As I Lay Dying Cora Tulll Character Analysis

During the 16th century people believed that their sense of purpose came through a form of faith or belief in God. Throughout this novel, William Faulkner uses Christ like figures and Biblical characters to describe how religion has changed in Modern times. This impacts people’s lives because in the beginning of the 16th century people believed they had to live a certain way.

First we’ll start with one of the characters, Cora Tull, who is a neighbor to the Bundrens. In the novel, she is not portrayed in a positive way, although she is described as being “holy” and “perfect” in her chapter. Cora Tull is a type of character, who wields her Christian faith as a weapon, like someone who uses scripture to condemn and judge the people around her. She is also presented as a hypocritical. For instance, she believes, “Riches is nothing in the face of the Lord, for He can see into the heart,” but then follows this by wondering if someone could buy one of her cakes. (7) You can see that Cora says that having money is nothing for God but he looks into the heart. However, she is contradicting

herself because she wonders if people would buy her cakes. In another example she considers, “If it’s God’s will that some folk have different ideas of honesty from other folk, it is not my place to question His decree.” (8) In this passage Cora does the complete opposite and questions what she sees as God’s will. In other words, she only uses scripture to defend the things she likes, not the ones she dislikes.

In another passage, Cora talks about receiving her everlasting salvation by condemning her neighbor, Addie Bundren: “I have tried to live right in the sight of God and man, for the honor and comfort of my Christian husband and the love of my Christian children. So that when I lay me down in the consciousness of my duty and reward I will be surrounded by loving faces.” (23) Although she claims to be a perfect example to her family by having a good Christian behavior, Cora struggles with pride. Similarly to the the passage in Luke 18:11, when a Pharisee and a tax collector go into a synagogue and pray. While praying, the Pharisee stood and thanked God because he wasn’t like other people who were unjust and adulterous. Like Cora, the Pharisee also struggled with pride because he thought he was better than the tax collector. Also, both Cora and the Pharisee didn’t realize they were sinning because they were caught up in their own goodness.

Another character that embraces hypocrisy is Reverend Whitfield. A reverend is a title used for someone who is part of a religious clergy. A reverend also has to be a holy person because he is an example to the congregation. As we read more of Whitfield, he seems to be unconcerned with his relationship with God. He says "I woke to the enormity of my sin...Praise to thee, O Mighty Lord and king. By this token shall I cleanse my soul and gain again into the fold of Thy dying love…” and similar phrases to show his holiness. (22) However, he committed a deadly sin because he had an affair with Addie Bundren, which resulted in the birth of their son, Jewel.

In Reverend Whitfield's chapter, he claims that God told him to “repair to the home in which you have put a living lie, among those people with whom you have outraged My Word, confess your sin aloud.” (177) In the last sentence he narrates, he ends with a misinterpretation of 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us, our sins, and to cleanse us from unrighteousness” (KJV). Whitfield also claims that God was sending him to confess to the Bundrens about his adultery. However, his confession to Addie’s husband, Anse, only happens in his mind. After he confesses in his mind, he says “It was already as though it was done. My soul felt freer, quieter than it had in years…” (178-179). Whitfield seems to be at peace with a conception that God sees good intentions as good deeds. He also figures that the idea and intention of him confessing, is sufficient.

As Jewel being the result of an adulterous relationship, he is born illegitimate. Jewel is also, one of the most angriest characters and uses a lot of foul words. For example, he rejects the thought of God existing because he says “If there is a God what the hell is He for.” (14) We come to Jewel’s thought in the middle of the book without introduction. He repeats things in his anger. Unlike Darl’s thoughts, Jewel’s thoughts, are a running stream of emotions.

The behavior of the Bundren family towards Addie, is neutral because they don’t seem to be very upset about her dying. In fact, Jewel is the only person caring for his mother. In chapter four his main concern was that his mother couldn’t get any rest with all the noise going on, “Where every breath she draws is full of his knocking and sawing where she can see him saying See. See what a good one I am making for you..” (15) We can see that the Bundren family is simply waiting for her to die so that they can move on with their lives. As Jewel said, it seem they’re just “...sitting there, like buzzard. Waiting, fanning themselves.” (15) As the child of an affair, Jewel felt like he did not belong in the Bundren family because he simply wasn’t one. Knowing that Addie was at the border of dying, he just wanted to be alone with her and she was the only person he was fully related to, so he only felt close to his mother.

William Faulkner also foreshadows some later events in the novel. For example, when Addie says that Jewel will save her, she foreshadows him saving her and her casket from floating down the river and from burning. When we read Addie’s chapter she stated that, “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 my life, he will save me.” (168) This could be seen almost like a prophecy because what she spoke came into existence. On their way to Jefferson, many problems happened. One of them being, that the coffin fell into the river. Although, Jewel had trusted Darl to save the coffin, Jewel ended up saving the coffin. Here, we could see that he had a very strong connection with his mother if he was the one saving her coffin. Clearly, Jewel possessed a Christ-like figure since he indeed saved his mother from the water as she narrated in her chapter. Additionally, Jewel only narrates one section in the chapters 14-15 and is talked most by other characters. In the first few chapters, Darl starts to talk about how he’s like and the actions he takes. Many say he represents a Christ figure because just like Jesus, his actions were reported through others. For example, in Matthew 12:46 where “Jesus was talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.” In this example we can see other narrate the actions Jesus took.

Furthermore, as Addie is dying, she recognizes that she needs someone to help her, a “savior”. Addie calls Jewel her salvation because he is born out of love from another man. She places Jewel in a higher position than her other children. Addie considers Jewel as her “begotten son” that is found in John 3:16 because she gave birth to him, in order to save her. Throughout the novel, Jewel shows his love for Addie by saving her from the water and fire. He also, saves her from the empty relationship she has with Anse because of her love for him. Since Addie did not feel the same love for Anse, through her adulterous relationship she thanked Jewel for saving her from still living with Anse.

In as I Lay Dying, there is a clear Biblical flow.

William Faulkner used irony to represent the Christian characters as pharisees or as a Christ figure. Since As I Lay Dying, was written in Modern times, religion had changed. Many people did not base their existence on faith, but rather by just living. The characters in As I Lay Dying are in conflict with themselves. They are searching to find meaning within life and to understand religion and sin. William Faulkner reveals how many during this time faced issues and conflicts that dealt with making their lives more meaningful. He also shows how women during this era were expected to be pure. They were expected have kids and be strong in their faith. While, men were more hypocritical in their faith. For instance Jewel, who questioned if God really existed and Reverend Whitfield, the most hypocritical character who had

misconceptions.