At the turn of the twentieth century with the industrial revolution in full effect the world was becoming a more modern place. At the same time, however, people were forced to turn to their more barbaric instincts. Modernist writer William Faulkner uses the Bundren family of his novel As I Lay Dying to exemplify the chaos and deterioration of an unprepared society thrust into the industrial world. Faulkner then juxtaposes the dysfunctional Bundren family with the archetypal oracle or prophet in Darl Bundren. In fact, Faulkner’s portrayal of Darl suggests many similarities between Darl Bundren and Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. These comparisons can be made with both the narrative account of Darl’s life and with theological concepts expressed by Darl.
On a literal level there are several basic similarities between the character Darl Bundren of Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. The fathers of Gautama Buddha and Darl both worry about their children leaving home. Wishing for his son to succeed him as king, Gautama Buddha’s father keeps his son at home and shelters him from the outside world. Darl's father Anse Bundren also feels that Darl should “stay put like a tree or a stand of corn” and not “be always a-moving and going somewhere else” (Faulkner 36). There is also a striking similarity between the events that begin Gautama Buddha’s quest for enlightenment and Darl’s quest for enlightenment. Gautama Buddha feels the need to seek meaning in life after seeing suffering for the first time. Darl’s quest for enlightenment begins after seeing his mother’s death. Even though Darl does no actually see his mother’s death in person, he experiences it consciously, which is more than any other memb...
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...t is much more reasonable to assume that the similarities are a result of the collective unconscious. Faulkner and Gautama Buddha were both intelligent individuals who were disgusted by what they saw in society. Faulkner’s response to an unappealing society was to step back and explore the collective unconscious, which led to his view that simplification is the key to happiness. This perfectly mirrors the teachings of Gautama Buddha thousands of years prior. It is because of Faulkner’s experience with the collective unconscious that his portrayal of Darl Bundren in his novel As I Lay Dying lends merit to comparisons made between Darl and Buddhism’s founder Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. So while similarities between Darl Bundren and Gautama Buddha are inadvertent, they do lead to an interesting study of the two as excellent examples of the archetypal oracle or prophet.
In Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, Unity is a reflecting theme of this novel and in life. Unity is "the state of being one or a unit; harmony, agreement in feelings or ideas or aims, etc." Unity is first introduced by means of the river and by the mystical word "Om." Direct commentary from Siddhartha and the narrator also introduces the theme.
"On the great journey of life, if a man cannot find one who is better or at least as good as himself, let him journey joyfully alone." The story of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse makes this point true. The main character Siddhartha dealt with the Samanas and Gotama Buddha, the second with Kamala and then the ferryman. The three parts correspond to the three stages though which Siddhartha passes on his journey to enlightenment: The stage of the mind; the stage of the flesh; the stage of transcendence.
Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. 1930. Edited by Noel Polk. New York: Vintage, 1985. Print.
One of the main themes in As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is the concept of isolation and loneliness of not just the characters in the book, but humanity itself. Each character is essentially isolated from all the others, as the plot is told through each of the characters’ perspectives through stream of consciousness. As a result of Faulkner’s use of multiple narratives, the reader does not attain an objective third person viewpoint of everything that occurs. The closest the reader gets to an omniscient narrator is Darl Bundren as he is able to relate events that occur while not having been present at the time. Although the Bundrens live together as well as make the journey to Jefferson, it is through their inherent isolation and loneliness that they cannot effectively communicate with each other which ultimately leads to Darl’s fateful actions.
...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.
There are countless religions in our world today; Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and more. These religions are all so different, yet bear the same mindset behind them: to be a better person. People strive to come to peace with themselves and others by practicing and worshiping certain deities. While the overall mentality of these religions are equivocal, the details become astoundingly diverse. For example, Buddhism’s core belief system goes off the approach of knowing suffering will happen in the world and coming to peace with it through meditation. Only then can the power of enlightenment bring worshipers to eternal peace. Unfortunately, in Burma during the 1920s suffering was anything but depleted. In this Buddhist based country, an imperialist force had taken over: Britain. However, in the midst of pandemonium, one man broke away from the imperialist outlook and saw the world for how it truly was. This is why George Orwell’s literary perspective was substantially influenced by the conditions he witnessed during his services in the Indian Imperial Police Force.
There are plenty of different kinds of books written, and published today. It’s a interesting form of entertainment that still holds up along side modern adaptations, like television or games. Books have a wider open door to visualization and interoperation. People can read things differently according to their own experiences. It’s up to the author to still allow that room for interoperation while keeping the books characters and plot on track. Looking at a book from the point of one main character, people may want to relate themselves to that character. That way they can feel and experience that change the character does.
In the novel, As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner tells a story of a family (the Bundrens) trying to fulfill the dying wish of a family member. The family is made up of Dewey Dell the only daughter, Vardaman the youngest, Anse the father, and Addie the dead mother. Darl and Jewel are the oldest in the family. Along with Cash who is a handy man and is seen as the normal one in the family who tries to compromise. Cash tries to keep the family together. Anse is a father that throughout the book is focused on Addie’s dying wish he puts his family at risk a lot. He has given up his children’s health, his family’s home, and crew of horses for Addie’s dying wish. Addie is the dead mother that is remembered as a loving and caring mother, but it is later
This paper is a comparison between two very different religions. Specifically Christianity and Buddhism. Coming from opposite sides of the globe these two religions could not be any farther apart in any aspect. I will discuss who Christ is for Christians and who Buddha is for Buddhists. I will also get into the aspects of charity, love, and compassion in both religions and I will be looking at the individual self and how christians see resurrection where the buddhists feel about the afterlife. One thing to keep in mind is that the two religions are very different but they seem to have a very similar underlying pattern. Both believe that there was a savior of their people, Buddha and Christ, and both believe that there is something good that happens to us when our time is done here on earth. This is a very generalized summarization but in order to go in to depth I need to explain the two religions more to fully convey this theory.
In Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha and his friend, Govinda, leave their sheltered lives as Brahmins, Hindu priests, to be Samanas, ascetics who deny themselves all pleasure. Some years after, they meet the Buddha, whom Govinda stays with to be a monk while Siddhartha leaves to continue on his own adventures. Toward the end of their lives, they meet again at a river bank and discover if they have truly achieved inner peace. Hesse uses Govinda as a contrast to Siddhartha. As displayed in excursions with the Samanas, with the Buddha, and on other adventures, Siddhartha is a character who is more independent and must learn on his own while Govinda is more dependent and feels he must be taught.
The story of Devadatta raises a compelling argument in regards to his journey in overthrowing the Buddha. In traditional Buddhism, Devadatta is seen as a selfish, greedy, jealous, cousin to the Buddha, who attempts three different times to kill him, before growing ill. Whereas in the Lotus Sutra, Devadatta is commended for being a good friend to the Buddha in helping him become fully endowed with the six paramitas. These six paramitas consists of pity, compassion, joy, and indifference, which also included thirty-two features, eighty characteristics, the ten powers, four kinds of fearlessness, four methods of winning people, eighteen unshared properties, transcendental powers and the power of the way. Famous psychologist, Sigmund Freud, designed what he called “the structural model of psyche,” which consisted of an Id, ego, and super ego. The Id and ego pertain to this particular story the most, while ones Id is a set of uncoordinated instinctual trends and ones ego is the organized and realistic section of your conscious the mediates between the id and super ego. This story of Devadatta can be looked at from a metaphorical and psychological standpoint when relating Devadatta to ones Id and the Buddha to ones ego. It is inevitably the story of Good vs. Evil. Furthermore as you read this essay, you will see how the perception of Devadatta changes from the beginning with traditional Indian Buddhism to Chinese Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra.
Emily Grierson, a woman of stature and nobility of the once proud South; transformed to a mere peasant, through the fall of the Confederacy and the changes that ensued. Tragic in a sense, the story of her life as told from the author; William Faulkner, in his short story - "A Rose for Emily." (Faulkner 74-79). First published in the popular magazine of his time in 1930, The Forum; Faulkner tries to maintain her self image throughout the story through the narrators eyes as being repressed in nature through her upbringing in society prior to the war and the circumstances of the times as they unfold - while struggling to fill a void of emptiness inside.
As I Lay Dying is told in individual sections, so that the narration of the story shifts from one character to another. While most sections are narrated by members of the Bundren family, the few that are told by neighbors and other observers offer a glimpse of the family from an outsider’s perspective. Each narrator—family members and outsiders alike—is believable but at the same time unreliable, forcing readers to decide for themselves what is reality and what is not.
In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, characterization, specifically through the multitude of narrators, transforms an otherwise pedestrian plot into a complex pilgrimage to the truth. As I Lay Dying is told from the perspective of fifteen different characters in 59 chapters (Tuck 35). Nearly half (7) of the characters from whose perspective the story is narrated are members of the same family, the Bundrens. The other characters are onlookers of the Bundrens’ journey to bury their mother, Addie. Each character responds to the events that are unfolding in a unique way and his or her reactions help to characterize themselves and others.
William Faulkner's novel "As I Lay Dying" centers on the death and ensuing burial of the matriarch of the Bundren family, Addie. The book is written in first person point of view and is narrated by family members and acquaintances of Addie. It is through the narratives of the other characters that her personality is revealed. Few clearly defined details about Addie are given in the novel, and as such, the reader must learn about her through the narrations of the other characters. Addie Bundren is a complex woman with many conflicting personality traits that often influence others.