Sanctuary...Okay

What in the world was Sanctuary about? Other than the importance of place, the story had little meaning for me. I’ve become accustomed to Faulkner using multiple narrators. I was mad that he did not use that technique with Sanctuary because it would have made the story more layered as opposed to flat, which is what I found the story to be. The technique of using multiple narrators not only reinforces the theme of the importance of storytelling, it also sends the message of questioning character’s subjective motivation for doing the things they do or saying the things they say. If Faulkner would have used multiple narrators such as Temple, Popeye, or Ruby about their perception of each other or others or the rape/murder that would have enhanced the novel so much!


As I lay Dying, Absalom, Absalom, The Sound and the Fury all have multiple narrators because Faulkner’s wants the reader to decide for him or herself, who is telling the truth? And by using different characters to tell one story, Faulkner’s ask the question what do we really know about anything? Starting with describing how life was pre-civil war, which is one of the themes in Sanctuary. Another theme is violence. I was scared shitless while this book, which is not necessarily a bad reaction. Actually, I applaud Faulkner for arising fear in me. I agree with Ira that I, too, was to busy gasping to do any deep analysis of this text.