Boxed In: Examining Faulkner's Linguistic Silhouette of Addie's Interment

Boxed In: Examining Faulkner's Linguistic Silhouette of Addie's Interment

Known for his immensely multifunctional use of the English language, William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying is a novel of fractionalized perspectives and boundless dialectal imagery. This story is constructed around the death of Addie Bundren. Its chapters are stories, memories, and ruminations of the people st11Tounding her—both in life and the days after. Yet only one chapter is dedicated to her own words, her own account, her own voice. It is her chapter on which this paper focuses. By dissecting the few pages allotted for her, and by examining Faulkner's own linguistic and psychological construction, we may better understand the composite woman lying within her emblematic coffin.