Old Verities and Truths of the Heart

by warren

In his Novel Prize Address, Faulkner states that an author must
leave "no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities
and truths of the heart...love and honor and pity and pride and
compassion and sacrifice." He accuses his younger contemporaries
of ignoring these noble spiritual pillars while pondering the
atomic doom of mankind with questions like, "When will I be blown
up?" Such physical fears, far from conflicts of the heart, are
what plague his bomb-obsessed contemporaries. Yet Faulkner stands,
seemingly alone, in opposition to this weakness; he "decline[s] to
accept the end of man" and in rebelling, fights for the old
universal truths and the glories of the past. In classical style,
he brushes away passing fears and fads, settling for nothing less
than the "problems of the human heart in conflict with itself."
Nothing else is worth writing about and Faulkner's work is living
proof.
The characters in Light in August are full of the conflicts and
virtues Faulkner describes in his speech. In Lena, Hightower, and
Christmas, one can find endurance, sacrifice, and honor. In other
characters, such as Byron Bunch, the main ingredient is hope. Yet
regardless of who he is describing, Faulkner does not forget that
only the ancient feelings innate in humanity, those in the soul,
are worthwhile.
1.Hope and Love:

2.Honor and Pride:

3. Pity and Compassion:

4. Sacrifice and Endurance:
Sacrifice and endurance are some of the most painful human
experiences. To sacrifice is to forfeit something desired for
something that is worth more. It is in a way human wisdom and
compassion mixed together, the acknowledgment of something nobler
and the generosity to give up your desires. It can, however, mean
something else. Sacrifice also means carnal death for life of the
soul, like an animal sacrifice for forgiveness. Endurance, much
like sacrifice, is a painful experience that requires a man to
suffer without yielding, to march on while bleeding. In Light in
August, Christmas and Hightower endure pain until relief comes
from sacrifice.
During their lives, both Christmas and Hightower endure the pain
of a hostile society that attacks them endlessly. Christmas
endures his never-ending road while searching for identity and his
history. He is beaten by society for being black and he suffers
for not being black nor white. Hightower, likewise, endures years
of suffering in his lunatic search for identity in the town where
his grandfather once galloped. Both men are hated by most people
for most of their lives, but endure. Much like the honor and pride
they both share, it is also their ability to endure that keeps
them afloat.
Their peace comes in sacrifice. Hightower's is less physical, but
equally painful and alleviating. The price he pays is his life
with others: he becomes a ghost, forgotten by his enemies,
forgotten by society. Christmas, perhaps because of his violent
life, must pay in blood for his peace. He is sacrificed with lead
and steel: he dies with serenity on his face, always to be
remembered by those who witnessed his death.
Those who write about fear, "the basest of all things," must
rediscover the power that lies unhidden in universal truths. If
one aims to write something that will last, that will "endure and
prevail," he must write about these truths and about noble
feelings. The only way to know for sure is to look back at the
literature of the past. What connects all the written words that
have lasted through the centuries? What has man deemed worthy to
pass on to his children so it reaches us today? And lastly, what
has remained from the pillars that supported our father's fathers
while they endured? Without a doubt it was the "glory of his
past."

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