ipl-logo

How Does Faulkner Use Symbolism In As I Lay Dying

166 Words1 Pages
Throughout his novel As I Lay Dying William Faulkner demonstrates how one selfish act can be the source of pain and suffering for many. Faulkner utilizes symbolism and point of view to express the burdens each of the Bundren’s carry and the toll it takes on them. Anse enforces Addie's wish to be buried in Jefferson, “His mind is set on taking her to Jefferson” (Faulkner 86), but moving her after her death causes the Bundren's to endure unnecessary hardships. The coffin that carries her becomes a physical burden that is a symbol of the family’s grief, and their own separate problems making the trip to Jefferson necessary and painful. Faulkner’s decision to switch perspectives allows the reader to see what is burdening each character and is instrumental
Show More
Related
838 Words | 4 Pages

Betrayal is defined as, “an act of deliberate disloyalty" (vocabulary.com). In William Faulkner’s book, As I Lay Dying, there is a lot of betrayal between the Bundren family. From, Addie having an affair to most of her family travelling to Jefferson for selfish reasons. The Bundren family is a lying and selfish family. Most of the characters betray Addie specifically in many ways.

Read More
1129 Words | 5 Pages

The narrative, As I Lay Dying, develops a reading of the Bundren family. Each of the family members including the mother that is dead, narrate about themselves in relevance to the entire family. By writing about relatable problems for the audience to relate to, Faulkner discusses the loss of the mother, Addie. Dealing with a significant family loss, Anse, already justifies that Faulkner is fulfilling his own vision of the writer’s duty. The author reflects on Addie, who is the mother in the entire story and

Read More
1616 Words | 7 Pages

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner follows the Bundren family on their arduous journey to fulfill their dying mother's wish: to be buried with her family. Faulkner utilizes fifteen narrators, including Vardaman, the confused child, Addie, the dying mother, and objective characters such as the Tull family, to recount the details of the family's quest. Although death is a meaningful and somber topic, Faulkner reveals his opinion that death is an escape from the difficulties of life. Despite this grim subject matter, Faulkner uses irony and humor to effectively turn the novel into a dark comedy. Faulkner illustrates this dark humor through Addie's anticipation of her death, Anse's blatant ignorance toward his dying wife, and Vardaman's amusing confusion about death.

Read More
589 Words | 3 Pages

Symbols serve as a literary tool for writers to deliver their intended message to the audience as well as a mechanical tool used to seamlessly transition their characters along their journey and into situations which further the original message. In this sense Addie Bundren and her coffin, from Faulkner's novel "As I Lay Dying," serve as an ideal symbol throughout the book delivering and cementing the theme of disunity within the Bundren family in both their motivations for bringing Addie to Jefferson as well as their resulting turmoil. The material aspect of Addie and her coffin is a symbol of the moral divide between members of the family in their motivations for setting Addie to rest in Jefferson. On the outside we have a work handcrafted by Cash with artificial beauty in the coffin.

Read More
560 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel, As I lay dying by William Faulkner, the Bundren family go through a mental journey of loss and death of their mother later to go on a physical journey to bury their mother. To the conclusion of any novel, many have an opinion on what is much happy or not a happy ending. In the case of the ending to As I lay dying, include no real burial of how the mother wanted, which was the point of the physical journey in the first place, secrets comes out, one of the five the siblings gets taken away, and many are left with unfinished business, was not a happy at all for most of the characters. The novel is narrated by 15 characters that are not all part of the Bundren family but in some way connected.

Read More
713 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1216 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel, As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner shapes the plot based on the looming presence of the absentee protagonist, Addie Bundren. The reader’s knowledge of Addie accumulates through the monologues of other characters, so the reader gains only bits and pieces of Addie’s character. However, after her death, the reader obtains a better understanding of Addie’s voice through her own monologue and as a result, is characterized as cold and selfish. Through the use of similes and interior monologue, Faulkner shows Addie’s tendency to detach herself from the people in her life, which relates to the novel’s overall theme of solitude as Addie adheres to her father’s philosophy that the reason for living is no more than “to get ready to stay dead a long time” (169).

Read More
764 Words | 4 Pages

William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying follows the Bundren family on a journey while it explores the subject of heroism and discusses its subjectivity. The family travels on an expedition to bury Addie, the deceased mother of the protagonist, Darl Bundren, and his siblings. As days continue to pass, however, the journey seemed interminable. During the adventure, the family takes a stop at Gillespie’s barn for the evening. While they rest Darl sets the barn, in which the coffin sits, ablaze.

Read More
2627 Words | 11 Pages

Religion in As I Lay Dying The time and setting during which the novel was written are very important for understanding William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. This novel was written in 1930 Mississippi; during this time Mississippi was very religious. Unsurprisingly, Christianity and religion also plays a big role in As I Lay Dying particularly through imagery and symbolism that connects different characters to religious figures, including Jesus Christ.

Read More
1470 Words | 6 Pages

In As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner uses the characters Anse and Cash, and a motif/symbol in "My mother is a fish," to reveal the psychological and societal problems of the twenties and thirties. Written as soon as the panic surrounding the stock market in 1929 started, Faulkner is reported as having, “took one of these [onion] sheets, unscrewed the cap from his fountain pen, and wrote at the top in blue ink, 'As I Lay Dying. ' Then he underlined it twice and wrote the date in the upper right-hand corner"(Atkinson 15) We must take care to recognize Faulkner not as a man of apathy, but one of great compassion and indignation at the collapse of the economic foundation of the U.S. This is central in appreciating the great care with which he describes the desolation and poor landscape of Yoknapatawpha County, which is where As I Lay Dying takes place.

Read More
1134 Words | 5 Pages

Faulkner uses dark humor throughout the novel to show the family’s suffering, especially Darl’s, in a new way, "I just looked back at Darl, setting there laughing" (Faulkner 106). Darl is sitting in the wagon with his mother's coffin laughing, this emphasizes his ability to easily detach from a situation. Dark humor is used here to make Darl feel better about his circumstances. He seems to use dark humor a lot to cope with his problems and this is because of his military experience. On the family’s journey to bring Addie’s decaying body to Jefferson, the Bundrens are able to smell the dead corpse.

Read More
436 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
710 Words | 3 Pages

By using unconventional plot structure, Faulkner has created a complex method of storytelling to explore the moral shortcomings of Southern values and ethics during the American Civil War through the means of Emily, a character who is socially and mentally trapped in the old

Read More
443 Words | 2 Pages

Through these events, Emily formed an unhealthy dependency on her father. When he passed away, she kept his body for several days, until the town took him away to bury him. By using these flashbacks of Emily’s past, Faulkner causes the reader

Read More
2014 Words | 9 Pages

As far as the play of language produces meaning from differance, meaning arises from the lack of authoritative, unique, absolute or central significance. In both their plots and their themes, Faulkner's novels often appear bereft of conclusive sense. The author whose literary ambition is to “leave a scratch on that wall - Kilroy was here” (Faulkner in the University 61) discovers the meaning of his works during the course of their composition. Meaning must await being said or written in order to inhabit itself, and in order to become, by differing from oneself what it is: meaning... It is because writing is inaugural, in the fresh sense of the word, that it is dangerous and anguishing.

Read More

More about How Does Faulkner Use Symbolism In As I Lay Dying

Related Topics

Open Document