The Cursed South

William Faulkner is one of the most reputable writers in American literary history and also a representative author in Southern American literature.His works have exerted profound and lasting influence on literary fields worldwide.With the employment of complicated structure,carefully considered words and delicate character portrayal,Faulkner presents us a comprehensive historical picture of the rise and fall of the Southern American society.Faulkner has the mastery of not only exhibiting us the characters’ complicated psychology and conflicting relationships but also investigating the deep-rooted social causes behind,such as the hidden power conflicts in class,racial and gender issues.Absalom,Absalom!,one of Faulkner’s significant works,with its exquisite narrative structure,polyphonic narrative angle,complicated personage and dramatic family and social conflicts,has received wide recognition and praise.In Absalom,Absalom!,Faulkner,with profound thoughts,discusses a series of unreasonable system and ideology existing in the history of America South which lead to characters’ traumatic transformation and their obvious post-traumatic symptoms;thus this work reveals the author’s deep thoughts about Southern American society and his humanistic concern about the traumatized group.This thesis,with the application of trauma theory,ventures to analyze trauma issues existing in Southern American society,including white man’s trauma caused by class division,white women’s trauma caused by family and society as well as racial identity trauma;in so doing,this thesis argues that Faulkner in Absalom,Absalom! expresses his deep worry about the morbid social system in America South in that era and his expectation for the construction of a democratic,equal and harmonious social order.This thesis consists of three parts including the introductory part,the main part and conclusion.The introductory part contains the brief introduction of author and work,literature review,theoretical background and the overall writing plan.Main part includes three chapters: Chapter One analyzes Sutpen,under the suppression of class hierarchy,experiences a traumatic personality transformation and presents a typical avarice in constructing his hegemonic masculinity;Chapter Two discusses Southern Belles,exposed to the environment of gender inequality,experience a series of familial and emotional trauma,which results in their exhibition of obvious post-traumatic symptoms;Chapter Three centers on mulattoes’ traumatic loss of subjectivity and identity confusion caused by a racially discriminatory social environment.This thesis then concludes that Faulkner,in Absalom,Absalom!,through his exhibition of characters’ traumatic experiences and traumatic behaviors,unveils the deep-entrenched morbid system,ideology and cultural environment in America South and also presents Faulkner’s deep concern about America South as well as his hope to embrace a more democratic,equal and harmonious social environment.