Originally published in 1930, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying gives the account of one family’s mission to bury their mother in a distant city the dying woman, Addie, is a proud and bitter person; Addie Bundren wishes her final resting place should be near her relatives in Jefferson, Mississippi as opposed to at home. Therefore, Anse, Addie’s husband and father of four of their five children, leads the expedition.
The coffin, made by Addie’s eldest son Cash, was place on a wagon by mules; unfortunately, the mules drown when the family attempt to across the swollen river. Even worse, Cash breaks the leg he that he had broken once before. The plot had numerous twists and revelation, including the third son, Jewel, the bastard child of Addie, and the minister; furthermore, the behavior of the second son, Darl, who became erratic and committed to an asylum by the rest of the family. The other major storyline involves the fact that the only Bundren daughter, Dewey Dell who is seventeen, had a recent sexual experience was left with pregnant.
Once arrived at Jefferson, with the corpse of Addie by this time smelling so dreadful the people they pass are repelled and horrified. However, with determination to fulfill their mother’s final request, they buried her anyway. In summary, the novel perhaps sounds gloomy. Nonetheless, the style, structure, and refracted, illusory narrative voices those make it so plausible. For instance, Vardaman (the youngest Bundren Child), rambles near nonsense after his mother dies; but we see a shift as he calms throughout the journey.
By cycling through the perspective of fifteen distinct narrators that relate their thoughts and perceptions, Faulkner is able to show how human minds work and intimate thoughts and emotions reveal themselves. Significantly, this technique helps the reader gets inside the mind of each character. This book is by far one of the most remarkable novel that I have ever read; personally, I highly recommend anyone to read this epic novel for an extraordinary experience.