Syrian Arab Republic University of Aleppo Faculty of Arts and Humanities Department of English Essence and Existence in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and The Sound and the Fury and in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind By Nour E. Dawalibi Supervisor Prof. Dr. Muhammad Al-Taha Submitted to the University of Aleppo in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of English 2016 Essence and Existence in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and The Sound and the Fury and in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind By Nour E. Dawalibi Supervisor Prof. Dr. Muhammad Al-Taha Dawalibi i Table of Contents Dedication ii Acknowledgments iii Abstract iv Introduction 1 Chapter One Essence and Existence: Humanism and Existentialism 11 Chapter Two Essence and Existence in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” 39 Chapter Three Essence and Existence in William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury 60 Chapter Four Essence and Existence in Margret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind 84 Conclusion 105 Works Cited 111 Works Consulted 125 Dawalibi ii Dedication For my loving, caring and compassionate parents and for my sweet heart Dania Dawalibi iii Acknowledgments In the process of doing the research and the writing of this dissertation, I have accumulated many debts that can never be repaid. No one deserves more credit for this study than Professor Muhammad Al-Taha and Professor Iman Lababidi who have given me great motivation and were always ready to give help and support whenever needed. They were more than generous in their expertise and their precious time. Being highly educated, liberal and open minded they gave me the true sense of literature and theory. I would also like to thank Professor Munzer Absi and Professor Bashar Akili who taught us the principles of academic research. A word of appreciation for my parents should also be expressed for their encouragement while I have been working on this dissertation. Despite all of the bad circumstances that we experience, there must be resolution to improve and be improved. Finally, I should thank all the staff of Aleppo University Library for their help, cooperation and continuous assistance with the research. Dawalibi iv Abstract This dissertation deals with the theory of essentialism as portrayed in William Faulkner‟s “A Rose for Emily” and The Sound and the Fury and existentialism theory as portrayed in Margret Mitchell‟s Gone with the Wind. This study is an attempt to investigate the existentialist and essentialist values and traits in the above mentioned works. It investigates each writer‟s approach and vision towards his/her characters, the civil war and the south. This work discusses how „fixed properties‟ is a common dominating motif in Faulkner‟s works because each character possesses certain features without being able to change them. The metaphysical essentialism in Faulkner‟s works stands diametrically opposed to existential realism in that finite existence is only differentiated appearance, whereas “ultimate reality” is held to be absolute essence. Tracing the notion of essence and existence provide a good understanding of how the terms emerged and applied to literature. Margaret Mitchell as a feminist writer committed herself to both existentialism and feminism; therefore, her approach certainly turns out to be a feminist one. William Faulkner, on the other hand, is considered an essentialist and a humanist writer; thus, his approach is essential and humanistic. The study outlines the problematic notion essence and existence building up on previous assumptions and theories including the related scientific theories. It is an attempt to investigate the possibility of the influence of the ideology of feminism and existentialism on Margret Mitchell‟s Gone with the Wind and the ideology of humanism and essentialism on William Faulkner‟s “A Rose for Emily” and The Sound and the Fury. Dawalibi 1 Introduction What manifests the major differences between Margret Mitchell and William Faulkner is the notion of essence and existence. Though both writers wrote about the American Civil War and The American South, major differences are embedded in core between the two writers varying between characterization, approach, style and content. Each writer adopts certain philosophical doctrine that is clearly reflected in his work. William Faulkner as a humanist writer 1 is affected by essentialism as a philosophical doctrine and this is because the majority of his characters do not change with incidents and keep certain predetermined characteristics and features from the very beginning until the very end. “Classical humanism has an essentialist conception of the human being, which means that it believes in an eternal and unchangeable human nature. The idea of an unchangeable human nature has been criticized by Kierkegaard, Marx, Heidegger, Sartre, and many other existential thinkers” (Mastin). While, on the other hand, Margret Mitchell’s characters – especially the protagonists - are more interactive and dynamic, they are like a chameleon that changes color in order to fit and adapt any situation. They masterfully interact and adjust with any new situation to progress and benefit. For this reason, Margaret Mitchell was affected by existentialism as a philosophical doctrine which insists upon freedom, choice and responsibility as major notions. This philosophical doctrine is reflected in her characters as they change and get 1 See Danto, Magee and Gold Dawalibi 2 experienced in order to formulate their true essence at last. The influence of these two philosophical doctrines can be clearly detected in each writer’s works. In recent years, our views about human existence have been drastically changed. “What all existentialists have in common is the fundamental doctrine that existence precedes essence” (Copleston 23). On the contrary to the previous notion, it was commonly believed since Plato that “the highest ethical good is the same for everyone” (Macquarrie 16) and that a human is born with certain predetermined fixed qualities and features that can never be changed. These aged views used to limit the human’s freedom and aspiration for change; they doom a persona that he/she is fated and cannot change. The Old beliefs and convictions are attacked by existentialist thinkers and philosophers because they do not constitute the “true essence” of the human’s subjectivity; among those philosophers is the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Existentialism refuses all the old ways of thinking and opens new dimensions and horizons of freedom and willpower. Existentialism sees humans with will and consciousness; it seeks to make every human more able to decide and choose with his freewill and confidence. “The fact that humans are conscious of their mortality, and must make decisions about their life is what existentialism is all about” (Bullock and Trombley 297). Existentialism refuses the stereotypically frozen mentality. It erases the old beliefs, traditions and convictions since Plato. Existentialism is a call to build one’s “true essence” rather than “what labels, roles, stereotypes, definitions, or other preconceived Dawalibi 3 categories the individuals fit “essence”. The actual life of the individuals is what constitutes what could be called their “true essence” instead of there being an arbitrarily attributed essence others use to define them. As existentialism manifested clearly in Mitchell’s work, a human being for existentialists defines his own true essence rather than what is imposed on him/her. Existentialism rejects the universal abstract metaphysical thoughts because humans are not objects to be used by the patriarchy or the government. It concentrates on the role of the individual, “…many existentialists have regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophies, in both style and content, as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience (Breisach 5; Kaufmann 12). Individuals for existentialists are completely independent free responsible conscious beings. “Existentialists shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject and the supreme value of existentialist thought is commonly acknowledged to be freedom, its primary virtue is authenticity” (Flynn xi). The application of existentialism to literature shapes a frame work of a useful wide range to understand the writer’s mentality and the ideology he/she used to form his/her characters. In “Time in Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury,” Sartre sees Faulkner’s characters as lacking free will. In particular, he points out that Quentin has no future and his suicide is built up as inevitable. Events in Faulkner are often described as already completed with very little attention paid to the actual moment of the event. Sartre likens Faulkner’s characters to people in a convertible with their gazes forever fixed behind them as they drive onward. Faulkner’s vision of the world is originally Dawalibi 4 predetermined; nothing can be changed and everything happens is predestined and previously fated. Faulkner is metaphysical; for him, there is a second layer that we cannot see where fates are written on humans. These metaphysics obviously run contrary to Sartre’s belief in free will and humans’ capacity to become responsible and free; nevertheless, Sartre was still fond of Faulkner’s fiction: “I like his art, but I don’t believe in his metaphysics. A barred future is still a future” (qtd in Moore 5). Faulkner’s characterization of his protagonists like Quentin Compson and Emily Grierson does seem to imply his characters are not free to act. Faulkner determines himself to Essentialism; the characters do not have apparent qualities but embedded qualities since birth. The initial significant point is that Sartre and Faulkner contradict with the notions of heredity and the ability to change, i.e. essence and existence. Sartre does not believe that heredity limits the humans’ will and freedom while it seems that Faulkner believes that there are certain inherited qualities and features since birth determine one’s life.