As I Lay Dying Analysis

Towards the end of the novel, Cash is found washed on shore, with a broken leg. It is clear that Cash is in immense pain, but his only response is “it wasn’t on a balance”, in reference to Addie’s coffin (Faulkner 165). Cash doesn’t get upset or place the blame, he simply gives a just explanation for what happened. When Cash speaks, he leaves out his emotion and feelings, and only says what he feels needs to be said. This is a trait that also makes him an honest narrator.

The Lord gave you what you have, even if He did use the devil to do it; you let Him take it away from you if it's His will to do so. You go on back to Lafe and you and him take that ten dollars and get married with it." Another instance in which the family members’ comments upon their own situation and the outside obervers’ comments disagree is when one of the boys is buying cement for Cash’s broken leg. The marshal disagrees with this, thinking that the cement will not help but kill Cash. He says, "You'll cause him to lose his leg.

A morally ambiguous character in As I Lay Dying is Anse Bundren. Anse Bundren’s dedication and determination to fulfil his wife’s wish counterpoises the fact that he is self-centered and neglectful towards others. With his two biggest goals in mind, burying his wife and getting a new set of teeth, Anse Bundren demonstrates the theme of self-interest vs. heroic actions. Most of the members of the Bundren family have goals at the end of their journey to Jefferson, but Anse’s two goals are both the most selfish and altruistic goals of the book.

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 author of As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner, really contributes to the aspects of literature through his ability to tell a seemingly incredible story through only the “stream-of-consciousness” technique. Faulkner takes his insight beyond the piece, through other’s views and thoughts. Although the characters might be acting differently upon each subject or handling each action in opposite ways, the tone and theme that he uses really brings the whole piece to a perfect balance. In As I Lay Dying, Faulkner displays contradicting elements through the reactions of the family members towards the mother’s death with the use of dialogue, tone, imagery, and internal conflict.

Addie Bundren is the mother of the Bundren family, the main subjects of William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying. The novel is centered on her death and burial as her family travels to bury her with her family in Jefferson. Throughout the novel, the reader gets an understanding of who Addie Bundren is, but only through other characters’ memories and perceptions of her; excluding the chapter where Addie speaks for herself where she gives the reader a true account of her thoughts and feelings about the world and her family.

In William Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying, the reader is encouraged to sympathize with Dewey Dell on account of her quickly waning life. We are given multiple circumstances in the book where Dewey Dell’s life is noticeably described in a negative way, not as a person, but rather how bad of a situation she is in. She is an impregnated seventeen-year-old girl who is unable to find proper treatment to relieve her of a child she doesn’t want. While she is dealing with her own catastrophic incident she is also dealing with the numerous other problems her family is unsuccessfully dealing with. Due to the rest of the Bundren family’s understandably more serious dilemmas taking priority over Dewey Dell’s, she is forced to put off her own extremely urgent predicament.

My first impression of Cash was that he was a hardworking man. He spent most of the day working on the coffin for his mother. He seemed very selfless as he worked constantly on his mother’s coffin. Although the fact that he was building the coffin right outside his mothers window was somewhat disturbing to me. I would not want to watch a man build my coffin. To Cash this coffin was his last present to his dying mother and he wanted it to be perfect witch is why he would hold up every piece to show his mother to make sure it was perfect.

Unfortunately, Anse, her father, selfishly steals the money for a new set of teeth. Dewey Dell never truly had a good emotional relationship with her mother. “In sharp contrast to Jewel, Dewey Dell seems the least concerned with Addie’s death and funeral (W. Vickery.)” She seemed to be more concerned with getting an abortion and when that money was pilfered out of her wallet and utilized for her selfish father’s desires, this quite likely caused great disparity between the two, creating more family tension and weakened family

    Analyzing character in a Faulkner novel is like trying to reach the bottom of a bottomless pit because Faulkner's characters often lack ration, speak in telegraphed stream-of-consciousness, and rarely if ever lend themselves to ready analysis.  This is particularly true in As I Lay Dying, a novel of a fragmented and dysfunctional family told through fragmented chapters.  Each character reveals their perspective in different chapters, but the perspectives are true to life in that though they all reveal information

“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.

As I Lay Dying covers the story of a family as they journey to bury the mother, Addie, in her hometown after her death. They all go through the same situations but each experience different emotions and thoughts. They express these through the language they use. What each character says as well as how he/she says it lets the reader see the

Diligence is valuable to any family. It is necessary for progress; and just like the universe, if we are not moving forward we are collapsing. I think this hold true in a family as well. Diligence props up a family and allows for growth. Cash keeps the Bundren's moving forward. Pragmatism. Definition: "Steady and thoughtful accomplishment of a task, involving truth." The perfect example of Cash's pragmatism is the chapter in which Cash lays out his list. He describes out the forces and considerations it takes to build a coffin. He explains all the angles that are necessary in making the thing tight and remain together. "I made it on a bevel. 1,2,3, etc. . ."(82). His entire chapter is dedicated to explaining how to properly put a coffin together. I believe it is a metaphor for his holding the family together. Another example of his pragmatic ways is the talk of balance, and its importance: "It wasn't on balance. I told them that if they wanted it to tote and ride on a balance, they would have to. . ." (165). He orders things, this is evidence of his pragmatic style of thought. This is clear when we look at the coffin as a metaphor for the balance in Cash's life. Do the job steadily and in order, I think that would be a good slogan for Cash. Pragmatism keeps the family on a level plane. His pragmatic behavior enables the family to avoid the giant losses. It lends consistency to an

As I Lay Dying As I Lay Dying written by William Faulkner was wrote in the 1930’s. During this time period the world was in a Great Depression. During the Great Depression many citizens died from starvation and disease. In the novel As I Lay Dying, Addie dies of illness.

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