The Alienated State Of Man: An Analysis Of As I Lay Dying From The Perspective Of Greimas' Narrative Structure

As I Lay Dying, which was published in 1930, is one of the masterpieces of William Faulkner, an American writer. Through the depiction of an absurd and arduous adventure of the burial of Mrs. Bundren's corpse in her family's cemetery forty miles away, the novel exhibits a group of disillusioned and self-estranged characters, and presents a wasteland flooded with problems of adultery, sibling rivalry, patricide and betrayal. Just in this way, it shows Faulkner's concern over the modern man's plights and sufferings from alienation, which is consistent with other modern writers' in the 20th century.As a great experimentalist in writing skills, Faulkner explores man's inner thoughts by attempting such new writing devices as stream of consciousness. Distinct from Joyce, whose characters seldom narrate the same thing in interior monologues, Faulkner portrays numerous individuals who are completely different in characters, experiences and motives to show their different reactions to the same incident, which makes the plot of the novel well-knit. For example, in As I Lay Dying, he displays fifteen people's fifty-nine interior monologues to reveal the inner world of every character. Just by applying this multi-voiced narrative, Faulkner not only endows all the readers with an overall picture of the unconscious but also underscores the novel's theme of alienation and isolation, since every character is essentially isolated from the others spiritually and internally. In this way, he succeeds in his pursuit: to "show" rather than to "tell".Faulkner's artistic pursuit ensures the integrity and inseparability of his theme and form. In other words, his theme is displayed from his unique narrative form to the extent. Therefore, in reading Faulkner's narrative, it is required to study the narrative structure of his novel and then, get a better understanding of his cultural connotation.A. J. Greimas' theory of "semantic rectangle" is applied to analyze the narrative structure of As I Lay Dying and the well-knit relationship among the semantic semes so as to exhibit Faulkner's perpetual subject of alienation. In the novel, the conflict between "death" and "life" is the basic conflict in the story while "flood" and "fire" work as the auxiliary factors for the development of the plot. The binary oppositions among the four semes in the narrative structure and the dynamic movement of the semes have elicited various interpretations of the story. Accordingly, an analysis of the "absence" and the"dislocation" in its narrative structure could clarify the complicated relationships among the characters and their symbolic meanings;and then, make us have a better understanding of Faulkner's perennial attention on the alienated subject.It is frequently seen to study novels from the perspective of narrative structure, especially through employing narrative skills in the analysis. However, traditional studies from the perspective of narrative structure are inclined to overlook the themes, and obliterate novels' social and cultural significance. This thesis holds that only when narrative studies integrate with cultural studies, can text analysis jump out of the studies on the dry linguistic signs and be the reflection of modern life.This thesis is composed of six chapters altogether. To start with, the introductory chapter provides all the available literature on the studies of As I Lay Dying, especially a review on the studies from the perspective of narrative structure. The review shows that most scholars notice the writing skills in As I Lay Dying and some also claim that the Bundrens are lonely persons in the wasteland. However, they eventually fail to integrate the novel's theme hidden in the narrative structure with Faulkner's social background. This thesis holds that Faulkner's religious ideas, humanitarian ideology and the long-term concern over man's plight are the causes of his narrative skills. Chapter two of the thesis gives a brief introduction of Greimas' semantic rectangle and the way it works. Chapter three discusses its application in As I Lay Dying and interprets two prominent cases in the semantic rectangle: the absence of seme "life" and the dislocation of parental roles. Then, different types of alienation from God, nature and society are elucidated separately in the next chapter, with Faulkner's life background taken into consideration. Chapter five discusses the social causes of modern man's alienation. The decline of religious belief, the decline of humanitarianism after the World War, and the dehumanization of modernity determine Faulkner's concern over man's plight, especially modern man's spiritual predicament. The last chapter is a conclusion based on the previous analysis. Modern man is suffering from alienation to a certain extent and the most important source of alienation comes from the society itself. Only when modern society endows every person with rights to live gracefully and dignifiedly, can modern man enjoy eternal happiness.