William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying Essay -- As I Lay Dying 2014

The past is never dead. Its not even past. William FaulknerIn William Faulkners As I prep ar Dying, characterization, specifically through the multitude of narrators, transforms an otherwise matter-of-fact plot into a complex pilgrimage to the truth. As I locate Dying is told from the perspective of fifteen different characters in 59 chapters (Tuck 35). close 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. apiece private world manifests a fixed and distinctive way of reacting to and purchase order experiences (Vickery 50). They may choose to constrain their reaction to the realm of audible stupidity in the form of word, through the actions they take, or by reflecting upon the situat ion in contemplation. These responses shed light upon what kind of personality each character possesses.On a conscious level the characters make decisions based upon three criteria. They corporation act on sensation, they domiciliate use reason for guidance, or they can act upon their innate apprehension. Faulkner is able to indicate the particular combination of sensation, reason, and intuition possessed by each of his characters through a subtle treatment of language and style (Vickery 51). Faulkner portrays each character through their thought accomplish and thus characterizes them as the product of their choices.The eight non-Bundrens, friends, neighbors, and onlookers alike, are employed by Faulkner to characterize the family members, however the credence of t... ...s against us lazily (Faulkner 158). Works CitedCampbell, nettle Modean, and Ruel E. Foster. A particular Appraisal. New York Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1970Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. New York V intage Books, 1985Kinney, Arthur F. Faulkners Narrative Poetics Style as Vision. Amherst University of Massachusetts Press, 1978Magill, Frank N. William Faulkner. Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Englewood Cliffs American Libraries, 1985Morris, Wesley. training Faulkner. Madison The University of Wisconsin Press, 1989Tuck, Dorothy. Crowells Handbook of Faulkner. New York Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1964Vickery, Olga W. The Novels of William Faulkner A Critical Interpretation. Baton Rouge Louisiana State University Press, 1959Wadlington, Warwick. As I Lay Dying Stories out of Stories. New York Twayne Publishers, 1992