Importance Of Modernism In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

During the Modernism movement, William Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying, greatly impacted the shift from urban to rural modernization by illustrating the contrast between city and country folk in the south during the Great Depression.

During the early 1930s, segregation in the south between city people and country people impacted the audience’s view on the great depression significantly. At this point in time, city people did not respect country people. The narrative represents the tension through its dialogue. While the Bundrens, a country family, were passing through a drug store, the clerk, Moseley said, “she kind of bumbled at the screen door a minute, like they do, and came in” (Faulkner, 198). Moseley's wording immediately defines the classification between city and country. Referring to country people as “they,” proves the significance of location segregation in the south. The tension is apparent in many other instances as well. For example, Moseley says, “it’s a hard life they have” (Faulkner, 202). By using “they” to talk about the Bundrens and country people in general again, the separation between city and country is portrayed. References to the Bundren family also represent the separation between city and country by showing sympathy to the way of life that the Bundren family has to endure. A lack of respect from city folk eventually rubs off on the Bundren family when Darl Bundren says, “I don’t know what I am. I don’t know if I am or not” (Faulkner, 80). Another reason that Darl says this is because of his position economically. As I Lay Dying was published in 1930, which was directly after the stock market crash in 1929 that led to the great depression. Because the narrative was published at the start of the economic...

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...se As I Lay Dying was published in 1930 and the stock market crashed in 1929, the Bundren family was able to be related to other families struggling through the Great Depression as it just began. So, the narrative impacted the movement because it portrayed a family going through the Great Depression before the audience had gone through it. Also, the Bundren family represented a family making it through segregation and aggression between the city and country. Just like city versus country, the narrative included the introduction of rural modernization, which strayed from urban modernization. These events are utilized narrative to foresee possible outcomes before any outcomes occur outside of the novel. In conclusion, portrayals of events like the great depression, segregation, and urban to rural modernization in As I Lay Dying, greatly impacted the Modernism movement.