Crime and Punishment in William Faulkner’s Light in August

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 5.0, University of Gdansk (Philology), course: English Philology, language: English, abstract: In the works of William Faulkner we can observe some rules by which a person is treated like an outcast for less detrimental deeds that are perceived as social crimes. It is not possible to write about human beings without taking into consideration the cultural context of their behavior. Culture changes historically (it is different nowadays from one that occurred about 80 years ago in the course of William Faulkner’s life). Although there are many ways of writing about human beings (of perceiving them and interpreting their actions), there is no one particular method which would explain everything. To my mind, the best way of describing the problem presented in Light in August (1932), which would guarantee a compelling introduction of the matter, can be analysis of this novel in the context of psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung, and sociology of Emile Durkheim. I am aware that the above-mentioned methods have been extensively criticized over the years. However, the basis for this criticism has derived from the occurrence of some new phenomena in society, the phenomena which were not taken into consideration by the earlier psychologists and researchers of culture. Nevertheless, the cultural, psychological, and sociological mechanisms described by William Faulkner are contemporary to psychological and sociological theories quoted by me. What is more, without the sociological conditions of the time and coexistent psychological state of a human being (from the beginning of the 20th century) the psychology and sociology of that time would not have emerged.