Throughout Addie’s lone passage from the novel, As I Lay Dying, she discusses her life struggles, including her relationship with her husband, Anse that greatly contribute to her characterization. Addie had a very strong dislike for Anse, which is why she did not want her casket to be buried with his family, and instead be buried with her own. Love is extremely symbolic in this novel. She describes the word love as Anse’s own word; “He has a word too,” (Faulkner 172) which is love. The word love in this novel is used as a symbol of Anse. Addie says that the word love is used to replace fill an experience, when it is not actually there, or “just a space to fill a lack,” (172). She then says that once love is expressed, "you wouldn't need a …show more content…
word for that anymore,” (172) and love is forgotten, ultimately using the words pride and fear instead. Addie’s characterization is laid out when she says how she was a school teacher and hated children.
However, she enjoyed beating them with a paddle. She later realized that her “aloneness had to be violated over and over each day,” when she finally had her own children. This is where the theme of depression comes in when she said that her first born child caused her to become depressed, and is no longer alone and independent. Addie first had two children with Anse, named Darl and Cash. She then had an affair with Reverend Whitfield, causing her to become pregnant with her son, Jewel. Jewel then grows up to become Addie’s favorite child out of all of them. Considering his name is Jewel, which is a precious gem, it is clear to see that he is the favorite. It is also ironic that her favorite child is a bastard child, with whom she had with a priest. Her greatest joy is a child created from sin. It would be expected that her favorite child would be one that she had with her husband, however that is not the case. Addie committed a major sin of adultery, resulting in the bastard child, Jewel. She felt bad for having the affair, so she got pregnant with Dewey Darl and Vardaman in order to repay Anse for her sin. On page 176, Addie says, “I gave Anse Dewey Dell to negative Jewel. Then I gave him Vardaman to replace the child I had robbed him of. And now he had three children that are his and not mine. And then I could get ready to die.” Addie gave birth to kids in order to
negate Jewel because of her guilt for having an affair. The theme of death is also prevalent in this section. Not only is Addie on her deathbed with an extreme illness, but Cora Tull tries to talk to her about God and religion. Cora is so blinded by her obsession with God, that she can’t understand where Addie is coming from. Addie doesn’t like how Cora is like this, so she considers Cora’s words as dead to her. Addie is not a religious woman at all. Faulkner emphasizes language in this section and how words cannot replace reality. Addie says, “words are no good” (171), and that words, “don’t ever fit what they are trying to say” (171). She then talks about how the word “motherhood” was invented by someone who had a word for it since children wouldn’t be interested in whether there was a word for it or not. Addie also talks about how the words, “pride,” and “fear,” were invented. She comes to the conclusion that the person who had invented the word fear must have never experienced fear before, and that it is the same way with pride. According to Addie, as a woman, once you have given birth to a child, the word motherhood doesn’t actually represent motherhood anymore. This also relates to the fact that for one who has never experienced motherhood before, the word motherhood is requisite to emulate the action.
Similarly, he knew Dewey Dell was pregnant because he had seen her with Lafe, and he also knew that Jewel was illegitimate. Nevertheless, he was regarded as strange. Cora Tull says, he was "the one that folks says is queer, lazy, pottering about the place no better than Anse." Out of jealousy, he constantly taunted Jewel, Addie's favorite child. Except for Jewel, he alone among the Bundrens had no hidden motive for wanting to go to Jefferson.
In As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner comments on how death affects individuals differently and how sanity is not defined by a mental state but rather by a community of people. Varying viewpoints in narratives, allow the reader to gain insight into the character's thoughts. However, he uses perspectives outside of the Bundren family in order for the reader to create some sort of truth.
Jewel, Addie's second favorite next to Cash, seems to be cursed by his callous mother.
Plot: The matriarch of a poverty stricken southern family, Addie Bundren, lays dying in her bed. Married to Anse Bundren, she births five children: Jewel, Cash, Darl, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman Bundren. Her neighbors, Vernon and Cora Tull (as well as their children), care for Addie in her final days as her family keeps the house running. Cash, the oldest, spends most of his time building a coffin for his mother right underneath her window. The second oldest child, Darl, and the youngest, Vardaman, just try to survive during the time of the book. Dewey Dell, the only daughter in the family, becomes pregnant and acts as if she does not care about the death of her mother, only the abortion of her bastard child. Jewel, known as Addie’s favorite child,
Instead of functioning as an antidote to death, childbirth seems an introduction to it. For both Addie and Dewey Dell, giving birth is a phenomenon that kills the people closest to it, even if they are still physically alive. Birth becomes for Addie a final obligation, and she sees both Dewey Dell and Vardaman as reparations for the affair that led to Jewel’s conception, the last debts she must pay before preparing herself for death. Which is nature playing a big role of life and death. Dewey Dell’s feelings about pregnancy are no more positive, her condition becomes a constant concern, it causes her to view all men as potential sexual predators, and transforms her entire world, as she says in an early section, into a “tub full of guts.” Dewey Dell and Darl mentally communicated about their mothers death new her mother was going to die,” He said he knew without the words like he told me that ma is going to die without words, and I knew he knew because if he had said he knew with the words I would not have believed that he had been there and saw us”(Faulkner 96). Birth seems to spell out a prescribed death for women and, by proxy, the metaphorical deaths of their entire
Thomas Paine once said “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Conflict is an obstacle that many characters in books go through. It is what drives the reader to continue reading and make the book enjoyable. Additionally, authors use symbolism to connect their novels to real life, personal experience, or even a life lesson. In “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines, both take place during a time where colored people were being looked down upon and not treated with the same rights as white people. However, both novels portray the conflict and symbolism many ways that are similar and different. Additionally, both of these novels have many similarities and differences that connect as well as differentiate them to one
A keen perception of reality is an integral component in one’s life as it dictates the reaction of an individual in the most distressing times. In Patricia McCormick’s Never Fall Down, an accurate perception of reality stems from the loss of innocence. The author uses text, setting, character and conflict to vividly illustrate that loss of innocence breeds emotional strength.
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.
During his journey to the burial site of his wife, he always was worrying about his well being before the family’s well being. The only reason that he decided to carry out Addie’s wish was that he wanted to improve his image by getting false teeth. He did care for his wife, but this caring was overshadowed by his love to improve himself.
For example, Sethe’s love would cause her to act out in grotesque ways and therefore cause her children to become isolated and fearful. In contrast, Addie’s love is shown without words but it is still very strong to her children. Her love is so strong that once she dies her children struggle identifying who they are without
He shows no meaningful emotion about his mother’s death or the fact that she compared him to such a high being. Jewel’s segment is quick and does not provide the audience with too much insight or lie detector analysis. This correctly portrays Jewel’s mysterious sense because Faulkner also chooses to have most of Jewel’s character development narrated through another character’s point of view. The sense of mystery surrounds Jewel because it is left for the reader to determine if he is a Christ figure like Addie as claims “he is my cross and he will be my salvation. He will save me from the water and from the fire. Even though I have laid down my life, he will save me,” (Faulkner, 168). Ironically, in death, Jewel is Addie’s savior in both the ways she predicted. When the family is crossing the river after the flood, Jewel helps retrieve the coffin from the water. When Darl sets the barn on fire, Jewel runs in to the fire to save the coffin. Addie’s greatest sin ends up being her savior after she has laid down her life. However, parallel to this, North claims that Faulkner intends for Jewel to be an inverted Christ figure, he believes “instead of a divine birth, Jewel is born illegitimate. He is also, ironically, born of a “holy” father. He is by far the angriest character in the book, and his
Early in the book, Faulkner Throughout the novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, the reader views Jewel as the most aggressive of Addie Bundren’s children. He is constantly arguing with his brothers, sister and father as they make their journey to Jefferson to bury his mother Addie, and he nearly gets in a knife fight when they reach town. Because of his angry responses and bad language it can be hard to recognize the significant impact Jewel has on his family. Jewel is courageous and sacrifices for his family even if the other Bundrens do not acknowledge or honor him for his actions. Jewel may not the most balanced son in the world, but neither are his siblings, and he shows throughout the forty-mile trip to his mother’s hometown of Jefferson that he wants to honor his mother’s wishes. Addie wanted to be buried in Jefferson, and without Jewel this would not have happened. In terms of his actions, Jewel shows that he loved his mother the most out of all her children. Cora argues that Jewel is the worst of the Bundren children though Addie also treated him as her favorite:
In the Victorian Britain there was 88 minors were killed from the start of 1851 to the end of 1851 from many, many different things. I am talking about deaths in Victorian Britain and what I think the deaths mean is that the people who died, died cruelly. There may be some people who die of accidental deaths but most people die of a cruel death. The Victorians viewed death as a sad time because the deaths caused a great deal of sadness and pain to the person's family mates and friends.
Jewel, Addie's son by Whitfield, is 18 years old. Like Pearl, the product of Hester Prynne's adulterous affair in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, Jewel's name is a symbol of the value his mother places on him. The favoritism that Addie showed him is responsible for the antagonism between him and Darl. Jewel personifies Addie's preference for experience over words. He is always in motion. He expresses himself best through actions. When he verbalizes his love for Addie- in his single monologue- he does so with a violent fantasy about hurling down stones on outsiders. Elsewhere, he expresses his love for her through deeds, not words.