Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.47960/2303-7431.27.2022.47
VIOLENCE IN WILLIAM FAULKNER’S LIGHT IN AUGUST (1932)
Ivana Čuljak
orcid.org/0000-0002-7050-5958
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Mostar
Ante Pavković
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Mostar
Abstract
By relying on Michel Foucault’s theory of social discourse and power/
knowledge where culture, customs and other elements of society are
seen as the source of shared knowledge imposed on the individuals,
this paper explores the theme of violence in William Faulkner’s novel
Light in August (1932) to prove Joe Christmas’ violence as the result of
his exposure to the social discourse of the time he lives in, namely the
South during the Jim Crow era. The paper proves violence in the novel
as mostly connected to the character of Joe Christmas and explores why
Joe Christmas, even though the main enactor of violence, is not regarded
as a villain but as an anti-hero. The period in which Christmas lives is the
Jim Crow South where blackness was regarded as inferior, negative and
evil which affects Joe’s self-perception and his actions. Joe, the captive
of society, exhibits violence because the only thing he has been thought
is to respond with violence. The paper will analyze several parts of the
novel connected to Joe Christmas and violence to prove how violence in
Faulkner’s novel does not exist per se but serves to prove how damaging
the effect of society and social discourse can be.
Keywords
Michel Foucault; William Faulkner; Joe Christmas; violence; social discourse; power/knowledge
Hrčak ID:
293679
URI
Publication date:
8.2.2023.
Visits: 430 *