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Addie Bundren In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

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Addie Bundren is the most confusing of all the characters in As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. From her hatred of Anse to her odd, loving relationship with Jewel, it was very difficult to get a complete grasp of who Addie really was. Some might see her as loving and loyal while others are taken aback by her actions. After much deliberation, it seems like her disturbing qualities seem to prevail over her loving ones. One of the biggest themes in the book is selfishness. All of the characters do something for their own personal gain. On the trip to Jefferson that was supposed to be for Addie, her family members managed to make the trip about themselves. Anse wanted new teeth and a new wife, Vardaman wanted the train, Dewey Dell searched for an abortion, and Cash wanted a gramophone. However, the most selfish of all characters was Addie. While Addie was quick to label others as selfish, like she did with her students in her chapter, she never acknowledged her own selfishness. The custom of the times was to be buried with the family, so Addie would typically be buried where Anse and her kids would be buried. However, she hated Anse so much that she made him promise to take her back …show more content…

In her chapter, she discusses all of the things she hates. She is a school teacher and hates all of her students. She hopes they do something wrong so she can whip them. Above all else, she hated Anse the most. She hated Anse because she hated her situation. She felt everyone was against her and nothing mattered. Even having kids did not make her happier. Instead it just made her hate Anse even more. The kids and Anse violated her aloneness which she cherished. She did not view her children as her own but as Anse’s. To get revenge on him, she had an affair with Whitfield and ended up having Jewel. Her affair was not done in love though, for she did not believe in love. It was done out of her deep hatred for

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In Sanity Insanity takes on different forms. Some harm themselves or are a danger to others. Darl Bundren, however, is declared insane because he thinks differently from his family. Darl serves as the primary narrator in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, a story of one dysfunctional family’s journey through the Mississippi countryside to the town of Jefferson to bury their matriarch.

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The narrative, As I Lay Dying, develops a reading of the Bundren family. Each of the family members including the mother that is dead, narrate about themselves in relevance to the entire family. By writing about relatable problems for the audience to relate to, Faulkner discusses the loss of the mother, Addie. Dealing with a significant family loss, Anse, already justifies that Faulkner is fulfilling his own vision of the writer’s duty. The author reflects on Addie, who is the mother in the entire story and

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It is common for people in everyday society to conform to society’s expectations while also questioning their true desires. In the novel, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, the main protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess, "That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions." In other words, Edna outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly. Kate Chopin, uses this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning to build the meaning of the novel by examining Edna’s role as a wife, mother, and as nontraditional woman in the traditional Victorian period. Edna outwardly conforms to society’s expectations by marriage.

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As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner follows the Bundren family on their arduous journey to fulfill their dying mother's wish: to be buried with her family. Faulkner utilizes fifteen narrators, including Vardaman, the confused child, Addie, the dying mother, and objective characters such as the Tull family, to recount the details of the family's quest. Although death is a meaningful and somber topic, Faulkner reveals his opinion that death is an escape from the difficulties of life. Despite this grim subject matter, Faulkner uses irony and humor to effectively turn the novel into a dark comedy. Faulkner illustrates this dark humor through Addie's anticipation of her death, Anse's blatant ignorance toward his dying wife, and Vardaman's amusing confusion about death.

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Liberation and self-fulfillment within Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God By Wael Fadhil Hasobi PhD Scholar English Dept Acharya Nagarjuna University Waelfadhil38@gmail.com 4-16-25E,Bahertpetha,Guntur,Andrah Pradesh Mobile:9676703836

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In the novel, As I lay dying by William Faulkner, the Bundren family go through a mental journey of loss and death of their mother later to go on a physical journey to bury their mother. To the conclusion of any novel, many have an opinion on what is much happy or not a happy ending. In the case of the ending to As I lay dying, include no real burial of how the mother wanted, which was the point of the physical journey in the first place, secrets comes out, one of the five the siblings gets taken away, and many are left with unfinished business, was not a happy at all for most of the characters. The novel is narrated by 15 characters that are not all part of the Bundren family but in some way connected.

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As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner In the excerpt from William Faulkner’s Southern novel, As I Lay Dying the author structures his novel through the use of literary features such as allusion, similes a belittling yet humorous tone, concrete imagery and a stream of consciousness style in the passage. Faulkner throughout the passage not only describes Cash’s reserved character and Darls perspective imagination but he also foreshadows the struggle the Bundren’s will go through as they prepare to go on the journey of burying Addie. First, Faulkner has the speaker Darl create a gloomy mood by using similes to display the ambiance in the room. Then Faulkner alludes to the bible and uses concrete imagery to illustrate both the surroundings and Cash’s concentration and determination as he makes his mother’s coffin.

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In the novel, As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner shapes the plot based on the looming presence of the absentee protagonist, Addie Bundren. The reader’s knowledge of Addie accumulates through the monologues of other characters, so the reader gains only bits and pieces of Addie’s character. However, after her death, the reader obtains a better understanding of Addie’s voice through her own monologue and as a result, is characterized as cold and selfish. Through the use of similes and interior monologue, Faulkner shows Addie’s tendency to detach herself from the people in her life, which relates to the novel’s overall theme of solitude as Addie adheres to her father’s philosophy that the reason for living is no more than “to get ready to stay dead a long time” (169).

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William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying follows the Bundren family on a journey while it explores the subject of heroism and discusses its subjectivity. The family travels on an expedition to bury Addie, the deceased mother of the protagonist, Darl Bundren, and his siblings. As days continue to pass, however, the journey seemed interminable. During the adventure, the family takes a stop at Gillespie’s barn for the evening. While they rest Darl sets the barn, in which the coffin sits, ablaze.

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Religion in As I Lay Dying The time and setting during which the novel was written are very important for understanding William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. This novel was written in 1930 Mississippi; during this time Mississippi was very religious. Unsurprisingly, Christianity and religion also plays a big role in As I Lay Dying particularly through imagery and symbolism that connects different characters to religious figures, including Jesus Christ.

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She is the one female character that challenges the standard of a southern, rural woman. Unlike Cora she isn’t obedient to her husband nor God. She cheated on her husband, Anse, with a minister and isn’t sexually satisfied by Anse. Addie isn’t happy with the traditional way of life of having a husband and kids, “So I took Anse. And when I knew that I had Cash, I knew that living was terrible…”

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He also shows the relationship between Emily and her dead father and how Emily cannot let go of people that show a love interest in her or the people who look after her in that she must be attached to them even after death. Faulkner depicts an Emily that was once young and vibrant, who maintained the Grierson home and kept it in a pristine condition. Faulkner relays to readers that because Emily was unable to control her own destiny and was powerless under her father’s hand, she became a recluse and ultimately went into a downward spiral. After sensing and believing that her first real love will leave her, Emily purchases arsenic and it is believed that she will kill herself because there is no point in living if no one will love her

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Both women headed their friendship through years of rivalry, secrecy, and deceit, which caused the destruction of their relationship. Both Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley’s daughters are important in the story. Mrs. Slade’s daughter’s personality is similar to that of Mrs. Ansley in the way that she is quiet and submissive to her friend, while Mrs. Ansley’s daughter is more leader like, outgoing, and extroverted like Mrs. Slade. Barbara, Mrs. Ansley’s daughter, who Mrs. Slade appreciates, turns out to be Mrs. Slade’s stepdaughter.

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