The journey motif in William Faulkner's 'Light in August' and 'The Sound and the Fury'

Novelist William Faulkner's characters must traverse tricky historical landscapes of the post-Civil War American South which were cluttered with attitudes and prejudices originating in the past. Joe Christmas and Lena Grove in Light in August and Ben, Quentin, and Jason Compson in The Sound and the Fury each experience a journey marked, in one way or another, by paralysis and frustration. Each character lacks a strong sense of identity. Each character is haunted, whether or not he or she realizes it, by the sins of the past. The essay will examine this journey motif and what it reflects in those people of Faulkner's attitudes toward the history and culture of the turn-of-the century South.