The Role Of Conflict In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

As individuals, people are known to posses their own personal motives, personalities, perceptions, and ideas. All of these concepts coincide with personal opinions, as well, which differ from person to person and often creates conflict. This may appear as either internal conflict with oneself, external conflict with others, or general conflict with nature and the course of life; and sometimes all three can apply to the same situation. The occurrence of death brings out these conflict relationships and demonstrates how reacts differently when faced with an inevitable tragedy. Some may express feelings of depression, some may react with anger, and some may even find self benefitting opportunities through the situation. Symbolized through the emotionally disoriented characters, and the newly transpired death within an impoverished family down in Mississippi, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying demonstrates how people’s subconscious reactions to both internal and external conflict control their individual thoughts and behavior. Around the 1930s, when the book had been set, the “Great Depression” era and world war II had just ended. Occupied mostly by religious country folk and the farm lands which they lived on, the southern parts of the U.S. recently battled a …show more content…
William Faulkner's use of voice between each chapter and the personalized way in which he chose to explain each of the character’s reactions towards the conflict portray the novel’s theme: that the characters are acting from their deepest and least civilized impulses, and allows readers to empathize with the characters and discover new revelations along with each character as the story