The Lost Generation

1. The Lost Generation William Faulkner F. Scott Fitzgerald Ernest Hemingway

2. The Big 3 of The Lost Generation • William Faulkner – As I Lay Dying; The Sound and the Fury; Absalom, Absalom;Light in August; Barn Burning; A Rose for Emily; etc. • F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby; The Last Tycoon; Tender is the Night; This Side of Paradise; etc. • Ernest Hemingway – A Farewell to Arms; The Old Man and the Sea; For Whom the Bell Tolls; The Sun Also Rises; The Snows of Kilimanjaro; etc.

3. William Faulkner • Born in New Albany, Mississippi on Sept. 25, 1897 • He explored the gamut of post Civil War southern life, particularly personal histories of characters such as the Snopes family • He wrote poems, essays, and short stories as well as novels and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novels A Fable (1954), and The Reivers (1962) • He was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949 • He died in Byhalia, Mississippi, on July 6, 1962

4. Faulkner’s writing style • William Faulkner made extensive use of symbolism and utilized the stream-of-consciousness technique • As I Lay Dying is told in turns by each of the family members, ‘the mood of the novel ranges from dark comedy to the deepest pathos’

5. Quotes about Faulkner • “For all his concern with the South, Faulkner was actually seeking out the nature of man. Thus we must turn to him for that continuity of moral purpose which made for the greatest of our classics.” Ralph Ellison “Faulkner…belongs to the full-dressed post-Flaubert group of Conrad, Joyce, and Proust.” Edmund Wilson

6. As I Lay Dying • The shifting narrator perspective enables the reader to experience the differing point-of-view of each speaker, although it is a limited perspective the reader can piece together a Bundren family portrait • The Bundren family includes: Anse; Addie; Cash; Dewey Dell; Vardaman; Darl; and Jewel.

7. The Story • Addie Bundren lies dying in her bed • Cash, the eldest son is constructing her coffin • The 2nd son, Darl, convinces their brother, 3rd son, Jewel, to go with him to pick up a load of lumber even though their mother will probably die while they’re gone because, as he tells their father, Anse, ‘it will mean three dollars.’ Addie’s favorite child is Jewel, and it is more conceivable that Darl knows he will not be at her side when she dies • Dewey Dell, the only daughter, stays with Addie • Vardaman, the youngest son, goes fishing and catches a large fish, that Anse tells Dewey Dell to cook for dinner – later Vardaman confuses his mother with the fish

8. The Story (cont’d) • Dr. Peabody arrives in time to watch Addie die, and in outrage, Vardaman drives his horse and wagon away, which is later recovered by Lon Quick (father of Ben Quick, from the short story “Barn Burning”) • Immediately following Addie’s death, a violent storm breaks, Darl’s and Jewel’s wagon loses a wheel in a ditch. • Meanwhile, Vardaman drills holes into the coffin lid so his mother can breathe and inadvertently bores the drill bit into his mother’s face • By the time the wagon wheel is repaired, 3 days have passed and the journey to bury Addie can begin.

9. The Journey • Years earlier, Addie asked her husband to bury her in Jefferson, where her people were from • The novel progresses in stop-start style through the various speaker monologues as more and more information is revealed about the Bundrens • Darl is the most conscientious, yet most detached Bundren and regarded as odd by most who know him – he is most nearly omniscient in knowledge of the family – he knows sister, Dewey Dell is pregnant and intuits that Jewel is only a half brother and not Anse’s son

10. The Journey • Every family member has an ulterior motive for going on the journey to Jefferson except for Darl and Jewel • Anse is clearly the most selfish and wants to get a new set of teeth • Cash wants a phonograph • Vardaman wants a toy train • Dewey Dell wants to get an abortion using the 10 dollars that the would be father Lafe has given her

11. The First Threat: Flood • The first major obstacle is the flood swollen Yoknapatawpha River – they go well out of their way to one bridge to find it has been swept away, only to return to the bridge that is closer to home that is also damaged by the flood. • They decide to chance crossing it and consequently Cash’s leg is broken, their mules are drowned and only by Jewel’s sheer force of will is Addie’s coffin saved from being swept away

12. The First Threat: Flood • The neighbors think that Anse will want to borrow their mules but he makes an arrangement with Flem Snopes to trade Cash’s $8. for the phonograph and Jewel’s beloved horse that he has worked nights to purchase, for a new team of mules • The Bundrens had to travel south to Mottson in the next county before heading to Jefferson and are met with outrage in the town as Addie’s decomposing body smells and is attracting buzzards. • Dewey Dell is denied an abortion by a morally upright and law abiding pharmacist. • Anse buys cement to make a cast for Cash’s broken leg

13. The Second Threat: Fire • Between Mottson and Jefferson the spend a night at Gillespie’s place. • During the night, the barn where Addie’s coffin is being stored, catches fire • Again, the coffin is saved only by the ferocity and determination of Jewel’s efforts • Vardaman says he saw something, but Dewey Dell tells him not to repeat it

14. The Journey Complete • Nine days after Addie’s death, the Bundrens finally arrive in Jefferson • Anse borrows a shovel from a duck-shaped woman to dig Addie’s grave and fulfills his promise to her • Cash is sent to the doctor • Darl is discovered to have set the fire (to put an end to the ludicrous journey) and is sent to a mental asylum to avoid the Bundrens being sued by Gillespie

15. The Journey Complete • Vardaman looks in store windows for the toy train, but it’s nowhere to be found • Dewey Dell finds another pharmacist who says he’ll help her but just tricks her into granting sexual favors • Anse convinces her to give him the $10. which he uses to buy a new set of teeth • Anse reappears with his teeth and the duck-shaped woman, who happens to own a phonograph, and introduces her with, ‘Meet Mrs. Bundren.’

16. Character List • Addie Bundren - former school teacher whose bitter, loveless life causes her to despise her husband, she favors Jewel • Anse Bundren – hunchbacked head of the family, poor parenting skills cause most of his children’s predicaments, he is hated and disrespected by them • Darl Bundren – most sensitive and articulate of the children, with greatest number of interior monologues, disaster after disaster occurs and Darl attempts to end it by incinerating his mother’s coffin

17. Character List • Jewel Bundren – the bastard child of Addie and Whitfield, the minister. Darl seems to understand him he is an enigma to everyone else. His dark, brooding nature reveals a dedication to be a fierce protector of his mother’s coffin • Cash Bundren – eldest child, and a skilled carpenter who is the paragon of selflessness and patience. He refuses to complain about his broken leg, that festers and deteriorates to the extent that he may never walk again

18. Character List • Dewey Dell Bundren – 17 year old, only daughter, whose recent sexual experience has left her pregnant • Vardaman Bundren – youngest child, with an active imagination who views his mother’s death through the same lens which he views a fish he has caught and cleaned • Vernon Tull – Bundrens’ wealthier neighbor, who is both a critic and an unappreciated help to them. He hires Darl, Cash and Jewel to do odd jobs and helps them cross the river • Cora Tull – Vernon’s wife, stays with Addie during her final hours, and is a deeply religious woman who disapproves of Addie’s impiety

19. Character List • Lafe – the father of Dewey Dell’s child, although he never appears in the novel he is a driving force behind Dewey Dell’s thoughts and actions • Whitfield – the local minister, held up by Cora Tull as the pinnacle of piety, who is in fact a hypocrite. His affair with Addie results in the conception of Jewel and he resolves to confess the affair, but ends up deciding that the intention to confess will suffice • Peabody – severely overweight doctor who attends to Addie and then later Cash, he is extremely critical of the way Anse treats his children

20. Characters • Samson – the local farmer who puts up the Bundrens on the 1st evening of their disastrous journey – he sees their problems as a judgment on their uncouth manners and Addie’s and Anse’s disregard for God • Amstid – local farmer who puts the Bundrens up on the 2nd evening – Anse repeatedly refuses his offer of mules • Gillespie – a farmer who puts them up later in their journey • Moseley – The Mottson druggist who refuses Dewey Dell’s request for an abortion • MacGowan – the employee of the Jefferson drugstore that extorts sexual favors from Dewey Dell in return for a fake abortion treatment • The Gillespie boy – he helps Jewel rescue the coffin from the barn fire

21. Themes and Motifs • Impermanence of Existence and Identity – this has the greatest impact and meaning for Vardaman who babbles senselessly in the beginning of the novel and Darl who is declared insane at the end of the novel • The Tension between Words and Thoughts – • The Relationship Between Childbearing and Death – for both Addie and Dewey Dell this is the perception • Interior Monologues – a narrative technique that delves into individual characters’ consciousness (utilized by Proust – In Search of Lost Time, Joyce – Ulysses) • Issues of Social Class – social class was more hierarchical in the south where Faulkner lived and wrote about

22. Symbols • Animals – Vardaman equates mother to fish; Darl asserts that Jewel’s mother is his horse; although, to Jewel, his horse symbolizes hard earned freedom from his family; Dewey Dell calls the family cow a woman; etc. • Addie’s Coffin – literally represents the enormity of the burden of dysfunction of the Bundren family • Tools – Cash’s carpentry tools symbolize respectable living and stability thrown into jeopardy by the recklessness of the Bundren journey

24. Works Cited • www.sparknotes.com