Property, Sustainability and Well-Being: The Perspectives of the American Colonizers and the Natives in William Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses

Abstract

This article primarily, considers the different points of view held by the Native Indians and the White man concerning property in Faulkner’s novel, Go Down, Moses. Subsequently, these findings are examined to ascertain how their opinions on property influence their viewpoints on sustainability and well-being. This paper has two objectives. One is to expose how these two cultural groups considered sustainability and well-being in the framework of their own concepts of property and the way Faulkner exposes these differences artistically. The other aim is to examine the possible reasons which could have led the author to work on this idea of property. Faulkner being a well-known humanist, one wonders whether the injustice done to the Natives from the very inception of the conquering of America which finally culminated officially with the Removal act of 1830 and all that followed with the implementation of this act was playing on his conscience or whether this theme of property was a response to the aftermath of the Civil war of 1861 and the devastation of the South. Once the distinctive views of property are explained, Faulkner’s artistry is demonstrated wherein he invents characters in environments specific to them, so that they could be endowed with certain traits which could bring out these concepts. To conclude, Faulkner’s penchant towards the Natives observed in the novel, strengthens his universal reputation of being a humanist. In his work, Faulkner gives an explicit and implicit view on property and the reasons for this are examined.