Gylany Vs. Androcracy In Go Down, Moses

Faulkner's mysterious Yoknapatawpha County is one of the most famous "mini-worlds" in literature. The vicissitudes of the world in his Go Down, Moses is correspond to what Riane Eisler depicts in her The Chalice and the Blade. In the primitive world, gylany is the mode of human life. Under the love and protection of the Great Goddess, human beings live in harmony with each other.With the invasion of those more savage nations, the strongest and the fiercest men gain the power. The Great Goddess is slain or reduced to the subordinate status of the consort of a more powerful male god. Gylany gives way to androcracy, and oppression takes the place of equality. The male continuously oppress, exploit, and humiliate his fellow and sister humans.Yet, the worship of the Goddess never dies. Cooperation rather than confrontation, and harmony rather than conquest will be the tendency of human development. Love unites the male and the female.In Go Down, Moses, young Ike enters the Goddess's realm梩he Big Woods. Under the guidance of Sam Fathers, Ike worships the great bear, Old Ben, who is the embodiment of Goddess. Through a series of ordeal, Ike appears to know the truth of life. The intrusion of the outside world destroys the Big Woods, and theprinciples of love and responsibility are replaced by those of oppression and killing. Ike learns the monstrous crimes of his eminent family, so he relinquishes his patrimony; however, he doesn't know how to unite both halves of mankind to find the eternal equality and freedom. Only those black females give us sparks of hope by their love and fortitude.The paper uses Eisler's terms gylany and androcracy to explore the human relationship in Faulkner's small cosmos. Since Faulkner's work reflects the truth of the whole world, the paper tries to explore the truth, and also aims to strengthen human being's faith in a better future.