One way of reading the novel is to see the myths of the South slowly revealed to be as rotten as the corpse of Addie Bundren. What kind of promise does he offer after death? Is the novel simply pessimistic, or is there some hope throughout? The title of the novel, As I Lay Dying, indicates action that occurs simultaneous to the death of the matriarch-what else might be 'dying'? The South? The authority of the narrator? The institution of the family? Faulkner's artistic depth allows for all of these possibilities. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.Ĭ.6. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.Ĭ.5. Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.Ĭ.4. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development summarize the key supporting details and ideas.Ĭ.3. How does Faulkner's form for the novel-a series of competing voices and perspectives presented as a multiple-voice narrative-work for or against the novel's title? Guiding QuestionsĬ.1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.Ĭ.2. Yet she only speaks once in the novel, and she is dead, not dying, throughout most of the novel (aside from the beginning chapters). The novel's title- As I Lay Dying-invokes a first-person speaker, presumably the voice of the dead mother, Addie Bundren. The conclusion presents a key to understanding the broad panorama surrounding the central event in a way that traditional linear narratives simply are unable to accomplish.' ' often told his stories using multiple narratives, each with their own interests and biases, who allow us to piece together the 'true' circumstances of the story, not as clues in a mystery, but as different melodies in a piece of music that form a crescendo.

The following lesson examines the novel's use of multiple voices in its narrative:

William Faulkner's self-proclaimed masterpiece, As I Lay Dying, originally published in 1930, is a fascinating exploration of the many voices found in a Southern family and community.

Author of as i lay dying