Throughout my process of researching articles for my final project, I looked for secondary sources and literary criticism on how marriage is perceived in Faulkner’s South. However, in my search for sources, I did have a bit of trouble looking for specific titles that completely zeroed in on my topic. As a result of this, I expanded my horizons in order to think about other elements that fit under the umbrella of marriage in order to enhance my search. I attempted to perceive marriage from a historical approach, rather than remain within the confines of Faulkner’s world. More specifically, I relied on JSTOR and the Zotero bibliography to look for interesting articles, along with attempting to channel some of the works that we have read in class that could possibly bolster my process in glossing my chosen term for a long Yoknapedia entry. I also found some interesting smaller pieces of work that Faulkner has completed about marriage as a sort of expansion of my primary sources, but I am unsure if this will be efficient enough for my final project. As a basis for my research, I primarily utilized the library databases that offered free access through Hunter College, in which I typed in the key words: “Faulkner and marriage” “Southern marriage” “Caddy Compson” and “Drusilla Hawk.” For my research on the Absalom Absalom! portion of my Yoknapedia entry, I was able to find a journal article that was listed in the Zotero bibliography that best fit my topic. 

Dunleavy, Linda. “Marriage and the Invisibility of Women in Absalom, Absalom!” Women’s Studies, vol. 22, Sept. 1993, pp. 455–65. EBSCOhost, proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=qth&AN=9312012432&site=ehost-live.

Dunleavy engages in a close reading of the three main female characters of Absalom, Absalom! in order to argue that their romantic relationships (and tentative marriages) with Sutpen signify social markers for them in the South. Through the characters of Rosa, Ellen, and Judith, this article demonstrates how Sutpen’s views on marriage (and his hopes to build a male-dominated familial line) devalue women’s sexuality, hence causing them to remain within the shadows of Southern society. However, these women’s various attempts to defy the traditional gender role of becoming domestic caretakers ends up becoming a valuable aid in their development of sexual independence. Many of the claims that Dunleavy makes in her article will be a valuable supplement to the Absalom, Absalom! portion of my Yoknapedia entry, as her work expands upon the ongoing conversation of the social and economic transactions that were present amongst marriages in Faulkner’s South. 

Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom!. 1st ed., New York, Vintage Books, 1990.

As my first primary source that I will be referencing in my project, Absalom, Absalom! discusses Ellen, Judith, and Rosa’s marriages in immense detail. Through a comparative close reading of these relationships, this source will help build a foundation for the portion of my entry about the social and economic effects of Southern marriage. 

—. The Sound and the Fury. 1st ed., New York, Vintage Books, 1990.

Apart from the other two novels that I will be utilizing as primary sources, The Sound and the Fury approaches the idea of marriage from a devastating psychological perspective. More specifically, the novel provides a fruitful amount of evidence for a close reading and literary analysis of Caddy’s marriage and wedding day through the eyes of Benjy (who is diagnosed with cerebral palsy, in which he possesses difficulties in speech development as per our class discussions of the novel). Through Benjy’s expressionless retelling of this particular event, Faulkner evidently illustrates a fictional representation of a Southern marriage through the realistic lens of the psychological effects that occur to his characters during its aftermath. 

—. The Unvanquished. 1st ed., New York, Vintage Books, 1991.

For the portion of my entry about Drusilla Hawk, I will primarily focus on the ways in which Faulkner envisions her throughout the second half of the novel. More specifically, the focus on my analysis of her sudden marriage to John Sartoris will illuminate the idea of how Southern marriage can eventually signify one’s “saving grace.” In other words, through analyzing passages from the chapter titled “An Odor of Verbena,” I hope to decipher the unbreakable link between a woman’s desire to obtain sexual purity and Southern marriage traditions, as I briefly stated in my proposal for my project. 

Simmons, Christina. “Women’s Power in Sex Radical Challenges to Marriage in the Early-Twentieth-Century United States.” Feminist Studies, vol. 29, no. 1, 2003, 168–98. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3178485.

Unlike most of the articles that I researched, Simmons goes into detail about the scholarship that surrounds male and female sexuality as it was perceived in the early twentieth century. More specifically, she argues that scholars perceived sexuality as more than its mere physical functions for both men and women. Instead, these writers attempted to widen the discourse in terms of how sexuality can be utilized to develop one’s own unique set of values in terms of marriage, romantic relationships, and more. Although many of her claims that she makes are unrelated to the overarching topic of my Yoknapedia post, this article will be utilized as a launching point for the historical context that I will open up my post with. 

Wagner, Linda W. “Language and Act: Caddy Compson.” The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, 1982, pp. 49–61. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20077677.

Wagner illustrates that the character of Caddy (the female protagonist in The Sound and the Fury) signifies the physical voice that Benjy desires in order to navigate the world around him. Benjy’s emotional, yet also heartbreaking response to Caddy’s marriage further emphasizes his dealings with the loss of this voice. Through her reading of the character, Wagner comes to the conclusion that Caddy’s decision to get married (along with some of the other familial choices she makes) signifies her desire to escape from the tumultuous Compson family, leading her to be crucified at the hands of her mother, father, Jason, and Quentin. In a sense, this article contrasts with some of the claims that Dunleavy makes in her article, as marriage in this context is perceived as a tragedy in the eyes of another. 

Watson, James G. “Faulkner’s ‘What Is the Matter With Marriage.’” The Faulkner Journal, vol.5, no. 2, 1990, pp. 69–72. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24907682.

This article highlights one of Faulkner’s essays titled “What Is the Matter With Marriage.” Utilizing his relationship with Estelle as inspiration, he deciphers that in order for marriages to be a success, there needs to be less of a focus on the physical attraction that men and women experience between one another. Instead, marriage is a loving commitment, in which two people are able to get to know each other (e.g., their interests, flaws, physical and emotional qualities) in order to find common ground on how to make their relationship long-lasting. For my Yoknapedia entry, passages from this essay (along with claims from the Simmons piece) will be quoted to emphasize Faulkner’s views on marriage on the surface level, along with providing an insightful introduction into how Faulkner emulates these views onto his female characters. 

Note: I will also be reviewing and analyzing some of the claims that Patricia Yaeger makes in her essay titled “Faulkner’s ‘Greek Amphora Priestess’: Verbena and Violence in The Unvanquished,” which is a part of a collection of essays titled Faulkner and Gender. Since I will be receiving a hard copy of the essay from Professor Allred before or after class on Tuesday, I did not have time to include this title in my bibliography.

As I was reading the last handful of chapters of Absalom, Absalom! for this week, I noticed that I was skeptical of the way in which Faulkner has decided to end the novel. More specifically, as a reader, I found myself questioning the truth behind Quentin’s answer to Shreve’s final question as he closes out his story about the Sutpen Family and Charles Bon. To end his novel, Faulkner writes:

“’Then I’ll tell you. I think that in time the Jim Bonds are going to conquer the western hemisphere. Of course it wont quite be in our time and of course as they spread toward the poles they will bleach out again like the rabbits and the birds do, so they wont show up so sharp against the snow. But it will still be Jim Bond; and so in a few thousand years, I who regard you will also have sprung from the loins of African kings. Now I want you to tell me just one thing more. Why do you hate the South?’

‘I dont hate it,’ Quentin said, quickly, at once, immediately; ‘I dont hate it,’ he said. I dont hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark: I dont. I dont! I dont hate it! I dont hate it!” (302-303)

With this final conversational exchange between Shreve and Quentin in mind, it is evident that Faulkner attempted to end his novel from the perspective of hope. However, this hope becomes severely buried within Quentin’s inner thoughts, hence the phrase “I don’t hate it” being repeated three times at the end of the novel. Based on our previous class discussions, we know that during the time period in which Faulkner’s works take place, the South is undergoing smaller changes, some of which these characters (like Quentin, for example) take some time getting used to. However, as readers, we beg ourselves to ask the questions: Does Quentin really enjoy life in the South? Is he primarily telling Shreve that he doesn’t hate it in order to get him to stop asking him so many questions about the Sutpens and Bon? Quentin does not particularly hate the South for its embedded norms about certain societal constructs like race, class, and gender, nor does he have any ill-will towards a Southern way of living. Instead, a part of him hates the South as a result of the familial trauma that the Sutpens (and in part, Bon) have left behind. His attempt at self-convincing in order to not hate the South comes from a place of hatred toward change. Shreve attempts to explain to him that in the future, the South will eventually diversify itself, meaning that it will not be solely populated by white people. Along with this, within his final chunk of dialogue, there is also the underlying message that the divisions of race and the racist, derogatory views of black people will fade away in time in the South as well. Although not explicitly stated in the text, it is particularly evident that Quentin is unaware of what to make of such ideas. In a sense, he wants to try to conform to the traditional Southern way of thinking and push back against such changes as a way for his own thinking to remain stagnant. However, when thinking about the ending of this novel on a larger scale, it is clear that Faulkner wants us as readers to understand that these changes might actually occur sooner than we all think. He utilizes a sort of distorted, yet also explicitly clear play on time through Shreve’s discussion of the future as an indication for what’s to come in his particular vision of the South.

In Faulkner’s South, especially for the female characters that we have discussed over the course of the semester, the concept of marriage is deeply rooted in social (and sometimes economic) transactions and traditional gender roles. Women have been drastically affected by marriage as a result of the gender norms that are placed upon them. One of the norms that becomes a driving force for marriage is a woman’s ability to obtain sexual purity. For the purposes of my final project, which will be a long Yoknapedia entry about the idea of marriage, I will be focusing on the sexual aspects that Faulkner ties into many of the marriages that his female characters experience. The three primary texts that I will be referring to in my entry are The Unvanquished, The Sound and the Fury, and Absalom, Absalom! In order to fully gloss the idea of marriage, especially in regard to how Faulkner implements how this idea affects his female characters’ social, economic, and political environments, I will be focusing on three female characters. These characters are Drusilla, Caddy, and Ellen. I am immensely fascinated with how Drusilla decided to marry John Sartoris as a result of rumblings that she engaged in premarital sex with him, thus showcasing her will to save her reputation. Along with this, I also want to further explore why Caddy’s wedding, as told in Benjy’s perspective, tends to be an emotionally chaotic moment for the Compson family. I am not exactly sure how I am going to write about Ellen’s marriage yet but based on our discussion of her wedding thus far in class, I am intrigued to learn more about the social ties that a Southern wedding can bring about in Faulkner’s world.

In terms of how I will engage in research for my final project, I will definitely be looking for secondary sources through databases such as JSTOR and Project Muse. I will also be doing immense amounts of research utilizing The Faulkner Journal, as I think that this resource helped me tremendously when I was researching for my Yoknapedia entries that I completed for the midterm project. I am not exactly keen on using a platform like Google Scholar, as I tend to become anxious that some of the sources can be a bit too broad and off topic. Along with this, I will also be looking at the bibliographies of the sources that I do choose to include in my final project in hopes that I can find additional information that is relevant to my topic.

I am completely open to any more interesting ideas that I can possibly include in my entry, along with any possible resources that can be beneficial for me as I go about the research and writing process.

Throughout the opening chapters of Light in August, Faulkner formulates religion and religious practices into a social construct within his vision of life in the South. During the 1920s, engaging in religious practices was one of the ways in which communities in this region of the U.S. were able to come together. It provided people with a growing sense of stability as they navigated the ever-changing social norms that were beginning to arise during this time period. However, the ways in which many of Faulkner’s characters, especially Reverend Gail Hightower, perceived religion tends to be distorted. We begin to question whether Hightower’s “divine” status as a preacher in the Southern town of Jefferson is actually accredited, or if his social standing is tainted.

Upon our first meeting of Hightower in the novel’s third chapter, Faulkner sets the stage for how his reputation is fueled by local gossip surrounding the tragic death of his wife. More specifically, he frames this character’s introduction through the retelling of his life by an unnamed citizen in the town. They say, “’Then one Saturday night she got killed, in a house or something in Memphis. Papers full of it. He had to resign from the church, but he wouldn’t leave Jefferson, for some reason.’” (59). With these lines from the chapter in mind, it is particularly evident that the people of Jefferson were not exactly sure what to make of Hightower as an individual. They looked towards the central tragedy he has experienced as a defining factor of his demise as a preacher. The citizens wanted to maintain a clean-cut image of how they were able to utilize religion in everyday life, and with a preacher who has experienced an extreme amount of trauma, this was next to impossible. They did not want to be the ones associated with a person that has let his traumatic experiences fuel his teachings, but instead they wanted to stick to teachings that were borderline “traditional.” Here, this relates to another set of lines from the chapter in regard to how Hightower desired to stick around in Jefferson, even after his reputation is destroyed. These lines read “’That was pretty bad on the church, you see. Having strangers come here and hear about it, and him refusing to leave the town. But he wouldn’t go away.’” (59). It is perfectly clear that Hightower wanted to stand his ground in terms of remaining a part of the Presbyterian church, as he wanted to prove that he was not going to let this tragedy he has experienced define him. In a sense, he wanted to regain his divine status as a preacher by not running away from his issues. As readers, we can begin to slowly understand Hightower’s dedication to the people of Jefferson as well. If he were to just up and leave them, who else would the townspeople look towards as a valuable guide?

Hightower perceives “religion as though it were a dream,” as he utilizes his grandfather’s experiences fighting in the Confederate army as a launching point for his sermons (61). His title as a preacher becomes further ambiguous, as he does not reference the holy texts in his teachings. Instead, he tries to find a loophole to blend his family history and religious background together. Here, what Faulkner was trying to achieve is the blurring of the lines between the past and the present for Hightower in terms of his perceptions of religion. He is so passionate about his grandfather’s experiences in the Civil War because that is all he has ever known in terms of his familial history. Along with this, it is explicitly clear that Hightower perceives his grandfather as the primary “God-like” figure in his teachings. As a result of this, he defies some of the basic traditions of Protestantism, especially when thinking about the basics of the Ten Commandments. Faulkner writes, “It was as if he couldn’t get religion and that galloping calvary and his dead grandfather shot from the galloping horse untangled from each other, even in the pulpit.” (62). It is explicitly evident that Hightower was trying to put some sort of biblical emphasis on his grandfather’s legacy. Instead of preaching to the people of Jefferson about the importance behind praising God, he wanted to show them that God can be present in other important figures. Here, he is trying to bend the idea that within religious teachings, one should not worship any false idols. Hightower is somewhat accredited to his status as a preacher through how he is able to stand his ground, but it is explicitly evident that the people of Jefferson are able to see right through his act. As a result of this, he not only becomes deeply ambiguous, but also highly psychologically complex, causing us as readers to question his position throughout this first section of the novel.

The latter half of The Unvanquished highlights the grueling aftermath that Bayard endures after Granny’s death. His attitude towards the practice of killing slowly shifts as he deciphers how to avenge his grandmother’s legacy. In the first half of the novel, Bayard narrates childhood stories from a point of innocence, in which he was somewhat shielded from the violence that was occurring in the outside world. However, as we continue to follow his journey up until the novel’s conclusion, Bayard begins to understand the lengths that one might reach in order to avenge the life of a loved one.

“Vendée” opens with Bayard emotionally looking back on Granny’s funeral, in which he begins to describe the burial process. Throughout the retelling of this somber memory, he is observant of the natural environment, as he takes notice to “the quiet rain splashing on the yellow boards until they quit looking like boards and began to look like water with thin sunlight reflected in it, sinking away into the ground.” (157). Bayard shapes this memory into a moment of closure at this point in his life. He paints his grandmother’s burial as a peaceful process as opposed to one that is filled with imminent sadness. Although devastated by Granny’s death, he seems hopeful to put the past behind him in order to look towards the future. The comparison of the rain hitting the boards on the casket to sunlight acts as Granny lighting the way for Bayard as he grows up. She understood the potential he possessed in terms of the person that he wanted to become. There is also a bit of lightheartedness towards the end of the funeral service, in which Brother Fortinbride asks the procession “’And what do you reckon Rosa Millard would say about you all standing around here, keeping old folks and children out here in the rain?’” (158). Here, this acted as a “If Granny were here right now, what would she say?” moment. Brother Fortinbride wanted everyone at the funeral to walk away remembering Granny as a fierce, fearless woman who spoke her mind at any chance she could. Those final words of the service symbolize how her legacy would leave a mark not only on the Sartoris family, but on anyone else who crossed paths with her.

Uncle Buck interrupts Bayard’s period of remembrance and his beginnings of gaining closure after the funeral. He asks him and Ringo, “’What you boys going to do now?’” in which Bayard looks back down at Granny’s grave in order to formulate a response (158). It is clear that Uncle Buck’s question emotionally triggered Bayard, which resulted in this short period of silence after the question was asked. Faulkner frames this obvious question to us as readers because we can infer what Bayard’s next steps are going to be right away. Although we do not see Bayard explicitly say that his uncle’s question sparked a rollercoaster of emotions inside him, it is perfectly evident that the simplicity of the question provided just the right amount of emotion to tip Bayard over the edge. His response, “’I want to borrow a pistol’” indicates the beginnings of his plans to avenge Granny, in which these plans include violent repercussions (159). Bayard becomes more mature here, as he takes the reins on this fight for justice. He establishes himself as a leader in the situation, and he was willing to do whatever it took in order to find Grumby and kill him once and for all.

Grumby’s murder scene at the end of the fifth chapter was very open-ended, but it also showcases how Bayard viewed the process of killing as a one and done process. Faulkner builds tension in the moments leading to Bayard killing Grumby, but then this tension fizzles out once Grumby is actually killed. The third section of the chapter ends with “Or maybe that made no difference either, because now my arm had come up and now I could see Grumby’s back (he didn’t scream, he never made a sound) and the pistol both at the same time and the pistol was level and steady as a rock.” (183). It feels like Bayard doesn’t feel triumphant as a result of killing Grumby to avenge his grandmother’s death. He had a particular goal in mind once his grandmother had passed away, and now that he had achieved that goal, there was not much else to this aspect of his journey afterward. What somewhat conflicts this idea is when Bayard, as a final act of dominance, pins Grumby’s body parts to Granny’s grave (184). Perhaps a part of him wanted to prove to Granny, who is now peacefully at rest, that he was able to defend her honor? Or, was there supposed to be an underlying brutal tone in this scene, as we have not seen Bayard engage in such violent acts before this point? Overall, as our main character and primary narrator of this story, it was fascinating to witness Bayard undergo such a shift, making him complex to analyze from a psychological and emotional perspective.

As I read this week’s chapters of The Unvanquished, I analyzed Faulkner’s motives behind the structure and formulation of his narrative. To briefly summarize what we have read thus far, we are being told a series of stories from the perspective of Bayard Sartoris as he recalls his experiences living in the Antebellum South during and after the Civil War. In each chapter, Faulkner efficiently, yet also somewhat ambiguously, sets the stage for a particular phase in Bayard’s life as he begins to navigate the obstacles of growing up during a period of uncertainty and tragedy. Faulkner incorporates vivid imagery and significant interactions between the characters in the form of a stream of consciousness. But this stream of consciousness develops a particular pattern in terms of motives. We see Bayard grow resilient towards feelings of nostalgia and sadness as he reflects upon his childhood. As a first-time Faulkner reader, this pattern of narrative motives allows for me to have a somewhat easier time following along on Bayard’s journey, along with growing anxious as to how everything that we have learned about his life thus far will all come together in the end.

We are lightly introduced to the motive of nostalgia in the novel’s very first chapter titled “Ambuscade.” Bayard places a high value on family life, especially in terms of his relationship with his grandmother, Granny Rosa Millard. There is one particular moment in which he begins to recall the types of stories she would read to him and his best friend Ringo. Although it can appear to be a form of nontraditional storytelling, Granny would sit and read recipes from a cookbook to the boys (19). The placement and structuring of this moment are one that symbolize a breather from all of the tense, yet also slow-paced scenes that we have already read about. This scene only takes up half of a page, but it showcases the type of matriarch that Bayard viewed Granny as. She provided him with the most normal childhood possible, even if the outside world was in a state of chaos, tragedy, and uncertainty.  Nostalgia begins to trickle in due to how Bayard makes a connection between a coconut cake and a past family Christmas celebration. Faulkner writes, “We had had some that Christmas before it started and Ringo had tried to remember whether they had had any of it in the kitchen or not, but he couldn’t remember.” (19). When looking at the phrase “before it started” in this line, we grow an understanding that Bayard placed a higher significance on memories that occurred before the war began. For him, it was a happier time, and there was an everlasting sense of familial and emotional stability. Once the war began, however, these elements of his childhood were slowly taken away, causing him to increase his fondness of his memories with both his grandmother and other family members.

The motive of sadness inflicted by tragedy gains dominance. We see this idea become fulfilled further in the end of Chapter 4 titled “Riposte in Tertio.” After Granny is tragically killed by Grumby’s Independents, Bayard expresses his regrets about not saving her from them. He explains, “I was just fifteen, and for most of my life her face had been the first thing I saw in the morning and the last thing I saw at night, but I could have stopped her and I didn’t.” (153). It is clear that Bayard wants readers to understand how his grandmother’s death symbolizes a major turning point for him at this point in the novel. From this point forward, he is going to have to navigate the world around him alone, and there would be no parental figure to guide him. He also comes from a place of sadness in this section of the chapter, as there is more of a tragic undertone behind his words. Granny’s death hits Bayard the hardest due to how she was his primary caretaker, and Granny even questions his sadness before she passes away. She says, “’So we will have something when John comes back home. You never cried when you knew he was going into a battle, did you?’” (152-153). This absence of emotions for Bayard towards his father going into battle showcases how he expressed his love for both him and his grandmother differently. Since his father was consistently absent and was always focused on the war, the ways in which they bonded was unlike your traditional relationship between father and son. Instead, it was more of a “I’ll see you when I see you” type of bond, as there was more of an emphasis on making sure that Colonel Sartoris can focus on becoming victorious every single time he stepped out onto the battlefield. War was the primary emphasis of these two men’s relationship with one another, causing the sadness that Bayard once felt to be more of a numbing feeling as opposed to an upset feeling.