William Faulkner’s literature is quite a heavy read, not only in terms of psychology and the issues he addresses, but also in his writing style, in which stream of consciousness is often intertwined with jumps in the narrative sequence. His work “Desecrator of Ashes” is really difficult to read, you turn the next page feeling as if you have manually cut down a hectare of a rugged rainforest, but, as always, this writer’s conception justifies all the effort the reader spends.
“The Desecrator of Ashes” begins with an extraordinary situation in which a 16-year-old boy, Chick, nephew of attorney Gavin Stevens, falls through an ice floe. His savior turns out to be a Negro, Lucas Beecham! Lucas rescues the boy, clothes him, and gives him food. Not wanting to be beholden to the black man for anything, Chick offers him money, but his rescuer refuses. This is only the beginning of the story, but it already shows a clear message throughout the book: the situation of the boy’s rescue is a kind of metaphor that embodies the racial prejudices of the American South, the white man’s denial of his right to be an equal and worthy citizen to the black man. This is how the boy appears as a white man at the beginning of the novel, but his transformation by the finale is striking: he symbolizes a new generation capable of embracing equality and equal rights.
It so happens that Lucas Beecham turned out to be the true embodiment of arrogance, which, coincidentally, almost led to his death. The fact is that he was arrested on suspicion of the murder of a white man – Vinson Gowrie – a member not just a family, but almost a criminal clan. Lucas is threatened with a real lynching, but, not particularly worried about his future, he turns to the boy he saved earlier. Lucas Beecham tells Chick that Gowrie was killed with an entirely different gun than the one he personally had. The only way to prove it is to dig up the dead man’s body! This is where the morally difficult quest for justice begins.
The moral side of the story
Thus, it is Chick who is the central figure of the moral strata of the entire novel. In his quest to help Lucas, he undergoes a gradual process of evolution from a petulant boy to a mature young man who looks at the world objectively and condemns the outrages he beholds with his own eyes. Despite their kinship, Stevens and Chick embody opposite traits: the uncle is an eloquent and word-loving man, while Chick is a true passion. That’s why Stevens chooses an intellectual approach to racial issues and comes to the logical conclusion that modern methods simply don’t work. Their society is in dire need of change, and change is sure to come, but not anytime soon. Chick is devoid of this understanding from the start! He believes that the liberal approach to equalizing rights through legislative measures is incompetent. The white man’s insatiable desire to continue to enslave the black man will simply prevent the liberal process from taking place.
It is this difficult and painful conviction that underlies the book’s central message: the American South remains afraid of its skeletons, resting, but not forever buried, in closets rimmed by a racist past that, as before, has an enormous influence on the minds of the community and on the general moral judgment. Because of social moral prejudice, Lucas Beecham would be executed simply because his skin color is different from the majority, and for a decision as important as taking a life, even that of a Negro, there is no need to resort to legal proceedings.
Style of narration
The Desecrator of Ashes consists almost entirely of an endless stream of consciousness, but whose stream is it? Maybe Gavin Stevens’, maybe Chick’s? Unlikely. The author, as a tangible quantity, is absent from the work, so even the boy is hard to perceive as the voice of the author. Furthermore, it would be a huge mistake to identify Chick with the image of some hero of all humanity who leads his flock to the source of enlightenment, where equality and brotherly love are seen as the main goal. Perhaps he is merely opening a door leading to natural justice, but is realized through the desecrating decisions and actions taken by Sheriff Hope and attorney Gavin Stevens. Otherwise, how can one explain the secret digging up of the body, the hiding of the suspect, etc.
Perhaps I will allow myself another lyrical digression and highlight another very important point in the book. Lucas Beecham, in the literal sense of the phrase, forms a veritable rescue team in the form of Stevens, the sheriff, Chick, Alec Sander and Miss Habersham! If we look figuratively at the alliance formed, we see it as a fusion of law and society, strength and will, experience and courage! Such a formula seems sufficient to defeat all racial prejudice and to eradicate it from the southern lands of the United States.