Analysis Of ' As I Lay Dying '

When Dewey Dell first comes to mind, she is first characterized as feeble-minded. Throughout the book, whenever Dewey Dell would talk, it could be seen that she still had a young mind and she was very slow when it came down to everyday things in life. For example, “He is a big tub of guts and I am a little tub of guts and if there is not any room for anything else important in a big tub of guts, how can it be room in a little tub of guts”(Faulkner, 58). Although this quote is a mouth full, it represents how Dewey sees things or how she is able to express them. With this quote, it becomes evident that she is pregnant, but the way she talks and thinks brings realization that she is not ready for the child.

In As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner the reader gets to see how hard life is for the Bundren family. The Bundren’s face many obstacles throughout the book and somehow manage to come through most of them okay. The family fulfills their desires along the way to relieve them of these struggles. The main theme in As I Lay Dying is family dysfunction, and this family dysfunction leads to Darl’s insanity.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your vision is clear, your whole body will be full of light” (). Ever since the creation of mankind, the eyes exist as the window to the soul. Taking one look into a person's eyes can leave you with more knowledge than ever thought imagined. Love, anger, lust, hatred, sympathy and guilt can all express themselves in just one glance. William Faulkner knew of this interesting trait and applied it to his 19___’s novel “As I Lay Dying”. Each character possesses their own unique traits and personalities which drive them to fulfill their end mission: burying their mother in Jefferson. To express their personalities, Faulkner incorporates a variety of similes and metaphors all relating to the eyes. This technique sheds light of their selfish ways. These selfish qualities, not the love for their mother, cause the Bundren children to succeed in their mother's dying wish.

Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.

Individuals are not born with the conception of vicious intentions. They are simply taught that the concept of betrayal is acceptable throughout the course of their lifetime. Many novels, movies, and tv shows focus on the concept of betrayal because it adds depth and drama to the plot. William Faulkner manipulates this idea in his fictional novel As I Lay Dying by using different perspectives of characters to display acts of betrayal and the outcomes that they develop. Dewey Dell, the daughter of Anse and Addie Bundren, double crosses multiple people throughout the novel, including her own father and brothers Darl and Vardaman. Over the duration of the novel, characters tend to utilize betrayal to promote oneself

Despite the fact that human beings are oftentimes reluctant to admit it, it is a fact of life that one of the most fundamental aspects of human nature is self-interest. Selfishness pervades everyday life, no matter what efforts are made to deny and rationalize its existence. In the novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, the unique method handling the death of Addie that each character uses exemplifies the inherent selfishness apparent in human nature and outlines the various emotions that accompany the death of a loved one.

William Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying, tells the story of a family that journeys cross-country with the intentions to find a proper resting place for their mother, Addie Bundren. After reading for only a short time, it becomes clear that two of her sons, Jewel and Darl, play a much larger role in the story than the other siblings. One could find many good points to support either character being labeled as the protagonist of the story, such as the various tensions that can clearly be seen between them. That being said, Darl is, without a doubt, the best possible choice. He is forced to overcome more obstacles, including alienation from his entire family, than any other character, and is truly a changed person by the end of the novel.

When speculating about the only female character, in regards to the mother, it is evident that a predictable aspect will be found in Dewey Dell for she carries the female qualities in the story. This statement in As I Lay Dying, “ “Ma,” Dewey Dell says; “ma!” “ (Faulkner 48) was the first reaction made by any of the characters towards the death of the mother, and it came from Dewey Dell. Reasons for this could be the sexist factor that she is a girl, so her reaction will be more emotionally projected than that of the male characters. However, the aspect of Dewey Dell not being able to let go of her mother can also play a role in her reaction. This idea is expressed through “…the fan is still moving like it has for

The conversation to redefine gender roles is often dominated by polarized extremes. In As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner explores the social and psychological effects of the traditional southern female gender role with the character Addie Bundren. Through Addie’s narrative, Faulkner presents the struggles of a woman as she lives the oppressive consequences of expressing her sexuality: childbearing and motherhood. The same consequences are reflected in the destruction of the life of Addie’s unwed daughter, Dewey Dell. Through these women’s stories ,Faulkner reveals the damaging effect of institutional patriarchy in women’s lives as storyteller rather than feminist.

In "As I Lay Dying" William Faulkner uses multiple points of view to explore the theme of existence as a motionless and meaningless cycle. The cycle is motionless because it is inescapable and unchangeable. One can never leave the cycle of life and death. People perpetuate the cycle by creating life, but in creating life they are creating death, for life irrevocably leads to death. Faulkner depicts existence as meaningless. Nothing really changes in the story. On the surface the characters appear to change, such as Addie dying, Darl going crazy and Anse getting a new wife, but none of these changes are really as relevant as they seem.

He wrote about things that were not stereotypical. Addie and Anse’s only daughter, Dewey Dell, is pregnant. She has to endure through pregnancy. Even though she thinks she got an abortion, readers know that what was in the pills she received would not cause her child to die (248). Having a child out of wedlock is looked down on.

Next, Emerson wrote, “If tomorrow I should be informed of the bankruptcy of my principal debtors, the loss of my property would be a great inconvenience to me, perhaps, for many years; but it would leave me as it found me, - neither better nor worse.” Here, Emerson could easily be accused of insensitivity, equating the death of his son to the loss of property. Although it is difficult for a compassionate soul to describe the death of a child as an inconvenience, again, we must walk in his shoes for a moment. The losses he was forced to endure over a

In William Faulkner’s (1897-1962) fiction, Donald Mahon in Soldier’s Pay1 (1926) and Addie Bundren in As I Lay Dying2 (1931) are lying in bed; these are not simple beds to rest; these are the death beds. Donald Mahon is brought almost dead from the war and Addie Bundren is about to die with her single wish to be buried in Jefferson, among her own people before her marriage. Only difference is that Donald is unconscious while Addie is conscious in the beginning of the novel. Both have become touchstone to judge the real worth of relations in the existing world.

Ivan Kung Professor WHO English 1A 16 September 2015 Diction in “BLAH” Learning is the acquisition of new, or reinforcing existing knowledge or skill through experience, study, or being taught. In order to learn, we need to communicate, and what best way of communicating through language. Language is the ability to acquire knowledge and skill. Through the excerpt, Addie, in William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying, Faulkner shows how words often fail to communicate and teach people, and how actions go beyond words. Similarly in the excerpt in Jonathan Swift’s novel Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver arrives in Laputa where he learns the complexity of the people and the Laptuan language and culture.

In As I Lay Dying, an important question the reader grapples with is simply why? Why all of these unnecessary hardships just to get to Jefferson? Is the Bundrens’ journey to Jefferson driven by familial duty, or familial love? It’s really driven by neither. Familial duty is the guise in this novel for each family member to get to town—namely, Anse—for some sort of ulterior motive. Anse is the driving force for the other members of the family to find a reason to go to Jefferson. The only person in the Bundren family to convey actual familial love is Darl, who tries to burn his mother’s body—which, we are reminded—makes him insane. Yes, they get to Jefferson and bury Addie’s body, but was she even really a person anymore, or