William Faulkner uses his short stories to tell a story of corruption, especially through the acceptance of white culture, and "A Justice" is no different. He depicts his protagonist, Doom, as becoming more and more evil concurrently with his Eurocentric growth, irrevocably linking the two in the reader's mind. Faulkner thus gives materialism both a negative and European connotation, demonstrating that it leads to narcissism and should be avoided to maintain a functional and just society. Finally, he does the same with power, demonstrating that Doom's exploitation of leadership leads to a corrupt and unjust community. In “A Justice,” William Faulkner shows how the adoption of the white man's ways, particularly materialism and abuse of power, leads to the corruption of justice by perpetuating selfishness and inequality rather than the good of the community. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Throughout the story, the protagonist Ikkemotubbe, or Doom, changes his name several times, showing how he becomes increasingly evil as his identity becomes progressively whiter. As he increasingly chooses Anglo-Saxon names, his morals shift towards the value of property and power at any cost, which illustrates the selfishness and lack of justice synonymous with European culture. First, Faulkner writes about Doom as a boy, saying, "Doom's eyes were exactly the same as before he was gone, before his name was Doom, and he and Herman Basket and my daddy slept on the same pallet and they talked at night, as boys will. Then Doom's name was Ikkemotubbe” (Faulkner 2). When Ikkemotubbe uses his Indian name, he acts like a boy; his subsequent actions under white names, his Indian identity correlates to his innocence and justice Later in the story, he changes his name from Ikkemotubbe: “So when Doom told Herman Basket and Pappy that he was going to New Orleans, he said. : 'and I will tell you something else.' From now on my name will no longer be Ikkemotubbe. I am David Callicoat. And someday I will own a steamboat'” (3). Anglo-Saxon values as his identity evolves into a whiter name, particularly materialism, as illustrated by his desire to own his own steamboat. Furthermore, literary critic Robert Woods Sayre comments on Doom's fall into the trap of materialism and white culture, saying, “Here the emphasis is on private property” (Sayre 15). This alludes to the injustice of white communities, as from the obsession with private property comes inevitable selfishness and an unwillingness to share, a key factor in determining the justice – or lack thereof – of a group. Changing his name one last time, Doom's actions become increasingly immoral; for example: “That was the first night Doom was home. The next day Herman Basket told how the man began to behave strangely while eating, and died before the doctor could get there and burn some sticks” (Faulkner 4). Defining his identity with a variation of a French phrase, Doom begins killing innocent men to achieve his ambitions for power, showing how selfishness, immorality, and a lack of fairness and justice are intertwined with European culture in which he immerses himself in. , author Bruce G. Johnson confirms this in his analysis of “A Justice”: this etymological change in Doom's renaming process reflects the Euramerican influence on his acquired identity (Johnson 28). Every time Doom chooses a new name, he reflectsdeliberately changing his identity; The more European his name sounds, the more he finds himself drawn to Anglo-Saxon values such as private property and total power, which highlights the selfishness and lack of justice inherent in white culture. By characterizing Doom's descent into selfishness and materialism through his choice of white names and identities, Faulkner shows the reader the innate injustice associated with Anglo-Saxon values.Faulkner continues his theme of white beliefs corrupting justice by writing about the plague materialism that Doom brings to his tribe. In making Doom's actions unsympathetic and cruel, he shows how materialism leads to selfishness and inequality, and therefore a lack of justice. For example, when Doom returns to the tribe, "He brought six black people, even though Herman Basket said there were already more black people on the plantation than they could find use for" (Faulkner 2). Doom sees the black slaves as mere possessions and signs of his wealth and power rather than something useful, indicated by his bringing the slaves back even though the plantation had no purpose for them; this unfair treatment and lack of appreciation of slaves and their value shows an injustice in Doom's action. Critic Patricia Galloway links this idea of injustice to white culture as she writes, “It seems then that Faulkner's idea that some Indians learned a new style of slavery from whites is in fact accurate” (Galloway 6). Indians learning the concept of slavery from whites demonstrates that the inherent injustice connected to slavery is an Anglo ideal, cementing the idea that Doom's adoption of white beliefs leads to the corruption of justice. Most disturbingly, Faulkner shows the negative aspect of materialism through Doom's Precious Poison: "Then Doom took the puppy from Pappy and put it on the floor and made a pellet of New Orleans bread and salt for Sometimes-Wakeup to see how it worked” (Faulkner 4). Doom unfairly, unfairly, and immorally uses his poison to intimidate and ultimately kill his opponents, which gives property and materialism an extremely dark connotation and insinuates that excessive materialism should be avoided. Johnson continues this concept, saying, “This poison, which is his greatest possession, symbolizes Doom's infection of his own people, as he spreads the 'disease' of materialism throughout his homeland” (Johnson 30). Doom learns materialism through the white men he comes into contact with in New Orleans and brings it back to his tribe, spreading the corruption, selfishness, and injustice that comes from adopting the ways of white men. Finally, Faulkner expresses another negative side of materialism when he writes about the “'fence around this black man's cabin'” that Doom builds after Sam Fathers is born (Faulkner 10). By building a wall around the black man's property, Doom excludes him from the rest of the community and creates an atmosphere of inequality, which contributes to the injustice rampant throughout the story. Characterizing materialism as a white plague, Faulkner shows how acceptance of Doom leads to its corruption and lack of justice. Faulkner also uses Doom's lack of morals when it comes to obtaining the Man's position and his abuse of that power to illustrate how white values lead to corruption. By showing the reader how Doom cheats and kills to assume leadership and then delivers fake, rigged justice when he is the leader of his tribe, he demonstrates that true justice cannot coexist with the European culture that perpetuates the pursuit of power at any cost. First, Doom rises to power in a way.
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