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As I Lay Dying Analysis Essay

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Claire Hudson Ms. Silver DC AM LIT 14 February 2023 Critical Analysis William Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying in 1930. This novel takes place during the 1920s in a rural area of Mississippi. Addie Bundren is the mother of 5 kids and she is about to die. She made her family promise to bury her in the town of Jefferson. This was a very immense task to ask of her family, but they did everything they could to fulfill their mother’s wish. While traveling to Jefferson, numerous inconveniences come up, and the family even loses some of their most vulnerable items. Throughout the trip, each family member faced problems and this led the family to begin to draw apart. Dewey Dell becomes pregnant, Darl burns down a barn and ends up in a mental hospital, …show more content…

Cash’s tools symbolize recklessness. His tools seem to have a significant value to him, yet they are lost in the river when the Bundrens try to cross. “They can’t be far away,” Pa says. “It all went together,” he said. Was there ere a such misfortunate man” (Faulkner 71)? Cash’s father says this in response to him losing his tools. This shows that his whole family knows how much his tools mean to him and that he wants to try to get them back immediately. When the Bundren decided to cross the river, they did not think about the possible things that could go wrong. They became tired of traveling and wanted to get their mother to Jefferson and be buried as fast as they could. This shows the recklessness of their decision because they did not take time to think out their plan, instead, they tried to cross without any plan or strategy. Throughout As I Lay Dying, Jewel's horse, Addie’s coffin, and Cash’s tools are all symbols. Jewel’s horse represents the separation he wants from his family. He cares more about his horse than his family. Addie’s coffin represents how much dysfunction her request caused her family throughout their trip to bury

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