An Analysis Of Wilderness In Go Down, Moses

Known for his deep concern for the receding nature and evocative descriptions of the desperate life of the protagonists in Go Down, Moses, William Faulkner, the 1949 Nobel laureate for literature, is receiving more and more critical attention as an American natural writer. This thesis examines the images and implications of wilderness reflected in Go Down, Moses, in hope of revealing William Faulkner's deep concerns for the natural environment as well as the inner conflict of human beings. The research is carried out mainly to illuminate the meaning of wilderness applied in the concerned novel, that is, not only the physical wilderness, but also the mixture of racial, class and gender issues into a larger social context, which embodies the wilderness in spirit. Therefore, the theoretical boundary of wilderness in ecocriticism is pushed further and thus its implications are enriched.The study is motivated by two questions:How to define wilderness in William Faulkner's Go Down, Moses! And what are the implications of the wilderness? To answer the two questions from the perspective of literary ecocriticism, the thesis explores and consults relevant documentaries and previous researches and gives a close and detailed look at the text of Go Down, Moses. As a result, wild places, wild animals, and people who possess wilderness quality are depicted extensively and the spirits of wilderness in human beings'inner heart are investigated intensively. Eventually, the roles which wilderness plays in the novel are systematically explored and probed-wilderness is caused by human being's destruction to nature and therefore it calls on the protection of nature; however, wilderness is still human being's spiritual and moral tutor and thus it becomes the drive for man to conquer difficulties.