What does the final portrait of the Bundrens look like? Are they as rotten
as Addie's corpse, full of despair and dissolution? Or are they a tribute to
the vigor and resolve of a Southern family, who successfully complete an overwhelming
task? Does Faulkner truly resolve this issue?
Learning Objective
After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to:
Discuss possible interpretations of the novel and its characters
Compare the themes of hope and loss found in both Faulkner's Nobel Prize
Speech and As I Lay Dying.
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
Review the curriculum unit overview and the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. If necessary, download and print out any documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
Activity
The title of the novel, As I Lay Dying, indicates action that occurs
simultaneous to the death of the matriarch—what else might be "dying"?
The South? The authority of the narrator? The institution of the family? Faulkner's
artistic depth allows for all of these possibilities.
What kind of promise does he offer after death? Is the novel simply pessimistic,
or is there some hope throughout?
One way of reading the novel is to see the myths of the South slowly revealed
to be as rotten as the corpse of Addie Bundren. How do the desires of each
family member reveal in different ways this sense of despair and dissolution?
Consider, for example, Anse's false teeth (and new wife), Dewey Dell's failed
abortion, Darl's 'madness,' Cash's lost tools, and Jewel's bartered horse.
Another way of reading the novel involves recognizing the images of success
and endurance. Students might examine the comedic and optimistic
aspects of the novel. Many of the Bundrens, after all, do succeed in their endeavors, especially Anse, who not only gets his new teeth but also finds a new "Mrs. Bundren"—possibly a hopeful indication for progeny and prosperity.
Students should revisit Faulkner's Nobel
Prize Speech via Internet Public Library,
where he said that "the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself
[…] alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about,
worth the agony and the sweat." He spoke of that conflict: of "love and honor
and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice." His assessment of mankind's
future is surprisingly optimistic: "I believe that man will not merely endure:
he will prevail."
Considering Faulkner's speech, what does the final portrait of the Bundrens
look like? Are they as rotten as Addie's corpse, full of despair and dissolution?
Or are they a tribute to the vigor and resolve of a Southern family, who successfully
complete an overwhelming task? Does Faulkner truly resolve this issue? Is
the sense of hope more evident in his Nobel Prize Speech than in As I
Lay Dying?
Assessment
Students can write an entry into the Bundren family saga—create a
character and voice appropriate to the novel and describe an encounter somewhere
along their journey. Students should consider carefully issues of voice,
including point-of-view, the personality and tone of their character, the
extent of the character's knowledge of the events, and so on. A brief paragraph
should conclude the assignment, giving a critical assessment of the choices
the student decided to make and why.
Write an obituary for Addie from a particular character's point of view
(or from her own).
Rewrite the three scenes described above in the voice of a single narrator.
This can be done individually or in pairs. The results can be read to the
class.
Take-home essay as described above or multimedia presentation by students
on either of the guiding questions listed above.
Use this interactive to create their own Jefferson County Newspaper to compile all of the above exercises into one publication.
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