The central message of Faulkner's A fable : the everlasting battle of the marshal and the corporal
著者(英) Naomi Saho
journal or
publication title
Core
number 20
page range 19‑35
year 1991‑03‑20
URL http://doi.org/10.14988/pa.2017.0000014878
The Central Mess且geof F aulknerうsA Fable 19
The C e n t r a l Message o f F a u l k n e r
うsAFable:
The E v e r l a s t i n g B a t t l e o f t h e Marshal and t h e C o r p o r a l
Naomi Saho
The central message of A Fable1 is reveal巴dand condensed in the cli‑ max of the conv日rs呂tionbetween the m品rshal品ndthe corpora12:
1 dont fear man. 1 do better: 1 respect and admire him. And pride: 1 am ten times proud巴rof that immortality which he do白
possess th丘n巳ver he of th品th巴丘V日nly one of his delusion Because man and his folly~'
Will endur巴"the corporal said
They will do more,' the old general said proudly They will prevail.' (354)
After the marshal's vain attempts to save the corporal from execution
which fail, the marshal explains to th巴corporalat great length how human beings wiU be able to outlぉtall their vices including war by using their intelligence and developing their civilization. At last, as 1 quot巴dabov,巳 the marshal affirms humanity's immortality and the corporal agr巳eswith him verbally. Howεver, this conversation, far from a seeming consent, presents the reader with the crucial confrontation between two conflicting ideas about how humanity should survive, as 1 will prove in detail later. Here the corporal does not accept wholly th日marsha'lsidea that th巴 voracityand intelligence of humanity will outl丘stand overcome its
20 The Central Mess且geof Faulkner's A Fable
vices. The corporal does not say,[they] will prevail," but [they] will en‑ dure," because the corporal wants to prevent man and his folly" the mar‑ shal means from prevailing. 1t can be said that after the corporal's short words his this saying is left out:1 will also巴ndure."In other words, F呂ulknerspeaks for the corporal's words which should be continued, in the following part of his Nobel priz巳address:
1 decline to accept th巳 巴ndof man. 1t is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply becaus巴hewill巴ndur巳 . . . . 1 beli巳ve that man will not merely endure: he will prevai l. H巳isimmortal, not because he alone丘mongcreatures has an inexhaustible voic巴,
but becaus巳hehas a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sac‑ rifice and endurance3
The marshal's idea about human immortality is based upon this human‑
ity's inexhaustible voice," which suggests human intelligence here. On the other hand, the corporal's faith in human immort呂lityis based upon humanity's spirit capable of comp呂ssionand sacrifice and endurance,叫 as 1 will prove later. The ideas乱bouthumanity's futur巴ofth巴marshaland the corporal confront巴ach oth巳r,though these two agree on its immortality. The marshal thinks that the human race can overcome its weak fate by virtue of its intelligence even though it is forc巳dto suffer for all the vices it makes; while the corporal thinks that the human race can survive if it keeps such a spirit as the corporal himself has lived with
1t can be said that these ideas of the marshal and the corporal repr巳sent a conflict between the flesh and the spirit of the dualism which rules the world of A Fable. It is because the marshal does not criticize the vices that mankind brings forth, but affirms their巴xistenceand as a result util‑ izes them for pres色rvationof his own establishment; while the corporal
The Central Mess且geof Faulkner's A Fable 21 does not accept vices such as war and resists the marshal's establishment for preservation of his own f呂ith.
The marshal himself interprets the r巴lationbetween hims巳lfand the cor‑ poral as conflicting:
We are two articulations, self‑elected possibly, anyway post‑ ulated not so much to defend as to test two inimical conditions which, through no fault of ours but through the simple paucity and restrictions of th巳arenawhere they meet, must contend and~
one of them ~ perish: 1 ch丘mpionof this mundan巴 earthwhich, whether 1 like it or not, is, and to which 1 did not ask to come, yet since 1 am here, not only must stop but intend to stop during my allotted while; you champion of an esoteric realm of man's bas己lesshopes品ndhis infini t巳 C呂pacity~no; passion~for unfact. (347‑48)
In this way the marshal and the corporal are such people of inimical昌nd incompatible thoughts as cannot live together.
It is the Quartermaster Gener品1who comes to experience this conflict between the thoughts of the marshal and the corporal in his own mind The marshal and the Quartermaster G巴neralhad b巳enclassmates in the Milit品ryAcademy. The marshal is
not only th巴nephewof a Cabinet恥1inist日r,but the godson of the board chairman of the gigantic international federation producing munitions which, with a few alterations in the lettering stamped into the head of each cartridge‑and shell‑case, fitted almost every military rifle and pistol and light field‑pi巴cein all the Western Hemisphere and half the Eastern too. (246)
All the classmates had believed that the marshal would rule the world at
z z
The Central Message of Faulkner's A Fablehand by virtue of his own privileges given by his own birth. However, he didn't use the influence" (249) for years. The marshal went to Africa with the same simple sublieutenant's rank and the same meagre equip‑ ment" (250), and then secluded hims巴lfto "a small outpost not only five handred kilometres from anything resembling civilized stronghold or even handhold" (253) All the classmates, except the Quartermaster General, thought then that earth itseH had f品ltered,rapacity its巳lfhad failed"
(253)
The Quartermaster General did not think that the marshal would repudi‑
乱tevoracity and be forgotten by the human race, whose history is driven by "rapacity" (259). The Quartermaster General has regarded the marshal as a kind of messiah who can savεthe world, since he thought that all the heroes of human history have sprung from rapacity
However afterwards once his expectation was denied by the 匂ctthat in Africa in order to save his garrison from its revengeful attack the marshal had sacrificed the soldier who murdered a woman of the tribespeople. The marshal had been even given a ribbon because of his preventing war in Africa. Having heard this story, the Qu丘rtermasterGeneral wept:
Yes, he [a murderer] was a man. But he [the marshal] was young then, not much more than a child. These tears are not anguish: only grief." (271)
After this event the Quartermaster General continued to help the work of the marshal who returned to the military institution and rose to the top
The Quartermaster General's trust to the marshal as a messiah of the world is destroyed this time completely by the corporal's mutiny. The mutiny through which foot‑soldiers on both front‑lines accomplish an
The Central Message of Faulkner's A Fable 23 armistice forces the Quartermaster General to change his consciousness about what saves humanity from its history of rapacity. In other words the Quartermaster General faces the matter of what the marshal is to the human rece including foot‑soldi巴rs,and of what he himself has done to it. He senses that after all the marshal utilizes the military institution, him‑ self on top, affirming the human history of rapacity, in ord巴rto preserve the establishment he h呂sserved und巴rthe name of battles for p巴aceor sur‑ vival of humanity. The Quartermaster Genεral decides to resign from his present post in which he has taken part in the marshal's work of relieving humanity from the worst destruction by sacrificing powerless and s問mlllg‑ ly worthlεss people.
The marshal refuses his request, pointing out that the Quartermast己r Gener呂1'sresignation is only his bitter self‑flagellation" (332)呂nd呂g己s‑ ture" (332) of matyrdom in comparison with th巴corpora1'sdeath. Ind巳ed the Quartermast巴rGeneral neither c丘nstop the execution of the corpor且l nor resumption of war, in spite of his own high status.
We have to see what the corporal does in his mutiny, in order to under‑ stand what challenges and changes the Quartermaster General's concept about relief of humanity. The corporal of one French regiment leads foot‑soldiers of both sides into a simultaneous armistice by disarming themselves, in May of 1918, near th巴endof the F irst W orld War. Other soldiers on the front‑lines of the allied nations' forces and the German forces follow suit. This mutiny takes place on Monday and the mutineers are昌rrestedby officers on the same day.
It is seemingly improbable th丘tfoot‑soldiers of inimical forces on the front‑lines should cooper呂teto stop battles, and especially that the hostil‑ ity between them should evaporate. Howeverうthisimprobable event that
24 The Central Message of Faulkner's A Fable
the corporl causes comes to reveal the confrontation inherent in the social structure. The corporal's activity, after all, shows that confrontation in warfare does not exist between nations, but betw凹 nsocial classes
Human history springs from r品P旦city" (259), as the Quartermaster General hims巴lfinterprets: Rapacity does not fail, else man must deny he breathes" (259). All human beings hav巳desiresincluding essential ones to live, eat, and sleep, which often become limitles3. The powerful peo‑ ple deprive things of others in order to satis令 部 manytheir own desires as possible. As a result th巴 morepowerful peopl巳cometo rule and re‑ press the powerless people forcibly, driven by their Qwn desire of repacity. Limitless desires bring human beings into activities of rapacityラ旦ndhu‑ man beings cannot live without any desires
Thus, in A Fable Faulkner presents war, which is the stage of this nove ,las the accumulation of the effects of human sinful nature. 1n other words war symbolizes the viol巴nce through which people try to seize things from others and possess them forcibly, driven by limitless desires As a result of struggles and competition in order to obtain more things, in war people are divided clearly into two groups: the one kind of people who succeed in taking more things from others and consequently come to crush and persecute others; and the other kind of people who ar巴deprived of their rights to satisfy their essential desires to live and come to be only the means by which the former people can accomplish their aimss
Seen from the viewpoint of human history of rapacity, it can be said that the more freedom to satisfy their own desires human beings give themselves, the more freedom they take from others 1t is the corporal that Faulkn巴rpresents the reader as an answer to this matter of how humanity should deal with fr巴巴dom. The new concept that the corporal
The Central Message of F四lknersA Fable 25 brings into human history is to preserv巴one'sown freedom as well as to respect others', that is to say, to share individual freedom. Wh且tthe cor‑ poral tries to do through the mutiny is thus to share the individual free‑ dom between the foot‑soldiers on front‑lines and the officers.
Therefore the corporal's mutiny means that the foot‑soldiers resist their officers in order to request them to share their own essential human rights. This resistance of the foot‑soldiers is, therefore, against旦11people who profit by warfare and live on it, including their offic巴rs,dignitaries of gov‑ ernments, munition merchants, and the authorities of military institutions The British batt品lionrunner explains how young soldiers are utiliz巴dand exploited for nations and the economy and are forced to die:
More than th品t:th鉱 山inand tensioned girder of steel and human blood which carries its national edifice soaring glorious and threatful among th巴stars,in dedication to which young men are transported fr巴巴 ofcharge and巴venwith pay, to die violently in places that even the map‑makers and ‑dividers never saw (80)
It is then quite natural that foot‑soldiers of inimical forces, as human beings with desires to live under且tleast mlmmum human livelihood, should cooperate to resist the military institution itself
What the corporal tries to do through this mutiny is to deliver humanity from its violent history of rapacity which springs from limitless desir巳.
The runner explains at 1巴ngthwhat changes the corpora'ls mutiny brought to foot‑soldiers and why human beings could not stop wars. However, neither the corporal nor the other characters of the main plot of the mutiny talk or explain about why and for what re丘sonthe mutiny was started. We can see it from the horse‑thief story which reflects the motive and aim
26 The Central Mess呂geof Faulkner's A Fable: of the corporal's mutiny.6
The horse‑thief story is a kind of tall tale in which the old negro preacher, his grand‑son, and an English groom可sentrysteal a crippled, three‑legged race‑horse and escape with it from
the Federal Government, the successiv巴statepolice forces and the railways' and the insuranc巴company'sand the oil baron's pri‑ vate detectives. (153)
The millionair巴sand the government's officers pursue this horse because it can earn much money as a studhorse by only being kept alive, while these three horse‑thieves want the horse to live as it wants, in short, to run and win races. The ex‑deputy, who can be recognized as the voice of the runner, interprets what makes the horse‑thi巳vesdo such unlawful activity:
truth, love, sacrifice, and something else even more important than they: some bond between or from man to his brother man stronger than even the golden shackles which coopered pre‑ cariously his ramshackl巴earth(165)
Th巳corporal'sactivity springs from the sam巳motiveand is b呂sedon the same thought: compassion and brotherhood.
The ex‑deputy's interpretation of the horse‑thieves' activity also gives us an answer to the question the form巳raide of general Gragnon has held to write a book. Gragnon asks his aide what he tries to find in books:
About being brave. About glory, and how men got it, and how they bore it after th巴Ygot it, and how other people managed to live with them after they got it; and honor and sacrifice, and the pity and compassion you hav巳tohave to be worthy of honor and sacrifice, and the courage it takes to pity, and the pride it takes
The Central Message of Faulkner's A Fable: to deserve the courage‑'
Courage, to pityアthegeneral said.
Yes. Courage. When you stop to pity, the world runs over you. It takes pride to be that brave.'
Prid巴inwhat?' the general said
1 dont know yet. That's what I'm trying to find out.' (45‑46) 27
This aide dies inside the lines afterw呂rdsone morning, when all hav日
been warned of a gun registered by the enemy;昌 C品rcomes on, the aide runs to the car to stop it and is killed by呂shel.l Probably this aide h且S
already unconsciously found out an answer to th巳questionGragnon gave him and so he sacrifices his life for two people he does not know
1t is the value of the three‑legged horse in its巴lfthat th巴 horse‑thi巴ves take prid巴ininsomuch that they violate law and have much zeal and pity to make it run. What the aide takes pride in is also the valu巳ofth巴ob‑ jects he s且crificeshis life for. The corporal takes pride in the v呂lueof anonymous foot‑soldiers in themselv白, thereby sacrificing his life for them, like th巳 aide and the horse‑thieves. All of them thus can pity se印 linglyworthless creatures which do not profit them, being prepared to be run over by the world.
What drives human beings with compassion, pity, and brotherhood into the real activity of sacrifice is "passion‑for unfact" (348) which realm the corporal champions, as the marshal thinks目 Andalso in the horse‑thief story the activity of thをgroom‑sentry1S not旦theft,but a passion, an im‑ molation, an apoth巳osis"(153),ぉ theF ederal deputy marshal interpr巴ts. 1t is the same passion for unfact" that mak白 thehorse‑thieves help the crippled, three‑legged horse to walk, run,品nd win race after race
Passion for unfact" can be said to be f丘ithin unrealized facts, or hope for
28 The Central Message of F剖 lkner'sA Fable unbelievable dreams.
1t is this passion for unfact" that makes the corporal cause a mutiny, in other words, driv巴shis compassion and prid邑invalue of foot‑soldiers into a real mutinious activity against the military institution. The corporal can receive his sentence of execution, since he holds this solid faith in un‑ believable dreams to be realized in the future: a society in which its merrト
bers respect the individual freedom of one another. This is why in his mind the corporal has a passionate b巳liefin human immortality based on its spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance" when he says,[man and his folly] will endure." The very fact that thεcorporal re‑ fuses the marshal's temptations to save his life in exchange for denial of the mutiny proves that the corporal does not yield to the will of th巴estab lishment: the corporal resists the prevailing power of the establishment through his own death
The corporal is d巴picted as a Christ‑figure character, mainly in two characteristics: a man who fights against the establishment,7 and also one who changes the consciousness of other characters. 1t can be s丘idthat, as it were, the entire novel deals with the corporal's influences upon others, even though there are some people who are not changed in their consciousness or very few people can keep their changed consciousness.
How the foot‑soldiers awak叩 tothe reality about themselves and their relation to th巴irofficers in warfare is explained by the runner:
it seemed to him that he could see the whole long lin巴fromthe sea‑beach白 upthe long slant of France to old tired Europe's rooftree, squatted and crouched with filthy and noisome men who had forgot four years ago how to stand erect any more, amaz巴d and bewildered and unable to b巳lieveit eitherう forewarnedand
The Central Mess品geof Faulkner's A Fable
filled with hope though (h巴knewit now) they must have been; he thought, said aloud almost: Yes, that's ι Ii t's not that we didn ' bte‑ lieve: it's that we couldn 't, didn ' knowt ゐτvany more. That包themost terrible thing they [authorities} haveゐneto us. That's the most terribble. (72‑73)
29
Listening to the corporal's simpl巴appeal,Enoughof this" (68), th巴ses01 diers recover this natural desire to refus巳toliveunder subhuman condi‑ tions fiUed with fear of death; they learn again how to stand er巳ct"(73),8
which means to discard the humiliating attitude toward their own lives and liv巴withindividual human dignity.
The crowd is also forced to change their attitude toward what thr巴atens their lovεd on巳s'lives, through the corporal's mutiny. The crowd which assembles in Chaulnesmont has got used to the war now, after four years"
(125). To the crowd war has been the absolute and invincible fortune which they ar巳obligedto乱cceptand endure. Hearing the rumor that one corporal led other soldiers into a mutiny and that now th白 色 mutineersare threaten巴dwith execution, th己crowdis filled with r丘g巴andhatr巳dtoward the corpora ,lsince they think that th巴 corporalbrought the regiment of their loved ones into the risk of execution. The crowd which has been subdued and mute toward th巴militaryauthority which caused war cries loudly against the corporal now, and marches in one mass toward the Hotel where the court‑martial is to be held.
Some men who have been loyal to the military institution are asked alternatives in terms of their own or others' lives after the corporal's mutiny succeeded. The marshal promises to his illegitimat巳son,the cor poral, that he will giv巴th巴corporalsovereignty, freedomうandlif巴ifthe corporal denies the fact of his mutiny. He is in a dilemm呂betweenhis
30 The Central Message of Faulkner's A Fable
desire to preserve the estab1ishment and his affection toward his son this time. He wants to save his own son's 1ife, although he has utilized and consumed m昌nyanonymous young men for many batt1es. And he cannot help executing his son, in spite of his aff巳ctiontoward him, because the corpora1 refuses all the conditions he gives. The Fr巴nchgeneral Grag‑ non, who commands the regiment which mutinied, requests the authority to execute his whole regiment, whil巴theauthority tries to conce呂1the fact that a mutiny occurred. Then th巴authoritymak白 threeAm巴rican301‑ diers assassinate him in secret in order to concea1 that fact
The marsha1 sends the priest to the corpora1 in order to m旦k巴thepriest persuade him to save Gragnon's and his own lives, for b1且ckmai1"(362) Unti1 his direct meeting with the corporal this time, the priest has belived that
it wasn't He [J esus
1
with His humility and pity and sacrifice that converted the world; it was pagan and b100dy Rome which did it with His martyrdom. (363)This b巴liefhas also made him 10ya1 to the military institution rather than to the corporal and his simp1e message, though he has known the corpora. l However, the priest meets the corpora1, who rejects temptations as Christ did, and the priest is awakened to the fact that he has been wrong. Hε cannot live any more 1ying to himself in the military institution, and con‑ sequent1y he kil1s himself.
As for Levine呂ndthe Quartermaster Genera1, 1 wiU exp1ain their ac‑ tions from the viewpoint of the trinity of conscience." Fau1kner exp1ains it following the words 1 quoted above in an int巴rviewin 1955・
The same trinity is represented in A Fable by the young
J
ewishThe Central Message of F昌ulkner噌sA Fable
pi10t officer who said This is terrib1e. 1 refuse to accept it, even if 1 must refuse 1ife to do so ,'the old French Quartermaster G巴nera1who said,This is terrib1e, but we can weep and bear it ,' and the English battalion runner who said,ζThis is terrible, I'm going to do something about i,.tg
31
Levine is a young officer of the Royal Air Force, who has 10ng巳dto shoot down German aerop1anes in battles. After the corporal's mutiny, he is uti1ized by the authority to conspire with the巴n巴myforce into resumption of batt1es, that is to say, to lead a German p1ane with the German genera1 into the allied nations'品erodrom巴bydisguising shooting. Since the real‑ ity he experiences is too bad to endure, he comes to kill himself. The Quartermaster Genera1, as 1 referred to on page three to five, can under‑ stand and endure what he experienced, but does not try to do anything to change the reality.
The runner, who first had no hope呂tall to chang巴theterrib1巳reality, though he did not fee1 10ya1 to the authoritarian military institution, wit‑ nesses the corporal's mutiny with his own eyes and turns himself into a man who acts for a better future. It is th巳corpora1that brings forth these three characters, whom Fau1kner counts th巴trinityof conscience." With‑ out the corpora1, these men wou1d have no opportunity to change th巴lf
perceptions of reality. Even the runner who becomes an activ巴manto do something about th巴desperaterea1ity wou1d not have changed his way of living without the cata1yst of the corporal's mutiny
The corpora1 is therefore the centra1 character of this nov巳1,even though he is neith巴roft巴nreferr巳dto nor depicted in detail. The con‑ science" which F au1kner used in th巴mtervl巳w means a menta1在ttitudeto ward the truth rev巳aledby the corpora1, which these ch呂ract巳rsdo not
32 The Central M巴ssageof Faulkner's A Fable
ignore but accept. In short, it is a sincere treatment of one's own percep‑ tion,This is terrible."
The events concerning the mutiny depicted in the first nine chapters out of ten chapters in all come to an end within a w問』ιThecorporal's mutiny is, after all, concluded by the seemingly almost overwhelming triumph of the military institution over the mutineers. Most of the foot‑ soldi巴rsof the r巴gimentwho were arr巴stedaft巳rthey were led into the mutiny by the corporal do not preserve their f呂ithin呂ctivityfor p目 C巳m cooperation with the German foot‑soldiers by disarming themselves, b巴‑
cause of agony and fear of execution. The second mutiny the runn巴r caus巴dwith the help of the former horse‑thi巴vesis completely destroyed by officers,品ndthe whole battalions of both sides including the horse‑ thieves, except the runner who survives miraculously,呂re killed by barrages. With this officers' attack on privates, the battles start again. The corporal is shot to death, and his corpse disappears by the force of shells which the military authority fires in order to nullify a proof of the mutiny's ringleader.
The last chapter, whose title is Tomorrow," while all the other chap‑ ters' titles are named after Jhe days of品 week,focuses on the marshal's funeral in Paris six years after the mutiny. There appear twelve of them . this time . . . led by a sergeant (402)," at the beginning of this chapter These thirteen men are drunk and led by a private called Picklock" in reality. These soldiers are ord巴redto obtain one complete cadaver of one Fr叩 chsoldi白 unid巳ntified呂ndunidentifi乱bl巴eitherby name regi‑ ment or rank" (409) from th巳catacombsb巴ne昌ththεF ort of Valaumon、't (409) and return with it" (409). They come across the corporal's corps巴,
without knowing whose corpse it is, owing to their liking for alcohol, and
The Central Message of F呂ulkner'sA Fable 33 carry it to Paris. This episode makes it clear that the corpora1's influ‑ ence upon soldiers six years afterwards has disappear巴dand not even a trace is 1eft in their minds. Particu1arly since it is now a period without war, and there is nothing dangerous to threaten their bodies, it seems that the corporal's message is not necessary for them
A1so in Paris, at the d昌yof marshal's funera ,lthe p丘ssiv巳butsom巴tlmes vio1ent crowd且ndthe oppressive, ostentatious, proud dignitaries of the
巴stablishmenthave not changed, and are not influenced by the corporal's mutiny, as if no mutiny had occurred. Human history depict色din A Fable does not change by virtue of one Christ‑figure soldier's courageous and self‑sacrificing activity. There remains no effect of the corpor呂l'schange of consciousness on peop1e through the mutiny, except for th巴runnerwho reappears on crutches in乱half‑burntfigure and shows his constant still defi丘ntstance against the military institution at the 1ast scene.
Can it be said that the corpora1ヲsactivity is an activity of making hu‑ man beings survive as beings with human mentality, when we see the en‑ tire work? What the novel wants to present to us as a who1e seems to b巴
far from F品u1kner'saffirmation in his Nobe1 prize address: E巴[manJis immorta1 . . . because he has a sou ,la spirit capab1e of compassion四d sacrifice and endurance."lO The corpora1 who had lived with compassion and broth巴rhoodfor other foot‑so1diers in the spirit 1 quoted above was executed by th巴marsha1;and the mi1itary institution which the now dead marsha1 had ru1ed once again reapp巴ars in still unchanging ostentatiousness. Here th巴 marshal'saffirmattion that humanity will not survive by virtue of its comp呂ssionand brotherhood, but by the strength of its intelligenc巳 呂ndvoracity seems to come true. What F品u1knertri巳S
to repres巴ntin the entire work is thus a pessimistic view of humanity, in
34 The Central Message of F aulkner's A Fable:
comparison with the affirmation of human immortality in his N obel prize addressll
However, at the last scene, there is still the runner who, though he is knocked down by the crowd, cries out,I'm not going to die. Never"
(437)ー Inthis runner the corporal' s spirit is reflected and by him it is taken over. The corporal's affirmation that [man and his folly] will en dure," not prevail, is kept solid in the runner's reappearance
As 1 mentioned on page 28, the corporal's death does not mean his com‑
plete overthrow by the 回tablishment which the marshal印 lbodies. The corporal neither yielded to the will of the establishment nor denied the fact of his mutiny, thereby preventing the authoritarian establishment from prevailing. Certainly the establishment endures拍 dwill endure; but the survival of the runner who still fights against it at the last scene shows that the corporal's spirit also endures and succeeds in prev巳nting the establishment from prevai1ing.
We can see from the last chapter Tomorrow" what image of the world in the future F aulkner tries to present in A Fable: as long as the evil r巴al‑ ity sprung from limitless desires which the marshal embodies will last, the fighting of the corporal against the marshal which is now reflected in the runner will巴ndure. The conversation b巳tweenthe marshal and the cor‑ poral which 1 quoted呂tthe beginning of this essay ref巳rsto the巳nduring and prevailing of humanity. However the entire work does not especially deal with the matter of whether humanity will survive or not, but affirms that both what the corporal and the marshal each embody will continue and they will confront each other forever, by showing the h呂lf‑burntrun‑ ner's still fighting stanc己againstthe establishment
The Central Mess呂geof FaulknerうsA Fable 35
Notes
1. William F aulknerヲ A Fable (New York: Random House, 1954). All refer ences to this edition and page numbers will be given in the text in paren theses.
Z. See Delmore Schwartz,William Faulkner's A Fable," Perspective USA (Win t巴r10, 1955). See p. 134; he points out,It is in the light of this interview that everything else must be understood."
3. William Faulkner,Address upon Receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature,"
Essays, S:ρeeches & Public Letters, ed. James B. Meriwether (New York: Ran‑
dom House, cl965), p. 120. 4. Ibid
5. See Walter ]. Slatoff,A Fable," Quest for Failure: A Stuaらof William Faulkner (IthacιCornell University Press, 1960), p. 225
6. See Olga W. Vickery Culmination and Crisis: A Fable," The Novels of William Faulkner; A Critical Interpretation (Baton Rouge: Louisi丘naState Uni‑ versity Press, 1959), pp. 210‑211.
7. The runner depicts the characteristic of the corporal's activity
His prototype (Jesus] had only man's natural propensity for evil to cont巴nd with; this one [the corpor呂1]faces all the scarlet呂nd‑brazenimpregnability of general staffs. (206)
8. See pp. 186‑87. F訓 lknerdepicts the mob in the horse‑thief story as the ideal people with individual dignity and will, using the image of a man on his own feet" (186)
9. James B. Meriwether, and Michael Millgate, (eds.), Lion in the Gar,ゐn・Inter‑ vzeω' wsith William Faulkner 1926‑1962 (New York: Random House, 1968), p 247
10. William Faulkner, Ess.のs',正if;eeches& Public Letters, p. 120
11. I think that Faulkner's interior view of humanity is revealed in this novel, and his exterior message of humanity which comes from his wish and his con勾 sciousness of his social role is expressed in his N obel prize address