As I Lay Dying

How do you start a As I Lay Dying term paper? Our expert writers suggest like this:

As I Lay Dying research papers report that William Faulkner called As I Lay Dying his 'tour de force' novel. Several facts about As I Lay Dying include:

• Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying in six weeks
• Faulkner wrote it straight through and claimed to have not changed a single word
• One of the greatest "stream of consciousness" novels ever written

Both the short duration of its composition and the cleanliness of the manuscript suggest that it was indeed as pretty close to a true stream of consciousness work as any ever written, so the fact that its plot is so intricate and the crucial facts are presented with such deliberateness and patience (the reader does not learn of Addie's adultery with Whitfield -- and hence Jewels illegitimate parentage -- until two-thirds of the novel has been written) is amazing in itself.

As I Lay Dying Characters

The haphazardness of the each character's narratives is deliberate and intentional. Faulkner does not let you relax with them, does not allow you to pin down each character precisely, nor to follow either their thoughts or the story straight through. Each character has his or her own agenda, 'his and her secret and selfish thought' as Addie calls it, and it is this incongruity of agendas (the fact that each character lives in his own secret, myopic world and at the same time must live with each other character in the novel, who is also in his own secret, myopic world, etc., etc...), the conflict between Addie's and Anse's -- as well as between Jewel and Darl -- fundamental motivations, that sets the plot of the novel in motion, and determines why each character does what he or she does and why the story is told in the manner that it is.