War and Grief in Faulkner’s Shall Not Perish and The Unvanquished :: Faulkner’s The Unvanquished Essays

War and Grief in Faulkners Shall Not Perish and The UnvanquishedIt is inevitable when dealing regularly with a subject as brutal as war, that death will occur. Death brings grief for the victims loved ones, which William Faulkner depicts accurately and fairly in galore(postnominal) of his works, including the short story Shall Not Perish and The Unvanquished. While the works differ because of the time (The Unvanquished deals with the Civil War while Shall Not Perish takes put up during World War II) and the loved ones grieving (The Unvanquished shows the grief of a buff and Shall Not Perish shows the grief of families), the pain they all feel is the same. When we first of all meet Cousin Drusilla, her fiance Gavin has already died at battle. Some Southern ladies may have handled their grief passively, retreating to their beds to sleep their pain away. However, Drusilla takes a different approach. She becomes a part of the war, actively saving her horse when the Yankees burn her f amily home and eventually joining her uncles cavalry. Drusilla refuses to passively grieve she becomes a part of the war for which her lover felt so strongly that he was willing to die. In doing so, however, she becomes detached from the Southern life the men are trying to preserve. She thinks Gavins death has heart-to-heart her eyes to a new world and that the old world in which they lived was pointless. Living used to be dull, you see. Stupid. You lived in the same house your father was natural in and your fathers sons and daughters had the sons and daughters of the same negro slaves to nurse and coddle, and then you grew up and you fell in love with your acceptable junior man and in time you would marry him, in your mothers wedding gown perhaps and with the same silver for presents she had receivedStupid, you see (100-101). However, Drusillaeven though she may not be willing to admit it, even to herselfhad always wanted that kind of life. She easily fell in love with Gavin, an d once he was gone, she distinguishable to give up her dreams of that kind of lifeshe wasnt going to wait for the war to end so she could start the cycle of finding an acceptable young man again. Drusilla was going to take Gavins spot in the war, out of love and grief and loyalty.