¶ … Absalom, Absalom! By William Faulkner. Specifically it will analyze what makes the novel Southern Gothic. "Absalom, Absalom!" is the story of Thomas Sutpen, a larger than life hero who wants to create his own southern dynasty in the years before, during, and after the Civil War. It is considered one of Faulkner's greatest novels, and an important example of Southern Gothic fiction, as well. William Faulkner is most known as a southern writer who chronicled life in mythical Yoknapatawpha County Mississippi, a place he wrote about often in his fiction. "Absalom, Absalom!" is one of the best examples of his work, and it represents the best in Southern Gothic fiction, as many critics contend. Southern Gothic is a form of American Gothic writing that morphed from true Gothic writing which began in the 18th century in Europe with such writers as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and many others. Edgar Allen Poe is a good example of the American Gothic writer, so the reader begins to see some of the characteristics of Southern Gothic and how it applies to Faulkner. The editors of the Oprah.com Web site note, "Southern gothic writers leverage the details of the American South -- the lonely plantations, aging Southern belles, dusty downtowns, dilapidated slave quarters, Spanish moss and Southern charm -- to bring life to their slice of history" (Editors). Clearly, there are several elements of Faulkner's work that emulate Southern Gothic fiction, in fact, it is considered to be the classic of the genre by many experts. As one critic notes of the book, it "had...
What makes Faulkner's works Southern Gothic combines many elements to create a story of a tragic hero, convinced of his own greatness, who tells a macabre and highly emotional tale of southern history and culture.
Moreover, according to William T. Going "The treatment of the surface chronology of a Rose for Emily is not mere perversity or purposeful blurring; it points up the elusive, illusive quality of time that lies at the heart of the story; it is at once the simplest and subtlest of Faulkner's achievements in one of his best stories" (53). Other critics have observed that several times in the narrative, time
Stupen does so immorally. Before the war, Stupen used slaves to amass wealth. Now these subjugating means of prosperity have been taken away from him -- but that does not mean he will not find another way, think his neighbors, marveling at the man as if he were a Hercules, possessed of strength beyond their own. Note the passage's decision to put ht word "War" in capitals. The war is
While some might argue that it is fate which goes against him, it becomes more logical to assume that he was completely blinded by his desire to become rich and leave a legacy of that type to a heir son. Faulkner uses his character in order to recreate the mentality which existed in the south right before the Civil war. Thomas gets a heir from his first wife, but
Rosa Coldfield in Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! Rosa Coldfield stands as the most prominent link between past and present in William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! Indeed, it is Miss Coldfield who is responsible for the inception of Quentin's investigation into the past. She requests that he come to her so that she can tell him some of his family's history before he sets off for college in the North. It is through her
During this expose into Stupen's relationship with Miss Coldfield's past, is where the heavy introduction of the "stream of consciousness" tactic comes forth. This model permeates the entire Faulkner work, however it is extremely prevalent within the first several chapters. Indeed, Faulkner sets up the integration of this model by the use of Quentin's "consciousness" throughout the description of Miss Coldfield's past. Quentin, incorporates Miss Coldfield's "historic narrative" with his
Strike has ethics, as shown in his behavior towards his 'boss' Roscoe, and his mentoring of the younger, more vulnerable young men. In a different social situation, Strike would likely have put his moral impulses to different and better use. Strike obeys the moral logic of his urban society with the same kind of adherence that an upstanding citizen might, who had been afforded ways to make a decent
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