Faulkner's Image of Women
Faulkner's intrinsic portrayal of his characters using his signature "stream of consciousness" style left much room for discussion on the true nature of his characters, however his portrayal of women was obviously that of despair as the female characters never transcended their lowly confinement. Caddy Compson was a victim of the disfunctional family, whose attempt to reject it landed her even worse off. Addie Bundren was also a victim, a victim of an indolent husband and the backwoods culture that Faulkner so heavily criticized. Temple Drake was the hapless victim of the kidnapping in Sanctuary; her inability to combat her fate reaffirms a woman's position in Yoknapatawpha. The pages of The Sound and The Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Sanctuary tell the tales of sorrow, struggle, and ultimately defeat for the three women. Caddy's role is the veritable centerpiece of The Sound and the Fury, her destruction is symbolizes the destruction of the Compson Family. Despair marked her life. In an early age she assumed the responsibility of being a mother to Benjy. "She put the bottle down and came and put her arms around me. 'You mustn't cry. Caddy's not going away. See here.' She took up the bottle and
Addie Bundren escaped to Anse to find companionship in life; the word "love" that she found had no meaning. She had always seen herself as being completely alone in the world. Her own parents didn't love her and she had no one to call family. "So I took Anse. And when I knew that I had Cash, I knew that living was terrible and that this was the answer to it. That was when I learned that words are not good; that words don't ever fit even what they are trying to say it" (As I Lay Dying 59). It was loneliness they she tried to conquer. Thus, she took in promises, words that did not have any meaning. All her life she lived in words, surronded by emptiness, a life without meaning. "I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time"(As I Lay Dying 56). Faulkner mentioned no love or emotional understanding, but mere acceptance, maybe not even an acceptance but a long wait for death. Even at death, Addie tried to once more to find attention, something she desperately sought for during her lifetime. The journey was her revenge on her husband. "I realized that I had been tricked by words older than Anse or love, and that the same word had tricked Anse too, and that my revenge would be that he would never know I was taking revenge. And when Darl was born I asked Anse to promise to take me back to Jefferson when I died, because I knew that father had
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 953
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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