As I Lay Dying Narrators

Another story in which the author guides the readers though literary devices is “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. “A Rose for Emily” is narrated in first-person plural. I believe the author chose to make it first-person plural to show that it wasn’t just one person who thought those things about Miss Emily nor was it just men or just women. It was almost everyone in the town that reacted that way. Had it been one person, we could’ve said it was only their opinion. This narrative strategy relates to that description because all of the townspeople felt as if they were to take care of her, not just the narrator.

In As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner the reader gets to see how hard life is for the Bundren family. The Bundren’s face many obstacles throughout the book and somehow manage to come through most of them okay. The family fulfills their desires along the way to relieve them of these struggles. The main theme in As I Lay Dying is family dysfunction, and this family dysfunction leads to Darl’s insanity.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your vision is clear, your whole body will be full of light” (). Ever since the creation of mankind, the eyes exist as the window to the soul. Taking one look into a person's eyes can leave you with more knowledge than ever thought imagined. Love, anger, lust, hatred, sympathy and guilt can all express themselves in just one glance. William Faulkner knew of this interesting trait and applied it to his 19___’s novel “As I Lay Dying”. Each character possesses their own unique traits and personalities which drive them to fulfill their end mission: burying their mother in Jefferson. To express their personalities, Faulkner incorporates a variety of similes and metaphors all relating to the eyes. This technique sheds light of their selfish ways. These selfish qualities, not the love for their mother, cause the Bundren children to succeed in their mother's dying wish.

Faulkner’s point in doing this was to present the reader with an articulate omniscient narrator on whom they could rely. Darl, the main omniscient narrator, explains events to the reader that he did not witness first hand. Also, Vardaman is only a child, and strangely enough provides insight about the life of a big family, that no other character was able to do.

In William Faulkner’s short stories “A Rose for Emily” and “Barn Burning” the characters are both guilty of committing terrible crimes. However, Miss Emily in “A Rose for Emily” and Abner Snopes in “Barn Burning” are both portrayed very differently from each other. A few things to consider while reading these short stories is how each of these characters is characterized, how the author generates sympathy for these characters, and the order in which the events in these stories occur.

In the novel, As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, two characters ,Darl and Jewel Bundren, each cope with their mother’s death and deal with their isolation from their family by expressing their feelings in deeply emotional behavior. Darl, the second eldest sibling out of five, questions his existence because of his isolation and the lack of love he received from his mother growing up. Jewel, on the other hand, was his mother’s favorite of all five of her children. Jewel was the bastard son of Addie Bundren and the minister she had an affair with, Whitfeld. Due to the violent situation by which he was conceived, Jewel expresses all of his actions, including love, through violence and hatred. Both Darl and Jewel Bundren, convey their

William Faulkner uses language in a unique way in his novel As I Lay Dying. Language is a form of expression to show thoughts and emotions. Faulkner uses it to convey the individual characters’ thoughts and feelings. He also uses it to draw a line between language and true expression. He shows the limitations of language and the difference between language and words.

William Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying, tells the story of a family that journeys cross-country with the intentions to find a proper resting place for their mother, Addie Bundren. After reading for only a short time, it becomes clear that two of her sons, Jewel and Darl, play a much larger role in the story than the other siblings. One could find many good points to support either character being labeled as the protagonist of the story, such as the various tensions that can clearly be seen between them. That being said, Darl is, without a doubt, the best possible choice. He is forced to overcome more obstacles, including alienation from his entire family, than any other character, and is truly a changed person by the end of the novel.

Faulkner uses syntactical strategies throughout his speech to assist him in communicating his message to his audience. In the third paragraph he emphasizes a syntax device known as anaphora, when stating, “He must learn them again… He much teach himself… He writes not of love…He writes not of the heart…”.The anaphora helps Faulkner be effective in his argument by the repetition of words to help him get his view of things across to the audience. To also succor his effectiveness he uses polysyndeton, which is used to draw the audience’s attention therefore adding the effect of persistence and intensity to help keep his audiences attention, making his speech effective. An example of polysyndeton is when he declares “love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice” This quote helps signify that authors need to write from their soul and

One way that Faulkner manipulates the point of view within the story is by having the narrator use an omniscient first-person narration that tell us the events from the perspective of the townspeople. The narrator relays information about Emily to the readers in a gossip-like manner, where they only receive small bits and pieces of information. An example of this is when the townspeople are talking about the reason as to why Ms. Emily Grierson went and bought arsenic. The townspeople had thoughts that “'She will kill herself'”, but little did they know of the true intentions she had for the poison (Faulkner 35). There is also the time when Ms. Grierson is seen being intimate with Homer Barron, and the townspeople

William Faulkner has done a wonderful work in his essay “A Rose for Emily.” Faulkner uses symbols, settings, character development, and other literary devices to express the life of Emily and the behavior of the people of Jefferson town towards her. By reading the essay, the audience cannot really figure out who the narrator is. It seems like the narrator can be the town’s collective voice. The fact that the narrator uses collective pronoun we supports the theory that the narrator is describing the life of “Miss Emily” on behalf of the townspeople. Faulkner has used the flashback device in his essay to make it more interesting. The story begins with the portrayal of Emily’s funeral and it moves to her past and at the end the readers realize that the funeral is a flashback as well. The story starts with the death of Miss Emily when he was seventy-four years old and it takes us back when she is a young and attractive girl.

The narrators alternate, showcasing the fluctuating levels of coherence, understanding and emotional strength. The dialect differs from character to character and the language each character uses, varies on level of intensity and subjectivity. Each character’s speech varies from being confessional to teetering on the line of awareness and consciousness. The characters each have their own view on life and on the way Addie Bundren lived her life: through these alternate character’s eyes, we can piece together the bits and pieces of Addie’s life, death and the haulage of her decaying body to Jefferson. The narrative seems to be fragmented however, it also exhibits a type of unity. The story takes place over the course of a few days yet the differing “sub-plots are logically and skillfully interwoven” (Ross 309). Faulkner forces the reader to see the narrative from multiple perspectives.

Another prime example of Faulkner's effective writing is his use of narration. Of course, in most stories the narrator is a key asset. In :A Rose for Emily" Faulkner uses the narrator not only as a story teller, but as an observer from the crowd as well. The narrator's point of view, which is third person, had a positive effect on the way a reader views the story. "Through out the story the narrator uses "we" instead of I revealing to us the way the townspeople judge Emily" (Madden 1988). The narrator thinks back in time throughout the story remembering particular events that occurred in the past. This is important to the reader in that it helps aid the understanding of how the townspeople viewed Emily. The narrator as one of the townspeople viewed Miss Emily as impervious, tranquil, and perverse. If the story had been narrated by anyone else, it may not have been as easy for the reader to completely understand. "With this spectator as the narrator, describing the events of the story through his eyes, one can detect a general impression of Emily" (Madden 1987). The view of the narrator is beneficial in understanding the things that Emily goes through. Also toward the end of the story the narrator gives the reader a feeling if sorrow and pity for Emily. It is apparent Faulkner's use of narration is critical to the enhancement and clarification of the "A Rose for Emily." After analyzing the

The first of the three stories is called A Rose for Emily (Faulkner, 1993). It is a story focused around Emily Grierson and the author divides the story into 5 parts or sections. The story has a narrator that goes nameless for the entirety of the story. In section one of A Rose for Emily (Faulkner, 1993) the narrator is recalling the death of Emily Grierson and how the collective group of towns folk attend the funeral, which is located in her home. It also talks about how after the death of Emily’s father that the mayor of the town at the time suspended Emily’s tax responsibilities

The narrators talks about the conflict between Emily and the “new generation” on the tax notices they send and she is not willing to pay due to theColonel Sartoris, the town’s previous mayor who suspended Emily`s tax after her father`s death, because once he had loaned to the city. In the next section, it is flashbacked thirty years ago. The time when her father has already dead and she has just abandoned by her beloved man. In section three and four, after her father`s death, the summer after. She was sick for a long time. The streets were being paved by new contracts with a northerner, Homer Baren who was Emily`s beloved. She poisoned and murdered him. Many years passes until her death. And in the last section, it is the funeral ceremony taking place and after when the secret is revealed after forty years when Homer was disappeared.According to Schwab, William Faulkner told the story after Emily's death in a series of flashbacks to show time standing still for Emily.The narrator seeks through the character`s mind and shifts the sign as an element of a modernism text. Another remarkable form of writing which is significant form of modernism text is the use first person narration while it is not usually seen in the traditional ones.