Violence In American South

William Faulkner is generally regarded as one of the greatest American writers. A Southerner born and bred, Faulkner has a deep understanding of the Southern world. He detects the unease and anxiety of the people, and exposes the problems in most of his novels. As an important work in his prosperous period, Go Down, Moses discloses the social problems of the South. Spanning more than a century in the history, this novel demonstrates hardship, conflict and struggle of the southern people, the white and the black, and also men and women. In the Southern society, the most apparent problem is the racial conflict between the white and the black. The dominant white never treats the black as human beings, but talking animals. Living in this white dominant society, the black suffers a lot both physically and culturally aspects.According to the postcolonialist theory, postcolonialism encompasses the colonization on those marginalized groups, subordinates, and minorities. From this perspective, the white in America "colonize" the black by means of violence. According to Antonio Gramsci’s theory of postcolonialism, "colonized" consists of "the realm of force" and "the realm of consent". In this sense, violence on the black in Go Down, Moses can be classified as physical violence and cultural violence. After the Civil War, the physical violence has reduced gradually, but the black are still persecuted by the insidious cultural violence. The reduction of the physical violence does not mean the disappearance of violence. Instead, the cultural violence oppresses the black even more. By daily language, economic exploitation and social ideology, the cultural violence penetrates into every aspect of the whole society. All in all, either physical violence or cultural violence in Go Down, Moses exposes the miserable life of the black.This thesis will analyze violence in William Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses. First of all, from the perspective of violence, the first part will trace the features of violence in the view of postcolonial theory. By the view of postcolonialism, violence in Go Down, Moses can be divided into physical violence and cultural violence. The second chapter deals with the violence in Go Down, Moses, which consists of the physical violence and cultural violence on the black in Southern society. By analyzing the context of the novel, this part will reveal the miserable life of the black in the South. Lastly, the thesis discusses the escalation of violence in the Southern society. By analyzing the violence in the view of postcolonialism, this chapter expounds the harms and influences of physical and cultural violence upon the people of southern world. According to the analyses, violence upon the black is a formation of "colonize". In the process of "colonization", the black lose their identity. Besides, their national consciousness is also weakened by the cultural violence of the white "colonizer".