Motionless as an Idol - Columbus State University

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Bullock 10Another art metaphor Faulkner uses in relation to Addie is that of a bronzecasting:She looks down at the face. Itis like a casting of fading bronze upon the pillow,the hands alone still with any semblance of life:a curled, gnarled inertness; aspent yet alert quality from which weariness, exhaustion, travail has not yetdeparted [...] (51)This metaphor expands that of the composite picture with Faulkner reiterating just howmuch of Addie is the creation of other people. She is never described as vibrant or full ofpersonality. Instead, she is described as weary, burdened, and miserable - living throughthe role others have assigned her - or, in essence, cast her. Richard Pearce reminds usthat "Addie cannot break from society, or even escape her social construction. But shedoes not give in to it" (95).In this way, Faulkner conveys the continued plight of womenas itis passed on from father to son, perpetuated throughout generations.In As I Lay Dying, Faulkner offers a male character who could be seen asrepresentative of the possible changes in the South. Both As I Lay Dying and "A Rose forEmily" were published in 1930, so itis probable that Faulkner was considering some ofthe same issues with each text and providing alternate consequences based on thediffering characters and their differing representations of gender. The doctor, Peabody,comes to examine Addie and reads into her expression of resistance to him the plight hehas seen in the faces of other women. Peabody describes the scene:[Addie] watches me: Ican feel her eyes. It's like she was shoving at me withthem. I have seen it before in women. Seen them drive from the room them
Bullock 11coming with sympathy and pity, with actual help, and clinging to some triflinganimal to whom they never were more than pack-horses. That's what they meanby the love that passeth understanding: that pride, that furious desire to hide thatabject nakedness which we bring here with us, carry with us into operating rooms,carry stubbornly and furiously with us into the earth again. I leave the room. (45-46)His sympathy, desire to help, and education separate him from the other male characters.Peabody' s intuition is well developed; he reads into Addie the reason she refuses his aidand assigns responsibility both to her for her pride and to Anse because of the way heabuses her. Through Peabody, Faulkner offers a different way to approach women butdemonstrates the unpopularity and unfamiliarity of the concept by Peabody's quick andineffective exit. Peabody. without ever verbally articulating his feelings, shows howunwelcome and different he is by highlighting Addie' s reaction alongside Anse'sobliviousness and then escaping the scene as quickly as is appropriate. Faulkner, perhapsintuitively, or perhaps from experience, acknowledges that adopting an unpopular andunfamiliar opinion on something as culturally entrenched as the subjugation of womenwould be hard to implement and uphold through Peabody's brief appearance.In The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner's use of art metaphors is further diversifiedand deepened in meaning. Caddy is the main female character, and she is clearlyportrayed as being dominated by the male authorities in her life, particularly her brotherJason, but she defies possession in a way Miss Emily and Addie Bundren do not. Theonly blatant art metaphor is placed when her brother, Quentin, describes her response tohis question:
Page 2 and 3: Digitized by the Internet Archivein
Page 4 and 5: Bullock 2TABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCT
Page 6 and 7: Bullock 4Iseek to establish my argu
Page 8 and 9: "Bullock 6wrote about the artists w
Page 10 and 11: Bullock 8As I Lay Dying and The Sou
Page 15 and 16: Bullock 13essence, both necessary s
Page 17 and 18: Bullock 15We had long thought of th
Page 19 and 20: Bullock 17but no longer considered
Page 21 and 22: Bullock 19Miss Emily as idol, thus
Page 23 and 24: Bullock 21The art metaphor of Miss
Page 25 and 26: Bullock 23Community and Religion in
Page 27 and 28: Bullock 25Faulkner's response allow
Page 29 and 30: Bullock 27setting. It is this preoc
Page 31 and 32: Bullock 29male-dominated system whi
Page 33 and 34: Bullock 31for Faulkner to communica
Page 35 and 36: Bullock 33skewed sexuality and misp
Page 37 and 38: Bullock 35from all walks of life, "
Page 39 and 40: Bullock 37townspeople, readers can
Page 41 and 42: Bullock 39one in which male dominan
Page 43 and 44: The Eternal Feminine, Paul CezanneB
Page 45 and 46: Bullock 43—. AsI Lav Dying . 1930

Motionless as an Idol - Columbus State University

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