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The theme of Faulkner's works
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When Addie Bundren finally passes on her family is left behind to carry out the burial process and take her to her desired burial ground. However, what may seem like a simple task, taking their mother to Jefferson, Alabama, turns out to be a chore as each character focuses more on their own issues than their mother’s wish. On the other hand, Cash seems to have stepped up on the family’s trip, presenting himself as the leader of the group and never loses sight of the goal of the journey: to bring Addie to Jefferson. Cash acts heroically throughout Faulkner’s novel by working tirelessly to build his mother the casket that she desires, by sacrificing his body and risking his life to then save said casket and finally, by ignoring the excruciating …show more content…
Despite the immense pain that Cash constantly feels in his leg, he, unlike the other Bundrens, pushes his own issues aside to ensure that Addie is delivered to her burial place in Jefferson. Darl describes Cash as, “bleeding to death” but when asked if he wants to halt the journey to reposition himself for increased comfort Cash replies, “Wont we get to Jefferson tomorrow?... I can last it out… We’ll lose time stopping” (207). Cash, even in his deteriorated state, refuses to put his own needs ahead of his mother’s wish to be buried in Jefferson. Additionally, when Anse decides that Cash’s leg should be cast in cement, causing even more pain, he still does not complain. When Cash finally visits Peabody to have his leg treated Peabody tells him not to, “lie there and try to tell me [Peabody] you rode six days on a wagon without springs, with a broken leg and it never bothered you” and Cash responds, “It never bothered me much” (240). Cash continues to deny the pain that he is feeling to allow their journey to continue and to avoid being an inconvenience to his family. By ignoring his pain, however, Cash put his ability to ever walk again in danger, but he does not seem to mind. Cash acts as a hero in the best way that he knows how which is to put his mother’s desires above his own needs and to sacrifice anything, including his leg, to fulfill her
The focus he has grasp of within him is the only thing keeping the family on track to Jefferson and possibly is the only thing keeping the family from separating all together. Cash’s strong focus is seen throughout the book especially when he looks after the family. A scene within As I Lay Dying shows how the family is ready to leave the house and does not care about the last preparations needed to make the trip easy and successful. Cash though looks after the family and is even caught worrying about their travel when he says“ [The wagon] won’t balance” (). This one scene shows that Cash worries about this family and even if Cash had the chance to show his pain he still would not because he would not want to worry the family. This shows that Cash had something built into him that makes him care for others and how others are
William Faulkner’s short story “Barn Burning” describes a typical relationship between wealthy people and poor people during the Civil War.
At the conclusion of his short story “Barn Burning,” William Faulkner strongly implies that Abner Snopes burns yet another barn, although whether he does or not is never made absolutely clear. In any case, his young son, Sarty, has run to warn the owner of the barn, Major De Spain, about his father’s intentions:
In the passage, Indian Education we start off by following Victor who is a Indian boy from the Reservation, from first grade up to high school. Even though he is bullied in first grade, Victor finally gets payback when he gets even on Frenchy SiJohn by shoving his face in the snow and then starts punching Frenchy over and over again. Victor undergoes bad luck as the next two years he has two mean teachers in second and in third grade that do not like him very much, but luckily in fourth grade, he has a teacher named Mr. Schluter who inspires him to become a doctor so he can heal his people in the tribe. The next year life takes a turn for the worse as Victor’s cousin begins sniffing rubber cement. If it was not for his new friend Randy the
Addie Bundren of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying has often been characterized as an unnatural, loveless, cold mother whose demands drive her family on a miserable trek to bury her body in Jefferson. For a feminist understanding of Addie, we have to move outside the traditional patriarchal definitions of "womanhood" or "motherhood" that demand selflessness from others, blame mothers for all familial dysfunction, and only lead to negative readings of Addie. She also has been characterized as yet another Faulkner character who is unable to express herself using language. This modernist view of the inexpressiblility of the creative spirit does not apply to Addie simply because she is not an artist; she is a woman and a mother, a person who feminist theorists would desribe as "traditionally mute." To characterize her using universalizing, humanist terms erases the way that her character is marked by her biological sex and by the gender roles she is forced to play. Addie is not a representative of humankind, or even of womankind, but an individual woman trapped in a partriarchal world that represses her desires and silences her; a woman who longs to find an identity of her own that is outside patriarchal constructions and not always definable in relation to the men and the children in her life. Most importantly, Addie is a character who is acutely aware of the linguistic and social oppression that traps her into a life she does not want.
William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying takes place in the fictional town of Yaknapatawpha, Mississippi in the 1920’s. It is set in the summertime in the ‘deep south’, which had continual dry and hot conditions. The novel tells of the quest of the Bundren family to bury Addie Bundren in Jefferson, where her family was buried. The Bundren family goes through many unexpected trials on this journey, but still manages to bury Addie where she requested. Among her children, were two of her four sons, Darl and Vardaman. They both had different perspectives and ways of understanding people and Addie’s death. Darl and Vardaman’s perspectives differed widely because of the age difference and maturity levels.
In William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying, the Bundren family, is faced with losing the matriarch, Addie (Ma) Bundren. Throughout the novel the family struggles with the differences in their personalities, no character is like any other. Faulkner uses these characters’ different traits, to allow the reader to understand that everybody has a different perspective on what is normal and what is not.
In the gripping novel by John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, there are many characters who have major influential roles in the overall development of this dark and twisted story. Characters such as Tom Joad, Ma Joad, and Roasasharon Joad are big characters who in some way, shape, or form impact the plot of this novel. Although all of the characters are important, perhaps one of Steinbeck’s most important characters is Jim Casy. This character influences the entire Joad family, but ends up leaving a huge impact on the main character, Tom Joad.. Steinbeck cleverly describes Jim Casy’s appearance, uses him as a symbolic figure, and gives his character the role of instilling a sense of hope in the Joad family that would have been nonexistent without
At the beginning of the novel, the Bundren family lives on a farm in Mississippi. The family is very poor and Addie Bundren, the mother of five children, is close to death. Cash, her eldest son, is a carpenter who wishes to make a coffin for her. Darl and Jewel, Addie's second and third children, leave upon their father, Anse's, request. Because they are poverty-stricken, Anse sends them away to make three dollars (Faulkner 27). Their mother dies before they return. Unexpectedly, Darl narrates Addie's death, despite him not being present when she dies (Faulkner 49).
Death ultimately brings individuals together and the Bundren family is no exception. Each member of this chaotic family dealt with their mother Addie’s death quite differently. Throughout the novel, Cash is the silent, hard-working type who says next to nothing about his family’s crazy nature and how he exactly feels about their current situations. I believe that Cash making his mother’s coffin outside the window was not cruel or disrespectful; it shows his loyalty and commitment to his mother. Of all the Bundren children, Cash dealt with his mother’s death through physical emotion. He worked diligently on constructing the coffin and making sure it would not slant or move during the journey to Jefferson, however, readers know that everything did not go as planned. Darl, the most rational of the group, “goes off the deep end”, so to speak because of his mother’s death. While Darl and Jewel are away getting Tull’s horses, Addie dies and Darl can see what is going on back at home. His omniscent nature makes him a wonderful narrator becau...
In reading the novel As I Lay Dying, many questions arose in my mind. However, the one that plagued me was the question that I could not pin down. All of the characters in the book have a personality and play a certain role in the tale. However, the one character who fascinated me, yet I could not explain was Cash. Is Cash a bigger player in the novel than it appears on the surface? I believe he is. Cash is the cog in the family that keeps the others from spinning away. Cash becomes, throughout the course of the novel, the patriarchal figure in the novel. He is thrust in to this position through his words, actions, and Anse's total lack of leadership. Cash becomes that patriarch. Diligence. Definition: " Close application, perseverance." "We can hear the sawing on the board. It sounds like snoring," (9). This quotation is a summation of Cash working on the coffin. Quotations such as these are thick in the beginning of the story. In fact, his work provides a backdrop the turmoil of the action which precedes the Burdens' departure. His work is constant through Jewel and Darl going for wood, Addie's actual death, and the search for a wagon to name a few problems. We are constantly reminded of the droning saw in the back ground. Additionally, we are also told of Cash's attention to the details. He is totally focused on his work. The work on the coffin is a metaphor for Cash's diligence throughout the novel. It becomes a template for many of Cash's actions throughout the story. Cash is the one member of the family who has something to do and does it well. In his words, "It is better to build a tight chicken coop, than a shoddy courthouse," (234). By this he means that it is better to do a good job on all projects t...
It all began when Addie Bundren, wife of Anse Bundren, became ill and passed away. She left one request for when she died, which was to be buried in Jefferson next to her father. Since her family is poor, everything that has to be done is done all by hand by the family. Cash, Addie’s oldest son, has to build the coffin that they will bury Addie in. To try and give her a “last gift,” Cash decides to build the coffin right outside of Addie’s window as she lays in her bed, dying. “As the family moves toward the unfamiliar landscape and community of Jefferson and toward new social identities, they are compelled to respond to pressures and limits that emerge in the context of new settings and social relations” (Lester). While the family takes on the adventure of traveling to their destination, they encounter several problems – from drilling holes into Addie’s face to dropping her coffin in the river. In the end, nothing works out in anyone’s favor, except for Anse Bundren. Anse meets a new woman and decides to make her the new “Mrs. Bundren.” In As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner uses a “stream-of-consciousness,” multiple narrators, and symbolism to better enhance the book and to show the fragmentation of the south after the war.
Faulkner gives us a story that shows readers how family must stick together and overcome the many obstacles they face during their lives. These hard times a family may face are represented in the story as the trip to Jefferson. Each of the characters have their own personal drive behind them getting to Jefferson, but they come together to deliver their mothers body no matter what happens on the way. Just as each of the children and father have their own desires to reach Jefferson they each have their own points of view. These different points of view give us a unique insight on everything that is happening in the story. Without this innovation of narration readers would be oblivious to all of these personal desires.
In William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” shows that family means nothing during a time of grief. They are all appearing to heroically fulfill Addie Bundren’s dying wish to be buried in her hometown of Jefferson. While traveling the come in contact with a few obstacles that not just the family have to go threw but also the decaying corpse of their mother. Every character except for Jewel is corrupted in a deep, developed personal lie.. They are all using this moment of travel as a convenience to their high hopes. Theres no grieving or mourning after the death of their beloved mother Addie Bundren, which is the most basic tribute a family can give.
Faulkner utilizes his theme by creating a setting, which has interrelation with history context revolving around the idea of compelling change. The main aspect of setting is the Old South after the Civil War. Before the Civil War, Southern society consisted of a group of aristocracy and slaves. Onward to a post- Civil War period, forceful changes in the society arose. Many Southerners refused to accept that their conditions had change. They tended to cling to old values and customs. Death of Emily’s father marked the end of the old lifestyle. In contrary, entrance of Homer Barron represents the progress of civilization: "The town had just let the contracts for paving the sidewalks, and in the summer after her father's death they began the work. The construction company came with riggers and mules and machinery, and a foreman named Homer Barron” (31). Here, Faulkner illustrates that the new progress of changing era is destroying the old traditions of a dying age. The pr...