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As I Lay Dying

"Shmoop was a fish."

  • Course Length: 3 weeks
  • Course Type: Short Course
  • Category:
    • English
    • Literature
    • High School

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William Faulkner was tweeting before tweeting was even a thing. Don't believe us? Check out Chapter 19 of As I Lay Dying:

@addiebundren my mother is a fish #modernism

Okay, we might have added the @ and the hashtag, but Faulkner took care of the rest. As I Lay Dying chronicles the Bundren family’s quest to bury their mother, via brief sections, each one narrated by one of 15 different characters.

In this course, you'll follow the family along their journey:

  • You'll dig into Faulkner's fast-paced, experimental style through interactive reading activities.
  • You'll complete projects and assignments to help you situate As I Lay Dying in its literary and historical context.
  • You'll tackle Common Core-aligned activities, designed to get you thinking more critically about all that literary modernism has to offer.

Unit Breakdown

1 As I Lay Dying - As I Lay Dying

In this short course, you'll journey through the South with the Bundren family—a bunch of ne'er-do-wells—and conquer one of the most important novels of the 20th century.


Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.02: Friends and Family

Now that we're good and settled into the 1920s, let's get cozy with our characters.

In the next few sections, you'll start to see their personalities and attitudes emerging. But don't expect Faulkner to outright tell you what to think about them; no, he has subtler tactics:

  1. He reveals each character through their inner thoughts. That means you'll get a nice zombie sandwich (i.e., a real good feel for their brains) and some inside info that no one else has.
  2. Another great way to get to know a character? Through the ways others think of them. And since our characters are very...opinionated...we'll get a sense of their opinions about the other characters pretty quickly.
  3. Last but not least, we'll figure out these characters through their actions. We'll examine what our characters do as they wait for the inevitable passing of Addie in the next few sections. As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.02: As I Lay Dying, Sections 6-9

More to see, more to hear. Spend some quality time with your new favorite family, the Bundrens, by reading Sections 6-9 (pages 21-38 in our edition.)

While you read, consider the ways in which Faulkner represents each character—and brush up on our definition of characterization if you're feeling rusty.

Don't wanna miss a thing? Our summaries will keep you in the loop.

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.02a: You Have 8 New Friend Requests

Having trouble keeping all the brothers straight? Yeah, us too.

Without a constant and reliable narrator, it can be tricky to remember—or, uh, figure out—who's who. In this activity, we'll close read the text descriptions and details to make a profile for each of our characters.

Believe us: it'll come in handy later.

Fill out the following information for each Bundren. Your answers don't need to be in complete sentences, but definitely use textual evidence so we know you're not pulling it out of nowhere. (Of course, you might have to use your imagination on some of this.)

  1. Name: Darl Bundren

    Age: 29-ish

    1. Location:

    2. Occupation:

    3. Relationship Status:

    4. Hobbies:

    5. Top 5 Favorite Things in Life:

    6. Least favorite Brother:

    7. How others would describe me

  2. Name: Jewel Bundren

    Age: early 20s

    Height: A full head taller than Darl

    1. Location:

    2. Relationship Status:

    3. Occupation:

    4. Favorite animal:

    5. How others would describe me:

    6. Most annoying things my brothers do:

  3. Name: Cash Bundren

    Age: 30-31

    1. Location:

    2. Relationship Status:

    3. Hobbies:

  4. Name: Anse Bundren

    Age: 50s-60s

    1. Location:

    2. Relationship Status:

    3. Top 2 Least-Favorite Things in Life:

    4. How others would describe me:

    5. 3 words to describe myself:

  5. Name: Addie Bundren

    Age: Late 40s, early 50s

    1. Location:

    2. Relationship Status:

    3. Favorite thing to do while lying in bed, waiting to die:

  6. Name: Dewey Dell Bundren

    Age: 17

    1. Location:

    2. Relationship Status:

    3. Hobbies:

    4. Biggest secret:

  7. Name: Vardaman Bundren

    Age: 7-8

    1. Location:

    2. Very excited by:

    3. How I describe others:

Representing Information Rubric - 25 Points

OutstandingProficientDevelopingNeeds Improvement
Content Understanding

All content is accurate and presentation reflects sophisticated understanding.

(10)

All content is accurate.

(9)

May contain minor errors.

(8)

Major errors.

(7)
Organization

Has a logical organizational scheme. Each piece of information flows logically and smoothly to the next.

(10)

Has a clear organizational plan. Information is presented logically with some sense of connection.

(9)

General sense of organizational plan. Information makes sense within it, but transitions are lacking.

(8)

Information appears disconnected or illogical.

(7)
Style

Language is clear and interesting. Enhances presentation of information. No errors.

(5)

Language is clear and appropriate to topic. Minor spelling or grammatical errors.

(4)

Language is occasionally unclear, but meaning is generally understandable. Frequent spelling/grammar errors that do not impede comprehension.

(4)

Language use makes writing very difficult to understand. Frequent spelling or grammar errors that impede comprehension.

(3)

Sample Lesson - Activity

  1. Which son does Cora say has Addie's "natural affections"?

  2. Which child does Cora say is Addie's favorite?

  3. Who somehow knows that Dewey Dell is pregnant?

  4. Darl knows that Addie is going to die before he returns with whom?

  5. Cora thinks that the Bundrens would do anything for what?

  6. Anse blames everything on what?

  7. Anse describes himself as what kind of man?

  8. What is the doctor's name?

  9. According to Cora, which sibling do folks think is "queer, lazy, pottering about the place no better than Anse"?