"Swamped and Submerged in the Bright Unreal Flood": Reflections on Water and Metaphor in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Absalom, Absalom! Public

Abstract

Abstract

"Swamped and Submerged in the Bright Unreal Flood": Reflections on Water and Metaphor in
William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Absalom, Absalom!
By Samuel Claud Whitehead

This thesis explores how an understanding of the role water as both a literal and metaphorical element of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Absalom, Absalom! provides characters with a richer existence, offers readers a means of understanding the notoriously difficult novels, and revisions the ability of narrative to impart truth. Recent scholarship highlighting the importance of metaphors in human cognition provides a novel means of examining the exposed consciousnesses of Faulkner's characters and how the metaphorical nature of their perception guides their experiences. Focusing on water metaphors in particular places the novels in conversation: The Sound and the Fury demonstrates the pervasiveness of water metaphors as a part of characters' thinking and as an integral component of readers' understanding of the novels; the overwhelming presence of water metaphors in As I Lay Dying offers a means of reconciling the different narratives to revision truth as a product of the perceptions of many; Absalom, Absalom! highlights the fluid nature of truth and suggests how readers approach a narrative: question, doubt, and become part of it. Though, at first, these novels generate obfuscation, the means to understand them also flows through their pages. For readers with knowledge of the way the human mind understands through metaphors based in the natural world, Faulkner's texts offer a chart by which to navigate towards comprehension.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

I. Introduction...1
II. The Sound and the Fury: Water and Dissolving Minds...11
III. As I Lay Dying: Water and Dissolving Texts...33
IV. Absalom, Absalom!: Solution and Dissolution...46
V. Staying Afloat...61
VI. Works Cited...68

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	English
Degree	BA
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Literature, General Literature, American Literature, Modern
Mot-clé	Literature Faulkner Metaphor Language Southern Literature Mortality Water Blood Natural World Sexuality Being
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Wolff-King, Sally, Emory University
Committee Members	Loflin, Christine, Oxford College Stephen, Henderson, Oxford College

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