ointed view of the Bundren's epic voyage, yet the narrative remains remarkably unified. Such techniques force the reader to be complicit in constructing and interpreting the plot, as opposed to the merely passive role that the reader has traditionally played.
             Faulkner's scepticism and distrust of verbal communication is reflected through the characters' uncomfortable relationship with language. There exists a palpable tension between the words they speak and their own private thoughts. All of the characters are keen to protect the privacy of their own thoughts. The inner dialogues of the Bundrens' are in many cases elaborate and expressive, displaying a richness and depth of mind. However, such thoughts and feelings are rarely communicated verbally, and the outward conversations, often mundane or irrelevant, bear little or no relation to the interior monologues they parallel. For example, between Anse asking Darl, 'where's Jewel?' at the beginning of page seven, and the answer he receives on page eight, it appears as though an eternity of time and thought has passed, and we learn a great deal about Darl through his highly poetic descriptions of 'how much better water tastes when it has set a while in the cedar bucket.' This exemplifies how the thoughts and feelings of each character are of far greater concern than the words and conversations that are actually spoken out loud.
             It is clear that many of Faulkner's characters, set in the poorest and most backward southern states of Mississippi, are uncomfortable with the demands and the subtleties of language. Such desperate poverty implies a limited access to education, and culture, and this is seen through the Bundren children who display varying levels of ease with which they are able to express themselves through words, even inside the privacy of their own minds. At one end of the scale is Jewel, unable to do so through an...