Sanctuary - William Faulkner

Summary

Sanctuary tells the harrowing story of Temple Drake, a promiscuous but naive Ole Miss co-ed who is abducted and repeatedly raped by Popeye, an impotent and sadistic gangster. Her ordeal begins when she and a drunk companion, Gowan Stevens, become stranded at the Old Frenchman place, a derelict mansion inhabited by moonshiners and criminals led by Lee Goodwin. After witnessing a murder and suffering unimaginable trauma, Temple is taken by Popeye to Miss Reba's brothel in Memphis, where her physical and psychological abuse continues.

The novel intertwines Temple's story with that of Horace Benbow, a disillusioned lawyer who attempts to defend Lee Goodwin, falsely accused of Tommy's murder. Benbow's initial idealism quickly crumbles as he grapples with the pervasive corruption of the justice system and the moral decay surrounding him. Temple's coerced testimony eventually condemns Goodwin, leading to his lynching, while Popeye escapes justice for his crimes against Temple but is later executed for an unrelated murder. The story ultimately explores themes of evil, injustice, the destruction of innocence, and the profound despair that follows the collision of idealism with brutal reality.

Book Sections

Section 1

Horace Benbow, a lawyer contemplating his dissatisfying life, encounters Popeye, a small, dark, and menacing figure, by a spring in a secluded area of rural Mississippi. Benbow then visits the Old Frenchman place, a dilapidated mansion that serves as a hideout for a gang of moonshiners led by Lee Goodwin. The atmosphere is tense and unwelcoming. Tommy, a simple-minded man loyal to Goodwin, is also present. Benbow observes the sinister presence of Popeye and the general lawlessness of the inhabitants.

Character	Characteristics	Motivations
Popeye	Small, dark, emotionless, physically grotesque, impotent, sadistic, gangster.	Control, violence, asserting dominance, acting out pure malevolence.
Horace Benbow	Disillusioned lawyer, intellectual, somewhat passive and melancholic.	Escape his mundane life, intellectual curiosity, a vague sense of justice, searching for meaning.
Lee Goodwin	Violent, moonshiner, leader of a criminal gang, possessive.	Survival, maintaining his illicit business, protecting his territory and associates.
Tommy	Simple-minded, loyal to Goodwin, physically strong.	Loyalty to Goodwin, simple existence, following orders.

Section 2

Gowan Stevens, a wealthy but perpetually drunk Ole Miss student, drives Temple Drake, a flirtatious and naive co-ed, to the Old Frenchman place after their car breaks down. Gowan is too inebriated to protect Temple, leaving her vulnerable to the sinister men at the house. Temple, despite her terror, is also drawn by a perverse fascination with the danger. The men, especially Popeye, eye Temple with predatory interest, intensifying her fear and the looming sense of dread.

Character	Characteristics	Motivations
Temple Drake	Young, wealthy, naive, co-ed, beautiful, promiscuous, thrill-seeking, terrified.	Thrills, attention, escaping boredom, ultimately survival and self-preservation.
Gowan Stevens	Drunk Ole Miss student, irresponsible, weak-willed, ultimately cowardly.	Seeking alcohol, impressing Temple, general recklessness, avoiding consequences.

Section 3

The men at the Old Frenchman place attempt to sexually assault Temple. Popeye, in a grotesque display of possessive violence rather than protection, intervenes, preventing the others from touching her. He then brutally murders Tommy with a corn cob, not for threatening Temple, but for witnessing Popeye's impotence and taking "his prize." Lee Goodwin is framed for Tommy's murder. Popeye then abducts a terrified Temple, taking her away from the Old Frenchman place, presumably to Memphis.

Section 4

Popeye takes Temple to Miss Reba's brothel in Memphis. There, Temple is held captive and subjected to further abuse and psychological torment. She is forced to live amidst the sordid daily life of the brothel, witnessing its routines and inhabitants. Popeye, due to his impotence, sets her up with Red, a gangster associate, turning Temple into a sexual commodity under his control. Temple's spirit slowly breaks under the relentless abuse and humiliation.

Character	Characteristics	Motivations
Miss Reba	Proprietor of the Memphis brothel, kind-hearted but cynical, worldly.	Business, looking after her girls, maintaining order, practicality.
Red	A gangster, Popeye's associate, physically dominant.	Lust, obedience to Popeye, pleasure.

Section 5

Horace Benbow, driven by a crumbling sense of idealism and a desire to escape his unfulfilling life and marriage, decides to defend Lee Goodwin, whom he believes to be innocent of Tommy's murder. Benbow's investigation leads him to Memphis and Miss Reba's brothel, where he learns about Temple's abduction and rape. He becomes increasingly obsessed with Temple's case, seeing her as a symbol of violated innocence, and struggles deeply with the moral ambiguity and pervasive corruption of the legal system and society.

Section 6

Temple is brought to testify at Lee Goodwin's trial. Under immense psychological pressure from Popeye's intimidation and the manipulating district attorney, she delivers a fabricated testimony. She falsely accuses Goodwin of raping her and murdering Tommy, intertwining truth with lies. Her testimony, crafted to protect Popeye and herself from further harm, seals Goodwin's fate. He is convicted of murder and subsequently dragged from the courthouse by a furious mob and lynched.

Section 7

Popeye, the architect of Temple's suffering and the true murderer of Tommy, is later arrested in Alabama for an unrelated murder he committed years prior. He goes to his execution by hanging without emotion, resistance, or any discernible human reaction, remaining a chillingly blank and inscrutable character to the end. His death offers no real justice or closure for the victims of his depravity.

Section 8

Temple Drake, profoundly traumatized and morally corrupted by her experiences, is sent to Europe by her wealthy father. She is last seen in a park in Paris, sitting idly, seemingly vacant and detached from the world around her, forever altered by her ordeal. Horace Benbow, utterly disillusioned by the failure of justice and the pervasive evil he has witnessed, returns to his unsatisfying life. He is left with a deep sense of despair, unable to reconcile his ideals with the brutal realities of human depravity and societal corruption.

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Literary Genre: Southern Gothic, Crime Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Modernist Literature

Author Facts:

• William Faulkner (1897-1962) was an American writer renowned for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi.
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949 for "his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel."
• Faulkner pioneered complex narrative techniques, including stream of consciousness, multiple narrators, and non-chronological storytelling.
• He is considered one of the most important writers of Southern literature and American modernism.
• Other major works include The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Light in August.

Morale of the Book:

Sanctuary presents a bleak vision of humanity, arguing that evil is a pervasive, almost intrinsic force that can corrupt and destroy innocence. It suggests that justice is often perverted, and that societal institutions are frequently complicit in or helpless against the triumph of brutality and moral depravity. The novel highlights the fragility of moral order and the profound despair that can result when idealism confronts the overwhelming power of malevolence and human corruption.

Curiosities:

• Faulkner famously claimed he wrote Sanctuary as a "potboiler" to make money, describing it as a "horrifying tale for a dollar" because his earlier, more experimental works hadn't sold well.
• Upon its initial publication in 1931, Sanctuary was highly controversial due to its graphic depictions of violence, rape, and moral degradation, shocking many readers and critics.
• Faulkner's editor, Harrison Smith, found the initial draft too disturbing and incoherent and insisted on extensive revisions. Faulkner virtually rewrote large sections of the novel in the galleys, resulting in the more polished and darker version known today.
• The character of Popeye is often cited as one of literature's most chilling villains, embodying pure, unmotivated evil, devoid of empathy, emotion, or any identifiable human quality.
• The novel's setting in Prohibition-era Mississippi provides a backdrop reflecting the lawlessness, moral ambiguity, and social decay that permeate the narrative.