Margaret Atwood uses a contrasting long-sentence, short-sentence writing style to emphasize certain sections of her books and Zora Neale Hurston writes in dialect to give a more realistic idea of the setting and characters in her books. William Faulkner, on the other had, is more of an ignore-punctuation-sometimes, don't-always-make-pronoun-references-clear, switch-between-ideas-without-any-transition type of writer. Seriously, I have never before read a book that incorporates so many subtle little details in the writing to add to character development and to steer the writer's focus in a specific direction. Let me give you some examples below.
One of the first things I noticed when I started reading the book, is the lack of apostrophes in certain words, but not others. For example, in As I Lay Dying, the words dont, cant, and wont never have apostrophes, but the words I'll and we'll among others always do. At first I thought it was to give the characters a sense of being somewhat uneducated. But then I noticed the words that do include apostrophes. These words with apostrophes, however, become entirely different words if the apostrophe were omitted, which could change the meaning drastically. For example, I'll and ill are the exact same save the apostrophe and could potentially cause confusion if in some case they would both fit in a sentence, albeit the likelihood of that is slim. Regardless, I do still as a result stand by my original thought that this writing characteristic makes the characters seem uneducated. It also helps accentuate the southern accent.
All the characters in the book have slight differences in the writing to differentiate them and their backgrounds. Vardaman sounds young and Darl speaks in circles, for example. Tull stands out to me as having a poorer standard of spelling than his counterparts in the book. For example, he says "'She has hern'" (92) and often times makes unusual contractions with the words him and her, as well as saying setting instead of sitting. This makes him seem uneducated to me. However, at the same time it might just be my northern prejudices coming into play here, as the book gives no reason for us to believe that Tull should be any more or less intelligent than Darl, Anse or Cora. Most likely, it is simply dialect.
Faulkner does however go a bit overboard crazy with his style when Dewey Dell is riding on the wagon from Samson's place. She makes the observation that "Cash's head turns slowly as we approach [the road sign], his pale empty sad composed and questioning face following the red and empty curve" (121). No commas are in place, despite a list being present. This gives a very odd effect, forcing the reader to slow down and more carefully observe the sentence. Upon closer inspection, Dewey Dell's observations go from being pure description, pale, to giving insight to Cash's state of mind, composed and questioning. The stream of consciousness device used here also may explain the lack of commas, as we get Dewey Dell's thoughts in real time. This continues further down the page, where we come to a paragraph entry composed in italics. Let me show some of it before I say anything. The paragraph reads as follows: "When I used to sleep with Vardaman I had a nightmare once I thought I was awake but I couldn't see and couldn't feel I couldn't feel the bed under me and I couldn't think what I was I couldn't think of my name I couldn't even think I am a girl…" (121). As you've probably recognized now, this entire paragraph is completely void of periods. Entirely. Including at the very end. This gives a very frantic feeling to the paragraph, combined with the words, making Dewey Dell seem vulnerable and panicked. Her thoughts are racing, slightly incoherent and flowing right into one another without pause. The lack of periods specifically accentuates this last point.
Similarly, on this page, the use of italics allows us to more easily separate Dewey Dell's thoughts. For example, she thinks "I saw Vardaman rise and go to the window and strike the knife into fish, the blood gushing, hissing like steam but I could not see. He'll do as I say. He always does. I can persuade him to anything. You know I can. Suppose I say Turn here. That was when I died last time" (121). She first recalls Vardaman slaughtering the fish he had dropped on the ground, then considers her relation with Vardaman before finally again coming back to the scene of him slaughtering the fish. While the italics are not completely necessary, they do help the reader differentiate between thoughts, which can be incredibly important given the complexity of the characters' thoughts in this book.
Finally, I simply have to share probably the most unique device I have ever seen in a book: a picture as a part of a sentence. Not on a separate page. Not as an insert on the page. Actually part of the sentence!!! It reads as follows, with Tull narrating: "Cash made [the coffin] clock-shaped, like this [...] with every joint and seem bevelled and scrubbed…" (88). Instead of having the three dots in the brackets is the picture of a coffin. This adds to the feel of the stream of consciousness style and helps put the reader in the moment. Also, because of the picture, an entire paragraph of description could be eliminated from the book and adds a sense of simplicity to Tull's thoughts.
Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow I'll talk about character relations and plot points.
The style of your book seems very unique and interesting. Seeing that the story is in stream of conscious, I am curious as to if the events in the book are chronological. If they are not, does this make the storyline hard to follow and how do flashbacks enhance your understanding of characters and events? You say that the characters are different from one another. I would like to know if Faulkner and/or the narrators explain the way that each character is reacting to Addie's death.
ReplyDeleteThe events in this book, at least so far, are almost entirely chronological, with only a few glimpses into the past when characters are contemplating their relations with others or about others. I cannot recall any use of flashback. As for reactions to Addie's death, the characters reveal their emotions primarily through their actions, but also some of their thoughts. Anse, for example, is constantly reminding himself that he promised Addie he would bring her to Tennessee, but everything is very subtle. No one ever says "I am sad" or "Vardaman is confused as to why his mother died". Close reading is required to find out their reactions, and for some characters, their emotional response is not yet clear.
DeleteYou've done a great job explaining Faulkner's style. As you've read Wolff, it would be interesting to hear the differences you see in their use of stream of consciousness. I particularly like your use of hypenated modifiers in the first paragraph (though I think you mean Margaret Atwood, not Margaret Thatcher).
ReplyDeleteBe careful though, as there are some flashbacks, such as Dewey Dell's memory of her dream that you quote above. There are others too, but as this is such a complex book, they aren't always easily distinguished from the present tense of the novel.