Dark Humor In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying And Sanctuary

As a Nobel Prize laureate and one of the most renowned and influential writers of America,William Faulkner(1897-1962)has always been a main concern in literature study worldwide.Researches on his works are numerous.On the one hand,he is a prolific writer,and most of his works have become classics,including The Sound and the Fury,As I Lay Dying,Light in August and Absalom,Absalom!.On the other hand,topics of the researches vary extensively from stream of consciousness,narrative patterns,symbolism,the Yoknapatawpha saga,racism,and feminism etc.This thesis attempts to explore a relatively less studied field on Faulkner: humor,in two of his dark themed novels,As I Lay Dying and Sanctuary so as to find out the functions and thematic values of the dark humor in the two novels.Specifically,the analysis will concentrate on the humorous characterization and comic death and funeral situations in the two novels.Three major theories of humor would be applied in the discussion,namely the Superiority Theory,the Relief Theory,and the Incongruity Theory.Meanwhile,most of the analysis on humor in this thesis is conducted in light of the systematic humor theory of Henri Bergson,which integrates the three theories.Besides,features and denotations of dark humor will also contribute an important part of my study.The thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter One is the introduction to this research,including the research background and overview of the theories.Chapters Two and Three discuss respectively the humorous characterization in the two novels.Chapter Four explores situational humor of death and funeral scenes.At last,after a brief comparison on the dark humor in the two novels,conclusions will be drawn.Through the analysis,discoveries are made as follows: first,the humorous characterization of As I Lay Dying focuses on individuals,it is “darker” and of stronger satire and exaggeration.While in Sanctuary,humorous characterization centers on the stereotyping of comic types,and it works more to relieve tension and horror apart from serving as aggressive criticism.Then,the dark humor in death and funeral scenes is able to dissipate and relieve the solemnity and terror of death,and claims triumph of life against death.Based on Modernistic themes of alienation,fragmentation,sadism,and cruelty,the dark humor in the two books functions strongly and harshly to expose human weaknesses.Though it does not lead to optimism for social reforms,it helps the readers to form an optimistic attitude in facing up to the sins and evils in human beings.It is both a relieving agent in the process of exploring the omni-existence of evil and a redemptive force in temporarily liberating human beings from the predicaments in life.