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Family Tension In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

1837 Words8 Pages

“I think for any relationship to be successful, there needs to be loving communication, appreciation, and understanding.” - Miranda Kerr. This quote represents everything about communication that did not happen in As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. One of the themes in this book is one of miscommunication and family tension because of it, to understand this to its full extent you need to understand the reasons behind this tension including secrets, bad parenting and misunderstandings. Family is not a pleasant topic in As I Lay Dying. Poor to no communication creates intense barriers of misunderstanding and resentment between family members, particularly Jewel and Darl, siblings who are rivals for their mother’s love. The father of Jewel …show more content…

Instead, he convinces others to work for him, mainly his children. That is the only reason he had children. He also states that “It 's a hard country on man... Nowhere in this sinful world can a honest, hard-working man profit. (104) He fully believes that he was talking about himself although he has never worked a day in his life. “"Why didn’t you send for me sooner?" I say. "Hit was jest one thing and then another," he says. "That ere corn me and the boys was aimin’ to git up with, and Dewey Dell a-takin’ good keer of her, and folks comin’ in, a-offerin’ to help and sich, till I jest thought… "Damn the money," I say. "Did you ever hear of me worrying a fellow before he was ready to pay?" "Hit ain’t begrudgin’ the money," he says. "I jest kept a-thinkin’…She’s goin’, is she?"” (43) This is the one of the first times that is shown that Anse is hiding something about his feelings for Addie, the secret being that they are non-existent. ““It never bothered me much,” [Cash] said. "You mean, it never bothered Anse much," I said.” (230) at this point in the book Peabody realizes the extent that Anse has taken advantage of his children’s obedience, he is one of the only characters that have realized this.When examining the leg he also makes these comments “"I be damned if the man that 'd let Anse Bundren treat him with raw cement ain 't got more spare legs than I have." "God Almighty,” "why didn 't Anse carry you to the nearest sawmill and stick your leg in the saw? That would have cured it. Then you all could have stuck his head into the saw and cured a whole family."” (230) Peabody does not understand how their family works, Cash really wanted to bury his mother whom he loved and he didn 't want his broken leg to get in the way of that. When the family 's mules die in the flooded river, Anes steals Cash 's money, that was going to be used in Jefferson, and Jewel 's beloved horse to obtain new mules.

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