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Historical Context

The Civil War Aftermath

Almost one-third of the southern men who went to fight in the Civil War (1861 1865)

died, and almost as many suffered serious injuries. Because slaves were available toperform work, nearly eighty percent of eligible (by age and health status) white southernmen were able to fight in the Civil War. They all brought home emotional, if not

physical, scars. During the war, thousands of refugees in the South, black and white, lost

everything they owned and faced uncertainty and terror about the future. Many familieswere forced to seek ways to get by without their fathers, husbands, and brothers to

support them. Children who grew up without men in their families felt incomplete, and

they often grew up thinking that they could never achieve the bravery and nobility oftheir fallen relatives.

To make matters worse, the South was in financial ruin at the end of the war. Railroads,

manufacturing equipment, farm machinery, and livestock were destroyed. Thedestruction was so severe that industry in the South was set back a full generation. DuringReconstruction (1865 1877), the North and South struggled to come to terms with the

new legal and social parameters of the nation. The central concerns of the Reconstruction

Period were: defining the relationship between the former North and the former South;

determining who was responsible for the Confederate rebellion and whether punishmentwas in order; deciding which rights would be granted to former slaves; and conceiving a

recovery plan for the southern economy. The transition was tense and arduous because

Southerners were angry and uncooperative in the wake of their defeat. Memorials to thewar in the South were slow coming, but, in time, Southerners renewed their sense of

regional pride.

Southern Social Life

In the South, gender roles were specific and were taught at an early age. According toEncyclopedia of American Social History, a young man in the North entered adulthood

by undertaking religious training or an apprenticeship and by reading works by English

moralists, while young men in the South read traditional courtly works and planned their

futures with a focus on the land. Young southern men demonstrated their manhood totheir families by working hard to show that they would be good providers for their future

families. Social structure and habits in the South were rooted in chivalry and hierarchy,

and the prevailing code of honor sometimes included the aristocratic tradition of dueling.In contrast, the ideology of the North was based on ethics and conscience. The courtly

foundation of many southern traditions extended to its treatment of women. Women were

regarded as delicate creatures to be admired for their beauty and grace. They wereexpected to avoid competition and to prepare for romantic, submissive love relationships

with their future husbands. Young people were taught to respect their elders, a

characteristic exhibited by Quentin when he insists that Shreve refer to Rosa as "MissRosa," not as "Aunt Rosa" or as an "old dame."

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During the Civil War, women were given an opportunity to be more independent and to

adopt formerly masculine roles as nurses, factory workers, farmers, and clerks. At the end

of the war, however, women returned to their positions as domestic figures, except thattheir status was reduced because of the absence of slaves. Now, women were expected to

do more work in their homes and to occupy the most submissive position in the house.

Although their duties were concentrated on domestic affairs and their power was non-

existent, southern women symbolized the virtue and goodness of the South. When menreturned from the war, they depended on their women to provide reassurance and

comfort. The southern patriarchy quickly reestablished itself, and the women were

integral in helping men recover from the horrors of war and the humility of defeat.

Naturalistic and Symbolistic Period in American Literature

The Naturalistic and Symbolistic Period in American Literature extended between 1900

and 1930. Early in the century, the country witnessed a rise in journalistic exposs, and a

movement toward unflinching realism in literature was seen in the works of Henry James,Theodore Dreiser, and Jack London. After World War I came the emergence of the Lost

Generation, a group of writers disillusioned by American idealism. These writers longed

for something new and innovative and found it in French symbolists like James Joyce and

Marcel Proust. They rejected many aspects of American culture, in some cases creating anew polished style of writing, in other cases writing satire, and in still other cases

recalling simpler times in American history when society was more structured and had a

sense of tradition. In this last group were many prominent southern writers, includingFaulkner.