Teaching Faulkner
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1985 Teaching Faulkner. David C. Laubach University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Laubach, David C., "Teaching Faulkner." (1985). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 4017. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/4017 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TEACHING FAULKNER A Dissertation Presented By DAVID CLAIR LAUBACH Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION September 1985 Education David Clair Laubach All Rights Reserved TEACHING FAULKNER A Dissertation Presented By DAVID CLAIR LAUBACH Approved as to style and content by: Professor Richard 0. Ulin, Chairperson n ' ^ ^ Professor Judith D. Speidel, Member l Professor Arthur F. Kinney , Maffitber Mario Fantini School of Education iii DEDICATION To Richard Ulin who encouraged me to go on when I had come close to deciding to give up any future graduate work, to Judith Speidel and Arthur Kinney who gave me invaluable editorial advice through every step of the process, and to Glenda, who suffered long and with considerable good humor, I dedicate this study. "If missing an extra week of school is going to throw you so far behind you'll have to sweat to find out what some hired pedagogue put between the covers of a book, you better quit altogether." William Faulkner, Go Down Moses iv ABSTRACT Teaching Faulkner (September, 1985) David Clair Laubach, B.S., Bloomsburg State College M.Ed., Bloomsburg State College, Ed.D., University of Massachusetts Directed by: Professor Richard 0. Ulin The study begins with an examination of some of the reasons for teaching great literature, an examination of recent theories of teaching literature, particularly recent work on reader response to literature. The paper then presents a rationale for teaching Faulkner. The major assumptions which underlie the study are that Faulkner is taught more than any other American writer in American secondary schools and colleges, that he deserves to be taught well, and that teaching Faulkner’s works can bring the student into contact not only with great art, but also provide experiences which move into other fields as well. The dissertation then considers three "ways in" for teachers and students to explore three of Faulkner's most often taught works: "The Bear," As I Lay Dying, and The Sound and the Fury. Myth and archetype are ways in to "The Bear." As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury are explored as works concerning the family with special attention paid to Faulkner's family and the way it influenced his v writing. Another chapter suggests that As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury may be the students’ first encounter with modernism in literature and discusses ways in which these novels can be used to help students learn about this important concept. Racism and sexism are discussed as problems the teacher is likely to encounter when dealing with Faulkner. Light in August is used as an example, and there is a thorough account of Faulkner’s public statements regarding race relations. Eight of the most anthologized short stories are examined, along with a plan for using Collected Stories as a text. Finally, the teacher is given a list of resources: biographies, critical books, records, video tapes and films, along with actual classroom practices. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT . v Chapter I. INTRODUCTION . i Why Teach Literature? . 1 Why Faulkner?. 7 II. MYTH, RITUAL AND FOLKLORE IN LITERATURE: "THE BEAR" . 17 Myth and Archetype. 22 Parts 1-3: The Boy and the Wilderness. 26 Parts IV and V: The Decision. 33 Ike's Failure. AO Rituals and Folklore. 45 III. THE FAMILY: THE SOUND AND THE FURY AND AS I LAY DYING. 49 The Sound and the Fury. 57 As I Lay Dying. 72 IV. FAULKNER AND MODERNISM. 89 As I Lay Dying. 95 The Sound and the Fury. 102 V. RACISM AND SEXISM: LIGHT IN AUGUST. 113 Sexism. 132 VI. THE SHORT STORIES. 141 "A Rose for Emily". 144 "Barn Burning". 146 "Two Soldiers". 148 "That Evening Sun". 130 "Dry September". 133 "Red Leaves". 133 "Old Man" . I55 "Spotted Horses" . 13^ Collected Stories. 1^*^ vii Chapter VII. LAST THINGS: RESOURCES FOR THE TEACHER AND CLASSROOM PRACTICES. 165 Criticism. 171 Audio-Visual Aids. 177 Classroom Practices . 181 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 186 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A dissertation suggesting methods of teaching the works of William Faulkner must answer a number of questions. Some people might question the necessity of teaching literature at all. What will students gain from studying literature that can not be gained just as well from studying something else? A related question asks why, if students can read and respond to literature, do they need us at all? Won’t a close examination of the text "ruin" the work? "Our meddling intellect," says Wordsworth, "murders to dissect." A final question—why, out of all the writers in the world, Faulkner? And what can Faulkner, properly taught, do for students? I propose to deal with all of these questions in this first chapter. I hope that I will be able to present a rationale for the study and give some idea of its organization and presentation. Why Teach Literature? There is a great deal of literature on methods of teaching a literary work; there is not very much written on why we teach it. Actually the teaching of literature as a formal discipline is a relatively new idea, but whereas we have any number of defenses of any number of critical positions, all of which have relevance to the 1 2 teaching of literature, we have very little defense of teaching it in the first place. Since it is central to my paper, I will attempt such a defense. As Bruce E. Miller points out in Teaching the Art of Literature, literature is probably the only part of the secondary curriculum which is taught for appreciation to all students.1 The reading and under¬ standing of a good story, poem, or play is an aesthetic experience; it can give pleasure which a student can continue to experience after he or she leaves school. It is difficult to make this claim for too many other subjects in the curriculum. I intend to deal later with the concept of pure pleasure, the aesthetic response versus a more guided response prepared by the teacher, but for now we can posit a pleasurable response to a literary work as a possible good. Literature helps us to understand ourselves and others. Nothing else so removes us from the world and has the power to return us changed and informed. We suffer the mental anguish of Ruck Finn when he has to decide whether or not to turn in Jim. Emma Bovary's confusion is our confusion. There indeed is "no frigate like a book, as Dickinson says, and this frigate takes us not only to lands unknown, but to familiar places and to familiar faces. We have all met people like the people we meet in books; perhaps meeting them in books pre¬ pares us for meeting them in life. Reading only a part of Dickens and Shakespeare introduces us to enough of life to keep us going for a very long while. The character of Falstaff contains a whole world in himself. 3 Maxine Greene, among others, deals with the influence of literature in the development of a sense of morality.2 Certainly, some of the recent studies relating Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development with different literary works suggest that people believe that moral truths can be gained from reading. Sometimes, particularly in inferior literature, the moral is not very subtle. It is what John Ciardi calls a "tacked—on moral" and rather than grow out of the work in question it is added on at the end, much as the moral at the end of a fable is added on. Better literature has lessons to teach also, but students must look for them. Sometimes literature teaches by obverse example: "by indirections find directions out." This is particularly true of modem literature, and students need a good deal of help in finding these directions. A further defense of literature as a topic worthy of study is the idea that literature is part of the "heritage of the past." This heritage has been passed down to each of us over a period of years, and we need to know this tradition if we, too, are to pass it on to our children. The "relevance movement" of the late sixties and early seventies certainly called this whole concept into question. How much of our Western literary heritage, our English or American heritage do we need to know? American literature is one major way to learn what it means to be an American; it is a unique and profound way. A part of the word educated must always be an understanding and appreciation of those things of worth handed down to us by previous generations. u But we are talking here about teaching literature as well as reading it. What Justifies that odd intruder between the reader and the text, the literature teacher? There is a good deal of literature concerning the teacher's place in the relationship between the student and the text.