Off-campus ETSU users: To download "Campus Only" theses, please use the following link to log in to our proxy server with your ETSU username and password.
Non-ETSU users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this thesis through interlibrary loan.
Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
English
Date of Award
5-2004
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Thomas A. Holmes
Committee Members
Mark Holland, Theresa A. Lloyd
Abstract
Throughout William Faulkner's fiction, specifically in Absalom, Absalom!, The Sound and the Fury, and As I Lay Dying, the impact of parents who intimately know failure and loss figure largely in the strange coming of age of their children. In the Compson family, the Sutpen family and the Bundren family, the influence of the parents' action or paralysis confuses the identities and roles of their children. The children often look to themselves or to one another in absence of healthy parental models, but they are not equipped to deal with their own or one another's emotional tumult. This inability to cope creates a tension that manifests itself in these children's behavior, their understanding of themselves, and their understanding of the world around them. Their experiences, the foundations of these experiences, and the outcomes set in motion a pattern for these children that is grounded in the failure of their parents.
Document Type
Thesis - restricted
Recommended Citation
Hoover, Heather Marie, "Growing Up Faulkner: Coming of Age, Identity, and Parental Responsibility in Three Faulkner Families." (2004). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 864. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/864
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.