As I Lay Dying Research Paper

William Faulkner is an American writer who is well known for his novels, such as his well known one As I Lay Dying. He was born in New Albany, Mississippi on September 25, 2015. His family was influenced by their ancestors, like Faulkner’s great-grandfather, John Wesley Faulkner, who Faulkner was named after. Faulkner expressed his admiration of his ancestor by writing about him in some of his earlier works. He also admired his mother, but believed his true motherly figure was an African American woman who raised him his whole childhood. He credits her as being the one who made him the person the was. In his life, Faulkner trained in the British Royal Flying Corps during the World War II Era, but didn’t participate in any fighting for the U.S

In 1930, Faulkner published the novel As I Lay Dying, a story of a southern family trying to complete their matriarch's last dying wish for her burial. It is said that the title of the work was influenced by Homer’s The Odyssey, taken from one of the chapters. During this time, the Modernist movement was happening, which was where authors wrote in order to give meaning to life post WWII. Before the novel, the South was not seen as influential in American Literature, but his novel As I Lay Dying was a book that helped change that image. At the time, it was well received and even today is considered one of America's greatest works of literature.

In As I Lay Dying, the chapters are developed in the way of separating the individual members of the family and their thoughts of their deceased mother/wife. The unique part of this is that the chapters aren’t numerical, but rather divided by the names of the family. There is a chapter of one son, Cash, addressing his mother’s, Addie's, death and his perspective on what’s happening, while the next chapter revolves around Anse’s, the husband’s, perspective. They address

Whether it's physical darkness or a feeling of darkness, the imagery functions as a parallel to the feelings of the characters, unhappiness and despair. When Addie was alive, she reflected back in how she thought her life was with Anse. “He did not know that he was dead, then. Sometimes I would lie by him in the dark, hearing the land that was now of my blood and flesh, and I would think: Anse. Why Anse. Why are you Anse” (Faulkner 173). When Addie talks about death, the image of darkness is expressed as well as the actual darkness in the room she is in. She feels like she is suffocating in her marriage and unhappy with how her life turned out in it. She reflects in a dark room, which parallels what she feels. She is lost in her life and the darkness is what keeps her from finding her way out of this sadness she has. Later on in the story, darkness is expressed in order to show how dark the family sees the environment around them, influenced by their mother’s and wife’s death. “Now there are ten of them, tall in little tall black circles on the sky.” (Faulkner 197). While the black circles in the sky are clouds, the color black, is used to describe the clouds and emphasize how the family see things negatively and do not see anything with light because they are going through a tough and dark time. They don't like the dark clouds because they bring rain and that would ruin things for Addie’s funeral. For them,