"The Journey Within" deals with how the receiver (reader/viewer) engages with the novel and the film. The thesis primarily focuses on Faulkner's novel, incorporating Persona largely as a means by which to illustrate the more carefully concealed reader-engagement strategies in Absalom, Absalom! Starting with a review of Faulkner criticism that opens itself up to this inquiry, the thesis leads into a detail study of the engagement strategies used to foster identification, alignment, sympathy, and empathy among receivers. Employing Umberto Eco's criticism involving "Model Readers" who "actualize" texts, as well as other reader and viewer response theory, I demonstrate that certain receivers experience a specific, heightened engagement with the work. This "Model" receiver restructures her ideologies to accord with what the work expects from her. Ultimately, this particular engagement leads to ontological participation in the work among its receivers. Martin Heidegger's phenomenological investigation, Being and Time, helps illustrate this ontological participation.