The Ruins of Childhood: Jim Thompson, Erskine Caldwell, and William Faulkner Expose Guilt and Consequence

TL;DRAbstract

In this thesis, I examine the novels of Jim Thompson, Erskine Caldwell, and William Faulkner and, in turn, depict their exploration of poisoned childhood. This theme is prevalent in many of these authors' works, and I not only illustrate what horrors children are put through in their novels, but I also show that uncaring and unthinking adults are the root cause. The ruining of a child's life is a rippling problem; often times, adulthood is ruined because of a person's childhood. I explore the devastation that irresponsible adults can have on their impressionable children. Through either neglect or selfish values, they ruin the development of their children. These children both learn from their parents and have terrible lives as a result of their parent's selfishness. I also look at the exploitation of adolescent girls by lustful adults. Concentrating on young females, I show that both men and women will exploit the sexuality of young girls. This exploitation ruins both the female girl'

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