Having read Faulkner’s short story,
“A Rose for Emily,” I had some idea of his writing style and subject matter
going into Absalom, Absalom!, including a passing familiarity with his
use of recurring characters. I felt that “A Rose for Emily” only very loosely
adhered to the limitations of the canon of gothic fiction, so I have been quite
shocked at how rigidly Absalom, Absalom! seems to stick to the
archetypes of gothic literature. One aspect of gothic fiction is the emphasis
on the psychological reaction to evil, which is most certainly evident in the
novel. Faulkner’s purpose in introducing the reader to Sutpen through Rosa’s
tinted lens is to show the reader how deeply Rosa has been traumatized by
Sutpen’s acts. His use of words such as “demon” and “ogre” is to show us the unrealistic
mental image of Sutpen that exists within Rosa’s mind.
Another
aspect of Gothic literature is use of supernatural elements such as ghosts and apparitions
in the action of the novel in order to illustrate decay. Faulkner most
certainly utilizes this technique as well. As Quentin left for Harvard, he
thought that the South had been “dead since 1865 and peopled with garrulous
outraged baffled ghosts” in the first chapter. Quentin also speculates about ghosts
and the dead repeatedly throughout the first two chapters.
Sutpen
embodies the core traits of the gothic villain. He is presented as explicitly
evil, has a mysterious background, and above all displays complete apathy
towards human emotion. Faulkner portrays Sutpen as almost separate from the
rest of society, and therefore humanity.
Your post is an interesting and very informative analysis of gothic literature and its development throughout the novel. However one element that I have always associated with Gothic literature, is a pure and unadulterated protagonist. After surveying the characters given to us throughout the story its rather difficult to mold one of them to fit this description. You could potentially try to classify Rosa as a character fitting this seeing that she has been presented as someone who is counter to Sutpen, but you could also claim that Quentin is a rather innocent protagonist as well. Either way this aspect of Gothic literature seems to not fit as well as others
ReplyDeleteI found your post extremely interesting, being pretty unfamiliar with Gothic literature. After doing some research, many of the themes you bring up are apparent throughout the novel. The main idea of Gothic literature is a mixture of horror and romance, which is evident throughout the beginning of AA. Both Sutpen and Bon are extremely seductive characters, but are also described with a sense of horror as well, especially in Rosa's description of Sutpen. Gothic literature also favors themes of mystery and dread as well as an emphasis on the supernatural, which are all themes that surround Sutpen and Bon and Sutpen's inevitable demise.
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