As I Lay Dying Literary Analysis

Most works of literature often use events and objects to display a deeper meaning to the current situation. In As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, there are many references that connect the Bundren family to mythological, Biblical, and classical allusions. Faulkner’s use of various types of allusions emphasizes the characters’ behavior and relationship to each other.

Perspectives are like fixed telescopes looking up at the night sky, focused on a small sliver of the twinkling stars. Much alike to how one stargazes, people are unable to see beyond their own point of view and see the same part of a moment at the same time. William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying reflects this idea through telling the story of the Bundren Family’s journey to bury their deceased mother in Jefferson by the account of multiple narrators. In doing so, each narrator retells the events in a different manner. The isolation the characters face in their perspectives as indicated by their contradicting details are acknowledged by Faulkner through his depiction of Darl’s descent into madness and his descriptions of various coins and

Another example, is when Addie speaks. She speaks to reveal her selfishness. She admits to having an extramarital affair with the local preacher, who is Jewel’s biological father. The reader can see this when Addie says, “I gave Anse Dewey Dell to negative Jewel. Then I gave him Vardaman to replace the child I had robbed him of” (176). Further, Addie admits that she wants to be buried in Jefferson because she wants to spend eternity as far away from the Bundren’s as possible.

However, Jewel has a much different view of their journey. Jewel sees it as a way to make up to his mother for not being there when she passed (Faulkner 48). Therefore, he does everything in his power to get her there . . . including running into a burning barn and nearly drowning to save her coffin (Faulkner 154 and 221). These acts, although seemingly heroic, arise as truly selfish and shallow. These shallow acts can exist through Jewels “pale eyes” which look “like wood” (Faulkner 4). This simile compares Jewel to a simple substance which mirrors how his actions towards his mother are self-absorbed. Wood is two dimensional and shallow. When Jewels refuses to let the past go and continuously holds on to the idea of upsetting his mother, he in turn works for his own benefit. Jewel seeks his mother's approval out of self absorption and not out of love; he acts shallow and hollow like wood. In turn, Jewel ignores his siblings and continues to push towards

The trait that most resembles a heroic quality can be traced within the selflessness within the novel. The acts of selflessness can then be traced within the three eldest Bundren brothers Jewel, Cash and Darl. Jewel Bundren is not a man of words and only has one vocal chapter in the novel. His heroic selflessness stems not from how he expresses himself but instead from his actions. Jewel Bundren is often described as wooden and disconnects his emotions from both the other characters in the novel as well as the reader. Though he is cold, Jewel balances his outward appearance with selfless actions. Jewel’s only emotional connection his family is through Addie. It is because of this connection that drives him relentlessly forward with the mission. He shows dedication to his family when he searches valiantly for Cash’s tools after the river crossing. Jewel is motivated through his connection to Addie to connect to his family. Finally, he is so devoted to delivering his mother towards Jefferson to the point that he

His family wasfinancially stable, but his father, Murry, was an alcoholic. Their family dinners were done silentand Murry unexpectedly left town for a couple of days and then came back. Faulkner’s mother,Maud, was an independent, hardheaded woman. Murry and Maud fought really often. WilliamFaulkner’s books explore family dynamics, race, gender, and social class. Faulkner was somewhat misfit. It is said that he used to invent stories about himself. (“As I Lay Dying Analysis”).As I Lay Dying was a required to read in Pulaski County High School, a high school inSomerset, Kentucky as a reading assignment in an advanced English class. The book waschallenged because the book contains profanity and a part about masturbation. School boardmembers were concerned for the book’s language and dialect. Central High School in Loisville,Kentucky decided to ban the book for profanity and confusion on the existence of God (“Bannedand/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20thCentury”). Some of the bans were quickly reversed, but some remained banned (Baldassarro,“As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner”). “Then I would wait until they all went to sleep so I could lie with my shirt-tail up,hearing them asleep, feeling myself without touching myself, feeling the cool silence blowingupon my parts and wondering if Cash was yonder in the darkness doing it too, had been doing itperhaps for

She becomes a wife and a mother. She loves her children and they adore her. When she grows old they will take of her, and when she dies, they long for her the rest of their days. The concept of such a desired and completed journey of motherhood and womanhood is dismantled in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. On a spectrum of maternity, characters Cora Tull, Addie Bundren and her daughter Dewey Dell each represent a different degree. Cora is a dedicated mother, Addie struggles to accept the idea of motherhood, and Dewey Dell rejects the role altogether. Through these female characters, Faulkner also aims to point out the absurdity of the universal experience of womanhood.

William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying examines the connections and disconnections between speech, silence, and the meaning of words. However, having words is as good as having no words because the characters in this book, especially the members of the Bundren family, use words that obfuscate their true emotions. Faulkner uses his characters to portray speech as just another factor of nominalism and allows only silence to present the truth.

At the end of the novel, Jewel’s isolation only continues to deepen, while Darl is driven to an insane asylum. Both their demeanor’s had a huge outlook upon their outcomes. Darl’s isolation led to his confusion and misdemeanor, which caused him to eventually go crazy. Jewel’s hatred towards Anse will only continue to thicken and cause

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

Darl and Jewel also have a complicated relationship. They don’t exactly get along all the time. Darl begrudges Jewel, considering Jewel and Addie’s relationship. Darl wants acceptance and love from Addie, which he doesn’t receive, and he takes it out on Jewel, although it really isn’t his fault.

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.

As I Lay Dying was an extremely successful novel written by an American author named William Faulkner in 1930. Each of the characters in the novel are given traits that are expressed throughout the story to reveal their true identities. Faulkner utilizes first person point of view that shifts from one character to another to allow the reader to enter the mind of each character and experience their inner thoughts. All the characters live very similar lives however we can see the complete isolation and the breakdown of the relationships throughout the novel. The three main characters that really contribute to the deteriorating family relationships are Darl, Jewel, and Anse.

As I Lay Dying, is a novel written by William Cuthbert Faulkner, where a poor southern family named the Burdens set off on a journey through 1920’s Mississippi to bury their recently deceased mother Addie Bundren. Before, Addie Bundren passes away she makes her husband Anse promise to bury her in her hometown of Jefferson, Mississippi. This is a large task as the Burden family is located in Yoknapatawhpha County, Mississippi and they must make the rough journey to give their mother her final wish. The Burden family is comprised of Addie Bundren and her husband Anse Bundren as well as their children Darl, Jewel, Cash, Vardaman, Dewey Dell, and Cash. They each have their own problems and this journey allows each of their personal dilemmas to be expressed through everyone’s part as a narrator in the novel. The stream of consciousness writing style that William Cuthbert Fauklkner uses to show the various situations the family encounters on their journey as well as show how each character develops through the novel. Addie Burden is the mother of the family and in most cultures the “head of the house.” She keeps everything running and is the reason that the family is a family. In As I Lay Dying, Addie Bundren, who does not appear nor talk much in the novel, plays a significant role in the development of her children Darl, Jewel, and Vardaman as they venture out on their journey to give their recently deceased mother her last wish to be buried in her

He goes on to emphasize that humans have lost the sense of tragedy, true tragedy in the desire to avoid fear. Compassion, sacrifice, pride, pity, honor, have been lost on the human race. Faulkers basis for writing “As I Lay Dying” is to emphasize on these points, creating a true greek tragedy, which causes one to doubt the sanity of his or her utmost desires and ambitions. Faulkner uses each of his characters in “As I Lay Dying” as emphasis points of the human identity. Darl, DD, Cash, Vardaman, even Anse, who should burn in the deepest pits of hell, represent a key component of what Faulkner believed humans should be. By doing this humanity will “endure”, it will flourish and have meaning beyond the beset of animalistic instincts, lust, desire, and