As I Lay Dying might be one of the most important works in American Literature, but it just sounds to us like the greatest of all childhood games:
The Oregon Trail. But let us demonstrate:
- Rations are low.
- You have set your pace to grueling and your prose to convoluted.
- Someone has died (though not of dysentery).
- Ford the river, or caulk the wagon and float it?
- Bad choice. You lost 2 mules, a leg, clarity of plot, some farm tools, and all the optimism you had left.
Chuckle. We knew this book would be easy.
- Wait a minute.
- You are crazy, according to one member of your party.
- You are the most logical guy around, according to you.
- You’re a threat, according to another member of your party.
- Someone is pregnant (and unmarried).
Whoops! That reminds us to tell you that
As I Lay Dying features no fewer than fifteen different narrators, which can complicate the heck out of any trail you’re traveling, Oregon or not. Even the most basic of stories – a journey from location A to location B – is actually a patchwork of perspectives, opinions, and points of view. There isn’t a whole lot of objective fact.