As I Lay Dying
Few novels delve into the depths of the human psyche as effectively as William Faulkner's eccentric novel, As I Lay Dying. Written in a stream-of-consciousness style and narrated by fifteen different characters, As I Lay Dying not only reflects the religious and moral values of a family torn by the death of its matriarch, but it sprouts forth each and every characters' innermost thoughts and feelings, suspended in a timeless setting where past, present, and future fuse together to create a journey - an odyssey in which there is one destination, but many different routes. Above all, this novel is about how the conflicting and individual agendas of a family tear it apart. The Bundrens are one in their mission to bury their beloved Addie, yet each member of the family is isolated from the rest, each with their own secret mission, and each with their own selfish expression of "grief". The family bond in As I Lay Dying is so lonely and weak that it is almost non-existent. Throughout the physically, emotionally, and psychologically stressful funeral journey that takes place in the novel, the Bundren family travels in isolation, torn apart by broken-down values, selfish motives, and silently bred grief in their attempt to complete Ad
The family's lack of a central bond, or rather a natural love that usually binds a family together, is epitomized by the one monologue that Addie has in the novel, wherein she remembers her tortured existence as a schoolteacher, her almost empty and child-bearing marriage to Anse, and her brief but passionate courtship with Whitfield. With her description of Anse as bachelor and of his matter-of-fact courtship methods, his idiosyncrasies as a widower become much more understandable. Addie comes off as being a lonely character, searching for divinity that she could not find in Anse, therefore made it tangible with Whitfield. She bore Jewel as a bastard son, which more than explains his overwhelming reaction to her death. Through her monologue, Addie gives the reader a sense of understanding why the Bundren family is as disconnected as it is. She has an inner, spiritual struggle, with which she creates a ripple that travels to every member of her family and puts distance between them. She favors her bastard son, Jewel, which not only sets aside her love for him more than for her other children, but it in turn isolates Jewel from the rest of the family, as can be seen by the way he acted throughout the journey. Each member of the Bundren family has no sense of what the other feels, no sense of what should bring them together in this supposedly g
Some common words found in the essay are:
Lay Dying, Instead Anse, Anse Bundren, Dewey Dell, Jewel Darl, Darl Vardaman, Burying Addie, , Dying Written, William Faulkner's, lay dying, bundren family, false teeth, bastard son, journey anse, throughout journey, monologue addie, drive wagon, dewey dell,
Approximate Word count = 913
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
