Sin And Salvation In Selected Works By William Faulkner

Author

Thelma Fletcher Fountain, Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College

Date of Award

8-1957

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Degree Discipline

English

Abstract

Since the beginning of time man has sinned and suffered. Many writers have, in various manners, written about man and his sins, William Faulkner is one of these writers. For many years he pictured only the somber side of the south but recently he has come to its defense. Els work at first did not receive much recognition because he painted such sordid pictures of man but as his works began to grow, the pattern of sin and salvation which he portrayed became comprehensible to the reading ( V/ ' 1 - public,'Because it is the opinion of most o.; the critics that Faulkner's work does not receive all the attention it deserves, the problem of this thesis has been designed to explain the sin and evil which exist in the world as Faulkner sees it and to explain Faulkner as a Mississippi Puritan, thus pointing out that his theories give him hope for the human race.

Words have various meanings but the writer should like to employ sin as the breaking or violation of God's law and salvation will then become the setting free of the soul from sin.

What does sin mean to William Faulkner? Or, more specifically, what kinds of sin are the novels of Faulkner concerned with? An analysis of his major characters will reveal the fundamental aspects of his theme of sin. It seems that he Is an investigator of the psychological condition of his characters. He tries to understand and to present the principles which govern motivation, reason, and action. Faulkner believes that the Individual often refuses to come to terras with the disorder of his contemporary world. In spite of all the potentialities a man has for adjustment, he becomes a demon. He then does what he "Just has to do.

In all of his novels, Faulkner Is implying that the individual In our times frequently does not want to explore the causes of being. The horror of the situation lies, for Faulkner, in the fact that people have neither the strength nor the insight necessary to relieve themselves of their burdens. It cannot be asserted that Faulkner rebels against civilization. His novels rebel against those patterns which equate sin with order and d © not permit a man to prove that he has the strength to stand alone.

Committee Chair/Advisor

H. Smith

Committee Member

Anne Campbell

Committee Member

P. Ledbetter

Publisher

Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College

Rights

Date of Digitization

11/5/2021

Contributing Institution

John B Coleman Library

City of Publication

Prairie View

MIME Type

Application/PDF

Recommended Citation

Fountain, T. F. (1957). Sin And Salvation In Selected Works By William Faulkner. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/pvamu-theses/684