Type of Document	Thesis
Author	Moore, Aaron Lee
Author's Email Address	alm06g@fsu.edu
URN	etd-05232009-154545
Title	Faulkner and Humanity's Desire to be as Solid as a Thing
Degree	Master of Arts
Department	English, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Diane Roberts Committee Chair Meegan Kennedy Hanson Committee Member Peter Dalton Committee Member
Keywords	As I Lay Dying Faulkner Compson Bundren Quentin Cash Darl Benjy Authenticity Being-for-Itself Being-in-Itself Camus Sartre Existential The Sound and the Fury absurd God Sisyphus
Date of Defense	2009-05-18
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract This thesis uses existential-phenomenological theory to analyze two novels by William Faulkner: As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury. The critical texts applied are Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness and Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus. The idea of existential authenticity, absurdity, and closeness to God are the major concepts applied to Faulkner’s work. The first chapter argues that the existential ideal of authenticity is displayed in the character Darl from As I Lay Dying. The second chapter argues that As I Lay Dying showcases man’s endurance in an absurd, ambiguous, humiliating world; yet, man is still capable of heroism in a Sisyphean sense as the character Cash exemplifies. The third chapter argues that Benjy Compson from The Sound and the Fury phenomenologically represents Faulkner’s character closest to Sartre’s concept of God—a synthetic Being-In-Itself-Being-For-Itself contradiction while Quentin Compson represents the character who strives to be close to God.
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