As I Lay Dying: Faulkner’s Aggressive Humor

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In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Faulkner portrays the death of Addie Bundren and her family's quest to honor her dying wish to bury her in the town of Jefferson. Faulkner utilizes humor in the novel to lighten the mood of death and as an act of transgression against the orthodox Christian views of death as it relates to good souls dying and becoming angels. Addie Bundren’s son, Vardaman, relates to the orthodox Christian views of death, and the synonymous use of humor with these views ultimately creates an idea about humanity’s perception of death and how they should live, which is enhanced through John Morreal’s “Humor in the Holocaust: Its Coping, Criticizing, and Superiority” and “‘The Abject’- A Brief Definition.”

Addie Bundren’s death in the novel hits Vardaman hard causing him to be angry and distraught from the loss of his mother. This changes after given time to think and it causes him to believe his mother “went away when [Peabody]… drew the quilt up” (66) over her dead body. Addie’s death leads her to be “‘no longer’ the familiar loved one” (Abject 1) to Vardaman, ...

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