As I Lay Dying

1. William Faulkner As I Lay Dying

2. AILD and Modernism • Modernism is marked by a strong and intentional break from tradition. • The world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is. • Modernists believe that there is no absolute truth; all things are relative. • Modernists feel no connection with history or institutions. Their experience is that of alienation, loss and despair.

3. AILD and Modernism • Modernists celebrate the individual and celebrate inner strength. • Modernists believe life is unordered. • Modernists concern themselves with the subconscious. • Avante garde is a term that is used to refer to people or works that are innovative or push boundaries.

4. Yoknopatapha County • Y.C. is based on Faulkner’s home, Lafayette County, Mississippi. • Y.C., its people and places, is referenced throughout Faulkner’s works. • The county seat of this fictional county is Jefferson. • Y.C. serves as a microcosm in which the reader may examine the trials and triumphs of humanity.

5. Structure of the Novel • There are 15 narrators and 59 sections in the novel. • Faulkner’s style is called Stream of consciousness. • “Stream of consciousness seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose internal interior monologue, or in connection to his or her sensory reactions to external occurrences.” (http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Stream_of_consciousness) • Put simply, the author writes as if he is in the mind of the character.

6. Structure of the Novel cont. • Reality is based on one’s perspective. • Non-family narrators serve the function as a chorus. Typically, they serve to illuminate some part of the Bundren world. The outside narrators frequently fill in factual material and are less complicated. • Faulkner adjusts his style to fit the character. Ex. Cash is literal-minded; therefore, his narratives reflect his character. Each character has his/ her own language and style.

7. Southern Gothic…The Grotesque • On its surface, we have a comic grotesque story. • Ex. Cash is a careful carpenter, yet he falls from the roof. The second time Cash’s leg is broken it is set in concrete. • Ex. Addie is put in her coffin backwards to allow room for her dress. • Ex.Vardamen bores holes into his mother’s dead face to allow her to breathe. • Ex. Peabody is too fat to climb the bank and must be hauled up with a plow rope. • It is a COMEDY OF ABSURD HUMAN ERRORS.

8. Themes of the Novel • The Bundrens’ experience suggests conflict between: Words/ Speech vs. Actions; Alienation from Community Vs. Acceptance of Assistance; Stubborn self-reliance Vs. Social responsibility • The meaninglessness of existence is viewed as a macabre joke. Addie’s request to be buried in Jefferson is a means of revenge. They forget her as soon as she is buried. Anse gets teeth & takes a new wife. Addie’s influence disappears

9. Characters/ Characterization • Addie • Anse • Cash • Darl • Jewell • Dewey Dell • Vardeman • Vernon Tull • Cora Tull • Peabody • Armstid • Whitfield • Moseley • MacGowan • Samson

10. Characterization cont. • Much of the story is told indirectly (Lit. term =indirect characterization) • Ex. We are never told that Jewel is tall directly, but Darl says that “[Jewel’s] hat towers a full head above” his own. • Ex. Darl describes Anse’s shirt, and we learn something of his physical description (hump back). • Ex. We learn that Cora’s observations are usually just a little off the mark through the narration of OTHERS.

11. Archetypes • The pilgrimage or journey (Inverted) A journey that meets obstacles along the way but what is gained? To what end? There is no lesson learned; the point is the Bundren’s misery. • The unfaithful wife • The scapegoat