From Paternalism To Liberalism: A Study Of Antiheroes In William Faulkner's The Sound And The Fury And Absalom, Absalom!

This thesis attempts to analyze the images of antihero in William Faulkner'snovels. Through an exploration of different antiheroes in Faulkner's fictions TheSound and the Fury, and Absalom, Absalom!, my purpose is to induce two types ofantiheroes in two different social thoughts. His unique method of using antiheroesremarkably foregrounds the themes of his fictions and marks him as an innovativeand talented writer.This thesis is constituted by five chapters. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction toWilliam Faulkner. Chapter 2 is a background study which analyzes the reason whyFaulkner consciously creates so many images of antihero in his novels. This tendencyis influenced by three factors: the influence of his family tradition, especially theinfluence from his great-grandfather, Colonel William Clark Falkner; the secondfactor is the social and cultural background of the American South and Faulkner'sown admiration toward the hero. The people in the South have a special spirit toworship of heroes, and at that time, the hero is also called cavalier; and the thirdfactor is two prevalent social thoughts at Faulkner's time, one is paternalism and theother is liberalism which are very important elements in my thesis.Chapter 3 and chapter 4 are the body of the thesis. Chapter 3 deals with thecharacteristics of antiheroes in two novels. I mainly present two kinds of antiheroes,one is knight-like antihero who seeks to maintain the social order in the paternalism,Quentin and Benjy belong to this type, another is demon-like antihero Thomas Sutpenwho desires to break the social norm, Chapter 4 centers on the reason why thecharacters in Faulkner's fictions become antiheroes in two different social thoughts,one is paternalism and another is liberalism.Chapter 5 is the conclusion. In Faulkner's two novels, he presents two socialconditions that influence the character's fate, for most part, he disapproves ofliberalism because it lacks sense of obligation which is most important humanisticelement for a harmonious society. In The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner Signs for the evading of paternalism and makes Quentin die for it and Benjy sent to lunatic asylum.While in Absalom, Absalom!, he denounces the selfishness of liberalism as well as theabsurdity in racial paternalism and also makes Thomas Sutpen die for it. Therefore,my conclusion is, for Faulkner, as a htananist, the most important factor for a societyis the sense of obligation or the moral guide which are the essential qualities of beinga hero or a just human.