1. As I Lay Dying by
William Faulkner

2. Faulkner’s Biography Born William Cuthber Faulkner in 1897
Moved to Oxford, MS at age of 5
Initially published book of poetry in 1924
Published 3 novels to little fanfare
Soldiers’ Pay, 1926
Mosquitoes, 1927
Sartoris, 1929
Married divorcee Estelle Oldham in 1929
2 daughters + Estelle’s 2 children
Unhappy union

3. Early novels garnered critical praise but no commercial success
The Sound and the Fury, 1929
As I Lay Dying, 1930
Worked as writer of fiction and Hollywood screenplays for remainder of life.
1946 publication of The Portable Faulkner aided reputation and commercial acceptance
1949 Nobel Prize for Literature
1954 Pulitzer Prize for Literature
Died of heart attack in 1962

4. Historical Context 1920s farm life a constant struggle for survival
Typical farmer’s income = $100.00/year
Lien System
Depression in cotton market
Flooding of 1920s
Conditions of working class brought “revolt of the rednecks” (James K. Vardaman)

5. Style Setting 1928 Mississippi Bundren family = poor cotton farmers
Travel far to bury matriarch
No modern farm equipment
Country folk versus Town Folk
Point of View
59 chapters, 15 narrators
Individual peculiarities
Social and religious environment
Form of character study
Reader witnesses events + characters’ perceptions

6. Stream of Consciousness
Reproduces characters’ thought processes
May reveal confusion and/or distress
No objective narrator
Normally restricted to the Bundren family
Darl
Vardaman
Dark Humor
Character perceptions = humor
Character faults = humor
Understatement = humor
Modernism
T. S. Eliot
James Joyce

7. Themes Women and Femininity: What is a woman’s role in the 1920s?
Duty: Is it a required act or a moral obligation?
Family: Is it a source of joy or pain?
Mortality: Is dying a reward or punishment?
Poverty: What are the +/- of being poor?
Religion: Is God benevolent or just?
Suffering: How much is too much? What is the effect?
Versions of Reality: What is real, and what is an illusion?

8. Characters The Bundren Family Addie Anse Cash Matriarch
Former schoolteacher
Anse
Patriarch
Selfish and lazy
Cash
oldest son
rational

9. Darl Dewey Dell Second oldest son WW I veteran Narrates story the most
Telepathic
Feels rejected by mother
Dewey Dell
Only daughter

10. Jewel Vardaman Third son Addie’s favorite
Product of affair with Reverend Whitfield
Prized possession = horse
Vardaman
Youngest child
Simple
Unable to understand mother’s death

11. Additional Characters
* Armistid – local farmer
Gillespie - farmer
* Skeet MacGowan – drugstore clerk in Jefferson
* Moseley – drugstore owner in Mottson
* Dr. Peabody – tends to Addie on her deathbed
* Samson - farmer
Rachel Samson - wife who makes a connection
* Cora Tull – judgmental neighbor
* Vernon Tull – closest neighbor
* Reverend Whitfield – Jewel’s father
* = narrator