Analysis of Faulkners Novel As I Lay Dying - Essay Example

Analysis of Faulkner’s Novel ‘As I Lay Dying’ Introduction Faulkner’s Novel ‘As I Lay Dying’ is a reflection of the modernist movement in literature, where the thematic characteristics and the style techniques used by the novel have been able to explore major modernism concepts of psychology, while at the same time applying the modern literature techniques extensively. Therefore, the analysis holds that the thematic characteristics of existence and identity, as well as the modern literally techniques such as interior monologues, strong pathos and multiple-narration point of view characterizes the modernist perspective of the novel. Analysis Multiple-narration Point of view The context of the modernist movements is well represented in Faulkner’s Novel ‘As I Lay Dying’, owing to the fact that; as opposed to the traditional narratives where the audience/readers are made to sit back and enjoy reading the story being narrated and themes being unfolded for them, Faulkner’s Novel ‘As I Lay Dying’ adapts a totally different approach to narration that is characteristic of the modern society. Under the narration style of this novel, the readers are treated as intellectuals capable of unraveling the bits and pieces that have been left unearthed by the narrative, so that they can eventually make sense of the whole story (Bleikasten, 78). The novel, ‘As I Lay Dying’ has been narrated by many narrators where each one of them has a different point of view on the events that are unfolding in the life of the Bundren family, totaling. While the point of view that is generated by the fifteen different narrators is fundamental to the creation of a better understanding of the events that unfolds in the life of this family, the mere application of fifteen narrators to tell a story of a family journey inevitably complicates the narration, leaving the audience with no another alternative but to form their own point of view as well regarding the events that are unfolding (Waisala, 2). In this respect, the multiple-character application in the novel is a modernist movement context that forces the audience of the novel to throw away the traditional style of appreciating a work of literature that entails being informed of the happenings in the story through a single point of view, and in turn receiving the message from the point of view of the multiple-narrators (Anderson, 12). In this novel, the audiences are forced to actively participate in the narration by making sense of the happenings on their own, where the many characters have contradicted their point of view on a single occurrence in the life of the Bundren family. For example, Jewel is a character that has been applied in this novel to create a state of confusion that not all the narrators in the novel or even a professional analysis of the novel can be able to accurately define his nature. Jewel is the favorite of his mother, but he does not seem to appreciate the love that her mother shows towards him. In fact, even when his mother is on the death bed, Jewel blatantly refuses to say good bye to her (Faulkner, 177). Earlier on, Jewel ha d intended to show his mother that he is completely independent of her by working towards owning his horse, and the way he resents his mother may leave no doubt that Jewel does not have much love for her. Nevertheless, when the situation becomes troublesome after his mother’s death, Jewel is the character who saves his mother from the tossing down the river full of water and also from burning down, when Darl decides to cremate his mother (Singal, 27). This complex character has remained a hard nut to crack, and is well defined by Dewey, who refers to the persona of Jewel as “wooden” (Faulkner, 44). The complexity of this character makes it hard to penetrate and understand him, and no matter how much the other characters in the novel debates his nature, they cannot come to an agreeable definition of his nature. At this point, the reader of the novel is left to define the nature of this character, based on the personal understanding and perceptions. Therefore, the use of different points of view to define a single event or character within the novel comes out as a modernist movement approach, to actively engage the audience of the novel to participate fully in its narrative. Strong Pathos The narrative style of the novel ‘As I Lay Dying’ applies strong pathos more than any other narration style, to make the novel very believable, and thus rank as one of the modernist narration that has been able to tap on the fictional characters to appeal to the mind of the reader, such that the reader is absolutely left with no doubt that the story is tangible and easy identify with in the modern times. Strong pathos has been applied so well, so that the characters do not only become fully convincing and absolutely believable, but the readers of the novel can mentally draw the different characters of the novel, based on the lengthy and detailed description of their character (Poplawski, 36). Each narrator is distinctly different from the other, and there is no extremity applied either in showing affection or hate towards each other in the members of the Bundren family, as well as with their neighbors and all the characters they encounter during their journey to Jefferson. The events and occurrences in the novel are bizarre enough to create a high level of antagonism among the characters, but still the mode of narration of the characters has not indicated this form of extreme antagonism. It is the application of characters who do not border either on the extreme edge of too much affection or too much hate that makes the characters in the novel ‘As I Lay Dying’ highly believable (Peek, 121). In addition, the narration style and the point of view of the different characters that are narrating the story is so distinct, such that the audience of the novel are able to see each of the fifteen character’s narration in their different personal rights. It is not only the audience that sees the difference in the characters, but also the characters themselves, since they cannot seem to agree either on the nature of each character’s persona, nor can they agree on the event unfolding in the novel, since each of the character is pursuing their own interest. The concept of modernism comes out in the form of each of the character pursuing their own personal interest in a journey that requires all of them to focus only on one thing; the burial of Addie Bundren (Bleikasten, 172). On the contrary, Dewey is solely preoccupied on how she can be able to undertake a real abortion and get away with the unwanted pregnancy that she got while still unmarried. Anse Bundren on the other hand is just preoccupied on how he can get himself a new set of teeth, and nothing can deter him from this mission. Even the fact that his daughter has been abused sexually by a young village doctor would not prevent him from using the money her daughter would have used for abortion to get a new set of teeth (Singal, 61). Darl is another character who has completely abandoned the family mission of burying his mother, and nothing seems to be a problem to him, not even leaving his mother tossing in the river, or letting her corpse burn inside a barn. Jewel is a character that is just focused on self improvement, but at the same time is able to play his heroic character by taking on the family problems that the rest of the family members have abandoned (Waisala, 7). Ultimately, none of the characters in the Bundren family seems to take care of the other. Even the youngest of the Bundren children has been left to make several personal sacrifices, due to the fact that the rest of the elder siblings or even the father is not able to dedicate their lives to serving the family. It is this application of mixed up characters within a family that makes the pathos of the narrative of this novel very strong, since it relates well with the concept of modernism individualism. Every member of the family is trying to make the best out of life while not caring very much about the rest. The concept of character individualism concurs with the concept of modernity, since it mirrors the twentieth-century modern society. Interior monologue technique Interior monologue technique is one of the modernist movement literally styles that focuses on the characters presenting their mind on their own and directly to the audience, without being intercepted by the narrator of the story, yet without mingling with the perceptions that have been made by others (Bleikasten, 16). This modernist technique of literally presentation seeks to allow the audiences learn the actual state of mind of the character, without being interjected by the narrator or the other characters in telling the perspectives of the particular narrator. Thus, the concept of interior monologue technique has been used extensively in the novel, ‘As I Lay Dying’, where Darl is the character who narrates most of the chapters in the novel by applying interior monologue almost all the time (Singal, 39). When Darl comes home and finds his father sitting with their neighbor Vernon Tull talking, his father asks him about the whereabouts of his half brother Jewel, but Darl is just preoccupied with the thought of the pleasure that comes with drinking water. When he puts water in a glass and starts to drink it, he immediately starts reflecting on this pleasure thought, as a flashback of the time when he was a child and the way he used to sneak out at night to come and drink water(Singal, 58). Further, when Darl is walking with Jewel across a field where there is a dilapidated house, he decides to walk around the house while Jewel walks through its door to the other aside. Later on when his family is debating why their elder brother, Cash, is building a coffin for his mother who is not yet dead, Darl is once again not even concentrating in the discussion, rather being over occupied with how the sound travels through a hallway (Poplawski, 95). It is such behaviors that Darl consistently exhibits throughout the novel, which makes the audience connect directly with his points of view and his half-thoughts, which are not being intercepted by the rest of the characters. The same trend has been repeated throughout the novel, where each character is presenting their thoughts, impressions and even the perceptions that they make about any of the events or the other characters to the audiences directly. This way, the audience is able to interrogate each of the characters in the story based on the direct interaction with the characters, thus forming impressions of their own (Peek, 33). This is the fundamental principle of the modernist technique of interior monologue, which seeks to allow the audience understand and interact with the work of literature through own volition, which is very different from the traditional convention of forming a universal impression of a work of literature. Thematic characteristic of existence and identity The theme of existence and identity forms the bulk of the plot development in the novel ‘As I Lay Dying’, starting with the death of Addie throughout the journey towards her burial and the hindrances that the Bundren family encounters in their journey to Jefferson (Faulkner, 214). The psychology of existence and identity is a modernist characteristic that featured highly in the twentieth-century science and other social literatures, in a bid to try and unearth the complexity of human existence and identity (Peek, 131). The psychology of the impermanence of human existence has continued to feature throughout the modern psychology enquiries, and there is no definitive explanation that has been reached to explain this phenomenon. The complexity of this psychology principle features throughout the novel, where every character in the novel seems to understand the mystery of existence in own terms. Vardaman who is the youngest of the Bundren children associates the life of human with that of a fish, which when taken out water loses its essence as a fish and becomes merely a piece of non-fish (Waisala, 29). It is this similarity that he applies on the life of his mother, which was life just some moments in the past but now she has turned into a non-person. Therefore, the struggle through Vardaman’s mind is that of trying to understand the marvel that surrounds the transition from life to death in just a few moments. On the other hand, the psychology of existence and identity is evaluated from a different perspective by Darl. After the death of his mother, Darl considers her as ‘was’, since she has already ceased o exist, and then goes on to try and establish his identity based on the new development (Singal, 52). According to Darl’s psychology of thought, his mother has ceased to exist, which means that he does not have a mother. This can be construed to mean that he therefore does not have a source, since his mother was his source of life. In this respect, Darl considers himself as not existing, considering the fact that his source of life does not exist, and similarly does he cease to exist (Anderson, 41). The psychology of existence and identity is a modernist characteristic that has continued to marvel the world, since there are numerous psychological theories that seeks to explain the existence and the identity of human life, yet none of these theories has been able to do so with absolute conviction. It is the application of this modernist thematic characteristic that makes the novel ‘As I Lay Dying’ feature as one of the modernist movement work of literature, since it seeks to explore a modern psychological principle that has remained elusive for long. The sense of elusiveness of the modernist psychology principle of identity and existence has resulted in the character of Darl becoming confused throughout the novel, because he does not see the essence of life anymore, and thus is why he does not see the need to continue to burry Addie Bundren, rather opting to abandon her in the river and later while burning in a barn (Waisala, 38). Therefore, these modernist psychology principles of existence and identity have major consequence for this character in the novel, because by the end of it all, he is declared as being insane. This is a reflection of the modern concept of identity in psychology which has resulted in such real life consequences in the modern society. Therefore, the exploration of the psychology theme of existence and identity in the novel places it in the map of the modernism literature. Strain between thoughts and words The other theme that has been explored deeply in the novel ‘As I Lay Dying’ is the tension that exists between thoughts and words in the lives of the characters, which then takes the novel to the point of evaluating the discrepancies of words and thoughts in the modern society (Anderson, 13). The characters in the novel appeals to the audience as people with a rich life both psychologically and emotionally, but none of this is reflected in the word conversation between them. The internal monologues portray the characters as full of life internally, but their conversations with one another projects the dryness of life. This is the same concept in the modern society where people have not been able to project the richness of their internal lives to impact positively on the society (Peek, 112). Therefore, through applying this tension, the novel is able to explore a modern concept through making the audience reflect back into their lives and see how the richness of their internal lives has impacted on the wider society. Works Cited Anderson, John D. Student Companion to William Faulkner. Westport: Greenwood press, 2007. 12-44. Print. Bleikasten, André. Faulkners As I Lay Dying. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973. 16-172. Print. Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. S.l.: HarperCollins Canada, 2014. Print. Peek, Charles A. A Companion to Faulkner Studies. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Greenwood Press, 2004. 112-156. Print. Poplawski, Paul. Encyclopedia of Literary Modernism. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003. Print. Singal, Daniel J. William Faulkner: The Making of a Modernist. Chapel Hill, NC [u.a.: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1997. Print. Waisala, Wendy E. William Faulkners As I Lay Dying. Piscataway, N.J: Research & Education Association, 1996. 2-45. Print. Read More