Martyrs signifying nothing: Christianity and the modern world in Faulkner's 'The Sound and the Fury' (William Faulkner)

The Modernist movement in art and literature questioned significant institutions, Christianity being one of them. William Faulkner, a prominent Modernist author, deals with this in his novel The Sound and the Fury , which some critics have labeled as Christian. Though he uses Christian allusions, Faulkner does not do so in a way that says Christianity is the answer. Instead, he portrays six of his characters as martyr figures and does this in an ironic manner. By having them act as martyrs who are impotent, false, or unsung, Faulkner conveys the Modernist attitude toward Christianity, the belief that Christianity fails to provide answers to how to live in the modern world, contributing to the despair and nihilism that was prevalent in modern literature.