William Faulkner As I lay dying The sound and the fury Absalom Absalom

As I lay dying  Addie Bundren is the wife of Anse Bundren is extremely ill and dying. Her oldest son Cash is a carpenter. He builds her coffin while she’s still living outside her bedroom window. When her other sons Darl and Jewel leave, she dies. Cash completes the coffin just before dawn. Vardaman is troubled by the fact that his mother is nailed shut inside a box, and while the others sleep, he bores holes in the lid, two of which go through his mother’s face.

As I lay dying  Darl, who narrates much of this first section, returns with Jewel a few days later, and the presence of buzzards over their house lets them know their mother is dead. On seeing this sign, Darl reassures Jewel, who is perceived as ungrateful and uncaring, that he can be sure his favorite horse is not dead. Addie has made Anse promise that she will be buried in the town of Jefferson, and though this request is a far more complicated proposal than burying her at home, Anse’s sense of obligation compels him to fulfill Addie’s dying wish. Anse is able to purchase a new team of mules by mortgaging his farm equipment, using money that he was saving for his false teeth and money that Cash was saving for a new gramophone, and trading in Jewel’s horse. The family continues on its way. While the family is in town, Dewey Dell tries to buy a drug that will abort her unwanted pregnancy, but the pharmacist refuses to sell it to her, and advises marriage instead. With cement the family has purchased in town, Darl creates a makeshift cast for Cash’s broken leg, which fits poorly and only increases Cash’s pain. The Bundrens then spend the night at a local farm owned by a man named Gillespie. Darl, who has been skeptical of their mission for some time, burns down the Gillespie barn with the intention of incinerating the coffin and Addie’s rotting corpse. Jewel rescues the animals in the barn, then risks his life to drag out Addie’s coffin. Darl lies on his mother’s coffin and cries.

Characters  Addie Bundren - The wife of Anse Bundren.  Anse Bundren - The head of the Bundren family.  Darl Bundren - The second Bundren child  Jewel - The bastard child of Addie and Whitfield, the minister.  Cash Bundren - The eldest Bundren child and a skilled carpenter.  Dewey Dell Bundren - The only Bundren daughter.  Vardaman Bundren - The youngest of the Bundren children.  Cora Tull - Vernon Tull’s wife.  Vernon Tull - The Bundrens’ wealthier neighbor  Lafe - The father of Dewey Dell’s child.  Whitfield - The local minister.  The Gillespie boy - Gillespie’s son.

Absalom Absalom Summary 1  There once was an old grouch man named Thomas Sutpan. He moved to Jefferson, Mississippi to start his plantain of over 100 square miles, meets a girl named Ellen coldfield, and gets married. Thomas has three children : Henry, Judith and Clytie. they grow up in the country of Missippi. Henry goes to the college of Mississippi and meets a charming young man named Charles Bon. He befriends him and brings him home for Christmas :) Charles and Judith, after a while, fall in love. Thomas then actually realizes that Charles is his own son! What happened was, he was over seeing a girl that would soon become his wife when the plantation first began. they had a child together, (Charles Bon), and were happily married, until he found out that she had black blood in her, then he left both of them completely. Then later on he met Ellen.

Summary 2  Thomas tells Henry that they can't get married because Charles is their brother, so Henry gets really angry at Charles because he thought he knew all along and willingly got engaged to his own sister. So Charles and Henry both went to New Orleans (mostly to get away from Judith) but then the confederacy war broke out so they enlisted and fought for four years. Then Thomas later finds his son (Charles Bon) and says not only is he a step son, but he is also part black!

Summary 3  This made Henry dislike Charles ago much that the day Charles got back to marry Judith, Henry murdered him. Thomas falls into alcoholism in his brokenness and starts an affair with a 15 year old girl named Milly. It continues until they have a baby girl, then Millie's grandfather kills Henry, Milly and the baby with a rusted scythe lying nearby Rosa Cold field called Quintin (a family member that was in war) back to hear the devastation of his family. Now he's in Harvard, and dwells upon the story so very much, and tells his roommate Shrieve all about it.

Summary 4  He goes back to the plantation with Rosa with lots of thoughts of the family he has left. When they get there, they find Henry just waiting to die. Sooo Rosa sets out to get an ambulance and Quentin goes with her. But Clyde, a very old woman now, sets fire to the plantation, killing herself, Henry, and the whole plantation.

Characters and Plot   Thomas Sutpan: Married to Ellen Coldfield Sutpan. Founder and Owner of 100 sq mile plantation. Has 3 children - Henry, judith and Clytie.   Ellen Coldfield Sutpan - Thomas' second wife, mother to henry and judith, Ditzy   Rosa Coldfield - ellen's sister. Engaged to thomas after ellen's death at one point, then he insulted her and she spent the rest of her life hating him.   Mr. Oldfield - Ellen and Rosa's dad  Henry Saltpan - Son of Thomas and Ellen Saltpan, attended university of Mississippi where he met Charles bon.  Judith Saltpan - thomas and Ellen's daughter, engaged to charles for a period of time  Clytemnestra (clytie) Sutpan - Thomas' and first wife's daughter  Milly - fifteen years old, Wash' grandaughter, had thomas' baby.  Wash Jones - Millie's grandpa  Charles Etienne de sty. Valery Bon - Charles Bon's son A very disturbed and violent young man  Jim Bond - Charles Etienne de St. Valery Bon's son, and also a black woman's son.  Quentin Compson - In Harvard  General Compson - Quentin's grandpa and fought in Civil War  Mr.Compson - General Componson's son, Quintin's dad Mr.Compson - General Componson's son, Quintin's dad  Shreve - Quintin's roommate in Harvard Shreve - Quentin's roommate in Harvard

The sound and the fury  The Compsons are one of several prominent names in the town of Jefferson, Mississippi. Their ancestors helped settle the area and subsequently defended it during the Civil War. Since the war, the Compsons have gradually seen their wealth, land, and status crumble away. Mr. Compson is an alcoholic. Mrs. Compson is a self-absorbed hypochondriac who depends almost entirely upon Dilsey to raise her four children. Quentin, the oldest child, is a sensitive bundle of neuroses. Caddy is stubborn, but loving and compassionate. Jason has been difficult and mean-spirited since birth and is largely spurned by the other children. Benjy is severely mentally disabled, an “idiot” with no understanding of the concepts of time or morality. In the absence of the self-absorbed  As the children grow older, however, Caddy begins to behave promiscuously, which torments Quentin and sends Benjy into fits crying. Quentin is preparing to go to Harvard, and Mr. Compson sells a large portion of the family land to provide funds for the tuition. Caddy becomes pregnant. She is unable or unwilling to name the father of the child.

Summary  Attempting to cover up her indiscretions, Caddy quickly marries Herbert Head, a banker she met in Indiana. Herbert promises Jason Compson a job in his bank. Herbert immediately divorces Caddy and rescinds Jason’s job offer when he realizes his wife is pregnant with another man’s child. Meanwhile, Quentin, still mired in despair over Caddy’s sin, commits suicide by drowning himself in the Charles River just before the end of his first year at Harvard.  The Compsons disown Caddy from the family, but take in her newborn daughter, Miss Quentin. The task of raising Miss Quentin falls squarely on Dilley's shoulders. Mr. Compson dies of alcoholism roughly a year after Quentin’s suicide. As the oldest surviving son, Jason becomes the head of the Compson household. Bitterly employed at a menial job in the local farm-supply store, Jason devises an ingenious scheme to steal the money Caddy sends to support Miss Quentin’s upbringing.

Characters  Jason Compson III - The head of the Compson household until his death from alcoholism in  Caroline Compson - The self-pitying and self-absorbed wife of Mr. Compson and mother of the four Compson children.  Quentin Compson - The oldest of the Compson children.  Caddy Compson - The second oldest of the Compson children.  Jason Compson IV - The second youngest of the Compson children.  Benjy Compson - The youngest of the Compson children  Miss Quentin - Caddy’s illegitimate daughter.  Reverend Segos - The pastor who delivers a powerful sermon on Easter Sunday at the local black church in Jefferson.

Personal Review  Found the novel "the sound and the fury" to be extremely aggravating considering that the story was told in four chapters by four different voices AND out of chronological order. it was exceedingly difficult to understand. The first three chapters of the novel consist of the convoluted thoughts, voices, and memories of the three Compton brothers, Faulkner tells the fourth chapter in his own narrative voice, but focuses on Dilley. the story had no flow whatsoever.

Faulkner Info  William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) Faulkner is considered one of the most important writers of Southern literature along with Mark Twain, Robert Penn Warren, Flannery O'Connor,and Truman Capote. His work was published as early as Faulkner was unknown until receiving the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born William Cuthbert Falkner in New Albany, Mississippi, Faulkner's accomplishments were despite a lifelong drinking problem. Since he rarely drank while writing, instead preferring to binge after a project's completion, it is generally agreed that his alcohol use was an escape from the pressures of everyday life and unrelated to his creativity. he published 13 novels and numerous short stories such as The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1932), and Absalom, Absalom! (1936). In 1946, Faulkner was one of three finalists for the first Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Award. He came in second to Manly Wade Wellman. Faulkner received the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature for "his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel.

William Faulkner cont.   A Fable, which took the Pulitzer in 1955, and the 1962 novel, The Reivers, which was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer in He also won two National Book Awards, first for his Collected Stories in 1951 and once again for his novel A Fable in On August 3, 1987, the United States Postal Service issued a 22-cent postage stamp in his honor. Novels Soldiers' Pay (1926) Father Abraham (written 1926–27, published 1983) Mosquitoes (1927) Sartoris/Flags in the Dust (1929/1973) The Sound and the Fury (1929) As I Lay Dying (1930) Sanctuary (1931) Light in August (1932) Pylon (1935) Absalom, Absalom! (1936) The Unvanquished (1938) If I Forget Thee Jerusalem (The Wild Palms/Old Man) (1939) The Hamlet (1940) Go Down, Moses (1942), episodic novel made up of seven rewritten, previously published stories including "Pantaloon in Black", "The Old People", "The Bear", "Delta Autumn", and the titular story Intruder in the Dust (1948) Requiem for a Nun (1951) A Fable (1954) The Town (1957) The Mansion (1959) The Reivers (1962)