Andrew+Fagioli-+Sanctuary+Psychological

Andrew Fagioli April 14th 2010 Modern American Fiction Sanctuary and Obsession __Sanctuary__ by William Faulkner is a novel filled with obsession and a whole plethora of other psychological disorders. Every character within the novel suffers from an out-of-control subconscious, a severely repressed sexual ego, or experiences a terribly traumatic event. One example of this over-indulgence would have to be the character of Horace Benbow. Benbow's obsession is, of course, with the trial that is going to be taking place within his home town and, more importantly defending Lee Goodwin from jail. Horace's sister, Narcissa pleads with him throughout the book to just up and leave the Goodwin's. She claims Horace has become to obsessed with the case and is making not only himself look bad to the town-folk but also her as well. Her and Horace have a conversation a few nights before the trial and she flat-out tells him to “Go away from here, Horace. Anybody but you would realize it's a case of cold-blooded murder,” (184). Obviously, Narcissa sees the effect the case has had on Horace and her family and pleads with him several times throughout the novel to just get up and leave. This section could actually show a double-obsession. It not only shows how obsession has taken over Horace's life in the form of the court case, but also shows Narcissa's own infatuation with how the other people in town see her. In that same conversation Horace and Narcissa are having, Narcissa basically breaks down and admits: “Dont you see, this is my home, where I must spend the rest of my life. Where I was born. I dont care where else you go nor what you do. I dont care how many women you have nor who they are. But I cannot have my brother mixed up with a woman people are talking about... When people already believe you and she are slipping into my house at night,” (184-85). Here we see a side of a character that is most definitely questionable. Nevermind the trial in Narcissa's mind. She doesn't care whether or not the wrong man goes to prison or is guilty, she is only worried about her image and her families image in the towns-people's eyes. Several times throughout the novel she mentions this aching embarrassment Horace has brought upon her and her family and obsesses over this self-image. She won't even let Goodwin's wife stay at her house when she has nowhere else to go because she is too worried about what the people in town will say about that. Along with obsession within the novel comes a whole different load of psychological disorders to analyze and take note of, starting with the most obvious example: Temple Drake. Temple could have been described as the all-American girl at the start of the novel. She was young, flirtatious, and very attractive. That seemed to have all changed once she was brought to the Goodwin house and came across the men there. She was raped and a witness to a murder all within 72 hours of being at that house. It isn't until much later in the novel that we are introduced to Temple Drake again and see her transformation from the girl-next-door to something completely on the other side of the spectrum. When Horace finally finds her, she is sitting in the dark at a whorehouse rambling on about her experience at the Goodwin's house with Popeye. “[S]uddenly Horace realized that she was recounting the experience with actual pride, a sort of naive and impersonal vanity, as though she were making it up, looking from him to Miss Reba with quick, darting glances like a dog driving two cattle along a lane,” (216). Temple goes on to recount her story, while highlighting the strangest details, repeating herself numerous times, and rocking back and forth like a child. She is, of course, a child when all of this was taking place. One can see how the experience had effected her in such a way. Before coming to that house she was a tease and just a naïve young girl. Upon leaving that house, it's almost as if the life was stolen from her. She would go on to become a mere shadow of her former self; never laughing or smiling again. It's almost as if her subconscious just put her on auto-pilot for the rest of her life, all due to her few day stay at the Goodwin house. While there are many other characters who highlight an obsessive and just plain psychological disorder within the novel __Sanctuary__ by William Faulkner, I feel that Temple Drake, Horace Benbow, and Narcissa were the three best examples. Each character can be analyzed and re-analyzed, the findings covering three separate complete books. While each character wanted to have a better life in the end, none succeeded. This shows how far an obsession can take a person and how detrimental the effects can be.

Works Cited Faulkner, William. __Sanctuary__. New York: Vintage International, 1931.