Black Community

Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses set a different tone in terms of understanding African Americans in the antebellum south. I thought this novel was real treat, compared to other works we’ve read involving Faulkner, who ventured out of his comfort zone ( as much as he could) to give an accurate account of either the black consciousness or experience in the south. Up until now, we’ve been presented with traditional southern stereotypical black characters such as Dipsey, the mammy figure, Joe Christmas and Charles Bon, the tragic mulattos. Here, Faulkner explores the community of Blacks in the south and the way he portrays this community is accurate as far social norms go.

For instance, the chapter Was gives a depiction of the expectation of marriage due to a male intruding on a female’s personal space thereby tainting her reputation. This is seen when Uncle Buck surprisingly find Ms. Sophonsiba in the bed with him. It is expected that Uncle Buck now must marry Ms. Sophonsiba. Also, in Was there is much discussion about Uncle Buck being a widower, and Uncle Buddy being a bachelor. Although these terms are not new, they are mostly used to describe a person’s character socially. In southern literature, the relative term “uncle” is usually used to de-sexualize the black man, making him nonthreatening to be around white women, and kindly looked upon. The same is done with the term “mammy”; all “mammies” are usually old women, who have motherly tendencies. This figure is scoped out by her old age to be categorized in the white mindset, thereby placed into the white household as nonthreatening because she is de-sexualize due to the role she is to play. Faulkner moves away from that traditional way of storytelling. Surprise, surprise Uncle Buck actually is an uncle! There is no stigmatism attached to his name. Another social norm we see is courtship; Turl and Tennie courtship is not only cute, but another aspect in the black community that is rarely seen during slavery. The audience gets a chance to see the challenges of courtship back then. Ms. Sophonsiba husband hunting is also amusing…again the audience is presented with a black character, which is depicted outside of stereotypical role.

Faulkner also thoroughly explores the African-Americans want to experience the wilderness. I think he hinted at this with Absalom, Absalom! except it’s the frontier. Creationism is a minor theme in Absalom, Absalom! It’s first obviously shown with Thomas Sutpen, who “supposedly” creates something—Supten’s 100/dynasty---out of nothing. However, this theme can be applied to the Haitian slaves as well, who along with Supten created Supten’s 100, either through building the house or working the land. It is because the slaves are occupied “creating” something that they miss out on experiencing the frontier as the white man does. By the time the Negros can experience the frontier, it’s gone leaving it be a Was. Uncle Buck represents all the blacks that had a desire to experience the wilderness just like white people did. Such an experience is very much part of being an American, yet Uncle Buck is separated from that experience.