As I Lay Dying: Style 1 key example

The novel's syntax is often sparse and impressionistic. Since much of the book is intended to read as natural thought, things are not often described explicitly or in great detail. For instance, when Vardaman remembers the image of the barn burning in Chapter 51, he never literally says that the barn was on fire:

The barn was still red, but it wasn’t a barn now. It was sunk down, and the red went swirling up. The barn went swirling up in little red pieces, against the sky and the stars so that the stars moved backward.

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Vardaman withholds the literal account of events, instead giving a sensory narration true to how he personally experienced the memory. Vardaman's syntax in this quote is especially simple, denoting his young age (and thus his limited vocabulary) as well as the strangeness of the situation. The barn fire, his mother's death, and his dysfunctional family are so confusing and difficult to comprehend that he favors repetitive words and objective, simple language to describe his imaginations.