Disability and its Intersection with Race and Class in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying (1930) and John Steinbeck ‘s Of Mice and Men (1937).

Abstract

This research paper is a comparative study of William Faulkner‟sAs I Lay Dying(1930) and John Steinbeck „s Of Mice and Men (1937). It examines the intersection of disability concern with race and class in both novels .To achieve the intended results , we borrowed concepts from disability studies theory,namely Williams Kimberle Crenshaw‟s theory of “Intersectionality”and Josh Lukin‟s theory of “Disability and Blackness”.The appropriateness of these theories is explained by Lennard J.Davis who claims in his theory “Disability Studies Consciousness” that we should read any novel with disability consciousness since all the novels refer in a way or another to the issue of disability .We have divided our discussion into four chapters.The first chapter analyses disability concern in both novels.The second chapter discusses how Lennie and Darl are marginalized and ill-treated just like black people.The third chapter analyses how the disabled Lennie is exploited and lives under bad conditions like people who belong to the working class. Moreover,we discuss disability‟s intersection with class in As I Lay Dying through Cash since he has physical disability and he belongs to the lower class.In the last chapter ,we tackle the attitudes of the two selected authors towards racism and Capitalism.After analyzing the two novels,we conclude that Lennie and Darl share common fates with the blacks. Second,due to his disability,Lennie lives the same experiences as people from the working class,and Cash is the best example of disability‟s intersection with class in As I Lay Dying.Third, Steinbeck and Faulkner have utterly opposing views towards racism and Capitalism.