Struggling with a sentence from Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
So I tried to introduce myself to William Faulkner's writing today by looking at As I Lay Dying and am immediately struggling with his sentence structure. One particular example that stands out and that I simply can't understand no matter how many times I re-read it is this:
"Because I said If you wouldn't keep on sawing and nailing at it until a man cant sleep even and her hands laying on the quilt like two of them roots dug up and tried to wash and you couldn't get them clean."
I understand that a man named Cash is building a coffin for the old woman directly outside her window (I think) and this irritates the current narrator, Jewel, but the syntax of the sentence confuses me. It doesn't sound like a complete sentence when I read it aloud.
So if anyone is familiar with the novel and can make sense of this sentence, please may you help me to understand it? I don't understand if Jewel is meant to be saying this to anybody or what the woman's hands have to do with anything. I'm sure it must make sense, I just don't see it at the moment. If anyone is interested, you can read the larger excerpt that contains this sentence here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/48374/as-i-lay-dying-by-william-faulkner/9780679732259/excerpt (it comes at the beginning of the very last paragraph).
Top answer
That is in the narrative mode called stream of consciousness. Grammar takes a back seat to the procession of images and the quick succession of ideas. Also, I guess the narrator is supposed to be illiterate.
- That is in the narrative mode called stream of consciousness.
- Grammar takes a back seat to the procession of images and the quick succession of ideas.
- Also, I guess the narrator is supposed to be illiterate.
- I will try to change it a little to make it readable: "Because," I said, "if you wouldn't keep on sawing and nailing at it until a man can't even sleep.
- And her hands are laying on the quilt like two roots that you dug up and tried to wash, and you couldn't get them clean"
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
That is in the narrative mode called stream of consciousness. Grammar takes a back seat to the procession of images and the quick succession of ideas. Also, I guess the narrator is supposed to be illiterate. I will try to change it a little to make it readable:
"Because," I said, "if you wouldn't keep on sawing and nailing at it until a man can't even sleep. And her
0
Related Questions