The Impact of As I Lay Dying To the South

The novel As I Lay Dying written by the ace William Faulkner is a living tribute to the contributory role of the writer in his individual capacity and of the wider south to the American literature community. In addition to the various distinguishing attributes of the novel, the writer adopts a unique style of discontinuity that embraces a stream of consciousness as his main tool to lavish the narration in the novel.
So remarkable is the work that William Faulkner blazing with admiration and satisfaction described it as a “tour de force.” In retrospect it can be said that for good reasons the writer did not only successfully carve a sense of personal aggrandizement for his ego, but also achieved a multiple effect of permanently silencing the skeptics who entertained ages of deep seated doubts about the literary capabilities of the south. Undoubtedly, there are good justifiable grounds to accord the novel and its writer the praises of liberation, since the hitherto contemptuous state in which the southern literary elite were being scorned was nonetheless disdainful.
In a mastery style the novelist tells the story by using 15 different narrators spanning fifty nine chapters along the plot of the novel. Essentially, the story though bearing much resemblance with a tragic tale, it however awakens the series of reverberating themes that captured southern people according to the novel. Critically following the story line, the writer challenges the traditional stereotype that underpins or what the rest say defines their language, political standing, economic, civil rights and the subtle subject of slavery. The dilemma becomes crystallized as questions such as the real symbolism of the south in the history of the American literature growth with all its varied transitions begin to take centre stage.
As the story progresses we read of how, William Faulkner manipulates Addie Bundren, a principal character in the story to serve his intended purpose. The picture of a dying woman in the opening parts of the novel, making a request for a special burial place for her mortal remains is by all standards very striking and awakes curious emotions. Viewed superficially, what appears to be a noble request from a weak spouse to a supposedly loving husband is definitely well intentioned. On the contrary, the lead character during her hey days was not an ardent symbol of righteousness. Whether by her own machinations or external pressure she definitely left an impervious stain to her reputation by dint of her infidelity. Naturally, she understood, either covertly or overtly that she was the target of a secret indignation primarily from her husband and by extension her disfavored children. Upon a careful scheming she resorts to the unorthodox method of taking her pound of flesh from her supposed detractors by requesting to be buried in Jefferson her native home.

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