Examples Of Irony In As I Lay Dying

The Comedy Amidst The Chaos

The novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, is a novel that would appear to be easily considered a tragedy at first glance. However, after reading and examining the novel, it becomes questionable as to what the genre of the novel actually is. The story of the Bundren family and their quest is surrounded by a tragic event, the death of a mother and wife, Addie. In spite of this, the Bundren’s quest to bury Addie in her hometown creates a series of events and actions that cause characters and the quest to spiral out of control. The death of Addie is truly a tragedy, but it is the tragedy that generates situations and circumstances that are so strange that the novel becomes comical. Through exploring the purpose of

The examples of irony listed above are only a few places in the book where irony is obviously present. Along with the instances already mentioned, there are also broader cases of irony in the novel that may not be so easily depicted. A dead and rotting body being hauled city to city for more than a week before it finally buried is humorous in itself. A youngster making holes in a coffin because he doesn’t truly understand that the person inside is dead also strikes the reader as comical. Furthermore, making a cast out of cement which ends up making the problem worse, and then busting off the cast with hammer and wedge is completely ironic and cannot help but encourage a good chuckle. Dewey Dell being taken advantage of by the Jefferson pharmacy worker is merely another instance of irony that surrounds the nature of the novel. Essentially, the irony of the novel could be summarized in a quote from Vardaman, “My mother is a fish” (Faulkner 84). The never ending list of ironic situations causes the reader to approach the novel through a carefree perspective, which makes the novel easier to laugh and joke