Female Identity and Imposed Codes in Caroline Compson: The Influence of Utopia on a Mother

Abstract

This paper will be focused on the female identity and imposed codes in the character of Caroline Compson, in the novel “The Sound and the Fury”, by William Faulkner. The complexity of her figure is evident in the whole novel. The characters her children expose in the story reflect the authority Caroline Compson had on their education. Faulkner creates an individual, symbol of a specific philosophy on the world, precisely that of the South America. Under the effect of cultural codes imposed by racial aggression, class superiority, she had to adapt to the rules of such reality. Caroline initiates a utopian image for her life and, above all, a utopian image for the behavior of every woman based on the cultural codes of such society and religious myth. They have imposed a motherhood utopia. Physical purity is the core of her entity, which is even emotional. Apart from love, negligence, deadly tyranny is hidden the failure of a woman. Buried in her utopia she abandons physical desire and the attention towards husband and children. Through an empirical analysis of Caroline Compson, I will arrive to the point to evaluate her identity and the codes that perturb her children and husband. This paper will be focused on the female identity and imposed codes in the character of Caroline Compson, in the novel “The Sound and the Fury”, by William Faulkner. The complexity of her figure is evident in the whole novel. The characters her children expose in the story reflect the authority Caroline Compson had on their education. Faulkner creates an individual, symbol of a specific philosophy on the world, precisely that of the South America. Under the effect of cultural codes imposed by racial aggression, class superiority, she had to adapt to the rules of such reality. Caroline initiates a utopian image for her life and, above all, a utopian image for the behavior of every woman based on the cultural codes of such society and religious myth. They have imposed a motherhood utopia. Physical purity is the core of her entity, which is even emotional. Apart from love, negligence, deadly tyranny is hidden the failure of a woman. Buried in her utopia she abandons physical desire and the attention towards husband and children. Through an empirical analysis of Caroline Compson, I will arrive to the point to evaluate her identity and the codes that perturb her children and husband.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2016.v5n3s1p43