포크너의 『내려가라, 모세야』: 구조의 통일성

Strctural Unity in Faulkner's Go Down, Moses

This study discusses the structural unity in Faulkner's Go Down, Moses on the assumption that the seven stories of the novel are structurally unified in treating the theme of black white relationship in the South of America. The novel can be divided into three parts in terms of the function of each story and its relation to Issac McCaslin (Ike), the white protagonist of the McCaslins Part 1 comprises the first three stories, "Was," "The Fire and the Hearth," and "Pantaloon in Black," and these stories present the social and cultural backgrounds, especially the accepted conventions of black white relationship Ike has inherited though he himself does not appear in them. The first section of "Was" has the function of introduction to the novel as a whole, and the stones are arranged in the order of increasing intensity of racial discrimination. The next three stories, "The Old People," "The Bear," "Delta Autumn" constitute part 2. During his boyhodd and youth Ike is initiated in the nature in the essential virtues of man by Sam, the natural man. He comes to his moral decision to repudiate his inheritance when he finds his ancestors' evils and wrong doings to the black people. The old Ike in "Delta Autumn," however, is in despair in the ruined nature because he witnesses the repetition of ancestors' evils by a white descendant in the present. The last story which forms part 3 of the novel has the title "Go Down, Moses" which is also the title of the whole novel and has the structural function of coda of the novel. This story shows the signs of mutual help and understanding between blacks and whites. Through the negro spiritual titled "Go Down, Moses" the story implies that the hlacks Will ultimately he free from slavery as Moses delivered Israelites from bondage in Egypt.