A Study Of Mobility And Identity In Faulkner’s Light In August

This study analyzes Faulkner’s Light in August from the perspective of identity and mobility,and reveals the meanings of those characters with different identity problems through the interpretation of their physical mobility in the novel.The war has a great impact on the collective psychology of the American South and on Faulkner’s personality and creation.Therefore,this paper believes that under the background of the Civil War,Faulkner not only displays the identity problems of people isolated from society,but also implicitly provides the methods to solve these problems through his writing Light in August.This paper analyzes the attempts of specific characters to construct new identities through mobility by using the theory of mobility and combining the identity problems in Light in August.By analyzing the racial,self and women’s identity problems represented by Joe,Hightower and Lena respectively,this study reveals the ubiquitous identity problems in South America.With the application of mobility theory,this paper analyzes the reasons behind their problems and the mobility of those characters is also a kind of reconstructing identity.This research argues that the theme of mobility in Light in August reveals Faulkner’s concerns about the identity crisis of many southerners in the South of America during the post-war social transformation.And the possible solutions that he provides in the novel.