The use of metaphor to order experience : The success of narrators in William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom !

Abstract EN

This paper explores the significance of multiple narrations in William Faulkner's Absalom, Absaloml and their importance in highlighting the struggles the imagination faces in recognizing the multiple nature of truth.

The character—narrators, Mr.

Compson and Miss Rosa, recognize and struggle with the manifold layers that shape truth and order experience.

Both order their reality in a more sophisticated fashion than Sutpen and thus they achieve imaginative success.

Faulkner shows that reality is not a series of events, but instead a combination of personal bias, societal norms and concrete experience.