An author's style is their way of expressing their personality and voice. Some author's voices come in the style of short, precise sentences, while others choose to craft long and drawn out sentences with many details. William Faulkner, the well renowned author, wrote enormously lengthy sentences with excessive amounts of detail and many different narrators. In his famous novel As I Lay Dying, Faulkner wrote in exactly this manner. In the novel, there are fifteen narrators. Over the years, there has been much debate over whether his style in As I Lay Dying enhanced or detracted from the novel. Faulkner's writing style in As I Lay Dying detracts greatly from the book because it does not have a protagonist, it complicates unnecessarily, and it leaves the reader wondering until the end. .
Protagonists are what readers look for in a book. They are the ones that readers follow and are biased toward in the story. Protagonists are the "good guy" in nearly every novel. However, As I Lay Dying does not have a protagonist. Faulkner writes in this way so that the reader will not have a prejudice toward any one of the characters, but instead listen to the story from all characters. Nonetheless, Faulkner does not succeed in his attempts. Instead, he adds undesirable uncertainty to the novel. Throughout the entire novel, the reader is trying to decipher which character is meant to be trusted. For instance, when Darl Bundren burns down the barn and tries to burn his mother's body, the reader is confused because they do not know whether or not they are meant to trust Darl. Until this point, many of the readers have come to conclude that Darl is meant to be the protagonist. In each of his narratives, Darl, seems sane. However, when the reader approaches this part of the narrative, the implications are that Darl is insane. The readers then do not trust anyone in the novel and are confused. In every novel, the readers need someone to admire, to trust, to believe.
