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Narrative Patterns of Racism and Resistance in the Work of William Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2002 Narrative patterns of racism and resistance in the work of William Faulkner Janet Elizabeth Barnwell Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Barnwell, Janet Elizabeth, "Narrative patterns of racism and resistance in the work of William Faulkner" (2002). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3157. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3157 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. NARRATIVE PATTERNS OF RACISM AND RESISTANCE IN THE WORK OF WILLIAM FAULKNER A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Janet Elizabeth Barnwell B.A., Emory University, 1989 M.A., University of New Orleans, 1994 December, 2002 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Samuel Taylor Coleridge explained that the primary imagination is “the living Power and prime Agent of all human Perception.” It is “a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite I AM.” There are a number of people who helped inspire my I AM and this dissertation. Professor Panthea Reid listened most patiently as I sat in her office, pondering out loud Faulkner’s engagement with issues of race and class. I will always remember and be grateful for her thoughtful and thought-provoking comments as well as her encouragement and optimism. Professor John Lowe not only took an interest in my work, but he also challenged me to look up from Faulkner’s texts long enough to investigate larger cultural contexts for reading Faulkner. Professor Lowe’s knowledge of contemporary literary trends, especially those which relate to issues of race and class difference, never ceased to amaze me. Carl Freedman has the ability to explain the most complex philosophical elements of literary criticism in a simplest of terms, a mark of genius. I wish to thank Professor Rick Moreland for his strait-forward honesty. Thanks also go to Professor Leonard Moore of LSU’s history department. My mother and father, Carolyn and William, and their spouses, Walt and Corinne, offered support, patience, and love at key moments when it was needed most. My sisters Mary Royall, Abby and Lydia had great faith in my ability to complete the Ph.D. and were always available to me, offering love and coffee. I thank also my brother Ben Smith, who always has taken a sincere interest in my well-being. Martha Mackie and Lil and Reese Pinney have done more than feed and shelter me, they have been my great friends. Their unflinching faith that I could achieve anything I put my mind to helped keep me going during the difficult times. ii On long weekly walks around the LSU lakes, I learned that my friend Teresa Bergen has a great mind and a full heart. When life was most tragic, we kept walking and she found the words to say. Thanks to all the friends I made while at LSU, but especially Marty Vicknair, Susan Clinkinbeard, Anne Kelly, and Scott Whiddon. Thanks also to my colleagues Andrea Adolph, Ted Atkinson, and Alcena Rogan. Scott was right: “It’s a tough row to hoe.” iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………ii Abstract……………………………………………………………..……….. …..…v Introduction: Escaping Inertia: Faulkner’s Departure from Southern Tradition ....1 I. Dissertation Introduction………………………………………...1 II. Disruption of “Old South” Nostalgia: A Cultural and Literary Context for Reading Faulkner……………………………………...13 Endnotes……………………………………………………………20 Chapter One: Not Quiet Fiction: A Biographical Context for Reading Faulkner……….…………………………………………………... 22 Endnotes……………………………………………………………47 Chapter Two: Narrative Positioning of Characters and Community in Three Faulkner Short Stories……………………………………………...49 Endnotes……………………………………………………………84 Chapter Three: Narrative Patterns of Racism and Resistance in Light in August……………………………………………………………... 85 Endnotes…………………………………………………………...120 Chapter Four: Narrative Origins, Responses, and Resistance to Injustice in Absalom, Absalom! …………………………………………….123 Endnotes…………………………………………………………...157 Chapter Five: Narrative Patterns of Relinquishment and Resistance in The Unvanquished and Go Down, Moses .………………………..162 Endnotes…………………………………………………………...200 Works Cited………………………………………………………………….…....201 Works Consulted…………………………………………………. 205 Vita………………………………………………………………………………...206 iv ABSTRACT Keeping in mind the complicated nature of race relations in the South during the segregation era, as well as the economic volatility of the time, and recognizing Faulkner’s position as a white southern writer, this dissertation poses and attempts to answer a few specific questions regarding Faulkner’s work. First, beginning with New Orleans Sketches and ending with Go Down, Moses, what texts seem most devoted to examining issues of race difference? Second, where in these texts does Faulkner most strikingly incorporate and then challenge racial stereotypes and clichés about the South? Third, working chronologically, how did Faulkner reconcile his position as a son of the South, with his position as a writer who felt it necessary to develop all types of characters realistically--from Jason Compson to Rider, from Thomas Sutpen to Mollie Beauchamp? And finally, as readers, what insights can Faulkner reveal to us about the interpersonal relationships of his characters, characters drawn heavily from the segregation era of the South? What did he want readers to see? Because most of his novels are set in the same Oxford-inspired Yoknapatawpha county, it is not surprising that certain characters appear again and again in his work. Likewise, Faulkner also revisits similar themes and repeats certain narrative patterns. Juxtaposing a character “type” with other characters or “community,” Faulkner is able to create real possibilities for exploring human nature. Repeating broad narrative patterns allows Faulkner to reveal particular intricacies of social hierarchies and to expose the origins of oppressive actions by individuals and masses. The repetition allows Faulkner to emphasize the existence of unspoken cultural norms that empower some while oppressing others. One such repeated theme shows a white middle-class moderate v choosing to turn away from injustice, choosing complicity with other white characters rather than action on behalf of a black or mixed-race character who suffers and sometimes dies unfairly. If Faulkner had portrayed only one such character, the importance might be lost to readers. Because Faulkner creates several characters choosing to turn away from injustice, avid readers of Faulkner must pause to consider the significance of this repeated behavior. vi INTRODUCTION: ESCAPING INERTIA: FAULKNER’S DEPARTURE FROM SOUTHERN TRADITION I. Dissertation Introduction Five years before Faulkner’s most prolific and successful writing period, 1925- 1940, the well-known writer and editor H. L. Mencken proclaimed, “For a Southerner to deal with his neighbors realistically . would be almost unbelievable” (Mencken 136-7). Known as an “iconoclastic journalist and acerbic social critic,” Mencken was responding to southern fiction popular at the end of the nineteenth and well into the twentieth century (Franklin C-13). The southern fiction produced by nineteenth century writers, such as Thomas Nelson Page and Joel Chandler Harris, was marked by a kind of romantic nostalgia -- a view of the old South as a glorious homeland that had been struck down during the Civil War and misunderstood throughout history, but which still struggled to hold intact its old ways and customs. In particular, nostalgic southern stories and novels were promoted as folk tales of the South, but such narratives often did not portray southern blacks realistically. In terms of Mencken's critique, the white southern writer's depiction of his black “neighbor” did not ring true.i In Making Whiteness: The Culture of Segregation in the South, 1890- 1940, Grace Hale extends what Mencken suggests by asserting that during the segregation era “white southern fiction and memoirs flowed off the presses with tales of the loyal and lifelong relationships of black slaves or servants and white owners or employers.” It was writing that “in [Albion] Tourgee’s phrase [was] ‘distinctly Confederate in sympathy’” and “peopled with ‘happy darkies,’ noble masters, and doting mistresses” (Hale 51-52).ii 1 In a significant departure from the traditions of southern writing, Faulkner wrote narratives that employed a raw, and sometimes brutal, authenticity. His works bring black, white, multi-racial, as well as poor, middle class, and wealthy characters face to face in situations where they at times transgress racial and class boundaries. Narrative conflicts become race and class conflicts in which readers, along with characters, are forced to confront, acknowledge, and learn about human difference, ultimately, in order to view these confrontations as a means toward reconciliation. During the segregation era – a time when racial battles were being fought daily,
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