Syntax

Syntax
In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, to successfully absorb the reader in a sort of surrealist frame of mind, Faulkner uses very stylistic syntax. "While I waited for him in the woods, waiting for him before he saw me, I would think of him as dressed in sin”(189) This almost vague commentary intrigues the reader to read on and try tro delve into Darl’s estranged processing. The awkwardness of the syntax also adds a very human dimension to the characters’ thinking. "Jewel came back. He was walking. Jewel hasn't got a horse anymore. Jewel is my brother. Cash is my brother. Cash has a broken leg. We fixed Cash's leg so it doesn't hurt. Cash is my brother. Jewel is my brother too, but he hasn't got a broken leg”(165) The exorbitant amount of juxtaposition and short choppy sentences give a very stark and strait forward child-like view of events. As it were, the recorder of the above sentence is the youngest of the Bundren children, Vardamen. The lack of flow and broken up sentences also give the characters an implied low level education that helps to further exploit the insight into their reasoning. “You cannot watch them, walking slow on the sun. In Jefferson it is red on the track behind the glass. The track goes shining round and round. Dewy Dell says so”(165). This quote by Vardaman is a perfect example of the lack of logic that is obscured by missing explanations of what things are. In this case Vardaman does not specify what the “glass” or why the track goes “shining round and round” so the reader must instead follow and put together context clues of what the character knows and of he/she knows what’s going on in the scene. Although poetic and intriguing, Faulkner purposefully makes unclear the exact thoughts, feelings, and events happening to emphasize what the characters’ priorities are.