A Study Of Women Characters In The Sound And The Fury

A giant in the realm of American literature, Faulkner has been the focus of criticismsince the beginning of his literary career. Undoubtedly, women characters play animportant role in Faulkner’s works. A deep exploration of his women characters canprovide a better understanding of his works’ profound meaning. Up to now, there are twoviews on Faulkner’s attitudes toward women in literary critic circle. On the one hand,some critics emphasize the evil and destructive aspects of women characters inFaulkner’s works. Thus Faulkner was charged as male Chauvinist or even a misogynist.On the other hand, there are scholars who hold that Faulkner has sympathy with, andeven admiration for his women characters. They assert that women in Faulkner’s worksare full of individuality, creativity and rebellious spirit. Is Faulkner a real women-hater ora women-admirer? This thesis, based on the second point of view, intends to have areconsideration of Faulkner’s attitudes toward women through his most successful anddifficult novel the Sound and the Fury from feminist perspective, moreover, deeplyexplored the roots of tragic fates of southern women.This thesis is composed of three parts: an introduction, the main body and aconclusion. The first part makes a brief introduction about the women characters inFaulkner’s works in national and international researching conditions.The second part is the main body of my thesis. It is divided into four chapters. Thefirst chapter deeply studies two main women in Faulkner’s life at first. This chapter isdivided into three sections. In the first section, the influence of Faulkner’s mother on himis introduced. In the second section, it is about the influence from his wife.In the second chapter, it is theoretical analysis of the women characters aboutfeminism and feminist literary criticism in the novel. This chapter is divided into foursections. The first section is about the developing history of feminism and feministliterary criticism. The second section is about the present situation and function offeminism and feminist literary criticism. The third section elaborates the application offeminism in modernism. The fourth section is the application of feminism in the novel.In chapter three, the main female characters in the novel the Sound and the Fury areanalyzed. This chapter is divided into three sections. The first section is the description and analysis of Caddy and her daughter, Quentin, who represent the rebellious women.The second section is the analysis on Mrs.Compson, who represents not only cold butalso poor mother. The third section is the image of Dilsey, a female servant of Mr.Compson’s, who is the perfect representative of the women, the hope of the women inSouth.The fourth chapter focuses on exploring the roots of the tragic fates of the Southernwomen--Southern patriarchy and the views of virginity and lady. Faulkner described allkinds of southern women in his numerous works. Their soul is driven and suffered by avariety of passions, but repressed by a variety of fetters. In this complex society of South,even though they are painfully struggling, they can not escape the doctrines of the oldcustoms and ideas under the Southern patriarchy ultimately. This chapter is mainlycomposed of four sections. The first section is about the historical background of thenovel the Sound and the Fury. The second section is the Southern view of virginity. Thethird section is the Southern view of lady. The fourth section is about the Southpatriarchy.The third part is the conclusion: Faulkner is not a misogynist. He is a humanistwriter who respects women and admires them. Faulkner’s treatment of womenthroughout the Sound and the Fury indicates that he recognizes the Southern Patriarchyand Puritanism’s devastating effects on Southern women, and foresees its inevitable fall.By illustrating his genuine concern for the fate of Caddy, Miss Quentin and Dilsey,Faulkner shows his confidence in their future and points out that they are representativesand hope of the new Southern women. Faulkner’s foreseeing ability made him sharplycriticize the Southern society as well as fetters and ruins to women from the old ideashalf a century ago. He is always advocating eliminating patriarchal oppression for theSouthern women all his life. Therefore, this thesis is not only the exploration on thefigures of women in the novel the Sound and the Fury again, but more importantly, it is atrue portrayal about great humane care of females offered by Faulkner. Faulkner letwomen enter the south, enter the history of mankind. His female consciousness andhuman consciousness make Faulkner’s female figures shine in the history of worldliterature strongly and specially.