Question

What generalization of life is most evident in these lines from the novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner? . . . motherhood was invented by someone who had to have a word for it because the ones that had the children didn’t care whether there was a word for it or not. A. the failure of language to convey the truth of experience B. failure as a parent becoming the cause of unbearable remorse C. women's dislike for labels that limit their freedom to choose D. motherhood outweighing all other considerations in a woman's mind

Answer 1

Answer:

I believe the safest choice is letter A. the failure of language to convey the truth of experience.

Explanation:

We might be, at first, tempted to choose letter C concerning labels imposed by men that restrict a woman's life. After all, there is much of feminism in Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying"'s narrator, Addie Bundren. However, the passage we are analyzing here and the context which surrounds it show that Addie's indeed discussing the inadequacy of words to describe experiences.

She sees language as something invented, something built with the purpose of explaining an experience, a feeling. However, she does not think words are effective. Motherhood is only a word, a group of letters and sounds that tries to summarize what the experience of being a mother is. But the experience in itself is much fuller, much richer than the idea that word can ever convey. The same happens to other words, feelings, experiences. As Addie says, "That was when I learned that words are no good; that words don’t ever fit even what they are trying to say at.  When he was born I knew that motherhood was invented by someone who had to have a word for it because the ones that had the children didn’t care whether there was a word for it or not.  I knew that fear was invented by someone that had never had fear; pride, who never had the pride."

I believe it is safe, then, to choose letter A. the failure of language to convey the truth of experience.