The Moral Order of William Faulkner

The purpose of this study is to indicate William Faulkner’s belief in a moral order and then to show how this may be taught in the novel Light in August. I believe that there is more to Faulkner that “the agony and the rhetoric” and that his works are not merely” [tales] told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing.” By considering our questions, I hope to establish the type of moral order in which Faulkner believes. These questions are (1) What is Faulkner’s attitude toward nature? (2) What is evil to him? (3) How does Faulkner treat irrationality? (4) What is attitude toward the bible, Christianity, and the churches? Although there is some overlapping, especially between the first and second questions, since nature to Faulkner is good, each question is taken up separately and completely in a chapter of its own. The fifth chapter presents a plan for teaching Faulkner’s moral order