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William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

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Characterization can make or break any piece of work depending on how interactive it is with the reader, taking writing to another level creating personal connections and emotions as stated simply “taking the reader to heart.” Characters represent imaginative figures that can be incorporated into the reader’s life, sharing connections with each other to better understand and feel the writing, rather than just read it. Characters often times help us discover the author’s tone and his/her views to get ourselves deeply into the book. There are many factors that are involved with successful characterization, but emotion may be the biggest one. Emotion helps the author get to the character’s feelings and thoughts therefore “taking the reader to …show more content…

The book is surrounded by Addie Bundren’s death which develops most of the characters in the story. Again, the story is created around the idea of poverty, as the Bundren’s are not as well set as most. After the death of the mother, Addie Bundren the family begins the journey to the central town of Jefferson, tackling many complications, and dilemmas. Throughout the book, Addie is referred to as dead, meaning she is not facing what the Bundren family is currently facing, but the identity that she possessed as being “Mrs.Bundren” is taken from her as Anse, the father introduces his new wife late in the book. How quickly can one’s identity be taken? The idea that one’s identity can be taken so easily leads to the idea that any identity is equally out of balance or instable. Before Addie died, her mindset of “words being just words” is shown throughout the book as the lack of communication between the characters lead them to be so called “unstable.” Family is one of the biggest themes within the novel, and the lack of communication between the characters creates tense barriers between the different mindsets between the families. This quote from Chapter 5 "It was her wish," pa says.”You got no affection nor gentleness for her. You never had" shows us that the dead of Addie only brought the family closer physically, not emotionally where they struggle as everyone feels differently within and find it difficult to communicate these emotions with everyone. This is where the author calls out to the reader, as the general theme of family and relationship not only allow the reader to connect his history to the book, but also understand the characters deeper as well as interpret their feelings of their

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Betrayal is defined as, “an act of deliberate disloyalty" (vocabulary.com). In William Faulkner’s book, As I Lay Dying, there is a lot of betrayal between the Bundren family. From, Addie having an affair to most of her family travelling to Jefferson for selfish reasons. The Bundren family is a lying and selfish family. Most of the characters betray Addie specifically in many ways.

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However, once the murder of the family occurs, everything changes. The author says, “Once a thing is set to happen, all you can do is hope it won’t. Or will- depending. As long as you live there’s always something waiting, and even if it’s bad, and you know it’s bad, what can you do? You can’t stop living.”

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The differences that arise between older and younger generations are often lifelong and tragic. In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Anse’s unorthodox views are at odds with almost everyone else’s views, including the views of his family members, such as Darl’s, Jewel’s, and Dewey Dell’s. Throughout the entire book, Anse’s main goal is to travel to Jefferson, Mississippi, in order to bury his wife there, as this was his wife’s wish.

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The characters in any story are the main parts of the story that engage the readers with the uniqueness

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All readers have come across the stereotypical character who is charming, good-looking, and the savior of the story and our hearts, but that is present in commercial fiction. In literary fiction, characters are something greater and deeper. In literary fiction, characterization is considered one of the most important elements in an author’s work. Characterization is the concept of creating a character.

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Characterization helps develop a story by helping the reader develop what the characters are like and how they act. Not only does the author develop characterization, he develops the setting and plot elements that make the story flow and make sense to every reader. In the short story, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” F.Scott Fitzgerald uses the literary element characterization to show how Benjamin is looked at in society and what his family and others think of him. Benjamin Button had an unusual life, he ages backward. He came out a 70-year old man and had the mindset of being confident of who he is.

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Nature in American Literature The setting of a novel has the ability to set a mood for readers throughout the story, and in the majority of the stories read this semester nature is relied on heavily for this function. During the realistic, naturalistic, and modernistic periods in American literature, nature has been brought to life in different ways to illuminate the cultural views of that time. Willa Cather’s One of Ours, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, and Stephen Crane’s The Open Boat are all examples of texts that illuminate certain aspects of nature relative to their time.

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Addie, the deathly ill mother, takes part in many ironic situations which accentuate the novel's dark humor. For example, she looks forward to dying instead of reflecting on good memories or thinking about her family. This is seen when she

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In the novel, As I lay dying by William Faulkner, the Bundren family go through a mental journey of loss and death of their mother later to go on a physical journey to bury their mother. To the conclusion of any novel, many have an opinion on what is much happy or not a happy ending. In the case of the ending to As I lay dying, include no real burial of how the mother wanted, which was the point of the physical journey in the first place, secrets comes out, one of the five the siblings gets taken away, and many are left with unfinished business, was not a happy at all for most of the characters. The novel is narrated by 15 characters that are not all part of the Bundren family but in some way connected.

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William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying follows the Bundren family on a journey while it explores the subject of heroism and discusses its subjectivity. The family travels on an expedition to bury Addie, the deceased mother of the protagonist, Darl Bundren, and his siblings. As days continue to pass, however, the journey seemed interminable. During the adventure, the family takes a stop at Gillespie’s barn for the evening. While they rest Darl sets the barn, in which the coffin sits, ablaze.

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Religion in As I Lay Dying The time and setting during which the novel was written are very important for understanding William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. This novel was written in 1930 Mississippi; during this time Mississippi was very religious. Unsurprisingly, Christianity and religion also plays a big role in As I Lay Dying particularly through imagery and symbolism that connects different characters to religious figures, including Jesus Christ.

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The novel begins with Addie Bundren 's end. As she dies, she is surrounded by her family, for better or for worse. Her husband Anse, her daughter, and two of her four sons quietly watch over her like patient buzzards until suddenly “[her eyes] go out as though someone had leaned down and blown upon them” and all emotional hell breaks loose (Faulkner 48). Her daughter “flings herself” on to Addie dead body while her youngest son with “all color draining” flees the

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A reader must know the correct characterization of someone in order to fully understand the story. Understanding the point of view and characterization is just as important as understanding the plot. The conflict, climax and other aspects are a major part of the plot as a whole. To put it differently, all the components of a story are equal.

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Characterization is the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character. There are two types of characterization, direct and indirect. Direct characterization is when the author tells the reader exactly what a character is like. Indirect characterization is when the author gives the reader clues and hints as to what the character is like which enables readers to infer or decide for themselves. In the story, “Harrison Bergeron,” the main character, Harrison, is tyrannical which is visible through the five ways to indirectly characterize, using Harrison’s speech, personal thoughts, appearance, actions, and how other characters feel towards him.

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Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends. The question of self-pity.” (p. 3) These are the first words of the book, and the first words Didion writes after losing her husband, John Gregory Dunne, to a sudden massive coronary event on the evening of December 30, 2003.

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