As I Lay Dying - Extra

This story is creepy... I just cannot get over the son building his mother's coffin right in front of this. It is weird to me that Faulkner continues to concentrate on the fact that Cash is this supposedly great carpenter. I guess it might be the irony of this son using his craft for his mother's coffin. Faulkner keeps going back to the fact that Cash is right outside his mother's window building her coffin. When Darl says, "A good carpenter Addie Bundren could not want a better one, a better box to lie in. It will give her confidence and comfort. I go on to the house, followed by the Chuck. Chuck. Chuck. of the adze" (4-5). It is just very strange to me that it seems like everyone in this family is so concentrated on the mother's death. Even Addie is "accepting" her own death and nothing is being done about it. It really makes me mad how the stupid son keeps continually reminding her of her own death. It will be interesting to see how they come to terms with the death.

Even though this is a very creepy book, the language that Faulkner uses is actually very well put together and very beautiful. The way he describes things gives the reader such a vivid visual. I love when Darl says, "I enter the hall, hearing the voices before I reach the door. Tilting a little down the hill, as our house does, a breeze draws through the hall all the time, upslanting. A feather dropped near the front door will rise and brush along the ceiling, slanting backward, until it reaches the down-turning current at the back door: so with voices. As you enter the hall, they sound as though they were speaking out of the air about your head" (20). Whenever I read this, it told me so much about the setting and the character and what was going on. The entire mood of this story is developed so well.

As I Lay Dying - Extra

What struck me first about As I Lay Dying is the format of the novel. It is interesting how Faulkner changes characters thoughts through different chapters. The way that he deliberately separates the characters and still intertwines the thoughts of the characters is amazing.

In the beginning of As I Lay Dying I was a little confused about what was going on because the characters changed so quickly. As I got into the story, I learned the characters and began to understand the way that they act. What I find fascinating about Faulkner is his uncanny ability to create the different characters with such distinct personalities. As I continued reading farther on, whenever I read the name at the beginning of the chapter, I immediately brought the character into my mind.

Faulkner also has that amazing ability to write at the surface but the reader knows that there is a ton more going on that what is being said on top. I think that his writing is very poetry-like. He tends to put a lot of understatement into his writing and he also puts such a huge meaning, concept, or emotion into just a few simple words. I think that his writing really draws the reader in.