The Maturation of Bayard in Faulkner’s The Unvanquished Essay -- Faulk

The Maturation of Bayard in Faulkners The UnvanquishedWilliam Faulkner tells his novel The Unvanquished through the eyes and ears of Bayard, the word of honor of Confederate Colonel John Sartoris. The authors use of a young boy during such a turbulent time in American muniment allows him to relate events from a unique perspective. Bayard holds dual functions at heart the novel, as both a character and a narrator. The character of Bayard matures into a young adult within the work, while narrator Bayard relays the events of the story many years later. Several details within the work clue the reader to Bayards actual maturity. Diction from the inception chapter provides immediate clues. Although only twelve, the descriptions of Bayards mock-battlefield contain vocabulary far beyond his years (recalcitrance, topography, recapitulant) (p. 3-4), and Bayard admits his earlier shortcoming with words I was just twelve hence I didnt know triumph I didnt even know the word (p. 5). If the y oung boy did not know triumph, he close to likely had not learned multi-syllabic words with etymological roo...