Religion In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

As the author of As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner needed to have a deep understanding of what he was talking about, such as: religion, mythology, and the social classes he would be writing about in his novel. Before becoming an author William Faulkner was pursuing a career in the U.S. Air Force during World War I but failed because he was too short. He then moved to Canada to join the British because he loved airplanes but lied about ever being a part of the air force in that country. He then started writing and got the hang of it by his second book and found his niche by the third. He explored issues that plagued the American south in the era after the civil war which had to do with social classes, social mobility, family, and slavery. A

Over the course of the book, the characters frequently judge one another on their actions, judgements that are often based on their views of religion. Many of the characters in the novel commit acts that can be seen as immoral -- Dewey Dell commits adultery, Addie and Reverend Whitfield have an affair, Cora judges the sins of others -- and though they do not all share the same level of faith, all of them use either their belief in God or their lack of it to justify their actions. Ultimately, Faulkner seems to argue that regardless of your religious belief, it is human nature to try to justify the choices that you make, especially when they are not considered the right or moral thing to do. Although, religion is sought to be the reason for people’s excuses, people who are not religious also find a way to justify their actions which means everyone judges people regardless of their

Dewey Dell was one of those people who were raised within the Christian church and taught through the path of salvation and ironically committed adultery when she had sex with her boyfriend Lafe. Darl had found out Dewey Dell had sex with Lafe and the conversation these siblings had was not a great one, well, for Dewey Dell. Darl told Dewey Dell, “he did know”, and she replied with, “Are you going to tell pa are you going to kill him?” , because back in the day it was not okay for a young lady to be a single mother. Darl replied with, “Why?”, that allows us to understand why Dewey Dell resents Darl so much. Darl did not want to kill the fetus. The reason Dewey Dell hated Darl so much was because he knew her secret and feared his power of perception. He had the ability to tell anyone her secret and that is what Dewey Dell feared the most. The only excuse Dewey Dell had according to her sin was that she did it out of love or Lafe would have left her and in this case he did leave her anyways. Growing up, Dewey Dell was taught she could have sex once she got married but she was afraid Lafe would leave her if she did not have sex with him. She did as Lafe wanted but he ended up leaving her anyways. Dewey Dell had attempted to abort the child when she went to town and told a man at a shop