An Existentialist Interpretation Of The Tragic Consciousness In The Sound And The Fury

William Faulkner is acclaimed as one of the most outstanding American novelists of the twentieth century. His novels reflect the uneasy society and man's spiritual crisis in American South, especially after American Civil War and the First World War. In The Sound and the Fury, considered to be his most famous novel, Faulkner explores the decline of the big family, the disintegration of old tradition and the southerner's tough existential predicaments in this period. This thesis intends to employ Jean Paul Sartre's theory of existentialism to analyze the reasons for the individual tragedy in the novel and deepen our understanding of the nature of Faulkner's tragedy.The thesis consists of three chapters plus an introduction and a conclusion.Introduction part gives a short account of Faulkner and his novel The Sound and the Fury, a review of the criticisms on the novel and the existential predicaments in American South.Chapter One provides an introduction to Sartre's theory of existentialism, focusing on the notions and terms to be used in the thesis, and analyzes the affinities between Faulkner and existential tendency.Chapter Two discusses the issue that tragedy arises from the absurd world and man's alienation. Faulkner displays that both the world and life are absurdity and existence is meaningless. Obsessed with the"glorious past", the southerners can neither approve of the modern society nor be accepted. As a result, the separation of man's ideal from reality may cause man's isolation, suffering and anxiety and makes man fall into a state of alienation.Chapter Three is intended to find that the contradiction between the freedom of choice and the assumption of responsibility gives birth to tragedy. Sartre argues that man is free but meanwhile man is limited by the objective society and the special"situation", hence, man must assume the responsibility of freedom. The Compson brothers'desires to possess Caddy not only restrain Caddy's freedom but also their own freedom. They present tragic existential state of"hell is other people". Although Caddy tries her best to pursue freedom, she is incapable of resisting the tragic"situation", and takes the action of the fall to assume the responsibility in the end. Quentin feels guilt of his weakness and impotency and escapes from the responsibility by committing suicide.The thesis ends with a conclusion that the existential analysis helps readers further comprehend Faulkner's sensitive exploration in human existence.