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Isolation In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

696 Words3 Pages

In order to qualify as a Modernist writer, an author had to be revolutionary. William Faulkner was no exception. Not only did Faulkner write his novel As I Lay Dying entirely in stream of consciousness narration, but he confronted and questioned controversial topics such as isolation and religion. Faulkner’s method of stream of consciousness narration and motif of isolation throughout As I Lay Dying simultaneously acknowledge and confirm the disillusioned Modernist notion that in this world, both suffering and alienation are inevitable experiences every human must confront. Unlike authors before the Modernist movement, Faulkner’s decision to utilize the stream of consciousness narration not only reveals his character's innermost thoughts and feelings, but reveals a sign of isolation within each character. For example, Addie Bundren feels as though she “gave Anse the children”, but that she “did not ask for them”, and that it was her “duty” (Faulkner 174). Addie’s thoughts reveal an incapability to acknowledge her role as a mother, thus isolating herself from her family. Her insightful narrative allows for her character to not be misinterpreted …show more content…

His character, Cora, acts as a parody of a Christian, she explain she lives for the “honor and comfort” of her “Christian husband” and the “love and respect” of her “Christian children” so that she will not die “like Addie Bundren dying alone” (Faulkner 23). Faulkner views religion as a scapegoat for judgement, unlike previous authors who would never think to ridicule or question the will of God’s followers. Unlike Cora, Addie explains her belief that “the reason for living is getting ready to stay dead” (Faulkner 175). These two polar opposite beliefs in the meaning of life, Cora’s being heaven, and Addie’s being death, represent the traditional versus the Modernist take on

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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.

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As I Lay Dying Dal Bundren Character Analysis

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William Faulkner’s, As I Lay Dying, recounts the tale of Addie Bundren’s childrens’ journey across Mississippi in order to bury her deceased body. Though all of the family members are experiencing similar events during the excursion, Darl Bundren narrates these situations and how he perceives them differently. Thus, one is able to analyze Darl’s actions as he exercises his own individual prose and emotion.

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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

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The family's treacherous journey to Jefferson is filled with danger and excitement, yet Faulkner gives many doses of humor throughout the novel. The characters employ themselves in outrageous acts of irony, from Addie's rejection of her most devoted son, to Anse's concern with his false teeth instead of Addie's death, to Vardaman's calling his mother a fish. This irony would not have been evident if it were not for Faulkner's use of multiple narrators. Faulkner was enchanted by Freudian theories of psychology when he wrote this novel, and recounting the story through various perspectives allows the reader to understand each character's reaction. This enhanced the dark humor throughout the novel because the reader can see into each family member's thoughts on her death.

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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.

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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).

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Remy Dai Mr. Hunt AP Lit Apr 26, 2023 Darl: A Split Character William Faulkner presents the story of As I Lay Dying through a multitude of perspectives where they shift between one another as the story progresses. During such he portrays the inner experiences and development for each character as they narrate their own view of the story. Among them Darl stands out with surprising sophistication and detail in storytelling which provides breadcrumbs of evidence throughout the novel that hints at the shifting of his spiritual workings and its relations to the external reality. Specifically, Darl is an intellectually talented child yet suffers years of emotional negligence which leads up to his eventual dissociation from reality and craving for

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