Brushing up the White’s Image in William Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust

Abstract

To read William Faulkner’s novelIntruder in the Dustis to expose the racial conflict and excavate the reason of its reconciliation. In the novel, there is conflicting relationship between the white and black charactersand that is established after Crawford Gowrie’s accusation of Lucas as Vinson Gowrie’s murderer. Since Crawford and Lucas belong to separate race they have bitter relationship which is based on racial conflict. The age long racial conflict which began with master slave relationshipduring the Greek period continues through the colonizer and the colonizedin the colonial eraand is still continued in the form of ruler and the ruledin the modern world. This hierarchy only comes to the halt through reconciliation butthe whitesreconcile only to prove their kindness. Even by misusing law they want to reconstruct white’s benevolent image.