Narrative Viewpoint in As I Lay Dying as a Novel and as a Film

The novel, As I Lay Dying, details the Bundren family’s journey. They travel from their country farm to the town of Jackson in order to bury the mother of the family, Addie Bundren, after her passing. Perhaps more important than their collective journey is the journey of each of the individuals. Many of the characters have ulterior motivations for traveling to Jefferson. Anse, the father, wants a new set of teeth and finds a new wife in the town at the end of the novel. Cash, the eldest son, saved up enough money to purchase a record player. Dewey Dell, the daughter, has become pregnant without marriage and wants an abortion, but she is not able to tell anyone else in her family. Vardaman, the youngest child, has his eyes set on a train set that he first saw for the previous Christmas. The three eldest sons, Cash, Darl, and Jewel, each have their own personal connection to Addie which reveals itself as they care for her coffin. Within the overall plot, each character has their own important storyline.

The narration throughout the book is very important because it shows each characters viewpoint on the family’s journey and their own journey. As the narration perspective changes with each chapter, the reader gets a look into the mind of each character. This allows the novel to show nuances of a character that could be lost amongst the many other characters and the chaos of the plot. The philosophies and opinions of each character are revealed through this. The reader learns about Anse’s philosophy of humans as vertical and therefore meant to be stagnant as opposed to the horizontal roads and traveling animals. This makes Anse’s determination to fulfill his wife’s last wish and travel through uncharted territory impressive in contrast to his other aspects which paint him as a primarily pathetic and faulty character. The switch in narration also brings focus to the emotional struggle and personal turmoil of each character. Cash is troubled when he thinks over Darl’s decision to burn the Gillespie’s barn containing Addie’s coffin. His morals are put to the test as he attempts to reason whether Darl was justified. He mentally debates against himself using both Darl and Gillespie’s perspective, but he ultimately has trouble reaching a conclusion.

A potential struggle for a film adaptation would be to do justice to both the plot and the personal aspect of the novel. The film has the responsibility to make the audience understand the progression of the plot and show what the narrating character is thinking. I was pleasantly surprised by the film’s selected solution to this problem, through its use of split screens and voiceovers.

Throughout the film, the screen alternates between a typical full screen and a vertically split double screen. The split screen serves various purposes, one of which is addressing the thoughts of the characters. The first scene where I noticed this particular use of the convention was when Anse is sitting on the front porch of the house while his sons are in front of the house. One side of the split screen depicts Anse from a far out view—how the other characters are seeing him. This view supports the characterization of Anse that dominated our class discussions. He looked pathetic and insignificant with his hunched over posture. The other side of the screen is a close up of Anse’s face. This side of the screen shows a more sympathetic side to Anse because his expressions convey his emotions. He looks worried and defeated by his wife’s sickness. Once the family is on their journey, a split screen scene highlights Dewey Dell’s journey. When the family is confronted by the river, they are unsure how they are going to accomplish such a daunting task. One side of the split screen shows carries the plot forward. The family gets out of the wagon to decide whether they will cross the river or find an alternative. The other side of the split screen is a close up of Dewey Dell as she stands up from the wagon. Her expression conveys the pure determination and necessity to cross the river and get all the way to Jackson for her abortion. The crossing of the river is ultimately disastrous. A log dislodges the coffin and all three of the eldest brothers are knocked loose into the river. This scene also utilizes the split screen. One side of the screen focuses on the plot. The brothers are all flailing in the river, struggling to regain control of the wagon and their animals. The other side of the split screen shows Anse’s face as he waits on the other side of the river. His expression conveys his helplessness. He deeply believed that they would get across the river successfully because they are fulfilling his wife’s last wish. As the brothers are thrown around by the current, his hopes come crashing down.

The voiceovers served a similar purpose as the split screen. The film would show a character speaking directly into the camera and then switch to the scene they were describing or the point in the plot that demonstrated their point. Their speech would explain points that could not be explained in a purely visual portrayal of their thoughts and emotions. These voiceovers would be closer to the actual novel, which was apparent in the fact that many times the voiceovers were direct quotes from the book. When Addie dies, Cash moves her body into the coffin while using a numbered list to explain how he made the coffin. Cash struggles to eloquently articulate all his steps, but the amount of care and work he put into the creation is still clear. This audio is powerful when it accompanies the screen which depicts Cash carefully transferring Addie’s body into the coffin.

The use of split screen and voiceover had many purposes in the motion picture—each deserving its own blog post. The use in relation to narrative perspective in particular stood out because it is the most noticeably unique trait of As I Lay Dying as a novel. The different narrators of each chapter are integral to the telling of the story, and the film impressively managed to capture this.