This past December, I went to Barnes & Noble and bought a handful of books. Among them was a William Faulkner anthology called “Collected Stories.” I have personally been a fan of the author since I read “As I Lay Dying” in my early 20s and found the potential for literature cracking open. Given the girth of the volume, I knew it would be intimidating to just read the 42 short stories front to back, so instead I’ve decided to take my time. In doing so, I plan to cover one a week until completed. I will be using this space to share my opinions of each piece as well as any stray observations I may have picked up from the greater world of Faulkner mania.
Much like everything in “The Wilderness,” the chronology and consistency of these characters are very confusing. With “A Courtship,” Faulkner has reached the earliest story involving Ikkemotubbe which also marks the author’s final short story he ever wrote. While every story here has been edited for consistency, there’s something confusing about certain details, such as changing the steamboat captain from Calicoat to Hogganbeck, that once again find him playing fast and loose with history. With that said, there is something for how Faulkner uses Ikkemotubbe to reflect the cultural shift of The American South, where “The Man” loses his innocence and becomes a heartless, slave-owning murderer who will do anything for power. When he's seen carrying a box of poison by the end, it’s suggested that he has cut a few corners in order to go from being the son of the female lineage (which would not make him ruler) to the person who will control everything. While he ends the story with the name Doom, “A Courtship” is the final moment when he could be argued to have a soul.
Even if this is a story about him trying to gain dominance, this doesn’t go the route one would expect. Much like “A Justice,” there is a sense of masculinity on trial as he challenges somebody over a woman. Throughout the three stories in “The Wilderness,” Faulkner has depicted The Issetebbeha Family at odds with different races. “Red Leaves” was Native Americans against slaves, “A Justice” between Native Americans and mixed race (white/Black), and with “A Courtship,” Ikkemotubbe is finally facing someone of pure whiteness. They both want to gain the courtship of Herman Basket’s unnamed sister. It’s an interesting proposition given that she isn’t necessarily attractive physically, but whose power arouses Ikkemotubbe and his rival David Hogganbeck.
While Hogganbeck by name is somebody new to this universe, he has been along this journey the entire time. He is the steamboat pilot formerly known as Calicoat in “A Justice.” Similarly, Faulkner has altered the lineage and made Issetebeha turn from his son to his uncle, meaning that Issetebeha’s son Mokketube is also at odds with Ikkemotubbe. With that said, Ikkemotubbe comes from a lineage of women that in itself makes him contradictory to the larger story. Women are generally tender, and nothing about Ikkemotubbe suggests that. In fact, he poisons a fair share of characters by the story’s end, including Mokketube and his son in order to acquire the title of “The Man.” It can be argued that he sees others as objects for him to exploit, and it becomes clearer when he goes for Herman Basket’s sister.
Another detail worth pointing out is the brief presence of General (Andrew) Jackson. Readers may be quick to notice that this is the same Jackson who would become the seventh American President. He’s still in his combat days and presents a racist perspective that informs Ikkemotubbe and Faulkner’s greater reasoning for erasing the Native American perspective. As President, Jackson would go on to remove entire groups and create a notorious conflict between the white men and every tribe. Given that each of these stories in “The Wilderness” has focused on the conflict that is implicitly about identity, it makes sense that Jackson would be somewhere in the background, ready to take away the land from innocent people and demean them. Maybe this isn’t entirely why Ikkemotubbe goes through a process of adopting his own white man name Doom, but it seems evident that he had a survival instinct impacted by Jackson. If he didn’t change his attitude, he would fall victim to his vicious, overpowering ways.
It also should be noted that along with Jackson’s presence, there is the familiar Faulkner trope of unknown narrators. In this case, it is difficult to really piece together who is saying it and when or where. There’s a lack of trust over authenticity, but it is presumed to be someone from The Chickasaw Tribe commenting on “The People.” With that said, he is far from the center of many major conflicts here that it’s difficult to suggest these events as being entirely faithful except for the fact that he’s very critical of Ikkemotubbe’s change of behavior.
While it’s true that this is a story about courting Herman Basket’s sister, neither of the Baskets really has a place of merit. They don’t speak and this is the work of Ikkemotubbe and Hogganbeck. Much like Jackson, there is a divide between the person and their desires. By all accounts, both men are considered alpha males, capable of having impressive control over manly actions. There is the belief that whichever one can out-man the other man will become “The Man” and get Herman Basket’s sister. Of course, anyone who has been following Ikkemotubbe closely will notice that again he’s not attracted to her looks, but the power. What is to stop him from poisoning her as well? This is likely just his attempt to be the ruler of the south.
The only real major difference is that Hogganbeck is willing to lose his job for her. It’s interesting, especially since she is Native American and he is white. This suggests certain control of power that oppresses in a different way. Still, both men decide that the love of this unknown woman whom they haven’t even talked to is worth their lives. In the event that both complete their tasks successfully, they agree to go to a cave and shoot a gun into the roof. If there’s not a cave-in, the person inside wins. If there is, then a forfeit offers the opponent a victory. Given that Hogganbeck is designed like a tall tale figure, it makes sense that everything had to be the highest stakes imaginable. Given that Ikkemotubbe is used to murdering anything that stands in his way, he'll find a way to make it work.
For the first time since “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner has also added a queer subtext, albeit very subtle. Through these activities, Ikkemotubbe is suggested to have formed an unexpressed love for Hogganbeck. He even cries by the end, believing that it will always be unrequited. While this plays into the negative stereotype of the hostile closeted homosexual, it works as a conflict with the heteronormative of Herman Basket’s sister. Also, it makes sense as a conflict of power, where Ikkemotubbe has found someone just like him who would likely give him balance if they were to team up. He has the aggression he needs, free of the tenderness that surrounds him. He keeps pushing people away, and it’s clear that it eats at him, dissociating to the point that everyone is just an object. Does he do it just to escape complicated thoughts around his sexuality? Probably, even if it’s been suggested that Native Americans are more accepting of queerness like “two spirits.” Maybe this is on Faulkner’s end and reflects the white perspective of sexuality as something regimented and hurtful to anyone even perceptively gay.
If that is true, the punchline of the whole thing makes it even more ironic. Who does Herman Basket’s sister choose in this battle for dominance? Those deciding between Ikkemotubbe or Hogganbeck will be wrong. For reasons that are effectively surprising, she chooses Owl-At-Night. Why does she choose someone who didn’t compete in the competition and who openly admitted to not being masculine enough? It could just be that he was honest enough to notice his shortcomings and willing to be open with others. However, others can argue that it was because the two competing men only saw her as a trophy. She wasn’t so much about years and years of love, but to gain her power. With this in mind, Faulkner’s final statement is that the great American conflict of being better than someone else isn’t what’s important. There has to be compassion and desire, a recognition of faults, and a willingness to work together instead of against.
So yes, “A Courtship” ends unsuccessfully. Both men end up alone, and it comes with even more tragedy. Who knows if Ikkemotubbe would’ve been a kinder spouse if he had won. Maybe his repressed feelings for Hogganbeck wouldn’t eat at him. Losing is important in life, and it’s clear that Ikkemotubbe isn’t someone who desires that conclusion. He wants power to the point that he illogically destroys three generations of rulership just to be called The Man. He comes back as Doom, reflecting his shift into darkness and becoming a powerful slave owner. If one thing is clear by the story’s end, it’s that the chances of him experiencing love are impossible. He has closed himself off, choosing instead to destroy compassion for convenience.
Again, these three stories so far have done an impressive job of laying out Issetibbeha’s family lineage. While it’s changed significantly between “Red Leaves” and “A Courtship,” a lot of the themes have come more into focus. These are men on the verge of losing their humanity, reflecting that slavery didn’t just impact the white characters. There’s the potential for a loss of identity to usurp centuries of Native American identity within a very short window. The white man makes them turn on each other, codependent on the white way, and destroy everything that symbolized their fruitfulness. Even the presence of Jackson is at times brilliant in showing the despair that’s about to happen.
While there has been plenty of them addressed throughout the piece, there are a few more character connections worthy of mentioning. David Hogganbeck is said to be the grandfather of Boon Hogganbeck, who appears in a handful of stories including “The Reivers.” As with before, Issetebbeha and Mokketubbe also appear in a handful of other pieces including the novels “The Reivers,” “Go Down Moses,” and “The Town.” It should also be noted that General Jackson will be promoted by the next story in “The Wilderness” to President with “Lo!”
Given that many of the time considered “A Courtship” to be secondary work by the author, the journey to publication makes sense. It was written in the spring of 1942 and roughly a decade after the three other Indian Stories. There were six rejections before it appeared in The Sewanee Review which offered $200. This would be published in 1948, which would mark the longest gap so far between being originally written and final publication. He claims that a lot of things would be changed because it was “before I had my Yoknapatawpha genealogy straightened out.” Ikkemotubbe’s journey into becoming Doom is also included in “The Compson Appendix” featured in “The Sound and the Fury.” The story would win the 1949 O. Henry Prize and was reprinted two years later in “Collected Stories.” Of the 42 featured stories, it was the last one written.
While on the surface “A Courtship” simply looks like another story of men competing for dominance, it is a farewell to one of Faulkner’s odder families in “Collected Stories.” It’s the concluding moment of a man giving up his dignity and choosing power over empathy. With plenty of curious subtexts that ask a lot about what these characters really want, there’s a lot to suggest how the white man has destroyed America subliminally, where compassion disappears in favor of carnage. Without outright stating it, Faulkner comments on the tragedy of man to not appreciate the world, instead picking fights wherever they can. Love cannot be achieved by foolishly risking one’s life. If anything, it’s admitting that you’re not man enough to blow up a mountain. You could still survive, but there’s still better ways to prove your bravery to others.
Coming Up Next: “Lo!”
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