《夕阳》和《圣经》的互文性解读

论文总字数：33066字

摘 要

《圣经》作为基督教的经典，集中概括了基督教内容和精神，为欧美文学作品提供了经典情节和人物原型。《夕阳》是美国现代著名小说家威廉福克纳短篇小说的重点之作，是一部反映美国南方严重种族歧视的小说，讲述了黑人洗衣服南希被白人侮辱，陷入无尽的绝望当中的故事。而《圣经》是深受基督教传统熏陶的福克纳的启蒙读物，是他一生的必读。因此《夕阳》从人物形象的选择和塑造、小说意象及主题等方面都不可避免地受到基督教经典教义的影响。本文从角色，意向以及主题三个方面来探索对比研究《夕阳》中的圣经元素，并以此来探索福克纳想借此出的自己的声音---性别歧视和民族歧视的问题，同时展现圣经对福克纳的影响及更深层次的文化内涵。

论文第一章通过对比《夕阳》中的人物和《圣经》中一些人物的关系，探索福克纳塑造这些人物的目的；论文第二章讨论的文章中一些意向的设置，探索作者安排这些意向的深层意义；在前两章的基础上，第三章主要揭示了作品带有基督教色彩的主题。通过三章节内容的探讨，揭示《圣经》对福克纳创作的影响以及通过在自己的作品中注入圣经元素达到更好地表达自己观点和想法的目的。

关键词：圣经；夕阳；福克纳；不平等；民族歧视

Contents

Acknowledgements i

Abstract ii

中文摘要 iii

Introduction 1

Chapter One: Biblical Prototypes in “The Evening Sun” 3

1.1 Jesus and JESUS 3

1.2 Nancy and Bathsheba 6

1.3 Dilsey and Virgin Mary 7

Chapter Two: Biblial Images in “The Evening Sun” 8

2.1 Fire and Light 8

2.2 Water 10

Chapter Three: Biblical Themes in “The Evening Sun” 11

3.1 Coexistence of Good and Evil 11

3.2 Equality 12

Conclusion 14

Works Cited 15

Introduction

As a Christian classic and literary masterpiece which records biblical stories and summarizes the Christian spirit，The Bible provides a wealth of material, classic prototype of the plot and characters for European and American literature. Western writers since ancient times, either directly or indirectly quoted the contents of Bible. Their works are more or less related to the biblical tradition or Christianity. Some of them hold appreciation towards the Bible, while others may use the biblical stories or themes to advocate their own voice.

“Although the factors that contributes to Faulkner’s Literature creation are numerous and jumbled, Christian culture in his extraordinary literary career, however, cannot be ignored.”(Lei 15) Faulkner lived in southern United States, where the education about Christian Bible was inevitable when he grew up. In Faulkner’s whole life, the literary creation takes up almost four years, including nineteen novels, over seventy short stories and numerous poems and prose, for mankind which enriches precious spiritual wealth and constitutes the heritage of modern history literature. In 1949, Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for Literature, helping him become one of the literary giants and therefore attract the attention of the majority of literary scholars and critics. In Faulkner's literary creation, we can find much evidence in his works that many of them are affected by the influence of Bible. Through appreciation and reading Faulkner literary works, the author found that the quotations and allusions from the Bible, the narrative mode, narrative technique, characters, creative theme which share similarities with the Bible are filled in his novels, short stories and poetry works.

“In the United States, Faulkner studies mainly focuses on narrative aspects, psychological analysis and southern literature. Researches on William Faulkner’s works conducted abroad are mostly about novel theme, artistic style, multiple narrative perspective, ethnic conflict, and slavery system in the southern United States.”(Davis 109) After the reform and opening up, Faulkner's short stories are translated into Chinese. In 1979, Foreign Literature published A Rose for Emily (translated by Yang Qishen), Dry September(translated by Yang Xiaoshi), and Barn Burning (translated by Cai Huiyi). Since the 1980s, part of Faulkner's short story are published in succession, providing a convenience for domestic study and research, among which, “The Evening Sun”, Dry September, Wash, Barn Burning, Old Man, A Rose for Emily and There Was a Queen attracted more attention of the academia. “The Evening Sun”illustrates a black washerwoman Nancy who has been repeatedly bullied by the white man while her black husband Jesus is powerless. Domestic research on “The Evening Sun” is conducted mainly from the aspects of narrative strategy and artistic features. For example, The Vivid Portrayal in Faulkner’s “The Evening Sun” (1999) by Bai Aihong, exploring the superb writing skills used in depicting Nancy's psychological activities; Wang Xiaofeng’s The function of narrative strategies applied in “The Evening Sun”(2004), through the analysis of the narrative strategies, demonstrating author’s successful narrative techniques and its unique artistic effect.

In the past 20 years, more and more scholars adopted “intertextuality”, which is defined by Graham as “borrowing and transformation of a prior text”, to interpret the biblical elements shown in Faulkners’ novels and short stories. Representative works are like Moral Dilemma from Religious View --- the Intertextuality in Faulkner's novel Absalom, Absalom!, The Intertext --- the Intertextuality in As I Lay Dying, Intertextual reading of Light in August, Intertextual Interpretation of The Sound and the Fury, and the intertextuality between William Faulkner’s dramas and novels. And other research such as Of the Bible Impact on Faulkner’s Literary Creation directly discusses the relationship between Faulkner’s works and The Bible.

Most of the studies mentioned above are about Faulkner’s novels, while the biblical elements in his short stories have not been systematically studied. And little information has been found about biblical interpretation of “The Evening Sun”. As an important piece of short stories, the topic is worth exploring. The richness of ideological contents in Faulkner’s novels, serving as a source of power, motivates the evaluation and research on his relevant literature especially his short stories. Besides, the bible’s influence on Faulkner’s literary creation provides a wealth of material and the broad research space.

Chapter One

Biblical Prototypes in “The Evening Sun”

The first chapter centers upon the analysis of main characters in “The Evening Sun” by comparing them with those in biblical stories so as to dig the writer’s intention to shape them.

• 1. Jesus and JESUS

In “The Evening Sun”, Faulkner named one of his main characters “Jesus”---the Negro washerwoman’s husband. In the Bible, “Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of virgin, performed miracles, founded the Church, died by crucifixion as a sacrifice to achieve atonement, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven.”(Liu 27) Christians believe that Jesus has a unique significance in the world. Christians consider Jesus to be the Christ and believe that through his death and resurrection, humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life. These teachings emphasize that as the willing Lamb of God, Jesus chose to suffer on the cross at Calvary “as a sign of his full obedience to the will of the Eternal Father, as an agent and servant of God. “(Zhou 38) The choice Jesus made thus makes him as a new man of morality and obedience.

However, the image of Jesus in the story is almost the opposite. Firstly, in terms of social status, Jesus was a humble Negro in the bottom line of social ladder, intermittently neglected, bullied and even tortured by the white. Being considered as almost invisible man, this Jesus is powerless to master his own destiny, and cannot redeem himself out of the racial shackle. From the article, Jesus is told for many times to stay away from the white employer, Compson’s house. “father told him to stay away from our house”(47), “because father told us to not have anything to do with Jesus”(47), “father told Jesus to stay off our place”(49). When he knows Jesus might have gone to Memphis (a remote city far from Jefferson), he said, “and a good riddance, I hope he stays there.”(50) Jesus was always hated and despised not only by the white employer, but also his children. Caddy once teased his brother Jason who was timid, “You were scairder than Frony. You were scairder than T.P. even. Scairder than niggers.”(51) “Jesus is a nigger,” Jason said.(53) In that isolated village with entrenched racial discrimination, even innocent children regarded the black as the vulnerable group at the bottom of the society who can be arbitrarily trampled on while not violating the law or without any guilt and shame. They didn’t realize the word “nigger” is an offensive address. Even if they realized, they will ignore the difference gradually under the subtle influence of assimilation. In the bible, Jesus is the savior, and the embodiment of kindness. While the Jesus in the story was a nigger.

In general, a family with low status won't name the children of their own Jesus, "name the slaves with the gods and heroes in Greek myth or historical celebrities, such as Venus, Mercury, and Heracles in Greek and Roman mythology. Naming the black with the great names is in essence a mockery of them, which strengthening the humble identity of black through obvious contrast." (Berlin, 251) “The Jesus was in effect an ironic symbol for his misery life, his humble identity and his invisible status.”(Cao, 128)

Secondly, Jesus in “The Evening Sun” is tyrannical, bloody, and violent, always clamoring for the use of force to solve the problem while Jesus—the son of God uses love, mercy and self-sacrifice to influence people. In “The Evening Sun”, Nancy is tormented for her adultery and pregnancy by her husband Jesus. The status of Nancy is unstable as Jesus threatens to kill her, which drives Nancy crazy finally. Jesus is believed to hide in a ditch, a dark place without any light. “There is not a soul in sight in the ditch” (61) Jesus is considered as a devil that Nancy fears and wants to get rid of. John B. Rosen man in his essay once commented “Jesus is as Satanic a figure as the Lonely One.”(12) According to Nancy, he had told her she had “done woke up the devil in him and aint but one thing going to lay it again.”(51) The ditch which means darkness and terrifying force from Jesus is mentioned many times by Nancy in the article. He was invisible for most of the time, but the endless fear, terror and oppressive feeling he imposed on Nancy is diffusing between the lines throughout the novel, and deepens as Nancy’s mental state becomes more deteriorated and helpless. “It was a hog-bone, with blood meat still on it, laying by the lamp. He is out there, when yawl walk out that door, I gone.”(60) Nancy regards the hog-bone as a symbol of Jesus’s intention to kill her. The invisible existence of Jesus has driven her insane and caused hurt to her mental health, indicating Jesus’s tyranny and violence. “the name Jesus has more than one ironic meaning. Because Jesus is a black man in a white society that often fears and hates blacks, his name suggests the Anti-Christ” (12) Unlike the true Jesus, this Jesus failed to be as a husband and as a savior, and he is a Hell instead of Heaven to his wife.

1.2 Nancy and Bathsheba

The story of Bathsheba was recorded in Samuel from the bible. Bathsheba is the most known female figure in the Bible story in which she and King David committed adultery. The story is told that David, while walking on the roof of his palace, saw Bathsheba, who was then the wife of Uriah, having a bath. He immediately desired her and later made her pregnant. Through his power, he sent Uriah to the front line---the most dangerous place. After Uriah was dead, David made the now widowed Bathsheba his wife. But Bathsheba's child was struck with a severe illness and died a few days after birth, which the king accepted as his punishment. Faulkner also applied this allusion from The Bible in this story. Similar scene occurred in “The Evening Sun”, thus forming an intertext. The black laundress Nancy had adultery with a white man and got pregnant. Despised and abused by the white man, she was powerless to maintain her right and rebel against the White. “Mr. Stovall knocked her down, kicked her in the mouth with his heel”(48). The white men treated Nancy as a prostitute, played with her just for fun, and trampled on Nancy cruelly and harshly. As inferior group in the society, Bathsheba and Nancy were all incapable of mastering their own life and had no choice but obey man’s will. But unlike Bathsheba, she didn’t have a happy ending; instead, her whole life was a tragic. Nancy’s pregnancy annoyed her husband---Jesus, and he threatened to kill Nancy to take revenge against the White. Isolated and desperate Nancy made every effort to try to get protection from her white employer, but in vain, only to wait for the arrival of the death in despair. The theory of existentialism is used to probe into women’s existence in Faulkner’s “The Evening Sun” from two aspects：women’s existence in the presence of themselves，women’s existence in the presence of others. Faulkner borrowed the story from the bible and created a similar but new one, to indicate the female especially black women’s existence---not getting better, but getting worse.

• 1. Dilsey and Maria

The Blessed Virgin Mary is known as Mother of God, Mother of Jesus and the wife of St. Joseph, and is said to have been conceived without sin. “As a major character for Christian religion, the Virgin Mary is regarded as the embodiment of the true, the good and the beauty.”(Zhou 17) Her universal fraternity as well as humanity and sacred maternal care are blessed in the world. Dilsey is considered to be as perfect as The Blessed Virgin Mary by Faulkner himself as she is shining the brilliance of holy glory. Dilsey’s resemblance to the Mother of God is shown in the aspect of her humanity, mercy, kindness and meticulous care to kids. Dilsey is old enough to experience happiness and miseries in her life, who can insight into the worldly wisdom and understand thoroughly lowliness and weakness in human nature. She treats others basing on her sincerity not utilitarianism. For example, though humble as the servant of the family, Dilsey serves as the pillar of home supporting material life and spiritual life. Without her, the family may fall apart anytime. In the article, “Dilsey was sick” or “Dilsey was still sick” was mentioned for 5 times in the beginning of the story. During the period when Dilsey was ill, the family was in a little chaos. Mrs. Compson was getting anxious, “How much longer is this going to go on? I to be left alone in this big house.” (52) Besides, the kitchen was in a mess as Dilsey said: “If I had been a day later, this place would be to rack and ruin.”(53) The kids promised to stop crying as long as “Dilsey will make a chocolate cake”. The position of Dilsey in their heart seems higher than their mother, and as a matter of fact, the kids treated Dilsey as mother because they were all taken good care of by her. Also, Dilsey was compassionate to Nancy even she was getting insane and disliked by others. When Nancy kept saying her husband was nearby and will kill her anytime, nobody cared and believed Jesus wouldn’t come back. But Dilsey got her a cup of coffee to warm her and comfort her to calm down and offered help for her. Dilsey said. “You got aholt of yourself. You wait here. I am going to get Versh to walk home with you.” (55) She showed much mercy to Nancy’s misery. She is more like a senior or sage to influence others with love and kindness.

Chapter Two

Biblical Images in “The Evening Sun”

This chapter focuses on the similar images in “The Evening Sun” and The Bible including water, fire and light, in order to dig deeper meaning of applying those images.

2.1 Fire and Light

According to Exodus (3:2), fire generally represents hope and enlightenment. the Mount Moses, “came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb, and the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.” The fire born with the angel represents the enlightenment and hope; In addition, recorded in the Christian teachings the fire lit each time when humans offered a sacrifice to god, lit the fire, will convey the devotion to god, god therefore will return hope and blessing for the mankind.

In the last scene in “The Evening Sun”, Nancy “sitting quietly the lamp and the fire.” “Fire” in the stove is the source of living power supporting Nancy to wait and live on. For Nancy, there is life when there is life; there is hope when there is fire. The light from the fire or lamp is the only way for Nancy to reach a brighter place and flee away from darkness and even death as light conveys the strength, warmth and passion to human being. The light appears when fire is lit, which helps people get rid of darkness and makes everything around visible, thus bringing security to people who is in danger. The function and significance of the light is reflected frequently in the bible. “Light” often represent the signs from heaven in the bible, when the Israel stepped out of Egypt, “the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; that they might go by day and by night the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, departed not from before the people” (13: 21-22). “Light” represents the light from God, the light from Christ, and god is the embodiment of truth and love, the eternity of the world. In Gospel of John,(8:12), “spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followed me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

For Nancy, “The Evening Sun” was the light from God. Before the sun goes down, she still has the courage to be alone and faces her life. But after “The Evening Sun” light disappears, who can save her and avoid being killed by Jesus? So Nancy tries every method to keep the light and keep her life. She lit the fire, opened the lamp and sat before the fire. Fire brought her warmth and hope while light brought her security and life. However, the sticks will be burned out and the oil will be run out of, without fire and light, Nancy might be swallowed by deep darkness of the society.

2.2 Water

In The Bible “water” is endowed with importance and uniqueness: Water is considered as a way to wash dirt in human’s body and evil thoughts in human’s mind. This function of "water" is fully stressed in the Matthew (8:11) “I baptize you with water for repentance, but who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” The Baptist water can wash their dirty and pure their spirit. New Testament endows “water” with the meaning of “salvation”, a symbol of rebirth and resurrection, which symbolizes the final salvation of god.

The image of water used in Faulkner's works reveals the intention. In “The Evening Sun”, Nancy’s job was set as a washerwoman, responsible for white people’s washing. In the first beginning of the story, the author mentioned the wash-pot was “blackened” (47). It ironically indicates that the dirt from the White needs purifying. And the misdeed they’ve done to the black is so dark that it is hard to be washed clearly. Besides, the ending of the story well echoes the beginning. Caddy asked her father “Who will do our washing now, Father?”(61) After the attempt to wash the White’s guilt was failed, what can be done to pure themselves and realize self-salvation? Only by themselves. And Faulkner confirms the solution in his novel Sound and Fury. Caddy, also the older kid in this article washed herself to remove the dirt and save her soul, just like the baptism in Christian ceremony. Quentin’s drowning himself further confirms the function of redemption and purge of water.

Chapter Three

Biblical Themes in “The Evening Sun”

The last chapter, based on the analysis of the above two chapters, explores the themes in the story-coexistence of Good and Evil, equality, which shows resemblance with The Bible.

3.1 Coexistence of Good and Evil

Gospel of John recorded: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made.” Here the world represents the Holy Spirit, which is infinite, and the flesh is made of material, which is limited. Jesus Christ is the combination of the Holy Spirit and the flesh. The conception of this combination was embodied in Faulkner's novels, which forms the prototype of coexistence of good and evil. “The concept of ‘Integration of good and evil’ is a basic doctrine in Christian culture, which is derived from the consciousness of ‘sin’ and ‘original sin’.”(Zheng 174) Since the first man Adam and the first woman Eve eat the forbidden fruit on the tree of knowledge and were driven by God out of the garden of Eden, human beings are considered born sinful. The “sin” is not what we usually understand from legal and moral aspect. According to the basic tenets of Christianity, “sin” refers to succumbing to personal desires and behaving against the will of god. The so-called “original sin” refers to the fact that every ordinary person has a tendency to behave against the will of god and that the whole world is not perfect. The idea of “coexistence of good and evil” explains that the mortals are guilty---to err is human.

In “That Evening Sun”, Nancy and Jesus are all typical characters that are both good and evil. They didn’t behave themselves, against god’s will, which is hateful. But to some degree, they had their own good characters and deserved our pity and sympathy. As Jesus’s wife, Nancy didn’t keep her virginity and had adultery with a white man to make some money. To some extent, she became a prostitute by selling her own body. She was corrupted and lost the hope for living, like a walking dead. This is her sin, and made herself descend to hell. But on the other hand, she was a diligent washerwoman with kindness. She treated the employer’s kids with popcorns and told them stories beside the stove. Despite her trials, Nancy still possesses a simple religious faith. She regretted her guilt and believed her “sin” would be punished anyway. She believes or “feels” Jesus is there and is, as far as she is concerned, omnipotent. She thinks she is “hell born” and will “go back where I come from”. And the last scene was that Nancy sitting alone by the fire in her house seems to be waiting for the husband she knows is lurking outside in the ditch to kill her. She knows well she can’t flee from the punishment.

3.2 Equality

In Chapter three from Gospel of John reads “wee know that thou art a teacher come from God”, which means we are sons blessed by God. God is also known as “Father”, revealing the identity of human beings – the children of God. The story of the scribes and Pharisees who brought unto Jesus a woman taken in adultery recorded in Gospel of John tells a truth: everyone is a sinner, who also cannot be justified, otherwise, just like the pot calls the kettle black. Therefore, in God's eyes there is no "better" and "bad" sinners, respectively, each one in front of God is guilty, and disintegrated with their own shame. (Zhang 5) As everyone has the same guilty, the same shame, the same mess, and thus the they are equal individuals. Because human beings are all sinners, and therefore “God show no favoritism”（Lu 255）to anyone but treat everyone equally. Jonah recorded the story of the prophet Jonah who never stood in others’ shoes, only concerns his own reputation and was at last educated by God, which illuminates that God loves his people, regardless of their race color of skin. These all illustrate this point: for God, all men are created equal, and there is no distinction between them. Men and women are equal. The Bible described many heroes, and also shaping a series of radiant and holy women, they are elegant, pure, kind, selfless, noble, and with self-sacrifice, such as the wise and beautiful Judith, the patriotic Esther, and the Holy Virgin Mary, etc.

In “The Evening Sun”, Faulkner emphasizes the helplessness and the inequality of treatment of the black woman Nancy at the close of the nineteenth century in this short story, and gives the reader a general picture of the women’s existence at that time. “The Evening Sun” expresses a black woman's pain. Tormented by white people and her husband, Nancy suffered physical and mental pain. She was beaten, under arrested and be in jail for several times. Teased, despised and tortured, Nancy was getting insane and waiting for death. The inequality of women puts them into a dilemma and is hard to get out. Faulkner reveals the phenomenon and wanted to advocate the equality for women’s rights and status. What’s more, human are equal regardless of their race and color. And Faulkner created Jesus---a Negro full of hatred to the white and struggling for his rights. He once said: “I can’t hang around white man’s kitchen, but white man can hang around mine. White man can come in my house, but I can’t stop him. When white man want to come in my house, I ain’t got no house. I can’t stop him, but he can’t kick me outen it. He can’t do that.” (49) Jesus complained about white man’s offense and atrocity they had done to him, but it’s obviously seen that he was also powerless to stop their vice and change his own situation as he was in an inferior status and faced the discrimination that time.

In American Studies, the comment for Jesus was like this: “In three paragraphs the narrative has moved back in time, into the sphere of traditional Afro-American custom. There we meet Jesus. He enters the story as a member of the black community who does not conform to it.”(Dirk Kuyk 39) Jesus didn’t want to admit his submissive status and therefore refused to help Nancy with her work. “Sometimes the husbands of the washing women would fetch and deliver the clothes, but Jesus never did that for Nancy”(47). He insists on transcending class boundaries, planting himself in the Compson’s kitchen and proclaiming — while white children listen — that he can kill Stovall. He didn’t have enough courage to kill the white, and therefore he ran away, went to Memphis, eager to get rid of the inequality. The equality of gender and race still has a long way to go.

Conclusion

Through a comparative reading of “The Evening Sun” and The Bible, firstly we can find the Bible impact on Faulkner’s Literature creation. As a literary masterpiece, Bible provides a wealth of material, classic prototype of characters for European and American literature. And “The Evening Sun” also has strong religious color by shaping a series of Christ-like characters, such as Nancy and Bathsheba, which is flavoring and intriguing. In the plot of the story description, a large number of imagery and symbols such as “water”, “light” and “fire”, etc. was also applied in the short story. Secondly, based on biblical figures prototype and images, similar plot and same themes, “The Evening Sun” offers readers a vivid picture, distinct characters, and mysterious plot, which has rich connotation, and strong artistic aesthetic effect. Through borrowed elements from The Bible which has a world-wide influence, Faulkner can advocate his ideas to a larger number of readers broadly and effectively, arousing people’s attention of the gender inequality and race discrimination. After the abortion of slavery and the liberation of the blacks, the oppression of them still existed and their life was still in misery and darkness. Thirdly, it is easier to resonate with readers through comparative interpretation, bringing them enlightenment and to produce an infinite aftertaste. It can also make people look further to their own beliefs and thoughts, and help readers reflect spiritual life of human beings.

This paper discusses the elements borrowed from the Bible and has analyzed the intertext or similarity of characters, images and themes between the two. However, this paper only focuses on analyzing this phenomenon in one piece of short stories, and there are many other short stories by Faulkner worth exploring. Further studies may be done in this respect.

Works Cited

Allen, Graham. Intertextuality. London: Routledge. 2000.

Berlin, Ira. “From Creole to African: Atlantic Creoles and the Origins of African-American Society in Mainland North America”. The William and Mary Quarterly, 1996: 251.

Brown, Sterling. “Negro Poetry and Drama and the Negro in American Fiction”. Washington: Journal of Women’s Health, 1969.

Bao,Zhongming. “Most Splendid Failure— Faulkner’s Exploration of the Blacks”. Washington: Journal of Women s Health, 2009.

Cao Qingyan[曹庆艳]. 白人的乡愁 黑人的哀歌—福克纳《夕阳》中多维度叙事分析. 社科纵横，VOL.28, NO.11(2013): 127-129.

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