Few novels delve into the depths of the human psyche as effectively as William Faulkner's eccentric novel, As I Lay Dying. Written in a stream-of-consciousness style and narrated by fifteen different characters, As I Lay Dying not only reflects the religious and moral values of a family torn by the death of its matriarch, but it sprouts forth each and every characters' innermost thoughts and feelings, suspended in a timeless setting where past, present, and future fuse together to create a journey – an odyssey in which there is one destination, but many different routes. Above all, this novel is about how the conflicting and individual agendas of a family tear it apart. The Bundrens are one in their mission to bury their beloved Addie, yet each member of the family is isolated from the rest, each with their own secret mission, and each with their own selfish expression of "grief". The family bond in As I Lay Dying is so lonely and weak that it is almost non-existent.
             Throughout the physically, emotionally, and psychologically stressful funeral journey that takes place in the novel, the Bundren family travels in isolation, torn apart by broken-down values, selfish motives, and silently bred grief in their attempt to complete Addie's dying wish to be buried with her kinfolk in Jefferson. Each member's internal flaws clash with the situation at hand and in a way contribute to the many things that go wrong along the journey. Anse Bundren, the patriarch of the family, is perhaps the most pivotal and effective character in his representation and reflection of the family's flaws and weak bond. At twenty-two, Anse becomes sick from working in the sun after which he refuses to work claiming he will die if he ever breaks a sweat again. Anse becomes lazy and turns Addie into a baby factory in order to have children doing all the work, inhibiting Addie and making her bitter. Anse is begrudging of every...