Grieving In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

A horrific aspect of life that many people have a difficult time dealing with is death. The thought of death scares people because as humans we do not have a way to comprehend something that we cannot test, see or even have a grasp of. When a person loses a loved one they get scared by this reality of that they do not know where they are going and when they make it there how will it be for them. In William Faulkner's book, As I Lay Dying, we go through the process at which a family loses a “loved” one and we follow the family all the way until the deceased, Addie Burden, is buried in Jefferson. In As I Lay Dying you see the steps of grieving are different for many people and some of the people will come out destroyed and others without a scratch. The character Cash goes through a process of grief, odd to most in his way of grief we do not see pain because of the pressure he puts on himself to finish the journey for the family. Cash’s brother, Jewel, seems to snap from the pain of losing his mother and he let the pain ingulf his life. Finally, the last

brother Darl seems to go through the process of grief but only after a reminder of his mother actually hits him later on in the journey. William Faulkner uses the writing style of having the characters tell the story and imagery to show that the people feel pain for lost loved one only if the person does not having something to gain from the lost loved one’s death.

Cash seems to have the the strength of an elephant and the focus of a .

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

doing.

Even though Jewel might be the brother of Cash he still is nowhere similar to him. In As I Lay Dying Jewel repeatedly shows that he wants to be more like his brother Cash but deep down it just is not possible. Cash is a person that cares for the well being of the others and he would even hide his feelings at a moment when he knows he is needed. Jewel on the other hand is found not caring about others feelings or well being and is found purely only watching after himself. He is found engulfed in himself in the way he just ignores people. A scene in the book shows great example of when this happens right after Addie’s death. Darl turns to him while still on the job and says that “she is dead, Jewel. Addie Bundren is dead”(). Jewel never gives a response until Darl repeats himself again and Jewel just tells him to shut his mouth. Jewel might be feeling and maybe that is why he shuts out the world but from the way he goes about life he seems to just be someone that is kept to himself.

Darl, darl is a person that when you first meet him you feel this offness about him. This offness we will later on find out is caused by some pysh illness within his brain. Darl seems to have no sense of emotion or grief in his heart. Darl also has some way of always knowing about things he was not their to experience or even hear about. When Darl had a sense of Addie’s death he tells Jewel without any emotion in his voice. Darl says “Addie Bundren is going die?” and when he says that it sparks out the blue and also is said like he does not care. Darl in this one sentence shows he has no connection with his mother because he would not have said Addie Bundren he would instead of said mom. Also, he would not say she would die he would instead say she will make it through this. Darl a person that even if having feelings was possible for him he still would not show it because deep down he thinks it makes him weak.

People deal with a lost of a loved one many different ways and some feel pain for them and others do not. Religious people get so caught up in their faith that they no longer worry about the loved one because they know they are safe with their god. Others get very frightened because the mystery of death can never be answered. Then we the last the group, the group that does not truly care about that loved one because they are only focused on the gain they will get from the death. Society may feel pain from a lost of loved one but with death it just depends on the person’s belief and their upbringing.