William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines at length the American writer William Faulkner's novel, "As I Lay Dying". It provides a detailed synopsis and analysis of the novel and its characters. The paper explores the family situation in religious terms and describes the issue of religious faith for all the main characters. The author states that the importance of the central figure, the family's mother, to her children stands as the central issue of the book, and she provides an anchor for each character to find his or her own identity. The paper illustrates that the family's journey is a rejection of spirituality and faith in favor of a new material objects and a new wife.

From the Paper:

"In his novel As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner explores a family situation in religious terms, with the central figure of Addie Bundren serving as the touchstone for the rest of the family and as one who serves a religious purpose for several of her children, notably Darl. The issue of religious belief and faith is raised for virtually all the central characters, but Darl is the Bundren most given to introspection and so to consideration of religious meaning.

Point of view in this novel changes. There are fifteen narrators in Faulkner's novel, shifting points of view around the central figure of Addie, the mother. Her importance to her children stands as the central issue of the book, and she provides an anchor of sorts for each character to find his or her own identity. While family is central to As I Lay Dying, family is more a burden than a blessing. Addie believes her father has never loved her, and her new family, her children, becomes an escape from the old. Addie sees her own life as a failure, including her role as mother, yet it is her death which becomes a means of bringing the family together. Her "consciousness" realizes this, yet she succeeds only partially, for while the family does what she wants, they mostly do not become closer or more aware of their debt to her in the process. Darl is the only character with an awareness of this and other facts about life, and he ends up in an asylum, showing Faulkner's pessimistic view of the family and perhaps of religion as a salvation from this world."

More papers on William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying":

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• Analytical Essay # 64962 : "William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying"
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