In Its End Is Its Beginning

William Faulkner, is regarded as one of the most distinguished figures in American literary field in the 20th century because of his Yoknapatawpha Saga unfolding a whole picture of Deep South. Among his works, Absalom, Absalom! is the only one depicting a whole history of the rise and fall of a Southern family, which in nature independently makes up a miniature of the whole South history. Absalom, Absalom!, is therefore, taken as the study object for a purpose of studying modern western tragedy with the deaths of Sutpen family members as a study starting point because death is the fundamental key of tragedy. The dissertation starts with the study of the modern western tragedies. William Faulkner and his works are further studied and then the whole tragic life of each Sutpen family member in Absalom, Absalom!, is analyzed. Then is the significance analysis of each member's death, both separately and connectively. Finally is the conclusion on death: their deaths are far beyond the vanishing of flesh; instead, through it Faulkner suggests a future society and an idea of how to achieve it. Therefore, in some sense, the death in Absalom, Absalom! is not just the vanishing in flesh, but a foretell of the rebirth, just like the nirvana of phoenix in the old Oriental myth: rebirth upon dying in the fire.