Sin And Punishment In Love And Desire

William Faulkner is a representative of the southern American writers in the 20th century and his works have had a profound impact on not only American literature but also world literature.As a socially responsible humanitarian writer,Faulkner unremittingly pursued the combination of social criticism with moral education in his creation.Go Down,Moses,his 17^thnovel,is often deemed as the last novel of the heyday of his writing career.It describes the vicissitudes of the Mc Caslin family,which sheds some light on the panic and dismay of the whole troublous southern society and displays the loyalty to as well as alienation from the old tradition of the new generations.Ethical literary criticism was first put forward by Nie Zhenzhao in 2004,to be followed by its theoretical construction and textual practice.Nie Zhenzhao pointed out that the basic elements of literary ethical structure are comprised of the ethical line and the ethical knot,the former being the vertical structure of literary texts and the latter horizontal.Ethical literary criticism requires that critics return to the historical scene to conduct their literary interpretation in specific ethical environment,which is the historical condition in which literature emerges and exists.Meanwhile,ethical literary criticism attaches great importance to characters’ethical identities,since almost all ethical problems are associated with ethical identity.Changes of ethical identity usually contribute to the formation of ethical knots whose manifestation is ethical disorder or reconstruction of ethical order.Besides,ethical choice directly determines the basic form and content of literary works.The present thesis contains 7 chapters.Chapter Four to Six make up the body part,which attempts to interpret Go Down,Moses from the perspectives of ethical environment,ethical identity and ethical choice respectively.It analyzes the forming process of the ethical identity of the main characters under the influence of the ethical environment,and the significance and limitations of their ethical choices under the circumstance where they are experiencing ethical confusion and chaos caused by ethical taboos.Furthermore,it aims to find out why the Mc Caslin family falls apart and to discuss the expectation that Faulkner places on the main characters and to analyze the ambivalence in his own ethical identity and attitudes manifested in his writings.Chapter Four surveys the influence of ethical environment on the main characters from the perspectives of natural and social environments.The primitive wilderness is a pure spiritual land that is also Issac Mc Caslin’s college where he completes the construction of value of life.Sam Fathers,whose entire life is closely tied with the wilderness,is a true son of nature.He gives the orphan Ike paternal teaching.The old bear running in the wilderness is the god of nature and is also Ike’s foster mother.As far as social environment is concerned,private ownership of land directly leads to materialism in the American South,and sinful slavery lays the bane of racial conflict and intensive social revolution.Chapter Five delves into the root cause of the falling of the Mc Caslins,and discusses the predicament caused by ethical identity disorder.The direct result of the incest committed by old Carothers is ethical disorder and chaos,and each white heir is cursed.Buck and Buddy are not capable of revitalizing the family business and are reluctant to get married and have kids.Their father’s incest makes them feel ashamed and extremely fear women.In order to wash away the family sins,as the last lineal descendant of Carothers Mc Caslin,Ike rejects the heritage and returns to the wilderness,therefore his marriage is dead and he is all alone for the rest of his life.Roth falls on the old path,and commits incest as Carothers did hundreds of years ago.Chapter Six focuses on the ethical choice made by the main characters who make positive attempts to get rid of their ethical dilemma.Ike chooses to give up the sinful heritage and walk into the wilderness.The black Mc Caslins dimly lighted with human nature and hope show Faulkner’s active exploration of the way out for the southern society.In addition,contradictions and ambiguity are manifested in Faulkner’s attitudes towards racial issues.On the one hand,he condemns slavery and expresses his compassion for the suffering blacks,and on the other hand,he consciously or unconsciously displays his prejudice to blacks.To address the complex social problems of the South,Faulkner offers his solution by portraying an ideal society for racial reconciliation at the end of the novel.Chapter Seven is conclusion.It is held that in Go Down,Moses,old Carothers Mc Caslin’s incest with his own daughter is a preset ethical knot that causes ethical confusion and disorder.Meanwhile,each part of the novel is linked into an organic whole by an internal ethical line where several other ethical knots about the inheritors gradually take shape,and all together they constitute a family chronicle from the first generation represent by Carothers to the sixth generation represented by Roth.Faulkner probes into the whole story of the decaying Mc Caslin family and depicts a plot of racial reconciliation to call on American southerners in 20th century to face up to their pains.Whites should positively take on social and moral responsibilities and take practical actions to help their black brothers get rid of slavery.In order to get freedom,blacks must enhance their personal quality.Only when both sides work together can they advance toward a bright future.