Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Delta Autumn

Delta Autumn centers around a man named McCaslin and his life experiences concerning hunting, the environment and racism in America. Faulkner utilizes metaphor and diction and to convey the thematic intent that time brings about change, even in those set in their ways. Specifically we see how McCaslin, who is an elderly man raised in times of extreme racism, struggles with the idea of inter racial relationships, but ultimately appears to become a bit more understanding.
The story begins with how times have changed since McCaslin began hunting. Not only has the forest been severely cut down, but the line “There had been bear then, and a man shot a doe or a fawn as quickly as he did a buck” speaks to the changes in racism. It is not totally apparent yet, but the words doe and fawn are not being used to refer to animals, instead however, they refer to black women and men. When McCaslin was much younger, racism was very prominent, and it was not unusual for people to simply shoot down an African-American person.
While driving to the hunting ground, the younger men in the group speak in code about a black girl one of their friends have been fooling around with. They say “But he’s got a doe in here. On two legs - when she’s standing up. Pretty light-colored too.” This quote ties together the first line quoted, and connects the word doe to a black female. The fact that the younger men in the group understand this slang and McCasin does not exemplifies how times have changed. Not only in terms of the words being used, but in McCasin’s days, it would be unthinkable to carry on a relationship with someone who was not white.
Although McCasin is slightly racist, he is a product of the environment he grew up in, and is not completely racist. For instance, Old Sam Fathers is a half Indian, half Negro man who took McCasin under his tutelage and taught him how to hunt and track in the wilderness. McCasin recalls him with fond memories, thus exemplifying his delicate sense of innate racism.
While McCasin contemplates the changing landscape of the forest, he thinks “he knew why he had never wanted to own any of it, arrest at least that much of what people called progress.” In this situation, Faulkner is using the environment as a metaphor for racism and the changing times. The way people view cutting down the forest and promoting urbanization as progress is being coupled with how relaxed views on racism and interracial relationships is considered progress. McCasin is an old man, stuck in his ways, and views neither as progress.
When Boyd’s forbidden lover approaches McCasin, he is initially unaware that she is black since she is very pale skinned. “Now he understood what it was she had brought in with her – the lips and skin pallid and colorless yet not ill…. Maybe in a thousands or two thousand years it will have blended in America and we will have forgotten it… but God pity these.” This section is extremely revealing. Upon this realization McCasin yells out “You’re a nigger” in a voice of “amazement, pity, and outrage.” The specific diction here shows that McCasin is still racist at heart, but shows pity. His mood and speech immediately change upon learning this. The line about a thousand or two thousand years shows how McCasin is realizing that mix race relations is here to stay and the way of the future, however, in his mind he hopes this does not become common for thousands of years. And the line “God pity these” shows some sense of pity within him. Although he does not totally agree with interracial affairs, there is a part of him that is understanding and shows pity.
Despite being angry and yelling at this woman to go, McCasin insists she take the money although she plans on leaving it there. This shows some sense of compassion for her. While McCasin tells her to leave, he also gives her advice and compliments; saying she is handsome and should marry a man her own race, for there is salvation in that.
Once she leaves McCasin lays back down and introspectively thinks, “…Chinese, and African and Aryan and Jew, all breed and spawn together until no man has time to say which is which, or who cares… No wonder the ruined woods I used to know don’t cry for retribution, he thought. The people who have destroyed it will accomplish its revenge.” This final passage ties together the whole story and exemplifies the metaphor between the forest and racism. McCasin thinks that the blending of races is something bad, and this is punishment enough for all those who are destroying the forests. However, the dying forest represents the waning nature of racism in society.

At the end of the story, the young men have killed something and Legate busts into McCasin’s tent looking for the skinning knife. McCasin questions what has been killed and is skeptical when Legate responds it is a deer. The story ends with McCasin saying “It was a doe” to the empty tent. This is McCasin realizing that the men have killed the pale skinned black girl. McCasin’s mixed reactions and attitude toward this woman and his realization at the end of the story exemplify the delicate nature of his racism. Although he is very old and stuck in his ways, it does appear that he feels sympathy and pity for this black woman, thus shifting his racist viewpoint.

-Harrison Bard

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