| William Faulkner is one of the most important American men of letters in the twentieth century. So far, literary critics have written numerous articles and criticism on his works, but few of them have analyzed his works in the perspective of identity in the literature review of the criticism of his works. However, those who have criticized his words in respect of identity have mainly focused their attention on the black and mulattos, because they think that only the black and mulattos have identity problems. So the writer thinks there are still a lot of problems waiting for discussion, for example, some whites' identity problem. In this thesis, the writer will use Erikson's identity theory and postcolonial view on identity to study the identity problems in the two Faulkner's novels: Light in August and Absalom! Absalom!. According to Erik Erikson, identity is not only the awareness of selfsameness, but the perception of the fact that others recognize his selfsameness. In one's life, one undergoes eight stages, each with a different identity problem, thus he needs "fluidity of defense" to guard his identity. Poststructuralists think that one's identity is not only constructed, but it depends on others for its complete construction. Based on poststructuralism, postcolonial critics further think that identity is not inactive, absolute, and rigid, but necessarily dynamic, so one should take an uncertain, multiple identity to live in the society. By using Erikson's and postcolonial views on identity to analyze the identity problems of the four characters in the two Faulkner's novels, namely Joe Christmas, Charles Bon, Joanna Burden and Thomas Sutpen, the writer discovers that not only the black and mulattos, but the white as well, are faced with identity problems. For mulattos, they cannot gain acknowledgement and recognition from the society, thus they are made invisible in the society; for the white, they are unable to or refuse to change themselves along with the outside situations, thus they make their identity stagnant. So the writer concludes that the people from all walks of life in the Old South of America in Faulkner's time are faced with the identity problems. Though each person may have his own unique identity problem, the causes of the problems lying behind are quite similar. Among these causes are the influence of Puritanism, racism and the white's displaced ambition of restoring their glorious past. Because of these causes, they all become the victims. It can be said that these people's identity problems show, to some extent, the identity problems in the South of America as a whole in Faulkner's time. |
