The Interpretation Of Light In August From The Perspective Of Spatial Criticism

William Faulkner is a famous prolific southern American writer of the 20 th century,whose works are rooted in the society of the Deep South after the American Civil War and concerned with the tragedy of the collision between the Old South and the New South.What’s more,he is good at presenting the nostalgia and deep sense of impending doom of the southerners in the conflict.Faulkner’s works are broad in theme and profound in thought,and deserve repeated scrutiny and study.Light in August is one of his masterpieces in which he focuses on religion and racial problems.Set in the Old South society after the Civil War,the novel expresses the lifelong damage of racial prejudice and stereotypical religious doctrines on people.This thesis is going to adopt Henri Lefebvre’s spatial criticism to explore the spatial elements in the novel and analyze the living plight of the southern American people from the physical space,psychological space and social space respectively.The concept of “space” here is different from that of natural science,referring to the spatial consciousness in the field of the humanities.Spatial theory is a kind of culture or ideology that is integrated with real life and helps to study the spatial issues that arise in the physical,psychological and social dimensions.A spatial perspective can provide readers with new ways of viewing and understanding society,connecting things or phenomena from different fields.By exploring the cultural and ideological elements embedded in the text from a spatial perspective,the author aims to broaden the path of research and help realize its social-critical function.Apart from the introduction and conclusion,the main body of this thesis consists of three chapters,focusing on the physical,psychological and social space in the novel.The first chapter begins with the physical space,showing chronologically the constraints and oppression brought by the Memphis orphanage,the rigid Mr.Mc Eachern’s house,the dwelling districts of different ethnic groups in Jefferson and Ms.Burden’s ancestral house and cabin.These different physical spaces show the impact of the external geographical changes on the characters’ personalities and social relationships,and meanwhile drive the development of the plot.The second chapter analyzes the psychological space of the three main characters: Joe Christmas eventually collapses with the burden of racial discrimination and the endless search for identity in vain;Ms.Burden,who faces her inner desires,goes into destruction because of self-condemnation of Puritan doctrines that she sticks to;the pastor Hightower,who lives in the mendacious glory of the Old South,finally reconciles with his inner religious obsessions after the spiritual baptism of a new life.The three protagonists all lead painful lives under the influence of different social rules,and such psychological consciousness is also indirectly integrated into the space they live in.At the same time,their struggling psychological world also affects the affinity with people around them,thus under such circumstances it forms a loop that they cannot disengage.The third chapter,in accordance with the logic from macro to micro,describes the overall atmosphere of the town with radical thoughts and blind xenophobia;White people in the North and South discriminate against the black in different ways and their survival dilemma;the destruction of patriarchy to women in family aspect.Among them,the inhabitants of the town are the creators of conflicts in their living space and try to constantly encroach on the social space of others and suppress all social activities of each other.Within such a suffocating social space,both the whole black or white ethnics and individual women of every family are victims who lived as the walking dead under the constraints of social regulations.Finally,the author summarizes and explores the moral values that the novel wants to praise.By presenting the dual conflicts between race and religion in the South after the Civil War in different dimensions,readers can discover the opposition to religious prejudice and racial hatred expressed in this work more clearly,so that they could attach importance to the love and understanding among people.In general,Light in August not only shows series of social problems in the South,but also expresses Faulkner’s humanistic concern.By focusing on race,class,gender and other social factors in different space,this paper shows the persecution of the racial regulation and Puritan doctrine on humanity in the American South,reflecting its cruelty while also expressing Faulkner’s sympathy for southern people and his aspiration for their salvation and spiritual liberation.Meanwhile,the author wants to remind readers that if they are always filled with hope and compassion,life will be full of the light of humanity and dazzle with brilliance.