Connexions to Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, stories of rural poor

Not what you're asking, but related. Last Orders by Graham Swfit tells the same story, but set in London.

Back on-topic, Carson McCullers may help.

Yes, do Last Orders and impress people - and yourself - with your laterality.

from o'connor, i'd recommend "good country people" or "a circle in the fire."

Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road would be a great help, and it's a good read too. You might also want to look at O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" along with the other ones. I realize it's only a high school paper, so you don't go overboard. But if you're interested, there's a photographic book that documents poverty in New York City during the Depression, by Jacob Riis. There's also something similar that concentrates I think exclusively on the American South, however the name of both the book and the photographer/author escape me. Your English teacher might know of it; if not, try going to a librarian. It was a very highly esteemed work during that period, I just can't recall it.

Even more laterally, you could read 'The Dead Father' by Donald Barthelme.

Lying down?

Peter Esterhazy's Helping Verbs of the Heart also tells a similar story though it's set in Budapest.