Cry against Racism - Faulkner, The Intruder of the Grave

"The Intruder of the Grave" is a famous work in the late stage of Faulkner's creative career, the novel profoundly embodies Faulkner's concept of race, the writer shows the teenagers in the southern racial society difficult choices, criticizes the southern society that maintains the racial order, and thus realizes the intervention of reality through the paradigm of popular detective themes and detective novels.

This phenomenon is highlighted in the novel through depictions of the townspeople of Jefferson. There is a grocery store in this town, and the owner, Mr. Lille, is a typical example of this phenomenon.

Like the rest of the townspeople, Lille had a sense of blacks, some of whom often stole small things from his shop, and these worthless things did not cause Liller to clash with them fiercely, but deep down, Liller remembered these things deeply.

But in essence, these blacks were not born stealing, they were forced by a difficult life in an environment of racial oppression.

But in Mr. Lille's view, these negroes, the so-called, were born with the life of thieves. It is this constant selective reinforcement that makes the stereotype of black people in the hearts of The Lille bosses more and more intense, even entrenched.

The townspeople throughout The town of Jefferson, like Lille, reinforced stereotypes of blacks through this selective perception. Finally, under the paralysis of racism, it became a group full of racial stereotypes.

The work also depicts the lynching of Lukes, and the townspeople gather outside to watch this shocking scene, and at this time, it seems that the townspeople who were originally unique are unified in an instant.

"Those multitudes of faces seem to become a face, a big face that has not changed, has no mess: there is no excitement or greed or even satisfaction on this face, they are just moving in that way, as if there is no machine of thoughts and feelings."

This scene also shows the stereotype of Jefferson's townspeople about black people. This unconscious or natural stereotype is the most painful.

As an authentic Southerner, Faulkner made exploring the racial issues that plagued the American South the theme of his work. It was published on the eve of the civil rights movement, when racial contradictions had intensified, and since its publication, it has triggered multi-angle discussion in the academic community and caused people to condemn cultural hegemony.

From the perspective of cultural hegemony, the cultural oppression suffered by black people and the cultural trauma of whites themselves in the novel try to prove the side of Faulkner's anti-racist stance.

As a white writer deeply influenced by the cultural hegemony of the whites of the South, Faulkner's limitations in the portrayal of black characters and the discriminatory nature of language indicate his deep-seated pro-racist consciousness.