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Literature of the American South William Faulkner
Literature`s impact on society
Literature`s impact on society
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Many mothers, regardless of age or situation, share sympathetic life ideals. They all share the common goal of raising their children wholesome; they want to create an environment of love, nurture, and support for their children as well. A mother’s effort to implant good values in her children is perpetual; they remain optimistic and hope that their children would eventually become prosperous. However, some women were not fit to be mothers. Thus, two different roles of a mother are portrayed in As I Lay Dying written by William Faulkner. Faulkner uses the literary technique of first person narrative with alternating perspectives. By doing so, Faulkner adds authenticity and the ability to relate (for some) to the two characters Addie Bundren and Cora Tull. The first person narrative acts as an important literary technique because it allows the reader to experience the opposing views of Addie and Cora; they are both mothers who act as foils to each other because of their diverse opinions and outlooks on motherhood, religion and life. The title of the novel—As I Lay Dying—suggests that there is a first-person speaker, which seemingly suggests that it is the voice of Addie Bundren, the dead mother. However, Addie only actually communicates in the first person once in the novel and besides the few beginning chapters, “she is dead, not dying” (Ross 305). As I Lay Dying was divided into fifty-nine sections and written in first person narrative with fifteen different viewpoints (Ross 300). Since there are fifteen different viewpoints, the point of view then shifts between each different narrator. Each narrator has a “unique, personal interpretation and reaction to the events of the novel” (Ross 301). The tone varies from narrator to narra... ... middle of paper ... ... Gault, Cinda. "The Two Addies: Maternity and Language in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women." American Review of Canadian Studies 36.3 (2006): 440. Academic One File. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. Palumbo, Donald. "The Concept of God in Faulkner's "Light in August," "The Sound and the Fury," "As I Lay Dying" and "Absalom, Absalom!"" The South Central Bulletin 39.4 (1979): 142-46. JSTOR. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Pierce, Constance. "Being, Knowing, and Saying in the "Addie" Section of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying." Twentieth Century Literature 26.3 (1980): 294-305. JSTOR. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Ross, Steven M. ""Voice" in Narrative Texts: The Example of As I Lay Dying." PMLA94.2 (1979): 300-10. JSTOR. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Slaughter, Carolyn N. "As I Lay Dying: Demise of Vision." American Literature 61.1 (1989): 16-30. JSTOR. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
In the book Literature by Edgar V Roberts, Faulkner begins the story “A Rose for Emily” with an extremely long sentence which shows the communities reaction to death and immediately displays a scene through gender differences:
In the novel All Over but the Shoutin’ Rick Bragg shows the love and devotion of what every mother should have through his mother. The only woman that Bragg truly cares for and takes time out of his day is for his mother Margaret Marie. Bragg tries to do the best for his mother and tries his best to make her proud of him. Bragg learned early in life that his mother strived to give her children everything possible. For Mrs. Bragg her children are the reason she wakes up everyday and tries to make a better life for them.
Addie is actually the perfect character to try and describe the lack or void of words and meanings. The very fact that she is dead and is talking about this void from the dead is important. In a way she is speaking from a void between life and death. Morna Flaum expresses this idea in her article, “Elucidating Addie Bundren in As I Lay Dying.” “Her condition of deadness, speaking from the void between is and not-is makes her the perfect vehicle for Faulkner to describe the indescribable, approach the unapproachable, express the inexpressible, as he so gracefully does, does-not. The placement of Addie’s chapter in the middle of her long journey from deathbed to grave is also significant.” Flaum goes on to say that this placement of Addie’s chapter
“As I Lay Dying, read as the dramatic confrontation of words and actions, presents Faulkner’s allegory of the limits of talent” (Jacobi). William Faulkner uses many different themes that make this novel a great book. Faulkner shows his talent by uses different scenarios, which makes the book not only comedic but informational on the human mind. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is a great book that illustrates great themes and examples. Faulkner illustrates different character and theme dynamics throughout the entire novel, which makes the book a humorous yet emotional roller coaster. Faulkner illustrates the sense of identity, alienation, and the results of physical and mental death to show what he thinks of the human mind.
Faulkner, William. As I lay Dying. First Vintage International Edition. Toronto, Canada: Random House of Canada Limited, 1990. Print.
Atkinson, Ted. “The ideology of autonomy: form and function in as I Lay Dying.” Faulkner Journal 21.1 (2005): page nr. Literature Resources From Gale. Web. 18 Apr. 2010.
One of the main themes in As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is the concept of isolation and loneliness of not just the characters in the book, but humanity itself. Each character is essentially isolated from all the others, as the plot is told through each of the characters’ perspectives through stream of consciousness. As a result of Faulkner’s use of multiple narratives, the reader does not attain an objective third person viewpoint of everything that occurs. The closest the reader gets to an omniscient narrator is Darl Bundren as he is able to relate events that occur while not having been present at the time. Although the Bundrens live together as well as make the journey to Jefferson, it is through their inherent isolation and loneliness that they cannot effectively communicate with each other which ultimately leads to Darl’s fateful actions.
William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying takes place in the fictional town of Yaknapatawpha, Mississippi in the 1920’s. It is set in the summertime in the ‘deep south’, which had continual dry and hot conditions. The novel tells of the quest of the Bundren family to bury Addie Bundren in Jefferson, where her family was buried. The Bundren family goes through many unexpected trials on this journey, but still manages to bury Addie where she requested. Among her children, were two of her four sons, Darl and Vardaman. They both had different perspectives and ways of understanding people and Addie’s death. Darl and Vardaman’s perspectives differed widely because of the age difference and maturity levels.
Addie Bundren of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying has often been characterized as an unnatural, loveless, cold mother whose demands drive her family on a miserable trek to bury her body in Jefferson. For a feminist understanding of Addie, we have to move outside the traditional patriarchal definitions of "womanhood" or "motherhood" that demand selflessness from others, blame mothers for all familial dysfunction, and only lead to negative readings of Addie. She also has been characterized as yet another Faulkner character who is unable to express herself using language. This modernist view of the inexpressiblility of the creative spirit does not apply to Addie simply because she is not an artist; she is a woman and a mother, a person who feminist theorists would desribe as "traditionally mute." To characterize her using universalizing, humanist terms erases the way that her character is marked by her biological sex and by the gender roles she is forced to play. Addie is not a representative of humankind, or even of womankind, but an individual woman trapped in a partriarchal world that represses her desires and silences her; a woman who longs to find an identity of her own that is outside patriarchal constructions and not always definable in relation to the men and the children in her life. Most importantly, Addie is a character who is acutely aware of the linguistic and social oppression that traps her into a life she does not want.
“As I Lay Dying”, is a well known novel, written by William Faulkner, who tells a story about a dying mother and her one last dying wish. The Bundren family tries to attempt to grant the mother’s, Addie Bundren, last wish but each character had his or her selfish reasons for actually traveling to where Addie Bundren wished to be buried at. The journey to Jefferson burial grounds had the Bundren’s helping one another through the different situations that occurred, but also the Bundren family had many differences between each character that caused betrayal to one another.
In As I Lay Dying (1930), Faulkner creates the deceitful, insensitive character, Anse Bundren, who will do anything to get what he wants, even if it means stealing and injuring his own children, symbolizing the avarice and apathy that can result from a world of non education, poverty, and overall suffering.
William Faulkner, a Nobel Prize winning author, wrote the novel "As I Lay Dying" in six weeks without changing a word. Considering the story's intricate plot, not changing a single word seems like it would take a literary genius to complete. Many people agree that Faulkner could very well be a genius due to the organization of this story. Faulkner uses fifteen different characters to narrate and allow the reader to analyze each of their point of views. Through the confessions of each character, the reader is able to form his or her opinion about different characters and issues. Since some narrators are unreliable for different reasons, it could be confusing to form opinions. One character that is easily understood is Dewey Dell Bundren. She is the only daughter in the Bundren family and ends up being the only woman in the family. "As I Lay Dying", the story of a family's journey to bury their mother and wife, is also the story of Dewey Dell's journey toward maturity. Along their journey to bury their mother, the characters, like Dewey Dell, seem to evolve through their encounters with other people. Faulkner depicts Dewey Dell as a very monotonous person in the beginning of the book. In the beginning, Dewey Dell is seen fanning her mother, picking cotton, or milking cows. However, towards the end of the book, her repetitiveness is lost. Towards the end of the novel, Faulkner specifically shows Dewey Dell in numerous situations becoming a mature individual.
In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, characterization, specifically through the multitude of narrators, transforms an otherwise pedestrian plot into a complex pilgrimage to the truth. As I Lay Dying is told from the perspective of fifteen different characters in 59 chapters (Tuck 35). Nearly half (7) of the characters from whose perspective the story is narrated are members of the same family, the Bundrens. The other characters are onlookers of the Bundrens’ journey to bury their mother, Addie. Each character responds to the events that are unfolding in a unique way and his or her reactions help to characterize themselves and others.
Throughout Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying, a prominent difference between the characters Anse and Addie appears in his/her contrasting depiction of word meaning. According to the mother, Addie, words are bad and do not signify their designated meaning. In comparison, her husband, Anse, continually stresses and believes in his spoken promise or word to bury Addie in Jefferson. Incidentally, the juxtaposition between the two character’s theories of word meaning emphasizes an alternative comical view toward the burial of Addie. Her burial is sacred to the family due to the promise of the father’s word and yet based on Addie’s meaningless attempt at revenge toward her husband.
Stewart, Garrett. "Lying as Dying in Heart of Darkness ." PMLA 95 (1980): 319- 331.