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As I Lay Dying Character Analysis Essay

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Recommended: Characterization analysis of Darl Bundren in As I Lay Dying

Remy Dai
Mr. Hunt
AP Lit
Apr 26, 2023
Darl: A Split Character
William Faulkner presents the story of As I Lay Dying through a multitude of perspectives where they shift between one another as the story progresses. During such he portrays the inner experiences and development for each character as they narrate their own view of the story. Among them Darl stands out with surprising sophistication and detail in storytelling which provides breadcrumbs of evidence throughout the novel that hints at the shifting of his spiritual workings and its relations to the external reality. Specifically, Darl is an intellectually talented child yet suffers years of emotional negligence which leads up to his eventual dissociation from reality and craving for …show more content…

At a glance, Darl’s name appears as chapter titles with diminished frequency as the Bundrens’ Journey to Jefferson comes to an end. During said journey his family has suffered much: Starting from losing their mother, the Bundrens are in a confused and hurt mental state. His younger sister Dewey Dell, without the guidance of a mother, became pregnant. Not to mention how they have to travel extra miles on mule wagons trying to avoid a flooding river yet still fail, which resulted in Cash being seriously hurt. All these stressful events contributed to Darl’s internal pressure and lack of agency for there is nothing Darl can do to change his external reality. Such pressure finally collapses Darl as he has fully dissociated himself which takes form in a shift of narratives in his chapter. Beginning from the chapter where he has set fire, Darl narrates his actions and thoughts in a third narrative as if he is only a spectating spirit exiled by the world. It is worth noting that setting fire and getting sent away to the psych ward may be Darl’s way to escape his family and a life of torture and ignorance, it is more important that setting fire is his way to influence the world where his pent up emotions finally bursts into flame, into a strange yet familiar being who Darl would call “he”. Not only did his spirit free himself in the flames, Darl was finally free to hold on to nothing but those feelings scorching his innards from day to night as he breaks free from the realistic “cage” the external world has put on him, that he becomes a being “freer” than any

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