A Study Of Faulknerian Women In As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner is one of the greatest writers in the twentieth century. In his sagas, Faulkner looks back on the history of the South, probes into the root of the destruction of Southern America and explores the spiritual crisis of the southerners and modern men.The issues of memory, testimony, and witness are central to the Faulkner cannon and to trauma theory. This thesis is a study of trauma and witness in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Reading As I Lay Dying from the perspective of trauma theory reveals Faulkner as a secondary, intellectual witness to trauma and the central characters of these works as trauma victims struggling with memories and testimonies.This thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter sets up the historical and cultural framework seeing Faulkner as a misogynist or as a feminist.The second chapter of this thesis concentrates on Faulkner himself and women around Faulkner's influence on his writing about the Southern Myth.The following chapter concentrates on the social-historical background that is determinant for our understanding of the emergence of such a novel within the existing literature on the subject of motherhood, and for our understanding of three figures, Addie Bundren, Cora Tull and Dewey Dell's experience as a mother. This chapter also analyze how Addie Bundren bears witness to the fact that childbearing can be both physically and psychologically painful.This thesis draws the following conclusion. Faulkner, by acquiring power from both his historical background and social discourse, challenges and deconstructs the myth of Southern ladyhood. The white Southern women in the Faulknerian world are awakening. Brave and defiant enough to walk out of the wreckage of the dead South and its code, women can dissolve the gender boundaries. William Faulkner is one of the greatest writers in the twentieth century. In his sagas, Faulkner looks back on the history of the South, probes into the root of the destruction of Southern America and explores the spiritual crisis of the southerners and modern men.The issues of memory, testimony, and witness are central to the Faulkner cannon and to trauma theory. This thesis is a study of trauma and witness in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Reading As I Lay Dying from the perspective of trauma theory reveals Faulkner as a secondary, intellectual witness to trauma and the central characters of these works as trauma victims struggling with memories and testimonies.This thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter sets up the historical and cultural framework seeing Faulkner as a misogynist or as a feminist.The second chapter of this thesis concentrates on Faulkner himself and women around Faulkner's influence on his writing about the Southern Myth.The following chapter concentrates on the social-historical background that is determinant for our understanding of the emergence of such a novel within the existing literature on the subject of motherhood, and for our understanding of three figures, Addie Bundren, Cora Tull and Dewey Dell's experience as a mother. This chapter also analyze how Addie Bundren bears witness to the fact that childbearing can be both physically and psychologically painful.This thesis draws the following conclusion. Faulkner, by acquiring power from both his historical background and social discourse, challenges and deconstructs the myth of Southern ladyhood. The white Southern women in the Faulknerian world are awakening. Brave and defiant enough to walk out of the wreckage of the dead South and its code, women can dissolve the gender boundaries.