As I Lay Dying Loss Analysis

Responses to Death and Loss in As I Lay Dying When tragedy strikes, an individual’s response is unforeseeable. How do certain members of a family react differently in the midst of tragic events? In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, the death of Addie Bundren explores the various means by which people struggle with loss. Particularly through the responses of repression, uncertainty, and apathy, Faulkner emphasizes the detrimental effects that death and loss have on the members of the Bundren family. As Addie Bundren nears the end of her life, her eldest son, Cash, decides to build a coffin for her. Although he may have intended for the project to be a simple gesture to honor his dying mother, Cash allows the construction of the coffin to

Due to his young age and lack of mental capacity, Vardaman struggles to completely grasp the concept of death. Yearning for his mother’s presence, Vardaman desperately searches for a way to keep Addie alive. Observing the fish that he catches for dinner becomes Vardaman’s way of understanding the nature of death. Delville claims that correlating Addie with the fish “provides [Vardaman] with a verbal means of re-presencing the mother's body he misses so tragically” (para. 6). Through the utilization of metaphorical diction, Faulkner illustrates the damaging effect that the sudden loss of Addie has on Vardaman. Failing to understand death itself, Vardaman supposes that there is still a chance for him to help his mother by some means. For instance, Vardaman “opens his mother's windows so that she can feel the rain and finally augurs holes into her coffin” after traveling four miles to the residence of his neighbor, Vernon Tull (Wagner 77). Thus, Vardaman’s longing for his mother’s presence motivates him to take irrational action. Because he fails to entirely comprehend his mother’s death, Vardaman is kept in a constant state of uncertainty; he struggles to come to terms with his new reality. Adjusting to life without Addie takes an emotional toll on certain members of the Bundren family more than

Due to Addie’s regret of most of her children and Anse’s deficiency of sympathy, their marriage could arguably be considered as loveless. Hence, Anse fails to exhibit any signs of genuine sorrow following his wife’s death: “‘Now I can get them teeth’” (Faulkner 52). Instead of grieving Addie’s passing, Anse directs his attention to his egotistical desires. Even when his actions appear genuine, Anse proves that his sole motivator is selfishness. Preceding her death, Addie ensures that Anse knows to bury her in Jefferson. Within minutes of his wife’s death, Anse seems surprisingly eager to depart for the journey. When the Bundren family finally arrives in Jefferson, Anse reveals his ulterior motives by inviting the children to meet his new wife: “Anse flouts not only the decorum of mourning rituals and the emotional well-being of his offspring, but also conventions of linguistic usage” (Widiss para. 1). Without considering his children’s emotions, Anse finds a new wife and avoids mourning in its entirety. While Anse exhibits apathy due to his pattern of replacement, Dewey Dell exhibits apathy due to her pattern of distraction. Since she is Addie’s only daughter, Dewey Dell is expected to care for her mother in her final moments of life: “Though her mother’s death rapidly approaches and despite her physical proximity to her mother, Dewey’s thoughts could not be further from her mother