1. Considerations for The Mayor of Casterbridge and As I Lay Dying
Family Connections:
Considerations for
The Mayor of Casterbridge and
As I Lay Dying

2. Contrasting settings:
Michael – From the agricultural county of Wessex to Casterbridge in 1880s England
The Bundren Family – From the rural Mississippi county of Yoknapatawpha to Jefferson in 1920s American South

3. Consider the Protagonists:
Michael – encumbered but determined, yearns to unyoke from his family
Addie? Darl? – who is the protagonist of As I Lay Dying? How does family create conflict?

4. Consider the antagonists:
The Mayor of Casterbridge:
People: Farfrae, himself
Ideas: popularity VS loneliness; failure VS success
As I Lay Dying (no antagonist in the traditional sense):
- people VS animals
- Addie’s favorite as the damned one
- death as an opportunity
- Addie as an evil spirit – the opposite of nurturing

5. Historical Significance:
Farm Life versus Industrial Landscape
Money Calculations:
5 guineas in 1880 = $ today
Cost of Living (1 guinea =21 shillings)
3 dollars in 1920 = $37.54 today
Grocery Prices
Wife Auctions: Wife Selling in Victorian England.docx

6. Common Archetypes:
The Journey
Bridges
Social Class
Death

7. Consider symbols: As I Lay Dying: The Mayor of Casterbridge The river
The coffin
Animals
Tools
The Mayor of Casterbridge
Wheat/farm production
Five Guineas
The Goldfinch
Letters

8. Analyzing THEME: Theme is NOT: Theme IS: One word/phrase;
Specific to one work;
A subject
Chapter-specific
A universal comment about life and/or human nature;
A complete sentence;
Relevant to the WHOLE work

9. Examples (and non-examples):
The theme of The Mayor of Casterbridge is love and marriage.
The theme of As I Lay Dying is that Addie’s death is hard on the whole family.
The theme of The Mayor of Casterbridge is that successful marriage does not require love.
As I Lay Dying conveys the idea that death is not an individual experience.

10. Your Task
Review your READING LOGS for key elements of plot, character, and setting;
Be able to write a STATEMENT of THEME for EACH NOVEL;
Prepare your speech so that DEEPENS it our understanding of that topic.
THIS FRIDAY, Be able to identify characters, settings, major plot events, etc.