In these two novels that involve the Civil War, Faulkner presents varying responses to loss. Rosa Coldfield of Absalom, Absalom! and The Unvanquishedâs Drusilla Hawk are women out of place in their society, without clearly defined roles. Both women attempt to gain control despite their lack of autonomy and refuse to accept their losses. Rosa Coldfield falls into a perpetual state of mourning, and Drusilla Hawk undertakes a series of actions in order to ignore her losses. Rosaâs grief consumes and infuriates her, and Drusillaâs coping mechanisms fail to help her come to terms with her fiancéâs death and her difficulties as a Southern woman who cannot live up to societal expectations. Drusillaâs failure to cope effectively with her losses is emphasized by her cousin Bayardâs ability to recover from the deaths of the two most important people in his life and create an existence without them. Bayardâs responses to loss exhibit how opportunities for mourning work and availability of new roles can help the grieving process be successful. Further, the womenâs use of mourning as a method of attempting to gain control over their lives and surroundings is especially significant in light of the memorial movement after the Civil War. In the post-bellum South, women were proponents of memorialization and commemoration; these activities were also used to keep the âLost Causeâ alive. Through Rosa Coldfield and Drusilla Hawk, Faulkner expresses how grief can cripple those who cannot move on to new roles or find new purposes in life after a significant loss.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-03282008-150441 |
| Date | 25 April 2008 |
| Creators | Page, Summerlin Leigh |
| Contributors | Nick Halpern, Anne Baker, Michael Grimwood |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-03282008-150441/ |
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