…thinking how war and drink are the two things man is never too poor to buy.
Hello and welcome to the Discourse. William Faulkner often used Christian allegory and biblical inferences in his stories and novels and A Fable is one such novel for which he won the Pulitzer Prize of 1954. A Fable is a war novel based on World War I. A war novel or military fiction is a novel about war. It is a novel in which the primary action takes place on a battlefield, or in a civilian setting (or home front), where the characters are preoccupied with the preparations for, suffering the effects of or recovering from war. A Fable is an example of a modern allegory full of Christian symbolism. The story expresses the end of World War 1 in the trenches of France as a result of soldiers’ mutiny. The soldier’s mutiny soon turns into a mass movement inspired forcing the leaders to end the war.
Summary
A Fable is full of allegorical inferences. It talks about the struggle of the Christ-like Corporal Stephan who is widely known as “the corporal” in the novel. He is fighting for the French army in the trenches of World War I.
The novel begins in 1918. Four years after the beginning of the horrific warfare of World War I, a mysterious corporal of the French army convinces his 12 fellow officers to stop fighting. He is tired of killing enemies and seeing his soldiers being killed. He preaches and convinces his fellow officers to opt for peace by simply denying to fight anymore. His disciples promise to follow him, along with “the corporal” they convince Three Thousand other soldiers of their battalion to initiate a military mutiny by refusing to fight. The whole battalion of 3000 soldiers decides to lay down their weapons. Neither they leave the trenches nor they shoot any other shot.
The German soldiers wonder this sudden silence. While they are expected to mercilessly crush these French mutineers, they realize the importance of peace too, and respond in the same manner by dropping their own weapons. The situation turns into a truce and as the French and German soldiers communicate, they realize that the power to put an end to this meaningless fight is in their own hands.
While the foot soldiers and common citizens are happy about the truce, the higher political and military officers feel as if power is slipping out of their hands. They realize that the entire facade of their ruling power depends on their ability to wager the war again. This sudden truce makes them feel as if they are not at all required. The French and German higher officials arrange a meeting and decide to find out the reason for this truce and break it as soon as possible to reinitiate the war.
The allied generals inspecting the french trenches ordered the arrest of all the 3000 soldiers who refused to battle. All the prisoners were brought to Chaulnesmont, a French town. The ruling class spreads propaganda against these soldiers and this creates a mob frenzy. Locals demand execution of these soldiers however, soon the Generalissimo realizes that not all soldiers but the twelve officers leading them are to be blamed. They further come to know that the leader of these twelve soldiers is ‘the corporal’ or Corporal Stephan.
The Generalissimo orders execution of Corporal Stephan who again peacefully accepts the execution showing his adherence to pacifism. After his execution, his dead body is sent to his wife and his sisters who bury him in Vienne-la-Pucelle.
Meanwhile, the German and French soldiers continue to meet with each other in the trenches, and even after the execution of Corporal Stephen, it appears that the war is at its end. But the rulers succeed in causing confusion and one day, artillery from both sides resume while attacking the peaceful congregants. This again resumes the war.
As the conflict resumes, a barrage of artillery destroys the grave of Corporal Stephan and his spirit is freed. The corporal’s spirit then transfers into a British message runner who again starts spreading the message of peace and pacifism. Finally, this British message runner confronts the Generalissimo and defeats him to bring peace.
Alongside this main story, a loosely related story of an injured American racehorse is also being told. The racehorse is injured and about to face execution. However, his rider and trainer are very fond of him and they somehow rescue him from being executed. He then runs away with the horse and travels through various small towns where the horse still continues to win races even though the horse is running only on his three legs. The rider then becomes a sentry. He adopts a new identity and is sent to Europe to join the war.
Analysis
A Fable is highly allegorical. Corporal Stephan is shown christ and he is generally addressed as ‘the corporal’ throughout the novel. Faulkner has blatantly used Christ’s allusion to describe Corporal Stephan. He gathers twelve disciples, he is aged 33 at the time of mutiny and his execution. The night before his execution he had the last supper along with his twelve disciples including the one who betrayed him. Furthermore, the name of his mother is Marya and his lover is a prostitute from the city of Marseilles.
The whole action of the novel parallels with the span of Christian Holy Week, with the triumphant entry, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, the resurrection. After his execution, his grave is destroyed as a result of German artillery and his spirit resurrects. Even his name Corporal Stephan alludes to Christianity and resembles Saint Stephan who is mentioned in the New Testament and is widely considered as the first martyr in the history of the Christian Church.
The main theme of the novel is Pacifism and strong opposition to the war. The novel finely describes the absurdity and destructivity of war and how some of the power grabbers always want to continue the war. The novel further shows military authority in a bad light.
Faulkner won the Pulitzer Prize of 1954 for this novel and he said that A Fable is "the best work of my life and maybe of my time". He began writing this novel during the last weeks of the Second World War and the Korean War began when he finished this novel. Obviously, he wanted this novel to be a strong satirical pacifist message against war. Another novel with similar themes was Catch 22 which was written by Joseph Heller.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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