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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Faulkner, William, --1897-1962;

Abstract

William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi includes characters and situations that are often described as unexpected, abnormal, and even grotesque. Isaac Snopes of The Hamlet, Benjy Compson of The Sound and the Fury, and Jim Bond of Absalom, Absalom! represent three of the most extreme character portrayals found within the works of William Faulkner. They are described as idiots. This paper views these idiots as a continued development of a character type. To complete this study the idiots are described: (1) through the theme of innocence, (2) as a part of the moral order depicted in Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, and (3) as a reflection of society's problems as well as a hope for its continued existence. William Faulkner first created his idiots as a simple prop for extra sympathy. Within that development they represented an elemental form of innocence, the inability to understand. Five levels of innocence are found in The Hamlet, The Sound and the Fury, and Absalom, Absalom!. They range from complete innocence to complete corruption. It is possible to categorize the thirty-six major characters of The Hamlet, The Sound and the Fury, and Absalom, Absalom! within these five levels of innocence. It is through these levels of innocence that Faulkner depicts the moral order that is found in Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. At a result of character comparisons, between the other four levels of innocence and the idiots, it is possible to understand the importance of Faulkner's creation of three idiot character s. The message they present to the reader is found in their representation of extreme forms of innocence and as unrecognized and unwanted ideal goals of society. It is through the use of idiot characters that Faulkner describes complete innocence as a professed but tragically limited goal for mankind. The idiots are depicted as viewing the world through the senses; as displaying mankind's preoccupation with the use of names; and as symbolically serving as an extreme representation of a moral society, as a symbol of the past, and as a symbol of regeneration. Faulkner listed neither innocence nor corruption of knowledge as an ideal goal. To do so he had to provide extreme examples of both to balance each other off and to explain why each is an unfortunate position. One of those extremes, an important part of Yoknapatawpha, is effectively developed through Faulkner's portrayal of Isaac Snopes, Benjy Compson, and Jim Bond.

Year of Submission

1972

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of English Language and Literature

First Advisor

George F. Day

Second Advisor

Keith McKean

Third Advisor

Gaylon Halverson

Comments

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Date Original

1972

Object Description

1 PDF file (116 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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