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As I Lay Dying Character Analysis

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In many literary classics, we see many uses of literary devices, usually to portray or enhance a theme of the book. In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, there are many themes and many devices to depict them. But the narration/POV of different characters serves to affect the reader’s perspective, especially on the theme of family and honor- or lack thereof. Undoubtedly, one of the most substantial and off-putting narrative characters, is Anse- the husband of Addie. Addie dies early on in the book and wishes to be buried in a farther off town; it is the husband’s job to complete his wife’s final wish. Out loud he talks about his “duty” to his wife: to give her what she wants, but in his own POV he is partly doing it to get his “well-deserved” …show more content…

Jewel only has one narrations but it’s not from his point of view, but from his perceptive half-brother, Darl. Everyone, including various strangers and townspeople, see Jewel as rugged and heartless without caring about anything. But through his families narrations we see that Jewel actually loves his mother and is willing to do whatever need be in order to make her happy, especially by not succumbing to her husbands’ lackadaisical conduct. In one flashback, we hear a story about Jewel working day and night to earn a horse-something no one in their family had attempted to do. Additionally, Jewel wouldn’t let the horse eat his ‘fathers’ hay, proving that he could amount to more in life. But, what really establishes Jewel’s love for his mother is the fact that he gave up his horse, in order to get his mother to her burial spot. “I didn’t know who brung it,’ Eustace said. ‘I never see them. I just found the horse in the barn this morning when I went to feed, and I told Mr. Snopes and he said to bring the team on over here”(Faulkner 131). This entire sequence is explaining that even though Jewel doesn’t have a POV, we can see how much he cares for his mother through other people’s eyes, by focusing on actions and their

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With the exception of Anse, the end of As I Lay Dying leaves all of the Bundrens worse for wear. Darl has been exiled because he is believed to be insane. Similarly, the skin has to be removed from Cash’s leg, Jewel has lost his horse and his last connection to the family, Vardaman is more confused than ever, and Dewey Dell remains pregnant. Despite all of this, Anse’s condition is better than it has ever been. He has purchased teeth, has visited a barbershop, and has come out of all of this with a new wife.

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Ahmed 1 Abulasrar Ahmed Professor Schnur Eng 170W 26 May 2018 Relationship in Salvage the Bone sand As I Lay Dying In Jesmyn Ward’s novel, Salvage the Bones, depicts the Batiste family, a poor, black family in southern Mississippi living in a place called the pit by the family members. The pit is reflective of the Batiste family’s life which is dysfunctional and deplorable. In addition, William Faulker’s novel, As I Lay Dying , he also manifests a dysfunctional family.

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In the novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J Gaines, Grant is a main character that has a lot of influence over the people in his community. Some might even consider him a hero. I believe that Grant is a hero because he helps Jefferson become a man, changes himself for the better, and wants to continue changing the community. Over the course of the novel, Grant helps Jefferson become the man that he needs to be in order to walk to his death with honor. When Grant first begrudgingly went to visit Jefferson in prison Jefferson was in a really low state.

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Have you ever been in love? In the book Don’t Die, My Love Julie Ellis and Luke Muldenhower have been deeply in love since the sixth grade. Now juniors in high school they are still madly in love and could not live without each other. When Luke gets what he thinks is the flu it turns their lives upside down. Will they get through this tough time together?

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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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Darl Bundren is easily the most complicated character out of all the Bundrens and the characters in the novel As I Lay Dying. While doing research on the character that seemingly understands everything going on around him, I came across several speculations on the mental health of said character. Whether it’s PTSD or Schizophrenia, many people have used the information from the novel to determine what led to Darl being sent to the insane asylum or why the book ended with him laughing and another moment having a mental breakdown. Though I would like to argue that Darl Bundren, even though he has a different perception of the world around him, does not have a mental disorder. He’s justified his actions with his own understanding of the world,

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Faulkner composites a family that is far away from perfect, instead the family members each face a tribulation that connects to the death their mother. With the supporting passages Faulkner demonstrates how the novel, As I Lay Dying fulfill his own vision of the writer’s duty, which is to express the problems by appealing to pathos, introducing relatable problems, and discussing family dynamics. Faulkner fulfills the writer’s duty by introducing problems the writers can relate to. Faulkner inspires readers to write about, “problems of the human heart... with itself which can make good writing...because that is only worth the sweat agony” (Faulkner 14-15).

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Addie, the deathly ill mother, takes part in many ironic situations which accentuate the novel's dark humor. For example, she looks forward to dying instead of reflecting on good memories or thinking about her family. This is seen when she

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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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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

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In As I Lay Dying, Faulkner uses the literary technique point of view to create alternate perspectives about his these characters are portrayed. With many points of view in a novel the reader is forced to decide which character they need to trust when understanding the events taking place. Each character’s view point is unique to them and shows very little, if any, similarities between them. Every person in Faulkner’s story whither it is a family member or not have a distinct opinion for what happened and the other characters. Cora, Tull, and Addie all have chapters in the novel depicting the same even with their personal perspectives.

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This type of writing is Porter using the stream of consciousness to exploit Granny’s delusive state. Even more damning, Porter writes at the end that Granny prayed for a sign, but nothing came and then she died. This is another example of hopelessness. In comparison, Faulkner’s story also conveys the same theme. In his story “Rose for Emily,” he begins the story with Emily’s death.

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Destruction and anguish are a pair of words that describe the novel As I Lay Dying. We go on a journey with these characters and feel what they are going through. The use of the author's diction creates different characters and traits. Faulkner the author of As I Lay Dying gives each character a different personality with his unique style of writing, but one character, in particular, stands out. Darl, the second oldest son of Addie Bundren, is narrated very properly while everyone else is narrated in more of an improper tone.

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William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and Stevens’ “The Emperor of Ice Cream” all successfully comment on the nature of death, while differing in their discussion of character development, language, and motifs. The first text, As I Lay Dying, deals with how the Bundren family reacts to the death of the female family head, Addie Bundren. The second text, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, focuses on how the protagonist of the play, Hamlet, deals with the death of his father and his uncle’s usurpation of the throne. Finally, the poem, “The Emperor of Ice Cream”, describes a wake and what is going on surrounding the casket, including people’s reactions to the event. These similar focuses of death help to unveil the profounder meaning of each text, which are revealed by the discussion of action vs. inaction, the role of women, and the process of moving on after a death.

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Does surviving really matters more than "living"? This question, I suppose, became the game-changer of my chosen character of the film After the Dark who is Petra. As has been introduced as a smart student in the class, objectivity over subjectivity became the guide principle of her on dealing and deciding of who will be chosen to stay outside the bunker while an apocalypse will about to happen. Going to the scene of the first round became the battle ground zero for her in sorting the best and most deserving profession to have the limited slots in order to survive.

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