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What character uses most imagery in as i lay dying
As I lay dying critical interpretation
Analysis of As I Lay Dying
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In As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner uses the characters Anse and Cash, and a motif/symbol in "My mother is a fish," to reveal the psychological and societal problems of the twenties and thirties. Written as soon as the panic surrounding the stock market in 1929 started, Faulkner is reported as having, “took one of these [onion] sheets, unscrewed the cap from his fountain pen, and wrote at the top in blue ink, 'As I Lay Dying.' Then he underlined it twice and wrote the date in the upper right-hand corner"(Atkinson 15) We must take care to recognize Faulkner not as a man of apathy, but one of great compassion and indignation at the collapse of the economic foundation of the U.S. This is central in appreciating the great care with which he describes the desolation and poor landscape of Yoknapatawpha County, which is where As I Lay Dying takes place.
Faulkner personifies the disabling effect of the Great Depression through Anse, specifically his inability to sweat after a heat stroke in his youth, through his multi-faceted character,” I have never seen a sweat stain on his shirt. He was sick once from working in the sun when he was twenty-two years old, and he tells people that if he ever sweats, he will die. I suppose he believes it"(Faulkner 17). When Anse gets another wife, he reinforces the psychological need of those in the Great Depression to be able to move on, and forget the troubling times (some Freudian repression). As is illustrated in the above passage, no one has ever seen Anse sweat, and Anse goes so far as to tell people of the possible fatality that sweating may result in, regardless of whether or not people believe him. It is seen rather clearly that throughout the novel, no one believes that Anse cannot wo...
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...s the "fish". This is what As I Lay Dying was written for, to provide a context for those who are seemingly indifferent and apathetic to stop being hypocrites and to start helping their fellow neighbors.
Works Cited
Atkinson, Ted. “The ideology of autonomy: form and function in as I Lay Dying.” Faulkner Journal 21.1 (2005): page nr. Literature Resources From Gale. Web. 18 Apr. 2010.
Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. 1930. Edited by Noel Polk. New York: Vintage, 1985. Print.
Hewson, Marc. “'My children were of me alone': Maternal Influence in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.” Mississippi Quarterly 54.4 (2001): 595-95. Literature Resources From Gale. Web. 18 Apr. 2010.
Rita, Rippetoe. “Unstained shirt, stained character: Anse Bundren reread.” Mississippi Quarterly 54.3 (2001): page nr. Literature Resources From Gale. Web. 18 Apr. 2010.
William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, in 1897. He wrote a variety of short stories, plays, and novels, including the classic As I Lay Dying. This innovative novel, published in 1930, has a sense of dark humour and shock value. It has an unconventional narrative style, with 15 first person narrators. As I Lay Dying features The Bundrens, an incredibly poor family who live on their farm in Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional county in Mississippi. The family matriarch, Addie Bundren, dies early in the novel. The rest of the story is based on her family- her husband, Anse, and their five children: Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman, and their attempt to fulfill her wish of being buried in Jefferson. They must transport her coffin on a wagon across the county, a trip which takes a total of ten days. They encounter many obstacles during their journey, all while trying to deal with the death of their recently passed mother. While the whole family goes to Jefferson for varying motivations, it seems that Jewel is the driving force of the journey, which Darl does everything in his power to sabotage it.
William Faulkner, a Nobel Prize winning author, wrote the novel "As I Lay Dying" in six weeks without changing a word. Considering the story's intricate plot, not changing a single word seems like it would take a literary genius to complete. Many people agree that Faulkner could very well be a genius due to the organization of this story. Faulkner uses fifteen different characters to narrate and allow the reader to analyze each of their point of views. Through the confessions of each character, the reader is able to form his or her opinion about different characters and issues. Since some narrators are unreliable for different reasons, it could be confusing to form opinions. One character that is easily understood is Dewey Dell Bundren. She is the only daughter in the Bundren family and ends up being the only woman in the family. "As I Lay Dying", the story of a family's journey to bury their mother and wife, is also the story of Dewey Dell's journey toward maturity. Along their journey to bury their mother, the characters, like Dewey Dell, seem to evolve through their encounters with other people. Faulkner depicts Dewey Dell as a very monotonous person in the beginning of the book. In the beginning, Dewey Dell is seen fanning her mother, picking cotton, or milking cows. However, towards the end of the book, her repetitiveness is lost. Towards the end of the novel, Faulkner specifically shows Dewey Dell in numerous situations becoming a mature individual.
Yoknapatawpha County is a fictional county made up by William Faulkner in which As I Lay Dying takes place in; this is now the third novel to take place here. As I Lay Dying was one of the last novels written in the 1920’s by William Faulkner and within fifty-nine chapters, this novel features a unique narration of fifteen different first person narrators. Each chapter is written from that particular character’s perspective telling their version of what is happening in the novel, making this not only an interesting take on narration but a compelling read as well. Faulkner uses the characters use of language to help us identify and see glimpses into the lives of the Bundren family; through this we can understand the revenge and secrets from within the characters that is blind to the most if not all-remaining characters within the novel.
He is opposed to the family sitting by the bed and watching Addie die and cash sawing away at Anse's coffin. But at the same time, he tells Darl to shut up when Darl raises an objection to the three-dollar trip Addie tells them to make. Imagery is an integral part of any narrative. The multiple narratives and cross observations made in As I Lay Dying are complex and they consist of many spectrums. Imagery alone can be sufficient to give the reader a rich sense of emotion, but when it symbolizes the themes of the story and reflects on the characteristics of the narrator, it is truly a masterpiece.
In As I Lay Dying the Bundren family faces many hardships dealing with death and physical nature. Nature plays a major role in moving Faulkner’s story. Nature takes a toll on the family in their time of despair of losing a loved one. They are challenged by human nature and the nature of the elements. Throughout the story the family overcomes the human nature of emotions and the nature of the weather. They face nature in the most peculiar ways, like a flood that keeps them from crossing, the decaying body of Addie, and how they all grieve over the death of Addie; Dewey Dell said, “I heard that my mother is dead. I wish I had time to let her die. I wish I had time to wish I had” (Faulkner 110). The forces of nature compete with the Burden family.
“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.
Urgo, J. (1988). William faulkner and the drama of meaning: The discovery of the figurative in “as i lay dying". South Atlantic Review, 53(2), 11-23. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3199910?uid=3739600&uid=2134&uid=2478538313&uid=2478538303&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=3739256&uid=60&sid=21103400198303
William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, with its multiple narrators and hickish language, can sometimes prove to be convoluted and rather confusing. The narrators, unfortunately, are no less confusing. Their language aside, each individual personality serves to put a spin on the bias that the information is delivered with, and, in speaking to each other, they further confuse the reader, as their individual motives are, generally speaking, unmentioned. However, there is one character who manages to cut through the fog of individuality and communicate to us what is happening in this novel. Vardaman, who is the youngest narrator, gives us insight into the goings-on of the Bundren family with a much lesser degree of confusion. He also gives us a look into the characters of the other narrators in this novel; his childish attempts at emulation reveal the actions of characters that we may not otherwise see. It is his childish mind that provides us with this viewpoint; he is innocent and unbiased. Although this is never directly said by Faulkner, we can infer it from Vardaman’s dialogue, which is the revealing aspect of all of the characters in this book.
Many mothers, regardless of age or situation, share sympathetic life ideals. They all share the common goal of raising their children wholesome; they want to create an environment of love, nurture, and support for their children as well. A mother’s effort to implant good values in her children is perpetual; they remain optimistic and hope that their children would eventually become prosperous. However, some women were not fit to be mothers. Thus, two different roles of a mother are portrayed in As I Lay Dying written by William Faulkner. Faulkner uses the literary technique of first person narrative with alternating perspectives. By doing so, Faulkner adds authenticity and the ability to relate (for some) to the two characters Addie Bundren and Cora Tull. The first person narrative acts as an important literary technique because it allows the reader to experience the opposing views of Addie and Cora; they are both mothers who act as foils to each other because of their diverse opinions and outlooks on motherhood, religion and life.
In the novel, As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner tells a story of a family (the Bundrens) trying to fulfill the dying wish of a family member. The family is made up of Dewey Dell the only daughter, Vardaman the youngest, Anse the father, and Addie the dead mother. Darl and Jewel are the oldest in the family. Along with Cash who is a handy man and is seen as the normal one in the family who tries to compromise. Cash tries to keep the family together. Anse is a father that throughout the book is focused on Addie’s dying wish he puts his family at risk a lot. He has given up his children’s health, his family’s home, and crew of horses for Addie’s dying wish. Addie is the dead mother that is remembered as a loving and caring mother, but it is later
As I Lay Dying by William Faulker takes place in a rural area in Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi in the time period of the 1920’s. The story is revolved around a family struggles to bury Addie Bundren who is both a mother and a wife in the story. Mainly the book focuses on the difficulties of getting dear Addie to her home town of Jefferson for it was her last wish.
Like many other modernist texts, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying employs many unreliable narrators to reveal the progression of the novel. One of the most interesting of these narrators is the youngest Bundren child, Vardaman. Like the rest of his family, Vardaman is mentally unstable, but his condition is magnified due to this lack of understanding of life and death. Because he doesn’t grasp this basic concept, Vardaman’s attempts to understand his mother’s death are some of the most compelling aspect of the novel. Over the course of the book, Vardaman attempts to rationalize his mother’s death through animals, particularly a fish. Through these rationalizations, Vardaman comes to a seemingly logical conclusion about the nature of life and death. While these conclusions seem perfectly logical to Vardaman, they are nonsensical to the reader. This concept helps illustrate the use of subjective narrators in As I Lay Dying, and defines it as a Modernist text.
Emily Dickinson wrote, “Much madness is divinest Sense/ To a discerning eye-“. Authors continually utilize the concept of madness or mental delusion as a tool to show how a certain character’s ideas and thought differ from the normalcy of society. In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Darl Bundren’s family mischaracterized his “eccentric behavior” as madness. In reality, Darl’s ability to perceive and comprehend surrounding situations at a much higher level than his family and friends lead him both to realize that the family’s journey to transport Addie’s coffin to Jefferson was fruitless and debilitating as well as determined that his family’s chaotic disorder was breaking them apart and their relationship was in dire need of mending.
As I Lay Dying is a book that has been banned from schools due to inappropriatelanguage. In my defense it shouldn’t be banned due to we all have once been opposed to thatlanguage and other inappropriate images in the book that it has to offer.William Faulkner was a Nobel Prize winning novelist of the American South who wrotefictional. He is best known for such novels as 'The Sound and the Fury' and 'As I Lay Dying’.William Faulkner the American writer was born in New Albany, Mississippi, in 1897. Hisparents, Murry Faulkner and Maud Butler Faulkner, named him after his paternal great-grandfather, William Clark Faulkner, an adventurous and shrewd man who seven years prior wasshot dead in the town square of Ripley, Mississippi. Throughout his life, William Faulknerworked as a railroad financier, politician, soldier, farmer, businessman, and lawyer. Much of hisearly work was poetry, but when he became famous for his novels set in the American South,with works that included The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying and Absalom, Absalom! Hiscontroversial 1931 novel Sanctuary was turned into two films, 1933's The Story of TempleDrake as well as a later 1961 project.
Faulkner covers the concept of mental instability occurring due to a shift in personality as he describes how Darl goes to a mental institution after burning down the barn. By having Darl get taken away, Faulkner shows how society will ostracize people if they do not abide by social normalities. Faulkner also shows how being unaccepted by society can cause a person to lose sense of themselves by showing Darl’s thought processes after he was taken. Darl’s thoughts consist of inquiries toward himself, asking, “[w]hy do you laugh?” repeatedly and not knowing the answer (Faulkner 254). These ways of thinking show how trauma has such a prominent role in altering the way a person behaves. Because if Darl was his usual self, he would be able to find meaning in his behavior. Rationalizing his behavior is a characteristic Darl proved to be capable of when convincing Anse to allow him to make the three dollars at the beginning of the novel. This further shows how negative experiences can impact the way a person behaves by making them lose sight of