The Noisy World And The Anxious Mind

William Faulkner (1897-1962) was a genius in the twentieth American literature as well as aleader of the southern American Renaissance. He has created many renowned works-theYoknapatawpha Saga novels which are about not only the history of the changes of the SouthAmerica, but also the history of the spiritual transformation of the young generation. Theseworks became the encyclopedia of the South America, which recorded the south spirit of thishistorical period forever. Among these novels The Sound and the Fury, published in1929, washis first masterpiece winning world-wide prestige. The novel displays the corruption of the southtraditional culture and morals. It reflects the inner world of the characters.Adopting Karen Horney’s anxiety theory, this paper aims to analyze the anxietyphenomenon in The Sound and the Fury. According to Horney, the anxiety is a sense ofloneliness and helplessness in the world. Because of the bad influence of the family environmentand cultural environment, all the members in Compson family produce the anxiety in their innerhearts. In order to eliminate the basic anxiety, individual adopts interpersonal defensivestrategies and the intrapsychic defensive strategies to ease his anxiety. In Compaon familyQuentin adopts the detached type and Jason adopts the aggressive type. They all adopt the idealself to reduce their anxiety. Through the analysis of the anxiety of the novel, we discover that thepeople’s mental state is influenced by the family environment and social cultural environment,so a warm family environment and harmonious social cultural environment are beneficial to theformation of healthy personality as well as the development of the people’s physical and mentalhealth.This thesis can be divided into six chapters to analyze the anxiety phenomenon in the novel.Chapter one is the introduction. This section mainly introduces the study of the backgroundand the significance of the study.Chapter two is the literature review and Karen Horney’s anxiety theory.Chapter three is the main part of the paper. This part employs Karen Horney’s anxietytheory to analyze the family environment and cultural environment which cause the Compsons’anxiety.Chapter four is the defensive strategies of the Compsons. In the Compson family, Quentinand Jason are typical anxiety patients, and they all develop into neurosis. Quentin mainly adoptsthe detachment type while Jason mainly adopts the aggressive type. At the same time they adoptthe intrapsychic defensive strategies to protect themselves.Chapter five is the release of the Compsons’ anxiety. Caddy’s losing virginity provides theCompson family a chance to release their anxiety by means of which the whole family release their depression and dissatisfaction.Chapter six is the summary of the thesis.