A Critical Analysis of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner's novel, As I Lay Dying is the story of one family's experiences of the death of their mother and wife, Addie Bundren, and the experiences the family members go through in an attempt to fulfill what they think is a simple wish she had for her funeral arrangements. Addie Bundren's dying wish is to return to her homeland of Jefferson, where she grew up to be buried with "her people" as William Faulkner says in the opening of As I Lay Dying. Faulkner's novel is set over a six day period in the state of Mississippi that starts in the mythical county of Yoknapatawpha County. The Yoknapatawpha County referred to in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying is "closely modeled on Lafayette County, Mississippi and both the real and fictional counties are roughly bounded on the northeast by the Tallahatchie River; in the fictional county the Yocana River to the south is named the Yoknapatawpha" (Tuck, 1). Tuck refers to this land that to as "William Faulkner's mythical kingdom is situated in northern Mississippi" and is the setting for several of his novels including As I Lay Dying (Tuck, 1). This land is also the land that William Faulkner calls home therefore his familiarity with the layout and the population helps Faul
Another example that is shown in As I Lay Dying of this theme of identity is 'the dependence of self-identify with something outside of self [. Darl also shows Faulkner's attempt to forward this theme when he begins to question his own identity when his mother is referred to as "was" and not "is". Each of these individual cases of irony vividly add twists and evidence to Faulkner's idea of the comedic qualities of life and death and his efforts to make fun of these qualities in As I Lay Dying. William Faulkner's novel, As I Lay Dying is an excellent example of how a writer can develop a work that makes readers think about a subject, in this case life and death, and see the ironic and comedic sides of the subject while teaching us several lessons about the subject. The use of the fifteen different narrators and the fifty-nine short monologues do not allow the reader to identify with no single character and force the reader to view the individual in broad view according to Volpe (127). Some of the motives include Cash's desire to have a phonograph, Dewey Dell's seeking an abortion, Vardaman's desire for a new train, and Anse's wanting some teeth but ends up married to the duck shaped woman whom the shovels used to bury Addie were borrowed from in the story. Though it was very difficult to follow the story at times because of these different views by each of the narrators, it is each of these different views that brought us the ability to look at the story as a whole and not make judgments or inferences on the narrators that would of detracted from the story. Darl begins to think if his mother does not exist then he does not exist. Tuck discusses this of multiple perspectives and narrators by Faulkner to prevent the reader from developing an identity with a single character by stating, "Faulkner withdraws himself from the author's accustomed position as mediator between the reader and the action; the author's voice is almost entirely lacking. Faulkner also shows us a great amount of irony when he shows the readers the real intent of each of the family members in making the funeral journey for Addie. It is this use of multiple points of view and motives of the characters that help give us a better understanding of the novel and more information than if William Faulkner used a more tradition narration of the story through the eyes of one character. } by Vardaman's identification of his dead mother with a dead fish" (Volpe, 134). Volpe states that "Death, the stasis at the center of motion, makes life a gigantic joke. William Faulkner uses a great amount of irony and dark comedy in describing the journey and events of the trip to bury Addie in order to further this idea that he was trying to make light of the journey of life.
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Acceptance Essays
