Reactions to Death in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying

Reactions to Death in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying

Eventhough As I lay Dying is a story revolved around the death of a mother, Addie Bundren, the true content of the story develops from information given to the audience through a multitude of narrators. The relationship between each family member and their association with Addie's death differentiates from person to person. Through her husband, Anse, we are introduced to his philosophy that man should keep stationary. Anse explains, "The lord put roads for travelling; why he laid them down flat on the Earth. When he aims for something to be always a-moving, he makes it long ways, like a road or a horse or a wagon, but when he aims for something to stay put, He makes it up and down ways, like a tree or a man" (24). In comparing a tree to a man, Anse feels that eventhough alive, man was not created to move about. This idea exhibits a lack of suspense within Anse, which may or may not have been Annie's desire to have an affair which lead to the birth of her child Jewel. Interestingly, Anse contradicts his own beliefs to fullfill his wife's wishes to be layed to rest next to her own family. This act can also be seen as selfish when Anse really desires a new set of teeth.

Other narrators's ideas on life are presented through the death of Annie. For example, DArl represents seperation from the rest of the world. Riding with Jewel, DArl suggests that, "It takes two people to make you, and one people to die. That's how the world is going to end" (27). In this thought, Darl explains that even though a person is created by the life of two people, in the end, that life will die on its own. The fact that Darl is so open to talk about his surety of Annie's approaching death, distinguishes him from Jewel or Dewy Dell, who cannot speak about it. Darl therefore is an outcast of the family, which is later explained by his participation in the war.

By writing As I Lay Dying through the thoughts of a variety of narrators, William