The Color Purple by Alice Walker, written in 1982, emerged from the emergence of feminist writers in the 1970s, when specific gender issues were no longer repressed by a patriarchal society. This allowed for the development of personal freedom within the cultural heritage of the black community and the feminist movement. Intellectual awareness has expanded alongside the desire to assert one's identity; This theme of establishing a sense of self is present in my second chosen text: The Sound and the Fury written by William Faulkner in 1929. The novel is a depiction of an archetypal South American family "on their way to a dusty death”, mainly because of their involvement in the distorted political and social struggle against the new trends coming from the North. The Sound and the Fury is written in three parts, the first of which is told through the eyes of Benjy, a psychologically disabled young man. In Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow (published 1970), Ted Hughes used the quasi-human figure of Crow to explore the human psyche, and his themes of death and rebirth took the form of a book. The shamanic journey to the Underworld, something Hughes believed to be an integral part of folk mythology, was the first of Hughes's collections of poems in which he began to create his own complex folk mythology, built around the framework of shamanism: Crow is. with a questing hero character and an entirely fallible God. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get Original Essay Celie, Walker's protagonist, narrates her life in an epistolary form, providing not only a means of self-revelation, but also an intellectual process to understand oneself and reality. , in a style of literary discourse similar to that of William Wells Brown's Clotel and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. In the words of critic J. Hollands, this "allows the reader to witness the birth of very private writing", for example the correction of the first line of the novel from "I am" to "I have"; the present form of the verb replacing the present perfect form. The very act of addressing letters to God rather than to an immediately physical human figure shows Célie's alienation and marginality: “…as long as I can spell GOD, I have someone with me. » It is also significant that Walker chooses not to give his protagonist a last name, which further distances him from any sense of self-identification and further intensifies his need to communicate with any willing person. The ineptitude and irony that emerge from the desperate relationship between a youth and God are paralleled in Faulkner's depiction of Benjy, the mentally disabled member of the Compson family, as a modern Christ-like figure. Benjy is portrayed as a potential savior for Caddy; a man who is the same age as Jesus when he was crucified, but who is still part of a generation that is slowly tarnishing the family name through moral decadence. In this depiction of a new Christ, Faulkner implies that he would enable the regeneration and renewal of the Compson family, particularly Caddy. This is illustrated by Benjy's crying because of Caddy's perfume; symbolizing the immorality of Caddy giving birth to a child out of wedlock. Similarly in Crow, Hughes's use of biblical language and style and his recreation of the Genesis story redefine God, which places Crow in the role of a "crucified" and then resurrected hero, as shown in " Crow and the Sea", providing him withsupposed opportunity to learn about humanity, to adopt a sense of wholeness and to modify one's amoral and animal nature. The three protagonists developed their identity through contact with God; Benjy by becoming a stand-in for former “unworthy” religious figures, Celie by humanizing her “God,” and Crow by attempting to intervene in God’s work. In the same way as the Odyssey, it givesLike James Joyce's Ulysses, many images from the busiest week in the Christian calendar contribute to Faulkner's narrative. The author's decision to structure the plot of The Sound and the Fury around the religious events of Easter week forms a capacity for potential spiritual discoveries in each of his characters, particularly Dilsey, one of the black servants of the Compson family. Through her depiction of each of the novel's four sections acting as parallels to evangelical tradition and Reverend Shegog's unorthodox but powerful Easter sermon, Faulkner shows Dilsey as awakened into a spiritual renewal, her experience of enlightenment prompting her to profane acts of affirmation and rejection. Therefore, the Easter event relevant to this novel is a sacrament rather than an instantaneous rebirth; this becomes symbolic for a religious “rite of passage”. By comparison, Crow's enlightenment is less immediate, as demonstrated in "Crow Communes," a poem that may be a partial satire of the Christian Eucharist. Hughes describes Crow as a "hierophant" because he was caught eating a piece of God in an attempt to consume divine knowledge and power. In "Truth Kills Everybody", Crow is "reduced to nothing" and suffers a symbolic death; Ironically, in the next poem, "Crow and the Stone," Hughes describes Crow as "the one who was never killed." This implies that the only way for Crow to achieve the same state of spiritual redemption as Faulkner's Dilsey is for the death of his old ego to take place, followed by a rebirth of his new self: "...[he] croaks, helpless, and was barely born. » On the other hand, the character of Célie undergoes a more progressive and passive realization of spirituality. Critic Richard Yarborough states that Celie's decision to address her letters to her sister Nettie rather than to God "marks the dissolution of her isolation"; a vital moment in his psychological maturation. I do not agree that this action alone is significant enough to free Celie from her state of oppression. Celie's character still had to endure years of domestic violence after this point of so-called "dissolution", suggesting that any form of rebirth would take place after the period of physical and mental trauma had passed. The "dissolution of her isolation" would perhaps be best placed when Celie and Shug Avery's relationship evolves into a sexual one; it is at this point in the novel that Celie is presented with the greatest emotional stability. However, Walker clearly initiates a change at this point in the novel, as Celie's sense of self and individuality is revealed to be increasingly defined. This is seen in Celie's decision to begin signing her letters, ironically signing "Amen" on some letters addressed to Nettie while she had never done so on those addressed to God. This change from a metaphysical creation of "God" to a receptive human surrogate also causes the shift in narrative tone from passive to passionate and self-expressive. A significant way in which Hughes depicts spiritual rebirth through Crow is to show that life and death are interdependent. This is evident in Crow Tyrannosaurus: "Creation of trembling voices... a procession of mourning and lamentation" suggests that forCrow progresses towards a state of spiritual freedom, he must first escape the trap of absurd duality and "try to become the light". The Crow could therefore be considered as a kind of pilgrim on the path to enlightenment. "roots torn from the basic atom" described in "A Kill" show Crow as being trapped in a paradoxical fall straight into duality into a black-and-white existence with a "selfish sense of subjective isolation" (Valerie Smith); 1987). Smith's point of view is valid in that the majority of the action depicted in "A Kill" is immediately physical, and therefore under Crow's control. However, it is important to note that Hughes removes the. majority of Crow's control over his own psyche and body, e.g. "flagged lame with legs" and "bludgeoned unconscious by his own heart." The dark irony of Crow's individual body parts turning against themselves. even in a fit of self-annihilation suggests that for there to be any sort of realization of Crow's psychological self, he must first lose all control and understanding of his physical self. The depiction of black and white as mutually exclusive opposites in “Crow’s Fall” solidifies this spiritual duality. Crow is described as once being white, but in fighting the white sun he turns black: "Up there...where white is black and black is white, I have won." » Hughes implies that while there is a possibility of transcendence of this duality, this can only happen if Crow is able to view the two stated opposites as mutually dependent. The theme of the duality between life and death also runs through my two chosen novels; displayed in The Sound and the Fury through the division between morality and immorality and The Color Purple through color symbolism, a technique similar to that used in Crow. Faulkner describes Mr. Compson as vaguely understanding the issue of moral corruption, but this quickly becomes obsolete, due to his "self-centered but destructive belief in his ability to control all events that contribute to his family's demise" (Robert Butler 1998). These events such as his daughter Caddy's contribution to the breakdown of social ideals of female purity and the destructive greed of Jason's intellect manifest in Benjy's inability to see the connection between morality and immorality, creating a total inability to overcome old sins and be reborn in freedom, whether moral or spiritual. In comparison, throughout The Color Purple Walker introduces the gradual appearance of brighter colors to symbolize the timeline of renewal, rebirth, and liberation of various characters. This is shown early in the novel when the only color choices available for Celie's new dress are maroon, maroon, or dark blue, followed by a later occasion where Celie selects a bright yellow fabric from one of the old Shug dresses to make a quilt. It is also significant that Shug Avery, a key character described by critic June Lawrenson as "a revelatory figure...holding the key to Celie's emotional and spiritual maturity", is associated with the color purple; a polysemous sign, the main symbol of Walker's novel and "color of life". I believe that Shug is a “revealing figure” not only in Celie's life but also in the lives of other women in Celie's social situation. Shug initiates Celie's achievement of strong self-esteem and becomes the equivalent of an advocate for the spiritual well-being of women caught in the oppressive trap of black women's lives in 1930s society. Literature modernist often celebrates the fact thatrebirth and rejuvenation can be found in ruin. , and falls into an endless temporal cycle of destruction that gives rise to new creation: a quote from critic Timothy Bewes states that "...modernity must, in order to emerge, annihilate the past." An example of this is shown in the sense constructed from history in TSEliot's "The Waste Land": "those fragments which I have propped up against my ruins..." In The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner implies that the potential regenerative properties of time is not something that can be understood objectively; rather simply available for human interaction in various ways, Benjy is described as having no concept of time itself, but his mental state allows him to see connections between the past and present than other members of his group . The family cannot. In contrast, Quentin's futile attempts to escape time by breaking his watch only lead him further into the cycle of destruction, rather than the renewal that is the product of that cycle, leading him to his final solution of suicide. , Hughes is much more involved in the suffering of the world; the poet presents the same destructive time cycle as Faulkner, but uses it as a means of coming to terms with his own experiences. The "seven-year honeymoon" referred to in the poem "Crow Improvises" is a direct reference to Hughes's marriage with Sylvia Plath, which lasted from 1956 to 1963. The Plath-Hughes marriage was particularly turbulent and the events surrounding Plath's suicide, such as Hughes' affair with another married woman and his refusal to discuss the circumstances surrounding the Plath's death led him to be seen as nothing less than a murderer in the eyes of many Plath sympathizers. The "seven-year honeymoon" reinforces the instability of their marital situation and also shows a marriage that compounded Hughes's emotional fragility rather than strengthening it. This deep emotional connection leads Hughes to a conclusion similar to that of Faulkner's Quentin; escaping the “march of time” is the only option if we want to deter the “machine guns” on our conscience. Critic David King states that Hughes's "removal from the situation [is] a necessary part of artistic detachment", while allowing gradual acceptance of horrific events; the “retreat” showed both “Crow’s Tale of St. George” and “Crow’s First Lesson.” There is also the suggestion of Crow's rebirth of desperate hope in "Crow and the Sea", a progression from "he cried" about the dark and painful side of life to "he began to laugh". , Celie's involvement in the cycle of time only further oppresses her in her dehumanizing experiences, with Walker's narrative limited to the internalizations Celie creates of her shocking private life. This also leads Walker to employ a narrative style that takes the form of an extended interior monologue. Célie is initially depersonalized because the life situations presented to her, such as the incest she suffers and the loss of her children, are simply too extreme for her to become anything other than a passive victim of her society: “I’m not saying anything. . I stay where I am told. But I'm alive. However, it is important to note that it was over time that Célie freed herself from these extreme situations; implying that simple survival can eventually lead to rejuvenation. Events such as World War I and the economic collapse of the early 20th century left Faulkner and his contemporaries believing that the past is completely unalterable, “a burden that profoundly affects the present” (Lucas Pointer 2007). Where Faulkner ended The Sound and the Fury with the disturbing tone. 1999.