「社會就在你的背後!」：威廉福克納的 《野生棕櫚樹》

“Society Is Right behind You!”: Platonic Love amidst Transgressions in William Faulkner’s The Wild Palms1

當許多未婚媽媽尋找社會認可的避難所，來掩飾她們先前不道德的行為。 夏蕾特•瑞特麥爾卻反其道而行。她放棄原有的妻子及母親的身份，放棄和亨 利（夏蕾特•瑞特麥爾的男友）建立新家庭的機會，最後強迫亨利幫她墮胎。 因此父與母的「密謀」，取代了傳統母與子共存的關係。換言之：亨利及夏蕾特• 瑞特麥爾聯手殺害了尚未出生的兒子。對夏蕾特•瑞特麥爾而言，把兒子從婚 姻生活中剔除，才能讓她追求執著於性滿足的生活方式。 如果我們了解「棕櫚樹」的雙關語，此本小說的標題《野生棕櫚樹》象徵 類似圓形的形體，就如同人類的手掌，近乎圓形的形狀。不禁讓我們聯想起， 夏蕾特•瑞特麥爾和亨利逃亡的路線，不管他們兩人逃得多遠，終究回到原點： 紐奧良。因墮胎失敗而即將死亡的夏蕾特•瑞特麥爾，想見她的女兒最後一面。 所以，他們只好回到故鄉。不管他們兩人的地理位置的移動有多麼雜亂，而在 必須回到原點的情況下，使得他們的逃亡形成近乎圓形的樣貌。這樣回到原點 的結局與自然主義者的理念互相呼應：十九世紀晚期的自然主義小說，描寫一 種人力無法抗拒的現象：「人類其實無處可去，不管時間過了多久，人類會回到 最初出發的原點」（Donald Pizer 40， 36)。即使夏蕾特•瑞特麥爾和亨利充滿浪 漫主義的心情，在這種心情催化下，他們兩人堅信愛情的力量，可超越世俗道 德和社會價值的約束。但他們卻失算且低估，「由環境與遺傳帶來不可抗拒的力 量」（Donald Pizer 32， 10)。最後夏蕾特•瑞特麥爾和亨利不得不向這些力量低 頭、屈服。

As many unwed mothers look for a socially approved shelter in which they can restore their lost morality， Charlotte Rittenmeyer in The Wild Palms heads toward the opposite direction， resigns the roles of wife and mother， and passes up a chance of re-establishing a family with Harry by pushing him to perform an abortion on her. Therefore， the mother-baby codependence is reduced by the father-mother “conspiracy” to murder their unborn baby， and to Charlotte， the removal of their baby opens up the possibility of continuing their sex-obsessive life. The title of the story， The Wild Palms， might conjure up a semi-circular image. If we take the pun on a human palm， their wild escapade sounds not only ironic， but also futile because they ultimately return to New Orleans where Charlotte can see her daughter for one last time before she dies. Regardless of their various geographical relocations within nearly thirteen months， Harry and Charlotte’s circular trip which draws them back to the point of origin bears analogy to Donald Pizer’s definitions of naturalistic writing: “ most late nineteenth-century naturalistic novels are about people who seem to be going nowhere，” for “their journeys through time are essentially circular journeys which return them to where they began” (40 and 36). In contrast to Harry and Charlotte’s romantic state of mind， which “seeks to transcend the limitations” of morality and social values， their fumbling efforts cannot subdue “such casual forces as heredity and environment in determining behavior and belief，(Pizer 32 and 10).