English 11 4.1.8 Quiz Analyze the Voices of Faulkner

​Analyze the Voices of Faulkner

English 11 APEX 4.1.8 Quiz​

​One Story, Many Voices

• In As I Lay Dying, Faulkner uses multiple voices to tell the story of the death and burial of Addie Bundren. It's told by Addie's family, members of the community, and even Addie herself.

• By using multiple voices, Faulkner is able to tell the story from different angles. Each narrator has his or her own point of view, or way of seeing things. And all these perspectives add up to a more complicated picture of the story as a whole — a picture that is possibly more insightful than we could get from one point of view alone.

• In many cases, a character's point of view includes some level of bias. When characters are biased, their stories become less trustworthy, and they end up with the label of unreliable narrator.

Multiple Choice

Which aspect of Faulkner's storytelling in As I Lay Dying most makes it a Modernist piece of literature?

• The story is told by a character who is dead.

• The story is told by many narrators.

• The story is told by an unbiased character.

• The story is told by an unreliable narrator.

​The 1st Three Voices

• Faulkner's first narrator is one of Addie and Anse's sons, Darl.

• ​The second narrator you met in As I Lay Dying is a classic unreliable narrator: Anse, husband of Addie and father of the Bundren children.

• Cash is the oldest son in the Bundren family. Described by Darl as "a good carpenter," Cash is making a coffin for his mother, Addie.​

Multiple Choice

Which character in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying uses descriptive language the most?

• Jewel

• Anse

• Darl

• Addie

Multiple Choice

Which aspect of Anse's narration from As I Lay Dying most clearly makes him an unreliable narrator?

• His belief that his son Cash is a carpenter

• His failure to complete sixth grade

• His insistence that the road brings bad luck

• His ideas about why Addie is dying

​Narrator Effects

• Why would a writer create an unreliable narrator in the first place? These narrators can:

  • Make a story more interesting.

  • Reveal an important grain of truth.

  • Give other characters something to react to.

  • Make a story more realistic, since they exist in real life.

  • These benefits are true of Anse's narration. You get a more realistic sense of what the Bundren children have grown up having to deal with.

  ​Additionally, the stream of consciousness style creates a feeling that the world doesn't make sense to Anse the way it is supposed to — one of the main traits of Modernism.

Multiple Choice

Which of these is the best reason why an author would use an unreliable narrator?

• To challenge the reader

• To tone down important events in the story

• To emphasize trivial aspects of the story

• To make a story more interesting

Multiple Choice

How does As I Lay Dying most meet the definition of Modernist literature?

• Its narrative is fragmented.

• It uses a reliable narrator.

• The theme celebrates the American Dream.

• The characters are exaggerated and unrealistic.

Multiple Choice

Based on your knowledge of the characters in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, who do the following words belong to?

In a bed where people lie down all the time, the joints and seams are made sideways, because the stress is sideways.

• Jewel

• Darl

• Anse

• Cash

Multiple Choice

Based on your knowledge of the characters in the parts you read of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, which of these thoughts belongs to Anse?

• In a bed where people lie down all the time, the joints and seams are made sideways, because the stress is sideways.

• You can see by an old grave that the earth sinks down on the bevel.

• [S]he was . . . well and hale as ere a woman ever were, except for that road.

• He holds the two planks on the trestle, fitted along the edges in a quarter of the finished box.

Multiple Choice

What is a major difference in style between Faulkner's speech and his writing in As I Lay Dying?

• His point of view is unbiased in the speech.

• His logic is clear in the speech.

• He uses stream of consciousness in the speech.

• He uses several slang terms in the speech.

Multiple Choice

What is a major difference between the personalities of Cash and Anse, according to the way Faulkner writes about each character?

• Cash is irresponsible, but Anse is responsible.

• Cash is logical, but Anse is illogical.

• Cash is impetuous, but Anse is careful.

• Cash is happy-go-lucky, but Anse is reserved.

Multiple Choice

Which of these words best describes the flow of Faulkner's speech in the audio recording of his Nobel Prize address?

• Humorous

• Professional

• Intense

• Jumbled