Spring Literature Analysis #3-As I Lay Dying

I've been behind all month so I'm posting what I have done so far and will continue to update it as I can. I will have it done Monday afternoon.

Spring Literature Analysis #3

“As I Lay Dying” William Faulkner

Book Edition: Vintage International

“We go on, with a motion so soporific, so dreamlike as to be uninferant of progress, as though time and not space were decreasing between us and it.”

-“As I Lay Dying”(Darl, Pg 107)

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past courses (exposition, inciting incident, etc.).  Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).

-Fifteen distinct narrators (by my count) and from Wikipedia, a total of fifty-nine “chapters”.  Although I would be hesitant to call them chapters, because they range in such drastic style to several pages to one sentence, they would be best called (in my not so professional opinion) snapshots. Snapshots not in the sense of their rigidness, rather I found them quite elastic and the syntax and diction allowing for wide interpretation, but for what they cover. They are so varied and quite frankly difficult to read at times because of Faulkner’s writing style.  A bit of background info before I begin and then rather than a plot summary (which I find incredibly boring, I will be incorporating a brief blurb on allusions specifically found in the title, based on what I learned on my previous project. Because I truly feel that a discussion on allusions by Faulkner will suit us better than a plot summary. Maybe I’m wrong, but we’ll see.) Faulkner wrote this novel at the beginning of the Great Depression. He was working in a power plant, and according to him he wrote it over the course of six weeks, and considered it his personal “Tour de Force”.

-In terms of allusion, the biggest one you will get comes directly from the title of the novel itself; “As I Lay Dying”.  The title alludes directly to book XI of “The Odyssey” by Homer which reads, “As I lay dying, the woman with the dog’s eyes would not close my eyes as I descended into Hades.”  Originally I interpreted only the obvious allusion to “The Odyssey” itself not thinking much about the significance of the situation Odysseus finds himself in. As you may already know the term odyssey has come to mean a long wandering or journey marked by challenges of fortune, which parallels nicely with the journey of the Bundren family going to bury the matriarch Addie Bundren, and the subsequent events and problems that ensue. But even further in that allusion is complex and twisted tale of a family. That quote is not said by Odysseus but rather a hero from the Trojan War, Agamemnon, who Odysseus sees in Hades. Agamemnon describes the circumstances behind his death which again parallel (though on a different level) the problems and struggles the Bundren family.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.

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 3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).

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 4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

-Allusion: See question 1 above.

-Synesthesia:

-Syntax:

- Metaphor: My mom is a fish

-Narration (through Stream of Consciousness):

-Interior Monologue:

 

-Simile:

 CHARACTERIZATION

1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?

 -The characterization reminds me a lot of “The Sound and the Fury” also by William Faulkner. The Stream of consciousness style he uses really gives us a deep and personal touch into the minds and experiences of the characters.

 2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?

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 3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.

 4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.  

- Darl, for example, is probably the character I connected with most both because of the style of writing and the number of snapshots Darl has. One of the most significant sections for me at least was early in the novel where Darl describes a simple experience as drinking water and the joy he gets from it. Those simple moments described by Faulkner allow you to simply connect with the character on a more personal level. Especially since you experience the events as they truly do.