As I Lay Dying
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.
By using multiple points of view Faulkner lets us into each character’s mind. We see how each person thinks about the cycle of existence. This insight could be accomplished with an omniscient narrator, but Faulkner’s way is much more effective. Faulkner allows us to see a ten-year-old’s perspective on life and death from the perspective of a ten-year-old, instead of from the perspective of some all-knowing narrator that doesn’t really know what it’s like to be a ten-year-old. Also, the actual sequence of narrators is in a cycle. We don’t just hear all of Darl’s point of view, and then Anse’s, and then Peabody’s. Faulkner cycles through his characters, returning again and again to people like Darl and Dewey Dell and Vardaman, while having characters such as Jewel and Addie speak only once.
Addie Bundren is in many ways the central character of the story. The plot revolves around her as her family tries to get her body to Jefferson for burial. Her single monologue comes in the exact middle of the book, making her geographically the central character. Most importantly howeve...
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...and what his place is in life, and the fact that he goes crazy is simply the next step in his identity crisis. Again, it is because we are given Darl’s thoughts that his craziness makes sense to us. We are brought into his confused mind, and so when it finally cracks we understand why.
So nobody in the story really changes. They are all in a motionless state of existence, moving slowly towards death. Faulkner’s use of point of view helps us understand how the characters feel about their cycle of existence, and how much of it they truly understand. If Faulkner had told this story any other way, we would not understand the cycle as well as we do. We wouldn’t feel a part of they story and the characters. We would be distant from their emotions and thoughts. But as it is, we feel like a part of everyone in the story, and we can relate to and understand their thoughts.
The order in which events are told in a story can create suspense while letting the reader use their imagination. Faulkner’s events are by far not ordered chronologically. He starts off by telling the death of Emily Rose who is the protagonist of the story. Throughout the rest of the story he describes Emily’s life and the changes that accompany it. "Miss Emily was a women deeply admired by the community in which she lived" (Faulkner 80). The death of her father, although years before her death, brought her grief, but also gave her hope. While her father was around, Emily was never allowed to date. Her father thought that no man was good enough for Emily. Once her father passed away Miss Emily became somewhat desperate for human love.
“God’s will be done, now I can get teeth,” Anse says after Addie’s death. To some people, it may seem weird that someone wants new teeth, and to others, it might make them wonder if he’s sad about his wife’s death. Anse Bundren, a middle-aged man, has a reputation of being a lazy and selfish person. But how does that play a role in As I Lay Dying? How has Anse’s relationship with his family, his wife, and himself affect the outcome of the story? Another thing about Anse is his view of Addie’s death. How has Anse Bundren become dead in the story, but is really still alive?
Addie Bundren conjures up the central darkness derived from her death and directly or indirectly causes actions in which each Bundren character takes advantage of Addie. With the character's actions revolving around her death, William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying reveals the truth about the people who surround a person may take advantage of him or her. The death of Addie Bundren shapes all of the character's actions in life including Addie's final request before her death. Addie takes advantage of her death by using it for revenge and inflicting final pains upon some characters, while the other characters use her to get what they want for their personal needs.
Addie is actually the perfect character to try and describe the lack or void of words and meanings. The very fact that she is dead and is talking about this void from the dead is important. In a way she is speaking from a void between life and death. Morna Flaum expresses this idea in her article, “Elucidating Addie Bundren in As I Lay Dying.” “Her condition of deadness, speaking from the void between is and not-is makes her the perfect vehicle for Faulkner to describe the indescribable, approach the unapproachable, express the inexpressible, as he so gracefully does, does-not. The placement of Addie’s chapter in the middle of her long journey from deathbed to grave is also significant.” Flaum goes on to say that this placement of Addie’s chapter
“As I Lay Dying, read as the dramatic confrontation of words and actions, presents Faulkner’s allegory of the limits of talent” (Jacobi). William Faulkner uses many different themes that make this novel a great book. Faulkner shows his talent by uses different scenarios, which makes the book not only comedic but informational on the human mind. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is a great book that illustrates great themes and examples. Faulkner illustrates different character and theme dynamics throughout the entire novel, which makes the book a humorous yet emotional roller coaster. Faulkner illustrates the sense of identity, alienation, and the results of physical and mental death to show what he thinks of the human mind.
William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, chronicles a family facing a series of trials in the wake of a traumatic event, Addie’s death. Faulkner first suggests that the journey to bury Addie, a wife and mother, is a way for her family to show her their final respect, yet each character’s real motivation in participating begins to emerge as the novel progresses. The motivations and circumstances present as an over-the-top dramatic tale, something that often times only appears on reality television. Through the use of Biblical allusions and religious contradictions, Faulkner presents a sarcastic tone mocking the backwardness of the journey and the Bundren family’s ethics. Faulkner chooses to use these stylistic devices to expose the impact of religious
In As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner uses the characters Anse and Cash, and a motif/symbol in "My mother is a fish," to reveal the psychological and societal problems of the twenties and thirties. Written as soon as the panic surrounding the stock market in 1929 started, Faulkner is reported as having, “took one of these [onion] sheets, unscrewed the cap from his fountain pen, and wrote at the top in blue ink, 'As I Lay Dying.' Then he underlined it twice and wrote the date in the upper right-hand corner"(Atkinson 15) We must take care to recognize Faulkner not as a man of apathy, but one of great compassion and indignation at the collapse of the economic foundation of the U.S. This is central in appreciating the great care with which he describes the desolation and poor landscape of Yoknapatawpha County, which is where As I Lay Dying takes place.
...ve different opinions and recognition of the situations that take place. Darl holds much understanding about death, and about the secrets of his family. Vardaman, however, possesses very little understanding throughout the novel because of his age and inexperience with death. In As I Lay Dying, Faulkner makes good use of contrasting these two characters. He makes it clear what the most significant things about Vardaman and Darl are in relation to the family, and Addie’s death.
Faulkner tells the story in first form plural, where the narrators represent the folks in town, which gives a feeling of that this description is the general perception. One immediately gets involved in the story since they first retell what actually happened and then add their own interpretations and assumptions. The double perspective one gets invites to draw one's own conclusions from a more objective point of view, which mine hopefully is!
In As I Lay Dying the Bundren family faces many hardships dealing with death and physical nature. Nature plays a major role in moving Faulkner’s story. Nature takes a toll on the family in their time of despair of losing a loved one. They are challenged by human nature and the nature of the elements. Throughout the story the family overcomes the human nature of emotions and the nature of the weather. They face nature in the most peculiar ways, like a flood that keeps them from crossing, the decaying body of Addie, and how they all grieve over the death of Addie; Dewey Dell said, “I heard that my mother is dead. I wish I had time to let her die. I wish I had time to wish I had” (Faulkner 110). The forces of nature compete with the Burden family.
First, why does Faulkner present the plot in the way that he does? There can be numerous answers to this question, but I have narrowed it down to one simple answer. He presented the story in this way in order to keep the reader guessing and to also provide some sort of suspense. By Faulkner telling the story in the way that he does, the reader has no way of knowing what might be coming up next in the story. The last thing that a reader wants to do is read a boring story that is easy to predict. Faulkner keeps the reader from knowing what might happen next by not placing the events in the actual order that they occurred. He goes back and forth throughout Miss Emily’s life. At the introduction and conclusion of the story, she is dead, while the body consists of the times when she was alive. The body of the story also jumps back and forth throughout Miss Emily’s life. Faulkner brilliantly divided the story into five key parts, all taking place at some key
Also, the purpose of the coffin serving as the symbol of the Bundrens' gratitude to Addie leads to the coffin's purpose of serving as the symbol of the family's instability. Darl, the most perceptive and observant one in the family, realizes that the coffin is causing the family to destruction and that the journey is absurd. Darl desperately tries to burn the coffin at Gillipsie's barn to properly cremate her and “so she can lay down her life.” After he fails, because of the Bundrens' dysfunction, they prioritize burying the coffin over Darl and have him sent to the mental institution instead since, “it was either send him to Jackson, or have Gillipsie sue (them).” Darl's act of burning the coffin for his gratitude for Addie leads to him falling into the instability of his family, in which he goes insane.
spent on false teeth to him. "I never sent for you" Anse says "I take you to
Many mothers, regardless of age or situation, share sympathetic life ideals. They all share the common goal of raising their children wholesome; they want to create an environment of love, nurture, and support for their children as well. A mother’s effort to implant good values in her children is perpetual; they remain optimistic and hope that their children would eventually become prosperous. However, some women were not fit to be mothers. Thus, two different roles of a mother are portrayed in As I Lay Dying written by William Faulkner. Faulkner uses the literary technique of first person narrative with alternating perspectives. By doing so, Faulkner adds authenticity and the ability to relate (for some) to the two characters Addie Bundren and Cora Tull. The first person narrative acts as an important literary technique because it allows the reader to experience the opposing views of Addie and Cora; they are both mothers who act as foils to each other because of their diverse opinions and outlooks on motherhood, religion and life.
Throughout Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying, a prominent difference between the characters Anse and Addie appears in his/her contrasting depiction of word meaning. According to the mother, Addie, words are bad and do not signify their designated meaning. In comparison, her husband, Anse, continually stresses and believes in his spoken promise or word to bury Addie in Jefferson. Incidentally, the juxtaposition between the two character’s theories of word meaning emphasizes an alternative comical view toward the burial of Addie. Her burial is sacred to the family due to the promise of the father’s word and yet based on Addie’s meaningless attempt at revenge toward her husband.