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As I Lay Dying Literary Devices

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In this section of As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, Dewey Dell is pregnant and wishing for an abortion. The Bundrens have just begun their journey towards Jefferson with Addie in her coffin, yet tensions are high. Faulkner uses repetition and inner monologue to characterize Dewey Dell as paranoid and confused, bitter theme of death and mortality. He also develops Dewey Dell’s relationship with Darl, which will further develop the plot. In the first line Dewey Dell describes a road sign. Faulkner uses personification to emphasize Dewey Dell’s emotions, saying, “It is looking out at the road now because it can wait.” To me it almost feels like Faulkner is contrasting the sign, which has all the time in the world, to Dewey Dell, who is almost …show more content…

Dewey Dell cannot grieve, and that is shown by the beginning of the second paragraph . Dewey Dell says, “I heard that my mother is dead. I wish I had time to let her die.” Faulkner’s use of the word “heard” signifies to me that Dewey Dell is so preoccupied with her pregnancy that she is unable to process her mother’s death. In the next line, “I wish I had time to wish I had.” Faulkner’s repetitive use of the word wish shows Dewey Dell’s regret that she could not properly mourn her mother. Dewey Dell is also distraught because she has to face her pregnancy without a mother, someone who should have been a guide for her. This is why, in the next sentence she says it is “too soon too soon too soon.” The repetition of this phrase emphasizes the sense of denial that Dewey Dell feels in her grief. The last sentence in this paragraph is “It’s not that I wouldn’t and will not it’s that it is too soon too soon too soon.” Faulkner is discussing Dewey Dell’s lack of emotion for her mother. Faulkner does not use correct punctuation, which created an air of confusion for the reader, which is similar to what Dewey Dell is feeling. Faulkner shows that Dewey Dell wasn't able to grieve because Addie’s death came so soon, not because she wasn’t sad. This section also connects life and death by connecting Addie’s death with Dewey Dell’s pregnancy, which supports the recurring theme of death in this

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