William Faulkner 's Unconventional Writing Style

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William Faulkner’s unconventional writing style is widely renowned for his disregard of literary rules and his keen ability to peer into the psychological depths of his characters. His novel As I Lay Dying is no exception to his signature style. This book sets forth the death of Addie Bundren, her family’s journey through Yoknapatawpha County to bury her with her relatives in Jefferson, Mississippi, and examines each character in depth from a variety of perspectives. While this journey wreaks havoc among members of the family, As I Lay Dying serves as a dark reminder that life is to be lived and that happiness is within reach. Addie Bundren, the novel’s seminal character, lived a sad life. She recalls that “I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time” (169). Although Addie remembers hating her father, she adopts his philosophy. She says, “I knew at last what he meant” (175) and this understanding guides her life of sorrow and sadness. She feels no comfort or joy in her husband and merely exists with him, “I did not even ask him for what he could have given me: not-Anse. That was my duty to him, to not ask that, and that duty I fulfilled” (174). Even her children have no special place in her heart, “I gave Anse the children. I did not ask for them” (174). The children merely take from her and she finds no satisfaction in mothering. The only excitement she finds in life is in her affair with

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