SOCIAL ADAPTATION AS REFLECTED IN THE CHARACTERS OF WILLIAM FAULKNER

The socio-literary approach provides a greater understanding of humanity and a deeper appreciation of William Faulkner's artistry. Utilizing the anthropologists' reduction principle, the reader arrives at a succinct interpretation of the social units forming the basis of Faulkner's novels. Antebellum Southern society was centered on the plantation with slavery at its base. It was highly stratified--the planter patriarchs at the head followed by middle class yeoman farmers, poor whites, and slaves. The church remained quite powerful in the South from antebellum days through post World War One, the time reflected by Faulkner's novels.;Faulkner created both matriarchs who are strong individuals capable of endurance and simpering "ladies" who retreat to camphor and social isolation. Matriarchs who adapt the heart of tradition secure the traditional institutions for future generations. Others who become all consumed with the social position of Southern ladies destroy the basis upon which their position was founded.;History and literature, as difference levels of seeing, merge in Faulkner's art. Faulkner's novels contribute to a modern reader's understanding of the South because Faulkner created believable true-to-life characters in a vivid, real life setting. The reader immerses herself/himself in the trauma which an individual faces when living through periods of intense change. Conversely, the reader who analyzes Southern social change gains a deeper appreciation of the genius of Faulkner's characterization as the Sartorises, the Compsons and the Sutpens struggle with the adaptation/assimilation process.;The planter patriarch, though himself a rugged individual capable of establishing and maintaining a plantation from the wilderness, established an embellished, aristocratic model. It is this model which Faulkner reflects in his Yoknapatawpha novels. The propensity of the planter descendants to assimilate reality into inflated models from tradition rather than adapt tradition to meet the changing demands of society results in alcoholism, suicide, reckless pursuits and the abandonment of the noblesse oblige which had balanced the founding patriarchal ego centeredness. The traditional institutions of family, religion and work dissolve, resulting in extreme trauma with individuals facing seemingly chaotic universe. The planter class line ends in dissolution as its individual members refuse to accept responsibility for discovering the heart of tradition and adapting it to an evolving society.