Femininity And Southern Gothic Literature: William Faulkner’S “As I Lay Dying” 

Abstract

William Faulkner’s identity, largely, entails a continuous re-reading of his past, the history of the antebellum South, and its period of the Re-construction. This obsession with the past and the need to face and understand its conflicts and dislocation, often, form the moral and psychological standards of the characters. But William Faulkner is neither a historical novelist nor a factual reactionary of the Southern past, only commenting on its loss and moral decline recounted in the lives of the Compsons (“The Sound and the Fury,” 1929) and the Bundrens (“As I Lay Dying,” 1930). These gothic elements: love and loss, declined values, moral degradation, brooding atmosphere of gloom, horror, abhorrent psychological states of the characters continued in the novels like “Sanctuary,” 1931, “Light in August,” 1932; and “Absalom, Absalom,” 1936. In these novels, however, the issues of race and gender have been mingled with the Southern history of America. The research quest of this present paper is to explore the relationship between the femininity and the Southern gothic literature. The broader concentration on the women characters in the novels of William Faulkner will provide the readers’ larger space to think- Is the femininity a tool that Faulkner has used to create the gothic atmosphere as incest, rape, adultery, suspense, feminine eccentricity, often, form the featured gothic elements; or is the gothic a tool that he has used to focus on the gender issues and problems prevalent in the twentieth-century America? Keywords: Eccentricity; Femininity; Gothic; Morality; Suspense

Introduction

In spite of being one of the foremost modernists of the American fiction, William Faulkner’s identity, largely, entails a continuous re-reading of his past, the history of the antebellum South, and its period of the Re-construction. This obsession with the past and the need to face and understand its conflicts and dislocation, often, form the moral and psychological standards of the characters. But William Faulkner is neither a historical novelist nor a factual reactionary of the Southern past, only commenting on its loss and moral decline recounted in the lives of the Compsons (“The Sound and the Fury,” 1929) and the Bundrens (“As I Lay Dying,” 1930). These gothic elements: love and loss, declined values, moral degradation, brooding atmosphere of gloom, horror, abhorrent psychological states of the characters continued in the novels like “Sanctuary,” 1931, “Light in August,” 1932; and “Absalom, Absalom,” 1936. In these novels, however, the issues of race and gender have been mingled with the Southern history of America. The research quest of this present paper is to explore the relationship between the femininity and the Southern gothic literature. The broader concentration on the women characters in the novels of William Faulkner will provide the readers’ larger space to think- Is the femininity a tool that Faulkner has used to create the gothic atmosphere as incest, rape, adultery, suspense, feminine eccentricity, often, form the featured gothic elements; or is the gothic a tool that he has used to focus on the gender issues and problems prevalent in the twentieth century America?

Since its literary beginning the gothic literature has distinctive women characters who engage with, and are, often, central to the uncanny narrative characteristics of the genre. There are two main female roles within the gothic literature the ‘predator’ and ‘victim’. The first is dangerous yet powerfully attractive; she helps to portray pain and pleasure paradox that has come to be synonymous with the gothic literature. The latter is fragile and vulnerable; she gives the heroes something to rescue and the prize for their brave actions. Faulkner, along with the other Southern gothic writers broke the tradition of the imperiled young and inexperienced woman cautiously exploring the old, dark house or castle where she is physically confined by the force though he is not free from the taboos. The portrayal of the women in the American literature, undoubtedly, in the gothic is still influenced by an author’s personal judgment or frequent socio-political stereotypes of the women.

Leslie Fiedler claims, “For better or worse and for whatever reasons, the American novel is different from its European prototypes, and one of its essential differences arises from its chary treatment of women and sex. ” Readers expect more independent, deviant, courageous, sexually matured women figures from the American writers. In the writings of Faulkner we have a large group of the women characters from different classes- from the most trivial to the most profound. The feminists, often, charges him as a misogynist for his poor treatment of the women in the most of his writings though in the literary field there are so many critics who defend the misogynistic approaches of Faulkner. Cleanth Brooks states that Faulkner portrays the women with great skill and argues that he represents his women characters with much admiration and compassion. Like the women characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s and of the other reputed American writers’ Faulkner’s women characters are badly victimized while almost at the same period Zora Neale Hurston portrays her characters as strong, free-spirited, and self-sufficient women. Though he has applied all the modern techniques in his novels, he could not make himself free from portraying the women characters from the existing stereotyped traditional concept that the women are motherly; are dominating; and are promiscuous; and so on. He sees the women from the perspectives of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and thus, his ‘good’ women are, always, the elderly females like Miss Rosa Milland, Aunt Jenny Dupre, Dilsey who goes through menopause and have no sexual charms. We find some dominating and possessive women like Belle Mitchell who intentionally uses her body to confirm her domination over the men. The same intensity of the hatred is thrown against that lump of the fertility, Eula Varnan in “The Hamlet” and against those young women like Charlotte Rittenmeyer in “The Wild Palms”, and Laverne Schumann in “Pylon” who sin not through the committing crimes but through the insensitive mechanics of their sex. They use their sexuality with cold calculation in order to reach their goals. Faulkner hardly portrays the woman characters with matured sexual love. His fascination is, always, towards frustrated, threatened femininity as his female characters are, often, incestuous, illogical, eccentric, destructive, and violent. He is the creator of a large number of promiscuous women who are unreasonable, aggressive, and capable of betraying the men without hesitation or any sense of guilt. We come across a large number of sex-driven bitches in the novels by Faulkner. There is Cecily, the ‘papier mache virgin’ of “Soldier’s Pay”; there is Patrica, the ‘sexless yet somehow troubling’ flapper of “Mosquitoes”; and there is abominable girl Temple Drake in “Sanctuary”.

Temple Drake, the protagonist of “Sanctuary”, is the most vulnerable of Faulkner’s female characters. She not only suffers but perpetuates violence also. She is kidnapped and brutally raped by a Memphis gangster Popeye who is sexually impotent; and therefore, must execute his purpose by indirect methods which are overwhelmingly brutal and revolving. Temple is eventually found in a brothel and returned to her father’s care. Her perjury at the ensuing trial leads to a false conviction for Lee Goodwin. Although the crime’s true perpetrator Popeye receives a form of poetic justice when he is later hanged for a crime he did not commit. Critics say that Temple Drake actively participates in determining her own fate. Thus, Faulkner intentionally creates Drake to perform the positions of marginalization so that she can fulfill the grotesque, horrific atmosphere of a gothic.

Femininity in “As I Lay Dying”:

Addie Bundren:

William Faulkner’s writing area is so wide that it is impossible for us to summarize all the female characters in this article. We are, therefore, taking the effort of analyzing our research query with special reference to “As I Lay Dying”. In “As I Lay Dying”, the whole theme hovers around Addie Bundren though she is dead throughout the novel. In the novel Faulkner has used the stream of consciousness technique- a distinctive narrative structure with multiple point of view and inner psychological voices of the characters. Actually the novel centers of Faulkner’s penetrating description of the Bundrens’ journey across the Mississippi countryside to burry Addie, the wife and mother of the family. The story is narrated in turn by each of the family members, including Addie herself. But she is neither an ideal matriarch figure nor a passionate mistress. For a short time she had affair with Whitfield and a son by him. Addie possesses a dysfunctional personality that creates all the sufferings, gloominess, and unnatural situation in the whole family. In one way or other, all the members of the Bundren family are alienated. The alienation is a result by their constant fears and worries. Perhaps, they are threatened by mother’s infidelity and also by father’s carelessness to family. Dewey Dell is alienated and frightened by her pregnancy whereas Jewel is afraid as he discovers he is not real brother of Darl. All the troubles arise from Addie’s negative personality and her disinterestedness in her family. Addie is a perfect representation of a female character to satisfy all the criteria. She is the source of all types of evils. The readers never get a scope to enquire of why Addie so hateful to her husband and her family and takes a revenge by engaging with an extramarital affair and getting pregnant.

Horror, violence, revenge, etc. are characteristic features of the gothic literature. The Southern gothic extends itself in physical sense. Addie exposes herself as the most violent and grotesque figure so far as her morality is concerned. From the very beginning of her life she was affected by the nihilistic approach of her father. Addie felt that during her whole life she had been neglected and when she married Anse, she hoped that through the violence of birth she could acquire a consciousness of life. She imposed her presence upon others only through violence. She is terribly afraid of aloneness and through participating in some types of violence feels less alone. Before the birth of Cash when she was a school teacher she hated her students. It was not because her students annoyed her. It was she who wanted to disturb them. The only way she could make an impact on them was by whipping them. When she whipped them, she felt alive. After she became a mother, Addie realized that the children had never violated her profound aloneness. When she discovered that she was impregnated, she thought that her aloneness had been penetrated, especially through the forthcoming childbirth. Cash was conceived as an act of violence. It makes her life more terrible as she does not feel any motherly connection to the child of Anse. When she discovered that she had Darl in her womb, she realized somehow she had been tricked by Anse’s words. As she had been tricked, she could never accept Darl. To take revenge Addie closed herself to Anse. She said that Anse was dead even though he did not know that he was dead. After ten years Addie met Whitfield and she saw him the symbol of violence that she had been seeking because the “garment which he had exchanged for sin was sanctified”. Addie believed that Jewel had been conceived in revenge and violence, and he; therefore; became her natural choice for salvation. But both love and salvation have to be the products of violence. After the affair with Whitfield, Addie began to prepare for her own death. She admits that she gave birth to Dewey Dell to negate Jewel ad gave birth to Vardaman to replace the child she robbed off Anse. Thus, in the novel motherhood is presented as a chore and a punishment. The author blames Addie for being cold, loveless, and dysfunctional to her family.

Through the characterization of Addie Faulkner establishes the concept of existentialism, that is, the terrific and horrible situation of human predicament where a woman/ man had to perform something to prove her/ his existence. Addie’s character perfectly matches that she always perpetuates her presence by violence. Likewise, to prove her non-existence her children use symbols and compare her with animals. After Addie’s death Vardaman runs away, not able to fully understand what has happened with his mother. He finds a fish in the dust and says, “It is cut up into pieces of not fish now, not blood on my hands and overalls- I jumped off the porch. I will be where the fish was, and it all cut up into not fish now. ”

Dewey Dell:

Throughout the whole novel there is hardly a space for the character of Addie to grow up. She is a pre-determined character perfectly matched with a Southern gothic. Beside the discussion of the character of Addie to make the paper more reasonable and, at the same time, to find out the research enquiry; it is necessary to analyze the characters of Dewey Dell and Cora Tull. Dewey Dell, who was born to negate another child, approaches negatively. She moves in an orbit of egoism, seeing each action only as it immediately affects her. And as with Anse, she cares only for herself and uses any amount of deceit to get her own way. She is unmarried and gets pregnant at a very early age. She refuses to assume any responsibility of her pregnancy. While the other Bundrens are busy with Addie’s funeral, her whole concentration is in getting to the druggist in town for abortion. Her thoughts and slow actions are compared with cow. She feels completely helpless after the death of Addie Bundren. The sin in which she becomes pregnant exemplifies the idea that the women are controlled by the men. To her life becomes struggling and miserable, and she suspects all men. She should have been presented as a sportive, loveable, spontaneous, and rebellious female figure. But in every inch she resembles her mother Addie Bundren. Faulkner presents her as incompetent, unfulfilled, and inconvenient to the family.

Cora Tull:

“A woman’s place is with her husband and children, alive or dead…I have tried to live right in the sight of God- for the honor and comfort of my Christian husband and the love and respect of my Christian children. ” Her utterance indicates that she has complete allegiance to her family, religion, and society. She is a very patronizing character. She is the only female voice from the community, and due to her investment in white, middle-class Christian norms regarding mothers and wives, she rudely criticizes Addie. When Addie insists on her burial in Jefferson to her blood-relatives rather than in the nearby farm, Cora critiques it as “a woman’s place is with her husband and children, alive or dead. ” But through the careful reading the readers can understand that she is a hypocrite and is not as loyal and religious, as she says. She establishes the status-quo for the women in the rural South. She promotes the orthodox concept of a patriarchal society that one should be loyal to one’s family over one’s individual wishes and desires. As a narrator she is not very reliable too. The representation of such type of woman is a common feature of a gothic novel.

Conclusion

Thus, to find the relationship of the Southern literature with the femininity I can see that the Southern literature does not treat the women very positively. Whereas the twentieth century emerges with a new concept of womanhood with some prominent female authors, like Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edith Wharton, Sarah Orne Jewet, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Kate Chopin who try their best female voices to reach the ears of the readers and speak firmly of theirs’ rights and dignities; a group of the Southern authors, like Faulkner and mostly other gothic writers present the women in their writings as abominable and cursed as well. So, while the contemporary female authors who create such wonderful characters like, Delia (“Sweat”, 1926); Janie Crawford (“Their Eyes Were Watching God”, 1937); Faulkner represents his female characters as vulnerable, threatened, raped, liar, promiscuous, and sex-driven immoral creatures only to create the background of his Southern gothic. Not a single female character of Faulkner’s is powerful (both in psychological and moral sense), independent, and brave that the readers expect from a modern writer like William Faulkner. In this respect, it is important to mention that this antebellum concept of the femininity which Faulkner describes is probably conceived of by him on the basis of the actual Southern practice. Faulkner’s concept of the Southern women, bias, and negative though it may seem, appears to have been influenced greatly by his knowledge of the Southern history and the Southern concept of womanhood.

Works Cited

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