The American uneven literary landscape is emphasized through Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko and The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, as these authors merge two distinct novels into the same time period in which their co-existence should not be possible, but somehow is. As American literature evolves, the limitations that were once set upon authors disappear, ultimately creating an uneven literary landscape as seen through The Sound and the Fury and Ceremony. On one hand, Faulkner’s novel divulges the reality behind the corroding southern white family, the Compsons, through his sectional writing style that showcases the innermost thoughts and views of multiple characters. On the other hand, Silko conveys the tale of a young Native …show more content…
As a result of his sporadic and juvenile behavior, the Compsons attempt to distance Benjy from the public eye whenever he behaves in a manner in which they do not want to control themselves: “You go on and keep that boy out of sight” (Faulkner 37). Due to the embarrassment and disdain the family feels towards Benjy, Mr. and Mrs. Compson enlist the services of their black servants, including Luster, a black boy who is half the age of Benjy, to hush Benjy’s weeping from being heard and oftentimes, to remove him from most situations in order to preserve what is left of the Compson legacy and reputation.
Benjy’s isolation from society escalates as his connection to the Compson family is primarily through black characters. In keeping Benjy hidden from society, his identity begins to diminish and become less meaningful as the estrangement escalates. Through remaining as the Compson family’s source of shame due to his mental disabilities, Benjy’s original name, Maury, is stripped away from him along with any past sense of an identity: “’Get up Mau-I mean Benjy’” (Faulkner 61). Through Caddy’s unintentional confusion of her brother’s name, Faulkner emphasizes the extent of the estrangement of Benjy and his family in the novel as his own sister is required to think twice about how she refers to her younger brother. Due to Benjy’s name change during his teenage years, he loses all sense of being. Furthermore, in being referred to as Benjy,
“The Scarlet Ibis” is a short story about a physically disadvantaged boy and his big brother in early 1900s Eastern North Carolina. The framing device is the big brother telling a story about him and his physically disadvantaged brother. The big brother talks about, in the story, his brother’s birth, his brother’s years as a toddler, his brothers physical disabilities, his relationship with his little brother, the adventures of him and his little brother, and his little brother’s death. In the “Scarlet Ibis”, Brother, whose name is never told to the audience, is characterized as loving, ambitious, and cruel.
Faulkner has distinctively outlined the differences between the antagonist and protagonist. As on account of Colonel Sartoris Snopes, youthful wiry with blurred pants and uncombed dark colored hair is left in a predicament of equity and his family (Faulkner 226). The boy looks pale and miserable, but he is the determinant of the case at hand. He fears the gaze of his father and the look of people around him. He has a crucial decision to
In the novel, Moseley highlights the cause of the Bundren family's dysfunction by providing positive contrast against their warped morality. Throughout their journey, almost all of the characters are depicted as simple-minded people from the country, lacking ethics and motivated only by selfish desires. While Jewel, Cash, and Dewey Dell are all focused on their own single object, task, or problem, and Anse with gaining possessions for himself, Moseley cares for others. He instructs Dewey Dell to "take that ten dollars and get married with it." (203) Later in the novel, after Dewey Dell had been tricked in her second attempt at an abortion, Anse steals the money to spend on himself. Dissimilar to Anse and McGowan, Moseley is honest, despite the fact he could have easily deceived Dewey Dell in the same ways. Faulkner uses these virtuous qualities of Moseley to distinguish the corrupt traits of the Bundrens.
He is the reason for the prosperity of Eatonville, he is hope, an envied and intimidating figure for the colored folks there and Janie is his wife. In reality, behind closed doors, it is not like that. He is oppressive towards her and hinders her from being the blossoming flower she always wanted to be. As tis passage develops, Janie’s opportunity to once again blossom eventually occurs through his death. “Poor Jody!”
So much of what one learns about love is taught by people who never really loved in return. That was the case for the perturbed Dewey Dell and the relationship obtained with her mother Addie Bundren. Dewey Dell, the only daughter of Addie, is left alone to discover the social constructions that Addie went through. Addie, as a mother, is hardly ever represented and she never proclaims her “love” for her daughter. Through Dewey Dell’s future motherhood, language, and sexuality, she undergoes conflictions and discoveries without the help of her mother. Dewey Dell’s character signifies the defilement of future female generations living in a patriarchal society. Faulkner uses the disconnected relationship between Dewey Dell and Addie to demonstrate
actions to show that no one will own or control him. He has no regard
In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, the image of honeysuckle is used repeatedly to reflect Quentin’s preoccupation with Caddy’s sexuality. Throughout the Quentin section of Faulkner’s work, the image of honeysuckle arises in conjunction with the loss of Caddy’s virginity and Quentin’s anxiety over this loss. The particular construction of this image is unique and important to the work in that Quentin himself understands that the honeysuckle is a symbol for Caddy’s sexuality. The stream of consciousness technique, with its attempt at rendering the complex flow of human consciousness, is used by Faulkner to realistically show how symbols are imposed upon the mind when experiences
There are several ways in which William Faulkner's short story "Barn Burning" is indicative of literary modernism. It depicts a relevant historical period and is part of the frontiersman literary tradition (Gleeson-White, 2009, p. 389). The author utilizes a number of purely literary approaches that were innovative for the time period in which the tale was originally published (in 1932), such as employing a young child as a narrator complete with misspelled words and broken, puerile thoughts. However, the most eminent way in which this story embraces the tradition of literary modernism is in the author's rendition of dynamic social conventions that were in a state of flux at the time of the writing. Specifically, his treatment of race is the inverse of how race is generally portrayed in American literature prior to the early part of the 20th century. An analysis of this integral component of "Barn Burning" reveals that Faulkner's unconventional rendering of African American characters in a desirable social status particularly as compared to that of the Snopes clan is crucial to this tale's inclusion as part of the tradition of literary modernism.
As Quentin Compson travels through the countryside with his college friends, the reality of the situation becomes terribly confused by memories and past feelings. After a little girl follows him for miles around town, his own sexuality reaches the forefront of his consciousness and transforms itself into disjointed memories of his sister Caddy. Quentin's constant obsession in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, surrounds a defining sexual act with his sister. Though the physical act never appears in plain language, Quentin's apparent lapse into an inner monologue demonstrates his overwhelming fixation with Caddy as well as a textured representation of their
The picture of Bly painted by the Governess pulsates with men who are not there; their absent presence agitates the Governess's anxiety over her own fragmentation. The master has abandoned her physically and emotionally, Miles has potential but is only a child, and Peter Quint is nothing more than air. Even though they are unavailable to her, the Governess's desire to be what these pseudo-men desire becomes the driving force behind her actions.
The birth of the modernist movement in American literature was the result of the post-World War I social breakdown. Writers adopted a disjointed fragmented style of writing that rebelled against traditional literature. One such writer is William Faulkner, whose individual style is characterized by his use of “stream of consciousness” and writing from multiple points of view.
Benjy constantly thinks of his sister Caddie who has long since left the family home but because he has no concept of time, he has no idea that she has been gone for many years. The third section is narrated by the greedy and neurotic brother, Jason. To Jason time is all about the present and he grabs every second as it goes by much as he does with the money that his sister Caddie sends to him in order to provide for her daughter who is under his care. The fourth and final section in the book, unlike all the others, is not told by one of the children but rather by an unspecified narrator. In this section time is shown as much closer to what ordinary people perceive it to be.
Furthermore, the narrator appears invisible to others and to himself during his time as a member of the Brotherhood, an organization that appears in the novel as a euphemism to the Communist Party in real life. The narrator joins the Brotherhood in the hopes of creating an identity for himself within the organization by acquiring recognition as a prestigious black leader. He is under the assumption that the Brotherhood recognizes his ideas, his individuality, and soon becomes dedicated and loyal to their cause. However, the narrator does not discover the Brotherhood’s true intentions until after Brother Clifton’s funeral. The Brotherhood turns against the narrator for his belligerent speech at the funeral that they fear would destroy their reputation. The narrator retaliates by accusing the Brotherhood of being “the great white father” of Harlem. The “naked and old and rotten” truth comes out when the committee tells him he was hired to talk, not to think. The narrator later learns how committed the Brotherhood is to their cause with the discovery of
Benjy in The Sound and the Fury: A Portrayal of Disability In The Sound and the Fury, author William Faulkner allocates the first portion of the book to be told solely from the perspective of Benjy, a character with unknown disabilities who does not speak. Faulkner, however intentionally or unintentionally, perpetuates many disability myths and stereotypes throughout his portrayal of Benjy. Faulkner uses Benjy’s disability as a device to develop feelings of pity and empathy rather than a means to accurately depict the hardships of disability from Benjy’s perspective. Maria Truchan-Tataryn postulates in her analysis: “Textual Abuse: Faulkner’s Benjy” that Faulkner’s essential reason for including Benjy’s character and perspective is purely
Moreover, Benjy is completely unable to fully recall his sister as who she truly is due to the fact that “truth is a matter of the heart’s response as well as the mind’s logic” (2). Vickery effectively identifies the distinct shift in Benjy’s remembering of Caddy and opens up the notion that Benjy may be depicting her as a seemingly holy being when, in reality, she strays from that description. Furthermore, Faulkner plays this idea out more in the simple recognition that Benjy is a mentally challenged adult who continues to cling to the sheer anguish that comes with Caddy’s absence, as well as her personal surrender to Dalton Ames. Ultimately, Caddy’s seemingly surprising disappearance—for Benjy, at least—began to further deteriorate the slim sanity that Benjy still possesses. He hung on to the superficially plausible idea that “Caddy won’t run away, of course [she] won’t” (Faulkner 42). Caddy’s revelation that she did not plan on leaving Benjy gave him enough hope to persistently endure the ills of the life he lives. Although he is unaware of most of them, he