In Psalm 118:22, Jesus said “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.” Throughout Faulkner’s book As I Lay Dying, Cash Bundren is identified as a background character, with a seemingly demure and setback attitude compared to the rest of his family. He tempers his mind with hard labor, and only tries to fix broken things rather than fantasize about nice things he might have had in a different life. Over the course of the novel, he uses his steady attitude to progress from a one-track “machine” to a deep, introspective personality. Rather than struggling to diffuse his own emotions, he fights to let them bloom into being. It is this quality that makes his metamorphosis so interesting, for he begins like the inversion
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However, as we learn more about Cash we realize that this was an act of dedicated love. Each Bundren family member copes with Addie’s passing in a different way, And Cash comes to terms with it by building her the perfect coffin to lay in. (This once again ties into the Jesus extended analogy, related by 1 Kings 8:13 “I have surely built You a [lofty] house, A place for Your dwelling forever.” 1) It is the only way Cash knows to express his love to his Mother, so that he may prove the coffin worthy of her before she dies (and even after, seeing that he tirelessly works through the stormy night of her death.) It is representative of his farewell, like Vardaman’s fish. They both put much thought into their vessels for emotion - Vardaman had a lengthy soliloquy …show more content…
He tries to warn Darl and Jewel that “It [the coffin] aint on a balance” as they try to decide how they should cross the river. Unfortunately they ignore this piece of valuable information, just as they ignore the rest of Cash’s ideas up to this point. Cash is the only one who seems to care about the unbalanced coffin, and the only one willing to fix it. This is important because the unsteady coffin symbolizes the Bundren family’s precarious infrastructure, and thusly recognizes Cash as the only one prepared to stabilize the family. This correlation is continued throughout the river scene, as Cash instructs his brothers to save themselves and clutches to the coffin in the water. He is willing to drown in his effort to save the coffin, and this is signified by his scattered tools in the water. As a carpenter, his tools symbolize all that he is. When he loses them in the scramble it represents his loss of self concept, and he literally can not gain consciousness until he is reunited with his tools. Unfortunately, his leg re-broke and leaves him incapacitated. The forestry, river, and strange houses that are this episode’s locale are indicative of a “discomfort zone”; ego, the family wrestles to handle strange and unforgiving obstacles in an environment that they don’t truly understand or feel secure in. In spite of that, Cash is still
However, as we learn more about Cash we realize that this was an act of dedicated love. Each Bundren family member copes with Addie’s passing in a different way, And Cash comes to terms with it by building her the perfect coffin to lay in. (This once again ties into the Jesus extended analogy, related by 1 Kings 8:13 “I have surely built You a [lofty] house, A place for Your dwelling forever.” 1) It is the only way Cash knows to express his love to his Mother, so that he may prove the coffin worthy of her before she dies (and even after, seeing that he tirelessly works through the stormy night of her death.) It is representative of his farewell, like Vardaman’s fish. They both put much thought into their vessels for emotion - Vardaman had a lengthy soliloquy …show more content…
He tries to warn Darl and Jewel that “It [the coffin] aint on a balance” as they try to decide how they should cross the river. Unfortunately they ignore this piece of valuable information, just as they ignore the rest of Cash’s ideas up to this point. Cash is the only one who seems to care about the unbalanced coffin, and the only one willing to fix it. This is important because the unsteady coffin symbolizes the Bundren family’s precarious infrastructure, and thusly recognizes Cash as the only one prepared to stabilize the family. This correlation is continued throughout the river scene, as Cash instructs his brothers to save themselves and clutches to the coffin in the water. He is willing to drown in his effort to save the coffin, and this is signified by his scattered tools in the water. As a carpenter, his tools symbolize all that he is. When he loses them in the scramble it represents his loss of self concept, and he literally can not gain consciousness until he is reunited with his tools. Unfortunately, his leg re-broke and leaves him incapacitated. The forestry, river, and strange houses that are this episode’s locale are indicative of a “discomfort zone”; ego, the family wrestles to handle strange and unforgiving obstacles in an environment that they don’t truly understand or feel secure in. In spite of that, Cash is still