Miller The Aspect Of Faulkner example essay topic

Faulkner's Faults The Civil War plays a significant part in the literary world of William Faulkner. Although only The Unvanquished and several short stories deal entirely with the wartime period, this time period plays an important part in a number of his novels. Most of Faulkner's fiction deals with the defeat of the South or the effects of that defeat. It is rare to find one of his characters who is not conscious of the Civil War. In Douglas Miller's article he attempts to examine the way in which Faulkner has employed the South's most significant struggle, both as myth and reality. Like John E sten Cooke, in many ways, Faulkner presents his version of Southern history from a romantic point of view, even to the point of presenting a storybook version.

He dramatizes the exploits of Confederate heroes. But more than a glorification of these heroes is a glorification of the South's "Lost Cause". The Confederate soldiers he depicts are usually cavalry officers, presented as a gentleman, who fight with reckless heroism. And to the other extreme, Northern men were presented as greedy grubbers, lacking courage, dignity, and honor. The Confederates in these adventures fight for the sake of fighting, without thinking about the moral questions involved.

These soldiers lack any intellectual thought. Faulkner does realize that some of the Southern romance is myth. He explains in his novel Sartoris, through Miss Jenny's storytelling, how reality becomes distorted into myth. "By telling the story many times since (at age eighty she still told it on occasions usually inopportune) and as she grew older the tale itself grew richer and richer... ".

This recognition of myth-making lays a basis for a more critical examination of Southern legend. Many of Faulkner's details are far from mythical. Some are based on historical reality, such as the procedure used to destroy the Mississippi railroad. The rails would be heated in the middle and then twisted out of shape around a tree.

This was just one example of Faulkner's historical accuracy. Another utilization of historical fact is the career of Colonel John Sartoris, a character in one of his novels. This character closely paralleled the career of Faulkner's own great-grandfather. In one of his novels he described the physical suffering and material loss caused by the war. When men would return home in his novels they would find their homes subject of the four years of neglect, war damaged, and the land impoverished as a result. This depiction was no exaggeration.

Men would return home from fighting to find their homes in such conditions as described in Faulkner's novels. Faulkner's chief concern was not the physical destruction caused by war. At some points he may even underplay the burning of villages and general devastation. Important moral transformations, which resulted from four years of brutal fighting, and defeat, occupied his main attention. Because Faulkner has such strong nostalgic feeling for the ante-bellum South his work is far from a critical interpretation. It should be understood that Faulkner defends the old order, not the gay world of grand balls and mint juleps.

He is praising moral order, a code of personal dignity, courage, and honor. Much of Faulkner's work is concerned with the inability of descendants of the old order to deal effectively with the modern South. Many of his characters represent all that is noble and courageous in the old order. Faulkner does realize some of the problems with the old order way of thinking. By creating characters that have no humanitarian concern he implies that these failings maybe have caused the South to lose the war.

Faulkner also realizes that the conception of honor was narrow and egotistical and generally serving only as an excuse for violence. The greatest feeling of failure in the eyes of Faulkner is the fundamental sin of slavery. This is a major admission for a Southern writer. The defeat of the Confederacy did not put to rest Southern code shortcomings. The war was in fact opposite. It glorified the most brutal features of the old code and created the myth of the "lost cause".

And because the South's struggle was converted quickly into myth it assured the corrupt version of Southern ideals would continue. Another problem with the old code in the eyes of Faulkner was the need for violent revenge. In one of Faulkner's novels, a man's father was killed; southern code would call his son to avenge his father's death. However, this character does not carry on the old code values. He does, however, uphold the worthwhile aspects of honor, integrity, and courage while not succumbing to violence and formal rigidity. The character confronts his father's assassin unarmed, proving his courage.

This implies that a strong sense of individualism is needed. Each person must discover his own principles and not accept established ones as dogma. Although Faulkner implies that the moral failings of the planter-aristocracy brought on the war, his characters still retain their grandeur as fighting heroes. Because of this strong concern with moral problems he often oversimplifies historical events or only uses them in a symbolic manner. In this article Douglas Miller examines how Faulkner has employed the South's most significant struggle as both myth and reality. Miller first describes the ways in which Faulkner is guilty of glorifying the South's "lost cause".

His Confederate soldiers always seem to be cavalrymen who fight with remarkable heroism. Miller also notes that Faulkner himself realizes how reality becomes distorted into myth. Faulkner does however use a lot of historical accuracy in his writing. However, according to Miller the aspect of Faulkner that is closest to reality is the moral transformation, which resulted from fighting and defeat.

Although Faulkner finds fault with some parts of the old code of the South he does not repudiate it. He merely upholds the worthwhile aspects while removing himself from the violence and formal rigidity. Miller does add that as a drawback of Faulkner's great concern with moral problems he tends to oversimplify historical events. Faulkner is able to use the region he knows best to examine significant aspects of man in general. Miller makes strong points in defense of Faulkner's work. It would be very easy to dismiss Faulkner because of his deep Southern heritage.

Miller is able to defend him because he can uncover the reality in his writing. By using examples from Faulkner's work Miller shows the reader how some things were exaggerated and mythical, but also identifies graphic depictions of a worn down Southern homeland at war's end. When we realize the embellished truth for what it is, Faulkner's work can then be appreciated for its historical value as well as the entertainment of the novel. Miller, Douglas T. "Faulkner and the Civil War: Myth and Reality". American Quarterly 15 (1963): 200-209..