Home Page
Family Issues In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

Family Issues In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

Improved Essays

Show More

Few novels dive into the depths of family issues such as William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. Written with 15 different narrators, Faulkner uses this style to expose the struggles of the long journey to Jefferson. With the mission of burying their mother Addie, every character’s selfish issues eventually slow the journey down. Issues such as Dewey demanding an abortion and Anse getting a new set of teeth, tears the family apart. Faulkner reflects to Addies Flashback on how violently she treats her kids, and how it later affects the family.

Related Documents

Improved Essays
Compare And Contrast Strawberry Spring And A Rose For Emily
- 1040 Words
- 5 Pages
Compare And Contrast Strawberry Spring And A Rose For Emily

Thus she passed from generation to generation- dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse”. (Faulkner 655). She has a more secretive lifestyle and the people around her narrate what…
- 1040 Words
- 5 Pages
Improved Essays

Read More
Decent Essays
The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky Analysis
- 302 Words
- 2 Pages
The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky Analysis

In Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" a family attempts to fulfill their mother's wish by moving her corpse far away from the town she lived in. The dark humor in this story…
- 302 Words
- 2 Pages
Decent Essays

Read More
Improved Essays
Tradition And Honor In Faulkner's Literature
- 111 Words
- 1 Pages
Tradition And Honor In Faulkner's Literature

Tradition and honor are two trusted guides used in cultures around the world, not only by the actions of a society, but also utilized by the actions of the singular man. In Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily", Faulkner establishes the story in the unique culture of the American South, ripe with the following of tradition and honor: manipulating his characters and the action of the story to reflect the importance these concepts possess in his story. Similarly, O'Brien, author of "How to Tell a True War Story", employs the concepts of honor and tradition, comparing and contrasting them to the realities of war and its effect on all who are…
- 111 Words
- 1 Pages
Improved Essays

Read More
Improved Essays
Setting In Faulkner's A Lesson Before Dying
- 888 Words
- 4 Pages
Setting In Faulkner's A Lesson Before Dying

Setting The Scene In A Lesson Before Dying the setting is very important to the central theme. This novel would not be able to represent the central theme of cruelty, unfairness and racism without the setting being exactly the way it is. Setting refers to the time and place of where the story takes place. In A Lesson Before Dying the setting is in a small town in Tennessee in the 1940’s. The setting is important because the 1940’s is when there was limited black rights, Bayonne Tennessee is a small town where rumors spread quickly and the different building impact the story such as the school, Jail, Courthouse and the plantation.…
- 888 Words
- 4 Pages
Improved Essays

Read More
Great Essays
Addie Bundren's Journey In As I Lay Dying
- 1114 Words
- 5 Pages
Addie Bundren's Journey In As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying Addie Bundren’s death in As I Lay Dying is the main catalyst for the family’s formidable two day journey to Jefferson. Her final dying wish was to be buried there, it was her own revenge for the terrible life her family has given her. The old southern family struggle and face terrible obstacles but their ultimate obstacle was each other. Horribly unlikeable, the main characters of the book are caught up in their own selfishness and stupidity that it makes the trip all the much worse. It strikes a cord within readers because the Bundrens are the worst aspects of ourselves packed into a seven person family.…
- 1114 Words
- 5 Pages
Great Essays

Read More
Improved Essays
The Bundren Family In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
- 1405 Words
- 6 Pages
The Bundren Family In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

In the novel As I lay Dying, William Faulkner introduces the audience to the horribly idiotic Bundren family. This novel is set around the family’s absurd journey to bury Addie Bundren, the recently deceased mother of the family. While on this folly quest, the remaining Bundren family consisting of Anse Bundren, Dewey Dell, Vardaman, Cash, Darl, and Jewel, perform several tasks that some may consider heroic, but in reality are quite foolish. Addie Bundren makes the first unreasonable move when she asks Anse, her husband, to bury her in Jefferson, her former home (173). This request, while it may seem admirable that Addie wants to be buried from where she came, is a ludicrous desire because she is asking her family to travel “forty miles” to bury her amongst her already dead relatives (22).…
- 1405 Words
- 6 Pages
Improved Essays

Read More
Improved Essays
Anse Bundren In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
- 710 Words
- 3 Pages
Anse Bundren In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

The novel As I Lay Dying was written in 1930 by William Faulkner. It is narrated by fifteen different characters. Perhaps the most widely hated of all characters in this novel is Anse Bundren. Darl, one of Anses sons, says that “Pa’s feet are badly splayed, his toes cramped and bent and warped, with no toenail at all on his little toes, from working so hard in the wet homemade shoes when he was a boy.” (11).…
- 710 Words
- 3 Pages
Improved Essays

Read More
Decent Essays
William Faulkner's To Hell With Dying
- 240 Words
- 1 Pages
William Faulkner's To Hell With Dying

In “To Hell with Dying” we follow the life of our narrator and her relationship with Mr. Sweet as she grows up. Mr. Sweet is a sick old man whose multiple meeting with death has given him a unique skill or what others may call a guardian angel. The prerequisite for his skill to come alive is for the narrator’s father to call out “To Hell with Dying!” and right on cue, the children would swarm Mr. Sweet with there affection. With the lovely description the story paints of Mr. Sweet (he gets drunk on his own homebrew and chews tobacco) most readers would wonder how a family or even a community can be so accepting of him, this just shows how love doesn’t judge a person by there habits but who the person truly is.…
- 240 Words
- 1 Pages
Decent Essays

Read More
Superior Essays
A Comparison Of The Odyssey And As I Lay Dying
- 1364 Words
- 5 Pages
A Comparison Of The Odyssey And As I Lay Dying

In William Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying, the Bundren family makes a journey to the town of Jefferson to bury their mother. However, this is not the only journey taking place. Darl is slowly going mad and Addie is making her journey to the afterlife. In the poem The Odyssey by Homer, similar events unfold with Agamemnon who is also making his trip to the underworld.…
- 1364 Words
- 5 Pages
Superior Essays

Read More
Improved Essays
Relationships In John Steinbeck's Their Eyes Were Watching God
- 1336 Words
- 6 Pages
Relationships In John Steinbeck's Their Eyes Were Watching God

Relationships between characters often give us a peek into the overall message that a book is trying to get across. This is is especially obvious between the parents and children in As I Lay Dying. This dynamic is mirrored through the implicit parental relationship between Janie and Pheoby in Their Eyes Were Watching God. The decaying relationship between Addie and Darl in As I Lay Dying represents the deterioration of the Bundren family as well as the pessimistic nature of the book, while the fulfilling relationship between Janie and Pheoby represents the growth of the characters as well as the optimistic nature of the book. Darl’s and Addie’s relationship begins in a seemingly stable place in the novel, with Darl being perceived as conflicted…
- 1336 Words
- 6 Pages
Improved Essays

Read More
Great Essays
Cash Bundren In Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
- 1827 Words
- 8 Pages
Cash Bundren In Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

#3 As I Lay Dying – Character analysis: Cash Bundren Conflict is an inescapable reality in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. Sibling animosity, opposing viewpoints, hidden secrets, ulterior motives, Man vs Nature: wherever you look conflict arises from the selfish and senseless characters. However, Cash Bundren stands out as a character whose dedication, compassion, and sacrifices contrast with the widespread self-interest induced conflict in the rest of the novel. Cash Bundren’s heroic actions are not valued by the other characters due to their selfishness.…
- 1827 Words
- 8 Pages
Great Essays

Read More
Improved Essays
Theme Of Betrayal In As I Lay Dying
- 842 Words
- 4 Pages
Theme Of Betrayal In As I Lay Dying

Betrayal rarely comes from an enemy. People are commonly betrayed by close friends, or even family members at least once in his/her life. In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, the deceased Addie Bundren is betrayed by her family. Addie’s dying request is to be buried in her hometown Jefferson with dignity; even though Addie is successfully buried in Jefferson, she by no means has a respectful burial.…
- 842 Words
- 4 Pages
Improved Essays

Read More
Great Essays
Irony In Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
- 1442 Words
- 6 Pages
Irony In Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying can be considered an incongruous comedy, with irony playing the key role in creating the humor present in the piece. Though the catalyst for the story is the death of a main character, and though the title in itself suggests a morbid theme, there are moments that allow for the reader to laugh throughout the entire novel. The grotesqueness of the central idea and the way in which the Bundren family pursues Addie’s last wish is laughable, at times. In a critical essay, “Schroeder also discusses the novel in relation to the ‘frustrated funeral,’ a type of Southwestern story that used humor to reduce death to comic and manageable proportions” (As). Faulkner presents an incongruous comedy.…
- 1442 Words
- 6 Pages
Great Essays

Read More
Improved Essays
Power Of Death In Faulkner's A Rose For Emily
- 621 Words
- 3 Pages
Power Of Death In Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

In the short story, “A Rose for Emily,” the protagonist, Emily, tries to control her life using the power of death. The story beings by the narrator describing Emily’s funeral. Many people come out of curiosity for what her hidden life pertained to. “When Miss Emily Grierson died, out whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one… had seen in at least ten years”(Faulkner 82). Emily had been kept distant from the people of the town and potential suitors because of her father, the antagonist, didn’t think they were good enough for her.…
- 621 Words
- 3 Pages
Improved Essays

Read More
Improved Essays
Archetypal Journey In Little Miss Sunshine And As I Lay Dying
- 1475 Words
- 6 Pages
Archetypal Journey In Little Miss Sunshine And As I Lay Dying

An archetypal journey is defined as a hero overcoming his or her obstacles to reach a final goal. The plot of the movie Little Miss Sunshine written by Michael Arndt and the novel As I Lay Dying written by William Faulkner is essentially the same in each. The Hoover family must travel to Redondo Beach, CA for the “Little Miss Sunshine” Beauty Pageant to fulfill the daughter’s wishes, while the Bundren family has to travel to Jefferson, Missouri to fulfill the mother’s wishes. Both families are dysfunctional units acting together to reach an end goal. Their end goals may be entirely different but their journey’s are similar.…
- 1475 Words
- 6 Pages
Improved Essays

Read More

Related Topics