An Ecological Reading Of Go Down, Moses

William Faulkner (1897-1962) is one of the most distinguished modern American novelists in the 20th century. He is prolific in his career and has produced voluminous novels and short fictions, which constitute the Yoknapatawpha saga as termed by Malcolm Cowley. Go Down, Moses is one of his masterpieces, which is composed of seven interrelated and yet relatively independent short stories. It tells the collapse of McCaslin saga, with hunting in the wilderness and the growth into maturity of Ike McCaslin as its main clue.The complex meanings presented in Go Down, Moses have been probed by a number of critics from a wide variety of angles, most of which focus on the Southern history, black and white relationships, and the degeneration of large families of southern states, Faulkner's writing technique of stream of consciousness and other writing technique. However, the emergence of ecocriticism offers a new perspective to read classic works. Some scholars have recognized the potential that ecocriticism has for Faulkner studies, and a few have begun to consider his texts from an ecocritical perspective.This thesis attempts to analyze the relationship between man and nature in Go Down, Moses according to the principles of Deep Ecology and make an ecological analysis of Go Down, Moses in order to demonstrate Faulkner's ecological consciousness. The criticism of man's rapacity, of man's desire to control land and conquer nature, the exploring of the intrinsic values of nature, and the reconsideration of modern civilization, all of which embody his ecological thought. This thesis claims that William Faulkner is a writer who understands the complex relationship between man and nature and who believes that the destruction of the natural world must impoverish human beings. Therefore, Go Down, Moses is an ecological text, and Faulkner is a great writer with ecological consciousness ahead of his time.