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

War and Grief in Faulkners Sh altogether non return and The UnvanquishedIt is inevitable when dealing regularly with a compositors case as brutal as war, that death will occur. Death brings ruefulness for the victims loved ones, which William Faulkner depicts accurately and fairly in many a(prenominal) of his works, including the short story Shall Not Perish and The Unvanquished. While the works resist because of the time (The Unvanquished deals with the Civil War while Shall Not Perish takes place during World War II) and the loved ones grieving (The Unvanquished shows the wo of a lover and Shall Not Perish shows the grief of families), the imposition they all feel is the same. When we first 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 dollar bill when the Yankees burn her family 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 potently that he was willing to die. In doing so, however, she becomes detached from the Southern life the work force are trying to preserve. She thinks Gavins death has opened her eyes to a new world and that the old world in which they lived was pointless. Living use to be dull, you see. Stupid. You lived in the same house your father was born 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 young man and in time you would marry him, in your mothers wedding raiment 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 eer wanted that kind of life. She easily fell in love with Gavin, and formerly he was gone, she decided to give up her dreams of that kind of lifeshe wasnt going to wait for the war to end so she could start the beat of finding an acceptable young man again. Drusilla was going to take Gavins spot in the war, out of love and grief and loyalty.