Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Kristýna Kozubíková Unsuccessful Female Rebels in William Faulkner’s Fiction Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. Kateřina Prajznerová, Ph. D. 2012 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Kateřina Prajznerová, M.A., Ph.D. for her advice and comments. I would also like to thank my family and friends for providing encouragement. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 2. "A Rose for Emily" ............................................................................................................. 11 2.1. Emily Grierson and rebellion as a birth of one's identity .................................... 11 3. The Sound and the Fury ...................................................................................................... 21 3. 1. Caddy Compson and rebellion as an escape toward empowerment ................... 21 4. Sanctuary .............................................................................................................................. 28 4. 1. Temple Drake and rebellion as resentment against the society .......................... 29 5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 36 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................. 40 Resumé ..................................................................................................................................... 42 4 1. Introduction This thesis is designed as a comparative analysis of three literary characters of unsuccessful female rebels in William Faulkner's fiction - Emily Grierson, the main character of the short story "A Rose for Emily," published in 1930 (Blotner 256), Caddy Compson, one of the main characters of the novel The Sound and the Fury, which was published in 1929 (Blotner 247) and Temple Drake, one of the main characters of the novel Sanctuary, published in 1931 (Blotner 291). In the thesis I will compare and contrast these three characters and their reasons and impulses to try to rebel against the society or against their families. I will analyze the process of their rebellions - what actions did they take in order to achieve what they thought was rightfully theirs even for a limited time -, if their way of thinking changed during or after their failed rebellions and also I will analyze the consequences of their actions and state how the aftermaths of their unsuccessful rebellions have affected the characters themselves and their families. I argue that to rebel against the oppression and oppressors is the only way for all the above-mentioned characters to achieve a better life and to finally become happy even if the happiness is only temporary. Their rebellion is a manifestation of disagreement and distaste for social values and expectations maintained either by the community itself or their families that do not correspond with the failed rebels' beliefs and their idea of happiness. I also claim that even though their reasons and means of rebellion differ, they all in their actions crossed the limits in which a rebellion can call itself a rebellion because their doings led to the death of other people. Emily in "A Rose for Emily" is the only "direct" killer out of the characters I have mentioned here. She poisons her lover Homer Barron because she has become frightened by the life her rebellion if successful could bring her. Caddy in the novel The Sound and the Fury has an affair with Dalton Ames and as a result she becomes 5 pregnant with his child. Her brother Quentin, who is taking their family's honor more than seriously, commits suicide by drowning. Caddy is therefore an "indirect" killer as her display of rebelling is the reason why Quentin takes his life. The third character, Temple Drake, falsely accuses Goodwin of a murder and this perjury leads to the death of the bootlegger. Moreover her actions are the direct cause of the death of the other men, Tommy and Red, both being murdered by Temple's abductor Popeye. For the purposes of this thesis I use both print and electronic secondary sources which deal with the novels of William Faulkner and his short stories. Concerning the short story "A Rose for Emily," the most relevant source is Cleanth Brook's study First Encounters. This book concentrates on Emily Gierson's social status, the difficult relationship with her father and the harsh treatment she had to endure right from her father which is the direct cause of her unsuccessful rebellion against society. Moreover, Brooks discusses Emily's personality and the outcomes of her rebellion. Although he does not agree with her actions towards her lover Homer Barron, he admires her courage. With regard to The Sound and the Fury, the most relevant source I use here is Olga W. Vickery's essay "The Sound and the Fury: A Study in Perspective." In the essay, Victory deals with Caddy's family situation. Vickery present Caddy's absent mother as a selfish person who in fact never loved her children with the exception of the son Jason, whose characteristics are very similar to the mother's. She also mentions the obsession with the family's honor to emphasize the burden that is laid on Caddy's shoulder. Vickery claims that Caddy is the only source of love for her idiot brother named Benjy as well as for her mentally unstable brother Quentin but Caddy herself is desperate to find love because none of the Compons is able to love her. With regard to the novel Sanctuary, the most relevant source is Caroline Garnier's essay "Temple Drake's Rape and the Myth of Willing Victim." Here, Garnier analyzes the position of 6 women in the Sanctuary society, claiming that women are forced to be submissive to men in the novel's patriarchal society. She then studies the impact of the rape on Temple's personality and her relationship with the abductor and rapist, Popeye. A very useful source for gathering factual data about the literary work of William Faulkner is Faulkner: A Biography written by Joseph Blotner. The book not only presents readers with exact dates when Faulkner's novels were first published, but it also explains the circumstances under which the novels were written as well as what led the author to write them. All of the above-mentioned books deal with the reasons which led the rebels to their unsuccessful attempts to improve their conditions. The surroundings prevent the rebels from developing freely but also from being truly happy with their lives. Although none of the rebels manage to achieve a permanent success, they realizes that rebellion is one of the few possibilities to change their unsuitable conditions for the better. As to the topic of rebellion, the most useful source I work with is Albert Camus's essay The Rebel. In the book "Camus undertook the task of examining a variety of rebellious actions in order to glean from them a rule of action" (Bartlett, Chapter I) as well as examining the motivation of a rebel. The Rebel also deals with rebellions that "failed to sustain their rebellious impulse, and instead degenerated into something else" (Bartlett, Chapter I) and I will use these ideas to see if Faulkner's rebels have crossed the boundaries of a rebellion regardless of its ineffectiveness. Another very useful source I use in this thesis is Elizabeth Ann Bartlett's study Rebellious Feminism: Camus's Ethic of Rebellion and Feminist Thought. For the purpose of this thesis I use especially the first chapter of Bartlett's book, "Rebellion and Feminism," where the author explains her view on Camus's book and adds her commentaries to the topic of rebellion. 7 Considering the structure of this thesis, I will first present a definition of a rebellion and of a rebel according to Camus's theory and add some of Bartlett's explanation and comments concerning The Rebel. The main body of this thesis is divided into three chapters, each one deals with one of the characters and her rebellion. These three chapters include definition of the particular type of rebellion as well as an analysis of the particular female character and provides textual evidence from the primary as well as secondary sources. The conclusion then summarizes all the important findings that occur throughout this thesis. Now I will present a definition of rebellion as I work with it in my analysis. Albert Camus wrote in his book The Rebel that rebellion starts with the unwillingness to tolerate the oppression or the oppressor any more: What is a rebel? A man who says no, but whose refusal does not imply a renunciation. He is also a man who says yes, from the moment he makes his first gesture of rebellion. ... What does he mean by saying "no"? He means, for example, that "this has been going on too long," "up to this point yes, beyond it no," "you are going too far," or, again, "there is a limit beyond which you shall not go." In other words, his no affirms the existence of a borderline. The same concept is to be found in the rebel's feeling that the other person "is exaggerating," that he is exerting his authority beyond a limit where he begins to infringe on the rights of