William Faulkner’s Thinking About Human Existence as Reflected in Old Man
开篇：润墨网以专业的文秘视角，为您筛选了一篇William Faulkner’s Thinking About Human Existence as Reflected in Old Man范文，如需获取更多写作素材，在线客服老师一对一协助。欢迎您的阅读与分享！
Abstract：william faulkner is one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century， renowned for his novels and tales about the south. His old man is a story about the heroism of a nameless convict who rescues a pregnant woman during a Mississippi flood and assists at the birth of her child， and how he， in the face of hardship， struggles， persists， finishes the painful process of self-defining， and returned to the penitentiary a changed person. This paper， by analyzing the story， tries to find out some of Faulkner’s thinking about human being as individuals and as social members， his concern that human values should be reconstituted， his pride in the southern traditions and his love for the South. Meanwhile， a brief analysis of his narrative strategies is added which to a great extent is the reflection of his beliefs of the nature of time in writing.
Key words：Old Man； meaning of human existence； self-defining； narrative strategies
中图分类号：I106 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1005-5312（2014）26-0065-03
William Faulkner， the Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1950， is doubtlessly among the most important literary figures of the twentieth century. Most of his works have been devoted to the depiction of the people and their life of the south which was undergoing a kind of transition. He writes about the loyalties and other good qualities in the southerners， about his self-consciousness and his skepticism of the postwar America and the world， about the limitations and distortions society impose on human conduct. Old Man is one of them. Many of Faulkner’s characters fail to cleanse their world of guilt， or to achieve lasting solutions to its problems. But some， like the Tall Convict in Old Man， have the desperate courage to try. “Their often bizarre heroism signals the urgency of the challenge life presents to human values， their suffering reveal the need for reconstituting those values and prefigures the transformation their world seeks”（Gottesman， et al. 1761）. This is exactly what Faulkner has told in this story： absurdity of the world， struggle and self-defining of the man， which reveals his hope that when facing the crisis of life man should not only “endure”， but also “prevail”.
1
William Faulkner was born in 1897 near Oxford， Mississippi， where he was raised and in which he later made his permanent home. His family is one of great prominence in the region. His grandfather had fought as a colonel in the Civil War and returned to pursue a lot of careers， among which is the one as a novelist. His father worked for the family railroad until it was sold in 1902， then bought and operated a livery stable and a hardware store， and became business manager of the University of Mississippi at the end of World War 1（Gottesman， et al. 1756）. Faulkner attended grammar school and two years of high school in Oxford， and tried his hand at writing as early as the sixth grade， but his frequent truancy was a clear sign that academic work was neither stimulating nor disciplining his mind. The most durable influence on Faulkner’s reading was a friend named Phil Stone who shared his interest in regional history， and who encouraged his ambition to be a writer. Although he once worked as a bookseller， a university postman， a skilled carpenter and a housepainter， he chose writing as his vocation after 1920. His early published works included poems， verse， articles， short stories before his first novel Soldier’s Pay appeared in 1926. He is a prolific writer， with an imposing body of fiction in his lifetime， won the Nobel Prize in 1950 and died of a heart attack in 1962.
However， it was not easy for the audience to accept him. While his inventive fiction drew admiration from a growing number of writers and critics， he was disdained by the readers because they were either offended by his sensationalism or baffled by the density and intricacies of his style. It is not until after the World WarⅡ that larger number of audience began to like his prose. In his works， Faulkner has great devotion to the traditional values in a world of crisis which threatens them， and he is bold in challenging those values， recognizing the need to redefine and reaffirm them. It was this devotion and boldness that made the reader respond to him.
It was no accident that he drew on the regional history of the south as his material， and achieved great literary excellence out of them. He grew up in a period when the southern states were just emerging from a condition of shock. The south had engaged in a war. It had been beaten， and lived for decades in the result of it. The atmosphere then was one charged with the image of the war and the past. Faulkner， as a southerner raised up in this atmosphere and experiencing the change of the south in the twentieth century， carried both love and hate for his birthplace， which accounts for the reason why his stories are full of tension. This kind of tension is also present in Old Man.
2
The very beginning of the story is an account of the reason why the tall convict and the plump convict are arrested and sentenced. The former had tried to rob a train， having laid his plans in advance：
He had followed his printed （and false） authority to the letter； he had saved the paperbacks for two years， reading and weighing story and method against story and method， taking the good from each and discarding the dross as his workable plan emerged， keeping his mind open to make the subtle last-minute changes， without haste and without impatience.（Gottesman， et al. 1769）
But as soon as he got on the express he was captured. And Faulkner did not think that the tall convict deserved it， but that he was misled by the third-class mail system， saying that it had “defrauded”the tall convict of his liberty and honor and pride， putting the blame on the society. By so doing， he is revealing the absurdity of it. This is clearer when we see that the plump convict is given a one-hundred-and-ninety-nine-year sentence. Faulkner comments that this “incredible and impossible period of punishment or restrain” indicates that the men of justice are blind to all human decency and all human outrage and vengeance， acting in a “savage personal concert”.The author also emphasizes that the two convicts has something in common， that is， they are both “outrageous”， only that it is seen in the tall convict and not in the plump one.
The convicts are treated not really as human with dignity or honor， they are just forced to labor like mules， the land they farm and the substance they produce do not belong to them at all. There is another scene that shows how the convicts are unreasonably suppressed and how they endure it as if they were really numb and senseless creatures. It is when the flood comes， they were packed like matches into the truck， and when they， after a day’s travelling standing in the car， being wetted by the rain， finally arrive at the levee， they eat their meal in the rain with the same endurance.
So the world presented to us so far by the author is absurd， without real justice， only suffocatingly still and dull. However， the stillness and dullness of life only reflect the inappropriateness of or the flaws in the old social values. There is motion， only that it is killed by such a state. And when the time comes， such a motion is sure to occur. The time does come when the tall and the plump convict are arranged to save a woman and a man on the cotton house. Though he fears boat instinctively， as is stated later in the story， the tall convict didn’t hesitate in accepting the task and set out immediately in the flood.
Faulkner himself， as he once said， prefers writing about people to events or ideas， and he think highly of the personal qualities like loyalty， courage， etc， which belong to an “old Army kind of belief”in which he has been reared. And this is something he takes pride in and something he loves about the south.
When setting out on the flooded Mississippi， the tall convict starts his road of self-realization and self-defining. After he and his partner lose each other， the latter， not knowing the state of the former， return to tell the guards that the tall one is lost or drowned. They think that he is free now， that is， he is free of any responsibility now. However， the tall convict， who is alive anyway， does not think so. He gets on the boat， although hurt and terrified， hurriedly begins to look for his partner. He does not even know， in his hurriedness， where exactly his partner is， because：
He knew so incontestably that the other was upstream from him， and after his recent experience the mere connotation of the term upstream carried a sense of such violence and force and speed that the conception of it other than a straight line was something which the intelligence， reason， simply refused to harbor， like the notion of a rifle bullet the width of a cotton field. （1784）
These words show clearly the thinking of the tall convict in such a critical moment： he is too anxious about finding his partner to remember the rifle bullet which symbols pain， restrain， terror， hate or even rage， or to remember a wide cotton field which represents freedom， ease， or the sense of belonging. “Freedom， he can have it”， the plump convict says， but the tall one put responsibility in priority. This is the quality Faulkner has always adored in the people. This opinion coincides with the beliefs of the existentialism， a philosophical movement that stretched from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century， boasting some leading figures such as Martin Heiddegger（1889-1976）， Karl Jaspers（1883-1969）， Jean-Paul Sartre（1905-1980）. They almost exclusively focus on the meaning of human existence， and their concerns include death， meaning of human existence， the place of God in human existence， responsibility， freedom， and interpersonal relationship. Being thrown into an alienated or absurd world with no determined essence， human beings should define themselves. Existentialism pays special attention to each moment which human beings existentially experience and live. Man is nothing but the sum of the life he has lived so far. They are whatever they make of themselves， whichever choices they make. In other words， there is a myriad of possibilities of his essence as if there are an infinite number of paths his life could follow； his destiny is which path he chooses to follow. People are free to choose between being and not being. Along with freedom goes responsibility. Existentialists hold that human beings are responsible for deciding themselves， emphasizing that it is oneself who decides to choose. According to Sarter， only those who choose to assume responsibility of acting in a particular situation make effective use of their freedom. Therefore， there’s no doubt that the tall convict has made effective use of his freedom， and in the process of fulfilling this responsibility he is defining himself as a human being with honor， pride. His seven weeks journey， under no shot guns， with the woman and her new-born baby in the flood exemplifies his defining of himself.
3
During the seven weeks， he experienced a lot. When he asked someone to accept the woman so she could find a good place to give birth to her child， he was rudely refused. When he was asked to throw away his prisoner’s garment and flee， he refused， thinking of his “responsibility not only toward those who were responsible toward him but to himself， his own honor of doing what was asked of him， his pride in being able to do it”（1795）. There were times when all he wanted to do was to “surrender”. He wanted so little， asked for so little， but was rejected. Then though solitary， helpless and outrageous， he struggled on. In his struggle， he realized that life is not something over which he had control， but over himself he did have. Then they finally find a place， a small island full of snakes， and the woman gave birth to her child. When he looked downed at the “terra-cotta-colored creature resembling nothing”， he thought：
And this is all. This is what savored me violently from all I ever new and didn’t wish to leave and cast me upon a medium I was born to fear， to fetch up at last in a place I never saw before and where I don’t even know where I am.（1803）
The question of “where I am”occurred many times， but every time he chose responsibility to be his guide， and every time he was led somewhere. And when the baby was born， he become firm， was filled with a sense of “personal invulnerability”， and acted as if he was a “custodian”.
Then， on his journey back （he considered he was heading back）， he learned to make money from alligators with an Indian. For the first time， he remembered how good making money was， or how good being let to make it was， because he realized that in the prison he had not been give time to learn to work， he had been forced to labor. By saying so， Faulkner is criticizing the vicious social structure for the restrictions it imposes on these kind， courageous and industrious people.
Finally the tall convict returned to the penitentiary， calm， firm and good at speaking. The feeling of rage， impotence which had haunted him before disappeared now. He had fulfilled his responsibility， and in this process gave himself and life a definition： life is full of recurring crisis， is uncontrollable most of the time， but one can control himself， can let himself to be led by responsibility. He had endured， prevailed， and had found himself. That is all. And that is enough.
The title Old Man， also known as Father Waters， is the nickname for Mississippi river. In the story， it occurred about four or three times. Sometimes， it imposing challenges on the tall convict； some times the thought of it brought about a sense of familiarity， of belonging. In my interpretation， the author’s intention in making it the title of the story may be that it has nurtured the people， made them， but at the same time has challenged and restricted them， reflecting the ambivalent feeling he carries toward this place.
4
We have mentioned earlier that Faulkner was for a long time disdained for the density and intricacies of his style， the marking characteristics of which are the violation of chronology and everyday language habits， including the conventions of grammar and syntax. For instance， in Old Man， the account of the convict’s deeds on the flooded Mississippi alternate with the incidents that take place after he has returned to the prison where he tells about his seven weeks’ adventure， and information about his earlier life is scattered in the opening and closing page of the story. That is， the sequence of sections or chapters of the story doesn’t follow the chronology of events they recount. Rather， “the narration is deliberately constructed to defy and fracture chronology， intriguing readers by puzzling them until gradually they apprehend， or are suddenly shocked into recognizing， what has been going on and what its significance is”（Gottesman， et al. 1759）. An equally confusing strategy Faulkner employs is his “long sentence”， violating everyday language habits， as if he is to achieve a kind of “intensity or urgency appropriate to the feelings of rage， longing or astonishment being evoked or to the sense of urgency he wants to arouse in the reader”（Gottesman， et al. 1759）.
The style is the person. Faulkner’s style， to a great extent， is the reflection of some of his beliefs in time and writing as the process of revealing the time present in man， just as he claims （qtd. Rubinstein， 541） every man is the sum of his past， all of his ancestry， background is all a part of him at any moment. Therefore ， a man， a character in a story at any moment of action is not just himself as he is then， he is all that made him （as in this story when the tall convict was being attacked by a alligator and taking the knife from his partner， Faulkner wrote： it was too fast， a flash； it was not a surrender， not a resignation， it was too calm， it was a part of him， he had drunk it with his mother’s milk and lived with it all his life）（1817）， and the long sentence is an attempt to get his past and possibly his future into the instant in which he does some thing.
Another characteristic of his writing is that there is always a sense of community， even when the emphasis is on the writer’s repudiation of the community， as the penitentiary in this story. An equally frequent scene in his writing is the peculiarities of wind and rain and light and heat， the feel of the soil underfoot， the smells and sounds of the familiar land. They are present in Old Man with no exception. It is when the tall convict， after seven weeks’adventure， has finally returned and saw the River， he remembered the miles of strong stalks in July， purple bloom in August， the snowed over black fields in September and the bright silver gust of summer’s loud and inconstant rain， etc. He speculated on the scene he would see in the future with a sense of contentedness， nostalgic happiness， reflecting the passion Faulkner bears for Mississippi.
References：
[1]Abbott， H. P. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. Beijing： Peking University Press， 2007.
[2]Brooks， Cleanth. Understanding Fiction. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2004.
[3]Cohn， Dorrit. Transparent minds： Narrative Modes for Presenting Consciousness in Fiction. Princeton University Press， 1978.
[4]Gottesman， Ronald. et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 2. New York・London： W・W・Norton & Company， 1979.
[5]Leech， G and M. Short. Style in Fiction. London： Longman， 1981.
[6]Luper， Steven. An Introduction to Existential Thought. California： Mayfield Publishing Company， 2000.
[7]Millgate， Michael. The Achievement of William Faulkner. Lincoln and London： University of Nebraska Press， 1978.
[8]Riley， Carolyn. Contemporary Literature Critical. Vol. 3. Detroit， Michigan： Gale Research Company， 1975.
[9]Rubinstein， A. T. American Literature Root and Flower： Significant Poets， Novelists & Dramatists 1775-1955. Vol.Ⅱ. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 1988.