Literary Analysis : As I Lay Dying

              In the novel As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner presents the story of a poor rural family in fictional Yoknapatawpha County, the Bundrens, who set out to fulfill their dying mother’s wish. Faulkner utilizes multiple narrators, fifteen in all, and stream of consciousness passages in order to tell the story. This use of multiple perspectives has the effect of forcing the reader to sort through the individual biases and objectivity of the events and insight in each passage. Woven into all the stylistic experimentation is the tragic and ironic story of a family learning to deal with loss, the fleeting idea of existence, the futility of life, and the dynamics of a family.

              In 59 sections, Faulkner employs 15 narrators with varying degrees of intellect and objectivity. The narrators range from the intensely intellectual and insightful Darl, who is able to reveal his family members’ thoughts and uncover their secrets, to the young, imaginative Vardaman who, upon learning of his mother’s death, can only react by comparing her to a fish. We also come to the individual characters’ attitudes towards Addie Bundren and her dying wish to be buried in Jefferson. Anse, Addie’s husband, is portrayed as simple and uneducated through his thoughts and words. We also learn that his desire to bury Addie in Jefferson is partly motivated by his yearning for false teeth. This, followed by his abrupt marriage shortly after his wife’s death, shows his lack of genuine emotion and his selfishness.

                The stream of consciousness style applied by Faulkner allows characters to express whole trains of thought rather than individual insights or emotion. It also allows the characters to communicate in a way that traditional dialogue or their own sense of self will not allow. The communication between characters is sparse and lacks insight. The reader is forced to sort through the thoughts of the characters in order to gain perspective on the relationships between the family members. When Darl and Jewel are returning from their work, Darl intuitively knows that his mother has died while they were away. Both Darl and Jewel find it hard to express their emotions to each other, and instead Faulkner lays out their thoughts in stream-of-consciousness. Darl expresses a sincere level of regret at his mother’s death, while Jewel, Addie’s prized son, expresses a complicated mix of emotions regarding her death.

                The circumstances and social class of the Bundrens have an ironic and deterministic effect on their journey to Jefferson. They are limited by their resources, and must transport Addie’s body and coffin themselves. The journey itself is revealed to be absurd and futile, much like the lives of the characters. The family members question Addie’s insistence on being buried in Jefferson, yet they sacrifice themselves in order to accomplish the dying wish. When Cash breaks his leg, he refuses to complain and may lose his leg due to his refusal of medical attention. This act of selflessness contrasts with Addie’s selfish wish to be buried in Jefferson. The aforementioned passage in which Vardaman compares his mother to a fish serves a purpose other than to expose Vardaman as young and imaginative; it serves as an existential statement. Vardaman is able to make the connection between the fish he recently caught and cleaned, leaving him with parts that don’t look like a fish, to his mother’s death, which leaves her children with memories, resentment, and a body to transport to Jefferson.

                The effect of weaving the dramatic elements of style with such an ironic yet heartening tale of a poor family lend to a fascinating if not challenging read. Also ironically, Faulkner wrote the novel in order to improve the fortunes and finances of his own family, as he set out to write a tour de force. He succeeds with an incredibly poignant and stylized tale capable of deftly exploring the role of family in the social structure.

Faulkner and Modernism

                The majority of William Faulkner’s work was published during the literary movement known as Modernism, which lasted roughly from 1914 until the end of WWII in 1945. The writers from this period were eager to challenge not only the accepted norms, tradition, and structure in literature, but also in the world of public policy, where inequality and immorality were deconstructed. In terms of literary structure, modernists played with the concept of time, character, and causation in a manner that could obscure the plot. 

This level of experimentation was not lost on Faulkner, who repeatedly used multiple viewpoints or narratives in order to tell his stories, sometimes repeating events from different narrators in order to demonstrate the power of perspective on history and how individuals are shaped by their perception. In As I Lay Dying, the children’s opinion of their mother is characterized by her treatment towards them prior to her death, and influences their recollection and attitude towards her dying wish to be buried in Jefferson. The use of stream of consciousness envelops the reader in the thought process of the narrator, and forces the reader to consider events through the perceptional lens of another person. The concept and passage of time was another literary instrument with which Faulkner toyed, often inserting flashbacks and repeating events from different perspectives. The use of flashbacks was intended to illustrate to the reader the importance of the past upon the present. Faulkner believed the two to be inseparable and interconnected.

The use of literature for social commentary was another characteristic of modernist literature. Faulkner grew up in Oxford, Mississippi at a time when Southerners were oddly nostalgic of a period of time when another race was subjugated and was still being marginalized by policy. Faulkner idealized intensely intellectual people hiding behind the façade of a southern “good-old boy” like himself, yet he understood the inherent hypocrisy and inequality of southern treatment towards blacks. He used not only his literature to expose this, but also his public appearances after coming to prominence.

Faulkner’s willingness to experiment with time and narrative structure lead some readers to call his work “difficult” to read. This sentiment influenced the title of this blog, “Enduring Faulkner,” as it reflects not only to his influence and lasting legacy in the literary world, but also the sometimes trying experience this experimentation present to the reader. Nonetheless, this capacity for experimentation makes for a challenging and rewarding read, and the impact of his work can still be seen in today’s literature.


Works Cited:

Reed, Joseph. Faulkner's Narrative. New Haven: Yale UP, 1973.

Inge, Thomas M. "William Faulkner: Modernism Unvanquished - November 22, 2006." The New York Sun. The New York Sun, 22 Nov. 2006. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nysun.com/arts/william-faulkner-modernism-unvanquished/43926/>.

Walker, Ronald. "The Problem of Plot in the Modernist Text: The Example of Faulkner by R. Walker(PIPA Fall 97)." Eastern Illinois University :: Charleston, Illinois. PIPA, 19 Sept. 2008. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <http://castle.eiu.edu/~ipaweb/pipa/volume/walker.htm>.

The Man and the Life

Biography

                William Cuthbert Faulkner was born September 25^th, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi to Murry Cuthbert Faulkner and Maud Butler. He was the oldest of four boys born to the couple, who only decided to settle in Oxford just a few days prior to his fifth birthday. The setting of the American South, specifically Mississippi, would go on to feature predominately in his work. He explored the pressing issues of the day thematically in his work, including post-Civil War race relations in the South. Faulkner was an artistic child, and like many artistic children, became disinterested in his studies. His childhood sweetheart, Estelle, was an early and influential love interest, although she married a law graduate from Ole Miss before eventually divorcing and ultimately marrying Faulkner in 1929.

                After attending Ole Miss for three semesters, Faulkner dropped out in 1920 and attempted to enlist in the US Army. He was rejected due to his small stature, standing just 5’ 5”, and chose instead to enlist in the British Royal Flying Corps. It is believed Faulkner changed his name from the spelling “Falkner” in order to appear more British, and his experience in the Corps. along with his literary influences led him to write his first novel, Soldiers’ Pay.  While Faulkner had originally been interested in writing poetry, his novels and short stories are his most influential works. Many of these are set in Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional setting modeled after Lafayette County where Oxford resides. After achieving early publishing success, Faulkner was discouraged at what he saw as a lack of willingness to publish the novels he wrote for pleasure. Ironically, these were the novels that would cement his legacy as one of the most influential American authors of the 20^th century, and includes his most critically-acclaimed work, The Sound and the Fury. Faulkner described the novel as “a tale told by an idiot,” and built upon the critical success of the novel with As I Lay Dying, which he envisioned as a “tour de force.” The novels feature multiple narratives by narrators with varying degrees of intellect and objectivity, and a “stream of consciousness” style woven throughout the works.

                Success however, critical or financial, was not a guarantee in Faulkner’s life, and he turned to writing for Hollywood in order to support his family. Faulkner was a heavy drinker, and would binge upon completion of a project. It’s believed that Faulkner drank in order to escape the pressures of daily life rather than to assist in the artistic process. Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1949, and continued writing for personal enjoyment, Hollywood, television, and used his new found role as a public figure to speak out against the injustice of segregation and inequality in the American South until his death on July 6^th, 1962 caused by complications from falling from a horse. His enduring impact on American Literature is still felt today, with many present authors, including Cormac McCarthy, acknowledging Faulkner as an influence on their work.

Sources:

"MWP: William Faulkner (1897-1962)." The University of Mississippi. The University of Mississippi, 11 Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/faulkner_william/>.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "William Faulkner" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 14 Nov. 2011.

Blotner, Joseph. Faulkner: A Biography. New York: Random House, 1984