论文总字数：32272字

摘 要

美国南方文学的代表,威廉·福克纳是在世界各地都深受欢迎的作家。作为他最喜欢的小说,《在我弥留之际》也被赞扬至今。很多人致力于研究小说的写作技巧，小说的女主人公以及小说的主题。然而,本文将集中在小说中的异化,并试图找出异化的原因。
异化是小说的一个重要组成部分。小说中扭曲的特征都与异化有关。小说以女主人公艾迪的死亡开始,讲述了一个本德伦一家信守承诺将艾迪尸首运至杰弗逊镇的故事。在旅途中,他们经历了各种困难。透过许多情节，异化显而易见。本文旨在分析小说中异化的三种类型:人与自然之间的异化,人与神之间的异化以及人与社会之间的异化。通过分析异化,读者可以了解在那段时间人们的真实生活情况。此外,异化的原因应该被深究，从而给当下的人们以启示与警告。
本文主要分析了两个导致异化发生的原因。美国南部的社会变革应该是最重要的一个。这部小说的背景是在工业蓬勃发展,农业经济逐渐摧毁的时代。当时,所有在美国南方的农民都经受了长时间的贫穷，正在不断苦熬。这成为小说中异化的最重要的原因。同时,在这种情况下,人们开始追逐金钱摆脱贫困。人性被逐渐忽视。最丑陋的人性的一部分不断凸显。这也成为了异化的原因。

此外,本文旨在帮助人们发现在现代社会中的异化。如今随着经济的迅速发展,人与自然之间的矛盾剧增。环境遭到破坏,因此,越来越多的自然灾害发生,人们更应该予以关注。

关键词：《我弥留之际》 异化 美国南方 社会变革

1. Introduction

• 1. About William Faulkner

William Faulkner was born in a notable family. Since he was very young, he has been very proud of his grandpa, who was a soldier and a writer at that time. He learned a lot from his grandpa and later when he grew up, he finally became an American writer of novels, short stories, poetry and occasional screenplays. William Faulkner was well known worldwide especially for his short stories and novels. During his whole life, William Faulkner has written 19 novels, four volumes of short stories and two volumes of poetry. His stories are mostly set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha county, a place based on Lafayette county where he spent most of his childhood. Faulkner is generally considered as one of the most important writers in American literature, especially in southern literature. Besides, his writing technics are praised by a lot of other writers and are very popular among the readers. He is good at using some writing technics like a stream of consciousness, multiple narrators and disruption of time sequence to express his themes. His novels’ structure are often very complicated with many narrators involved, which makes his novels more compact. Because of his his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel, he was awarded the Nobel prize in 1949.

1.2 About As I Lay Dying

In 1930, the novel As I Lay Dying was published. According to William Faulkner, the novel was written from midnight to 4:pm during the course of six weeks and what is amazing is that he did not change a word in writing this novel. William Faulkner regarded this novel as his best one. The novel As I Lay Dying is always ranked among the best novels of the 20^th-century literature. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked his novel The Sound and the Fury sixth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. As I Lay Dying and Light in August were also on the list. Utilizing the writing technics of stream of consciousness, multiple narrators, and varying chapter lengths, the novel is narrated by 15 different characters over 59 chapters. In each chapter, each character presents his own point of view including Addie, the main female character, who, after dying, expresses her thoughts from the coffin. The story begins with the death of the hostess, Addie Bundren, who was a teacher in the primary school and wished to be buried in the town of Jefferson after death and describes the process of how her children and the husband Anse Bundren carried her body to the town. In the process, everyone experienced different troubles: Cash, the oldest son of the family, he is a skilled and helpful carpenter who lost a leg for saving the coffin; Darl, the second son in the family, burned the coffin as thinking that the body had already been decayed. Because of that, he was put into the mental hospital at last; Jewel, the third son of the Bundren family lost his beloved horse; the only daughter Dewey Dell tried to take this opportunity to have an abortion in the town but was raped in the end; the youngest son Vardaman still did not get the toys he wanted. All of the children went through various difficulties. However, the father, Anse, bought a pair of false teeth which he had been unable to buy during the past 15 years and got a new wife at the end of the story, which is very ironic. In the story, on one side, Faulkner criticized the ugliness in human nature of southern farmers represented by Anse, on another side, he praised them for strongly keeping their words as Anse kept his promise to carry his wife’s body to Jefferson. The tragedy meanings were conveyed in the humorous atmosphere. The novel revealed the spiritual state of these people : disillusionment, emptiness and moral confusion. It showed us a picture of a wildness society filled with adultery, betrayal and moral breakdown.

2. Literature Review

This chapter will provide the previous studies on the novel from different perspectives. In addition, this thesis’s main focus will be introduced in this chapter.

2.1 Previous studies on As I Lay Dying

Thanks to the unique writing style and skills, William Faulkner won the Nobel prize in 1949 and became much more popular than ever before. He himself regarded the novel As I Lay Dying as his best novel. As the novel became popular all around the world, more and more people began to read it and they were all impressed by it. Among them, most of the people are interested in analyzing the inner world and characteristics of the main character, Addie Bundren, from the perspective of feminism. A large part of people are keen on studying the writing technics of the novel, especially the stream of consciousness and the narrative technic: the multiple narrators. There are also a number of people who put focus on the themes of the novel.

2.1.1 The feminism study on the characteristics of Addie Bundren

Many people analyze the personalities of Addie from the perspective of feminism. For instance, in “An Analysis of Addie’s Internal Monologue in As I Lay Dying”, Liu Mengxue(2009) believed that the internal monologue of Addie showed that she was a lonely and isolated housewife who had a big trouble in communicating with others. As a lonely woman, she tried her best to struggle against the meaningless life. She sought for a much more colorful and meaningful life but did not find any way to make her dream come true. Actually, she did take some actions such as making an affair with the pastor but later, she found it meaningless and resultless. She was a woman who hoped for death and a woman who regarded her life as a preparation for death. As an isolated woman, what she lacked and were eager for was more communications with others. There are also some writers who described Addie as a woman with rebel spirit. Kang Yi (2012) is one of them who portrayed a woman with rebel spirit through the analysis of the contradictory inner world of the protagonist.

2.1.2 The writing skills of the novel

Faulkner’s unique narrative style aroused great amazement and concern all around the

world including reviewers and readers. In One of his major works, “As I Lay Dying”, the writer developed the plot through different characters’ inner monologues. The novel is distinguished in the narrative technic because of which a large number of people put their focus on the analysis of multiple narrators. In “The narrative craft in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying”, Xi Xuerong (2006) divided her main ideas into four parts: the analysis of the characters’ inner monologues, different narrators and angles to show the contradictoriness of the characters, the multi-level language to reveal the characters’ rich emotions and repeated narrative to deepen the theme.

2.1.3 The themes of the novel

There are also a lot of people who are keen on the analysis of the themes of the novel. Different people hold different opinions but they have something in common of the theme: people are enduring. In “Who Lay Dying”, Zhang Xi (2003) held the opinion that Faulkner revealed the fact that the old Southern Nobles’influence on the people of lower status was withering away , and the nobles stratum was inevitably going down from the stage of history. From the course of Faulkner’s creation , this theme showed his historical criticism to the myth system which was created by himself , and showed his change from Modernism to Postmodernism.

2.2 This thesis’s study emphasis and purpose

However, there are not so many people who are putting efforts to analyze the dissimilation in the novel as well as the reasons that caused dissimilation. Dissimilation has now become an important theme in western literature which should be studied on. It is also an important part of the novel which was revealed in the novel through the characters, the plots and the whole background of the novel. This paper is aimed at analyzing the dissimilation in three parts by dissecting the fates and characteristics of the characters : dissimilation between people and the nature, dissimilation between people and the god and dissimilation between people and the society. On that basis, this paper will deepen on the reasons that caused the dissimilation. Moreover, a deeper thinking is aroused that dissimilation can also be seen in modern days which needs people to pay more attention to.

3. Analysis of dissimilation in As I Lay Dying

This chapter introduces the background, the main characters in the story, with putting focus on the three kinds of dissimilation in the novel and explores the reasons why these kinds of dissimilation would happen at that period.

3.1 Background and about dissimilation

3.1.1 The background of the story

In 1929, William Faulkner began to write the novel As I Lay Dying, at that time, the prosperity time of 20^th century was gradually fading away. The Great Depression began to appear on the stage of history. During that period, everyone in America was enduring poverty and pains, including William Faulkner. In the 1920s, the farmers in southern America kept making efforts to pull themselves out of the colonial economy. They experienced a long time of depression. In the 1930s, the corporation in different fields acquired the praise of all the Americans. Collectivism became popular in the whole country. This also has effected Faulkner’s writing. Collectivism has also appeared in Faulkner’s novels including As I Lay Dying. In the story, when the whole Bundren family was trying to carry the coffin over the river in the big rain, Faulkner also praised the collectivism of the southern American farmers.

3.1.2 About dissimilation

The term “dissimilation” has been gradually formed in the modern western philosophy since the Renaissance. It is a term with the concept of dialectics used by Hegel, a German classical philosopher. It refers to that when the subject developes to some extent, it changes into the object and later, the object takes in control instead. In the human history, it is shown as binary division between people and nature, history and ethics, sense and sensibility, the reality and the dream. The real concepts are different at different periods of history. “Dissimilation” is a striking feature in the contemporary capitalist society, thus it has become a basic theme in the western literature. “dissimilation” has also appeared in many other works such as The Metamorphosis, written by Kafka, Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding and Saul Bellow’s Dangling Man. These works all made studies on dissimilation from different

perspectives, portraying a number of pictures about “social wasteland”.

3.2 Dissimilation in the story

3.2.1 The characteristics and fates of the characters

The story portrays a process that the Bundren family carried the coffin which the body of Addie was in to the town of Jefferson in accordance with Addie’s will. In the journey, each of them experienced different troubles except Anse, who at last bought a pair of false teeth and even got a new wife. By portraying the characters’ different experiences, the author revealed the ugliness of people and also praised some good human natures. These were shown through different characters.

Addie is the center of the novel. However, she appeared indirectly, mainly through other people’s monologues. She was a pessimistic person, holding the belief which her father told her that “To live is to prepare for sleeping for a long time”. She got married with Anse to get rid of the boring life before but only to find that she could not get involved in the marriage. She began to feel tired of the marriage life so she made a love affair with another man trying to seek for another happy life but she failed again. However, she was still a kind and weak woman.

The husband, Anse, the representative of the poor farmers in southern America, is the one who is mostly criticized by the reviewers. He was regarded as selfish, chinchy and cold-blooded by most people. He was so selfish that he even did not want to pay for his wife’s illness. In the end, every person lost something but only Anse bought a pair of false teeth and even got a new wife. However he also had something to be praised for, such as he promised to carry his wife’s body to Jefferson and he really did it!

The biggest son of Bundren family, Cash, was a really kind person. He loved his mother so much that he was willing to make a good coffin for her without having a break. To save the coffin in the big rain, he even lost his leg. In the whole story, Cash was the man that Faulkner regarded as a good one.

The second son, Darl, was the main narrator in the novel. He could penetrate into everyone’s secrets. However, he never exposed them. The action of escaping from the reality finally led to his loneliness. As last, he was regarded as a craze and was sent into the mental hospital, being another tragic hero.

The son of Addie and the pastor, Jewel, was another hero in the novel. He was brave and energetic. Like his name, his mother cherished him like jewel. To save his mother out of the fire, he got burned. At last, he lost his beloved horse which was a big sadness.

The only daughter Dewey Dell, who was a pitiful girl, also had a sad ending. She was induced so that she had a baby. Taking the opportunity to go into the town, she was determined to have an abortion. However, in the end, she was raped.

3.2.2 Three kinds of dissimilation in As I Lay Dying

The whole story is concise and fluent, with the sad atmosphere filled. The story is just like an absurd theatre. Addie made a love affair with the pastor to get rid of her boring marriage life; Vardaman regarded his mother as a fish; Dewey Dell wanted to have an abortion but was raped instead; Anse got a new pair of false teeth and even a new wife in the end. This is nearly a farce. Through these absurd plots, William Faulkner showed his deep thinking towards people’s dissimilation and the poor living conditions. Like the other authors in 20s, Faulkner was rethinking a variety of maladies in the society through literary works. In this novel, multi-angle narration method was used by Faulkner to show a wasteland society. In that world, it was filled with dissimilation between people and nature, people and god, people and society.

3.2.2.1 Dissimilation between people and nature

The dissimilation between people and nature was mainly reflected in that people are incapable in front of nature and people keep themselves away from the nature. In the way of carrying the coffin to the town of Jefferson, the power of nature got the family into big trouble. Because of the rare flood, the trip which should have been just three or four days turned out to be 9 days. The bad natural conditions made the trip much more difficult than expected. Although at last, they successfully sent the coffin to Jefferson, the costs were really too huge. Cash lost a leg in the flood; Darl lost freedom in the end; Jewel’s beloved horse died and Dewey Dell lost her ten dollars and even got raped. Also, the body began to waste away which attracted lots of bald eagles. All these showed the great power of nature. Working is the best way for people to approach the nature and sweat is best proof of working. However Anse refused to work and he believed that sweating would let him die. Darl recognized “water tastes better when it has set a while in a cedar bucket”, when the water flows, he could even sense “plaintive, musing and mournful sound”. However, as the only one who could sense the nature, he was pitifully sent to the mental hospital at last. The novel shows from many aspects that the result of dissimilation between people and nature is surely a failure of humans. In front of the nature, people are incompetent and very helpless.

3.2.2.2 Dissimilation between people and God

The dissimilation between people and god was reflected in people’s lack of religious beliefs. A devout christian should confess to god and pray to god so as to get power and strength to overcome the difficulties. William Faulkner holds the opinion that America is a country which is lack of clear christian doctrines. This led people to fall into the pagan and get involved in destroying themselves. The center of the novel, Addie, did not believe in the god. She never told god about her dissatisfaction of her life and never prayed to the god. In her world, Jewel took the place for god. “He is my cross and he will be my salvation. He will save me from the water and from the fire. Even though I have laid down my life, he will save me.” Ironically, it was Jewel that saved Addie out from the trouble instead of the god. The daughter Dewey Dell was a follower of god and kept seeking help from the god in the heart. However, in the end of the novel, she not only failed in having an abortion but was even raped. She had not been saved by the god, being abandoned instead. As a soul guide of Christians, Reverend Whitfield was regarded as “a godly man if ever one breathed God’s breath”. However, he made a love affair with Addie and even had an illegitimate child, Jewel. When Addie was going to die, what he worried about was not her illness, but whether their secret would let out. As a soul guide, he himself could not achieve peace in the heart. From these three aspects, the dissimilation between people and god is easy to be seen.

3.2.2.3 Dissimilation between people and society

The third kind of dissimilation in the novel is the dissimilation between people and the society. Darl should be the child who owned the most similar characteristics with Addie. However, Addie liked Jewel best because he was the son of her and the pastor. Jewel was the reflection of her rebellions against the boring marriage life. “not because he resembles her (it is obviously Darl who resembles her most in his keen intelligence), but solely because he was born of the illicit affair and so can objectify her secret rebellion against the awful entrapment of the marriage”. To Addie, “words are no good; that words don’t ever fit even what they are trying to say at.” But actually, words are the basis of people’s communication in the society. Addie’s refusal towards words showed that she was refusing the whole society. In addition, the family is the basic element and the epitome of the society. However, as written in the novel, “The Bundrens are a family, but they are not relatives; they are a family not speaking the same tongue. The children never expect or receive needed advice from their parents; Jewel earns money for his horse by secret work; Dewey Dell is pregnant, but incompetently arranges for a clandestine abortion; in the end, Anse replaces his dead wife without so much as consulting the children on his choice.” As the family is the epitome of the society, the distorted relations between the family members in Bundrens reflected directly the dissimilation of social relations.

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