" (187), 1s 1dent1fied with the plane wh1ch 1s descriùed as "empty and dead, patched and shabby anè pa1nted awkwardly w1th a s1ngle coat of dead black" (185). The men fly 1n th1s unrel1able plane, perform a st1Jnt wh1ch they have appropriately named "death drag,· ann,

because of G1nsfarb's m1ser11nes~, they econom1ze 109 to such an extent on fuel and equ1pment that they further 1ncrease the1r chances of dy1ng. Essent1ally, they are faceless men, evad1ng the law, f1ee1n~ from a past they w1sh to forget toward a future thRt 1s fraught w1th suffer1ng and despa1r. They represent part of the post-war generat10n whose fate 1s an a1mless wander1ng 1n a world thel cannot understand and wh1ch holds no place for them. Speak1ng of

G1nsfarb's predlcament Faulkner saida ·~his was again a human being ln conf1lct wlth h1s envlronment and hls t1me. Thls man who hated fllln~, but that was what he had to do, slmply because he h~d to make a llttle money.·19 He spoke ln a s1mllar veln of Jock's situations • ••• 1 do know that the f1y1ng people out of that war, most of them would have been better off if they had died on the eleventh of November, that few of them were any good to try and

take up the burden of peace, and this m~n was lost

and doomed ••• ~hiii man would never cope w1th 1919. He was hopeless, he was doomed. R20 Jack and Glnsfarb are aware of their fate. The expression on Ginsfarb's

face reveals the b'Jrden of such kno~ledgea -we sa1d 110 among ourselves that he had the most tragic face we had ever seen, an expression of outraged and con­ vlnced and lndomltable despalr, l1ke thRt of a man carrylng through choice a bomb whlch, at a certain hour each day, may or may not explode" (187). The world ln whlch Ginsfarb and Jock suffer and live out thelr l1ves 1s counterpo1nted to the envlronment of the stories ln section two. They operate in a life-in-death exlstence that 1s slmilar to the rea11ty confront1ng the characters there. More than the slave ln "Red Leaves," or the McC&llums in "The Tall Hen,· Ginsfarb and Jock have been thrust lnto a wasteland world of experlence comparable in its 1solat1on to that wh1ch confronts Minn1e and Nancy. In a slm1lar manner to them, both Jock's and Glnsfarb's communlty tles have been broken. they have become soc1ally perlpheral characters who ex1st in a world of 10ne11ness and despa1r. And, 11ke Minnie and

Nancy, there can be no escape from thls cruel re~11ty unt1l death. When the pressures of h1s hopeless pre­ dlcament begln to have an effect on Jock, he volces 111 an unconsc1ous des1re to seek th1s ultimate escape thrpugh death. H1s angu1sh is accentuated because he feels respons1ble for prevent1ng Ginsfarb "from jumping from twenty or thirty feet away in order to save gaso11ne 1n the sh1p and 1n the rented car" (196). G1nsfarb's miser11ness has shattered Jock's nerves to such an extent that he has become a compuls1ve water-dr1nker. However, d.esp1te an offer of a job, Jock will not leave G1nsfarb. He feels that h1s role is that of Ginsfarb's protector. In addition, he senses that the hopelessness of h1s situation can finally be escaped only by following 1t to 1ts logical conclus1on. Hp. has an unconsc1ous desire to overcome the angu1sh of h1s existence by escaping it through death. H1s yearn1ng for a state of permanent sleep reveals his des1re for th1s final

solution. • 'I sleep fine. ~he trouble is, the n1~hts aren't long enough. l'd l1ke to l1ve at the North Pole from September to April, and at the South Pole from April to September. That would Just suit me' "(195). Although Jock is beginn1ng to collapse

mentally under the burdens of the worlè of expp r1ence, U2 h1s response to h1s s1tuation is more successful than any of the characters in section two. His .sense of respons1bility for G1nsfarb's safety reveals a degree of human1ty that is admirable. He has managed to preserve intact a sense of moral1ty that is not to be found in either Minnie, Nancy, or Ira Ewing. Although the symptoms of his mental collapse bode no good, so rar there can be no condemnation of his response to his hostile circumstances. Ginsfarb, on the other hand, who ls able by sheer determination to live with his fate although he cannot alter it, ach1eves an even more successful accommodation to the world of reality than Jock. He lacks an unconscious desire to evade his sufferings through death, such as Jock possesses. G1nsfarb, who is described as Wthat lonely, puny, falling shape W(200), proves by his 1ndomitable will and strength man's capabi11ty to assert h1mself against his environment, if o~ly for a brief moment before his final extinction. By continu1ng to perform h1s incredible stunt (even after an accident that has permanently injured him) Glnsfarb reveals, aga1n and aga1n, the extent of his courage. Just 113 as, momentarlly, he defles death and asserts llfe by his jump from the plane, he also defies his fate and asserts his ldentity. The spectators who thlnk that -he has done what they aIl came to see. fallen off and kllled hlmself" (196) are so lncredulous that he has survlved, has eonquered momentarlly hls envlron­ ment, that one woman ls forced to run away shrleklng ln a fit of dlsbelief. By surv1vlng the agony of hls sltuatlon, Glnsfarb d1splays the quallt1es of endurance and lndestructlblllty that Faulkner admires so much ln human action. But, as we have seen, an endurlng response to the world of experlence is not suffleient ln Faulkner's terms. Ab Snopes has a rugged eapacity to endure in a hostile world, but in doing so he reveals h1s complete lack of any moral pr1nciples. Unllke h1m, G1nsfarb not only endures but preva1ls aga1nst h1s s1tuation because he aeeommodates hlmself to h1s reallty wlthout comprom1sing h1s moral lntegrity. Just as he has put a priee on hls llfe and wlll not jump for less than a hundred dollars, he has Rlso put 114 a 11m1tless pr1ce on h1s moral 1ntegr1ty wh1ch he w111 not betray. In th1s response the contrapuntal relat1onsh1ps between G1nsfarb and the characters 1n section two 1s man1fested. He does not seek to escape h1s sufferlng 11ke r·i1nnle by w1 thdrA.wing 1nto a worltl. of fantasy. He does not attempt to depersona11ze hls sufferlng 11ke Nancy by seek1ng anonym1ty beh1nd a rac1al 1dentlty. Nor, does he hope to allev1ate h1s agony, 11ke Ira Ewlng, by spendlng his t1me in the company of a mistress in a state of unconsc1ous drunkenness. Unl1ke the three of them, he has refused to be morally corrupted in h1s attempt to surv1ve within th1s world. He confronts his s1tuation squarely and, though he hates

it as intensely ~R they do, his 1ndom1table w1l1 to surv1ve and h1s stubborn determinat10n not to be beaten 1s an accommodation to his env1ronment that 1s the ep1tome of man's abil1ty not only to endure but to prevall. At the end of the story he has become what W1l1iam Van O'Connor descr1bes as -a symbol of man frustrated almost beyond endurance but able 115 flnally, out of h1s very wlllfulness, to win a th1n margln of vlctory.w21 In Faulkner's terms he has reached the p1nnacle of man's capabl11t1es in a hostile world. 116

CONCLUSION

Th1s essay bas tried to show that Faulkner has ach1eved h1s a1m of g1ving Rone end, one finale R to the whole collection of his stories by his use of a contrapuntal method of present~tion. Faulkner's aim, out11ned in his letter to Malcolm Cowley, of making the stories Rcontrapuntal 1n 1ntegrat1onR serves to prov1de a new dimens10n to the reading of each particular story as well as giving a unit y and depth to the collection as a whole. The essay has sought to show that one of Faulkner's themes (man's adjustment to his rea11ty) is presented from various perspect1ves 1n the d1fferent stories. The essay has divided the nine stories 1nto three sect10ns in wh1ch, 1t has been seen, there 1s not only a contrapuntal relationsh1p between each story, but between the sections themselves. By v1ewing each story in terms of these relat10nships a new perspective 1s added to the perception of the 117 theme ln that partlcular lnstance. The youths presented ln the first group of stor1es are on the verge of a confrontatlon wlth the cruel and pa1nful world of exper1ence. They are faced w1th the problem of adjusting to thls harsh rea11ty and, in the storles ln sectlon two and three, are presented the two possible reactlons to th1s challenge. They May prove themselves too weak to conduct thelr struggle wlthout los1ng thelr moral values, or they may behave w1th such fortltude and d1gn1ty that they are able to assert, momentarlly, thelr humanlty. The potentlal reactions of the youth can only be fUlly apprec1ated 'when these stor1es are counterpo1nted to the stories in the other two sections. The perspective presented in the second group of stories is that of characters who have failed

in their response to the adult world of exper~ence. In their struggle wlth rea11ty they have not only been mentally and phys1cally, but morally defeated by the pressures of the world. In Faulkner's terrns they have

failed to wrun weIl- because they have been un~bIe to

assert the1r ident1ty while still preservin~ the1r 118 basic humanity. Faulkner has a profound sympathy for these people but, although he cannot blame them for their weakness, nelther can he admire thelr conduct. The full implicatlon of the fallure of these people can only be completely appreclated when lt ls seen counterpolnted to the characters in the thlrd group of storles who, through a comblnatlon of fortitude and dlgnlty do manage, lf only for a brief moment, to ralse themselves above thelr dllemme. They succeed ln assertlng thelr ldentlty without dlmlnlshing their moral stature. Faulkner belleves that, although they exlst under the same sentence of sufferlng and ultlmate death as the people ln section two, lt ls preclselY thelr abllity to respond successfully to that rate whlch is thelr dlstlngulshlng

charecteristlc. Altholl~h man has no chclce concernlng the cruel nature of the human condition, and although like the slave in "Red Leaves" his actions may consist ln runnlng in circles, Faulkner, by his contrapuntal method of presentation, stresses that man can chcose 119 how he w111 conduct himself in the face of that reality. As Lawrence E. Bowling h~s noteda "Faulknpr views man as bound by certain irrevocable limitations which const1tute his doom, but with1n this framework, man 1s free to choose, free to encourage eith~r the positive or the negative elements in his situation and in his own nature."22 The characters in the third group of stories have encouraged the positive elements of both their nature and situation. They achieve a Faulknerian heroic stature because they have conducted the1r struggle in the world of experience with fort1tude and dign1ty. This successful response to the world of experience is

only fully appreciated, howe~er, when these people are seen 1n relation to the characters in the other stories. Faulkner's contrapuntal method of presentation of theme reveals the true stature of these people. Whether one agrees or disagrees wlth Faulkner's po1nt of v1e. of the human condition, there cao be no doubt that his employment of the 120 contrapuntal techn1que g1ves a depth of mean1ng to an 1nd1v1dual story wh1ch reveals him as a consummate art1st. That Faulkner, in presenting the theme with wh1ch this essayhas dealt, has been able to enrlch each story by creating a reverberatlng llnk between lt and the other storles shows how successful hls contrapuntal method of presentatlon has been ln achievlng the ·one end, one finale" that he desired the collectlon to possesSe 121 FOOTNOTES

1 "Introductlon to ~ Portable Faulkner," (1946), rpt. 1n Robert Penn Warren, ed., Faulkner 1 A Co11ect1on of Crlt1ca1 Essays, Twentleth Century Vlews TEng1ewood C1lffs, N.J.I Prentlce-Ha11, 1966), p. 42.

2 Wl11iam Faulkner (Edinburgh and London a 01lver and Boyd, 1961), p. 65. 3 The Faulkner - Cowley Fl1el Letters and Memolrs, ~-1962 {New Yorkl The Vlking Press, 19bbh pp. 115-116. 4 The Achievement of Wi11lam Faulkner (London a Constable, 1966), p. 2b2. 5 A11 references ln th1s essay are to the 1950 edltlon of the Co1lected Storles, the pages of wh1ch will be cited as above. 6 William Faulkner (KentuckYI Univers1ty of Kentucky Press, 1959), p. 157. 7 ~ Ach1evement 2! Wllllam Faulkner, p. 263

8 Faulkner in the Univers1ty, eds. Frederlck L. Gwynn and Joseph L. Blotner (Charlottesvi11el Unlversity of Vlrglnla Press, 1959), pp. 184-185. 9 "Moral Awareness ln 'Dry September,' " Faulkner Studles, 3, No. 4 (Winter 1954 ), 53-59. 10 Faulkner in ~ University, p. 21. Il The Tangled Flre of William Faulkner (New Yorkl GOrd1an:press, Inc::-ï9~), p. 69. 122

12 William Faulkner (New York. Vintage Books, 1951), p. 266. 13 Faulkner in ~ University, p. 185. 14 Essa s t Speeches and Public Letters,ed. James B. MeriwetherNew7 York. Random House, 1965}, p. 120. 15 ~ Achievement 2! William Faulkner, p. 271. 16 Faulkner in ~ University, p. 25. 17 William Faulkner, p. 136. 18 Faulkner 1n ~ University, p. 39. 19 ~., p. 68. 20 ~.t p. 48. 21 ~ Tang1ed ~ 2! William Faulkner, p. 90. 22 "Faulkner and the Theme of Innocence," ~ Kenyon Review, 20, (1958), pp. 466-487. 123

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