Ike's Spiritual Quest In Go Down, Moses

Go Down, Moses is one of the most important novels of William Faulkner. Since its publication in 1942, it has been at the center of Faulkner criticism. The early critics tend to regard it as a collection of short stories. Now it is unanimously accepted as a unified novel with two general themes, race and nature. This thesis deems it necessary to explore another general theme of this novel, the spiritual quest of the protagonist, Ike McCaslin, which in fact synthesizes the other two themes. To explore this theme will also help reveal William Faulkner's profound thinking about how to solve the racial and other social dilemmas in the South.This thesis approaches Ike McCaslin's spiritual quest at three stages. In his quest in the wilderness, Ike acquires the code of the wilderness, which also represents some essential virtues of the Old South. He also gets his education concerning racial equality from his mentor, Sam Fathers. Thus he is reborn as a white youth with conscience and sympathy for the black and the Indian. Ike's quest in the plantation world is also profitable in many aspects. He subverts the Southern plantation myth by his discovery of the evil side of his grandfather, Carothers McCaslin. He also discovers the nature of slavery and plantation economy. His conscience developed in the wilderness and in the plantation world prompts him to take a radical step to relinquish his plantation heritage. This relinquishment enables him to be a self-reliant man rather than an exploiter and a destroyer like his grandfather. Yet Ike's relinquishment is in the meantime a repudiation of his community and of his responsibility to help the blacks. In his spiritual quest at his old age, Ike finally awakensto his failure. This thesis also offers two reasons for Ike's ultimate failure, his obsession with the past and his partial subjection to racial ideology.Gavin Stevens's spiritual quest provides an alternative for Ike's. Stevens eventually plunges himself into the community and succeeds in arousing the whole community's concern for the blacks' plight. Therefore Ike McCaslin should also go down to the community. Only in this way, can he apply his wisdom to a good use and can he play an active role in solving the racial and social problems in the South.