As I Lay Dying (Trying to Put It Together)

1. GROUP WORK: Put your group work (under the worm -- you'll know it when you see it) in the topmost black bin on the desk at the front of room 2207. Make sure all of the names of your group members are on the work. This work is due by the end of the school day Friday, February 27, 2009.

Directions:
1a. Physical Map of the Journey (on a sheet of blank paper); 1b Mark three points on the map and find a quotation that corresponds (in some meaningful way) with each of the three points. (The three quotations should be written on a sheet of lined paper.)

2a. Map of the character's relationships (on a sheet of blank paper); 2b Mark three points on the relationship map and find a quotation that corresponds (in some meaningful way) to each of the three points you have marked. (The three quotations should be written on a sheet of lined paper.)

3a. Graph of some aspect of As I Lay Dying (on a sheet of blank paper); 3b Find a passage in the book that uses imagery that for your group captures the essence or core of the work as a whole. Draw a picture of the verbal imagery. (The quote and picture should be on a sheet of lined paper.)

2. MAPS: Yesterday we talked about 2a and 3a in D-block. We talked about 2a in F-block. Next week we'll talk about the rest. To be prepared to talk about 1a and 1b check out this map from the University of Virginia. The As I Lay Dying map is based on this map (from the University of Virginia Special Collections Library) which Faulkner made almost thirty years after writing As I Lay Dying and which omits As I Lay Dying entirely. The creator of the As I Lay Dying map also refers to the second map on this page (from the University of Michigan library: I know it's hard to read) and argues that Faulkner has placed Armstid's place too far from the river and Tull's place on the wrong side of the river in the UMich map. (Tull's place appears in Faulkner's novel Sanctuary too and seems to be on the other side of the river.) What is the relationship between a reader's experience of reading a novel and all of this other stuff (maps made after the fact, comments by the author, books a Quidditch, etc.)?

3. MICROBLOGGING

4. Select a passage from As I Lay Dying for a passage analysis essay. Bring this passage to class on Monday, March 2, 2009.

5. A few comments: One of the choices I remember having to make in school, especially at the upper levels, is "who am I working for?" Am I writing to satisfy myself? Am I writing to communicate something to my teacher, thinking of her or him as a person, a thinker and feeler, rather than as a grader? Am I writing to represent as fully and as truthfully as possible my understanding of whatever I am studying? (Am I writing to get as close as possible to a truth?) Am I writing for a grade? Why am I doing this work? Who am I trying to please? I tried to get at this in f-block yesterday and I've tried to get at this question at other times in both classes.

I think it's worth talking about because it leads back to the question "why bother with literature?" and a broader question "why bother with art?" and "why bother to understand the world around us and our own nature?"

That said I have been unfair to Cash. I will attempt to be more fair to him (and to the truth rendered grotesquely embodied by Cash) when we talk more next week. (One could do worse than to start with his narration starting on 232.)

all the best,
Mr. James Cook

(P.S. I write and read and teach and do very many other things to provide an outlet for a Darl within.)

An experiment: Micro-blogging while reading *As I Lay Dying*

What to look for...
On Tuesday we flipped through the book and then read the first chapter of As I Lay Dying together. We looked at the style, the narration, the motifs, the imagery, and the themes in those first 2+ pages. Here are some of the observations, thoughts, and questions from the first day...

* What effect do the multiple narrators have on your of what happens and what it means? (How does the multiple narrator technique affect your experience while reading? How does it affect your sense of the novel's meaning--or meanings?)

* What effect do motifs and images have on your experience and understanding of the novel? Think about Jewel/gold. Think about Jewel-as-wood and the wooden coffin. Think about horses. Notice anything that is repeated. Notice anything that resembles anything else or that contrast with anything else. Patterns--or as my daughter says, "pattrens"--are often a tool for suggesting meaning. But you already know that.

* What is the relationship between the way the narrators use language and the way they view themselves, others, and existence itself? (Do characters whose identities are in crisis use language differently from the characters with stable identities?)

* What is the relationship between individual identity (i.e. who one is to oneself) and family identity (i.e. who one is to one's family) in the novel? Characterize the relationships between the various characters in the story. (Think, for example, of Darl walking around the house and Jewel walking through the house in the first chapter.) What effect do they have on each other? The interrelationships are quite complex, I think.

* What does the journey reveal about individuals? What does the journey reveal about the family?

* Is existence absurd or does existence make sense? If existence is absurd should we strive to make our own sense? What do the characters suggest? What does the novel as a whole suggest? What characters seem to have existential crises? What characters are secure in their identities? What techniques does Faulkner use to let us know?

* Do the characters in the story seem realistic or are they exaggerated "grotesques"? (One could ask the same question about the events of the story.)

* Is the novel a dark comedy (or modern tragicomedy)? a modern tragedy? Do you find yourself seeing the pathos in their situation or the humor?

What to do...
After you read each chunk of As I Lay Dying (or perhaps before reading the next chunk) write some notes in response to the reading. Each observation and each idea would be, perhaps, twitter-like or textish in length.) ["Twitter" and "textish" see how technology yields neologisms.] I don't know exactly what to expect, but I think it would be reasonable to expect that if you post three times each post will contain at least five observations with a short idea and/or question about each observation.

Here are ideas about what to do (the last is most important)...
* Point out passages that relate to the italicized phrases above. Quote the passages (or part of them) and indicate the page number.
* Briefly suggest what might be significant about the passage (especially in relation to the italicized phrases above.
* Write a personal response about a passage (indicate the passage) & be sure to keep the-book-as-a-whole in mind. (In other words, rant about how an author is using a character but not about how much you dislike the character--unless you also talk about how the author is using the character.) Let's read with our hearts and our heads. As John Gardner says, and I think he's right, we need both.
* Respond briefly to what peers have noticed and what they have said.
* Simply: What do you notice? What do you think about it?

Writing the "Literature?" Essay

Some thoughts about getting started writing your essays after you have written your questions:

* You know some of what works and doesn't work for you as a writer so use my suggests in that light.

* Attempt an informal response to your question. (Give yourself a certain amount of time in which to write this response. Get your ideas down as clearly as possible within the time you've given yourself. Have someone else read what you have written. Ask this someone else to explain your ideas back to you. What's clear? What's unclear? What might need more explanation?)

* Look for passages in the readings (and elsewhere) that speak to your question. (I'll post works cited information for the readings I've provided. Do this on your own for the works you find on your own.)

* Write a bit (perhaps in note form) about what those passages have to say about your question.

* Think about particular personal experiences -- especially, but not exclusively, experiences reading and writing -- that will help you develop a response to your question. (You may certainly use the first person in this essay. In fact I expect most of you will.)

* Define your terms whenever possible. (Kingsolver offers a definition of political novels. Prynne offers a definition of poetic language. Often these definitions are paragraphs rather than sentences.)

* Consider your own tone and style. What way of writing would best suit your response to the question?

* Consider using narrative, explanation, analysis, and reflection in the essay.