Resisting Normativity in Subjection:An Analysis of Lena Grove’s Vagrancy in Light in August
School of Foreign Studies, Minzu University of China
Abstract
of Light in August. However, the specific narrative strategies Faulkner employs to construct this luminous image need further critical examination. This study utilizes Judith Butler’s notion of normativity and subjection to elucidate Lena’s vagrancy, positioning it in relation to the novel’s titular “light”, the problems of the American South, and the broader condition of modernity: In her vagrancy, Lena not only adopts a resisting standpoint to the traditional identity of the Southern lady and the interpellation of Southern normativity, but also demonstrates a capacity to seek the mainstream’s recognition with an appropriate strategy of subjection, through which a desirable modification of the rigid Southern ideologies is made possible. Therefore, Lena’s vagrancy is a symbol of the freedom of spirit, a possibility to modify Southern ideologies, and an inherent impulse to progress; Lena also functions as the light and a savior of the Southern town in Light in August. Through creating Lena, Faulkner offers a cure to the Southern disease of stagnation, racism and puritanism, and transcends the literary images of ineffectual, impotent modern men characteristic of the early twentieth century.
Keywords:
Lena Grove; Light in August; William Faulkner; vagrancy; normativityCopyright Notice & License:
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References
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