As I Lay Dying
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, is a novel not only unique in structure but in context. The reader is given a chance to read the thoughts of a variety of characters with diverse personalities as a result of the distinctive structure based on fragments of interior monologues. A very distinctive character found in this novel is Vardaman, mainly because he represents the innocence that the other characters lack. This boy is the youngest of the four children of Anse and Addie Bundren, and quite innocent and naive. These main characteristics make Vardaman more vulnerable to Addie's death, giving way for him to be trapped in denial and to state different ways to keep his mother alive. Vardaman proves to be innocent yet logical due to the association he does of his mother with a fish, his way to keep his mother alive even though she is already found dead and blame Peabody for Addie's death. Being naive and innocent is a mixture that gives way for Vardaman's reactions to embrace non-acceptance and as a product, permit him to associate his mother with an animal, a way for his mother to not go from "is" to "was". Moments before her death, Vardaman had caught an enormous fish, and entered the room where his mother laid. He was anx
She suddenly passes away and "from behinds pa's leg Vardaman peers, his mouth full open and all color draining from his face into his mouth. The family places her in the coffin and puts the lid in place. This act expresses clearly how he rejects the fact that Addie is absent. The boy obeys and then returns full of blood from cleaning the fish. He cannot bear the fact that she is dead, therefore treating her as if she were still alive by putting holes in her lid so she can breath. These previous events allow him to state, "My mother is a fish" (Faulkner, 84). A very common response of an individual to someone's death is to relate it or even blame someone for that loss. Vardaman simply associates his past experience, being locked up and unable to breath, with his mother's experience, being locked up in a coffin with a shut lid on top. These links are logical because his reactions are based on his experiences.
Common topics in this essay:
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Dewey Dell,
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William Faulkner,
Addie Bundren,
Finally Vardaman,
Peabody Vardaman,
Lay Dying,
addie's death,
mother alive,
mother fish,
logical reactions,
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mother moments,
combination innocence,
mother transformed,
Cash Cash,
experience locked,
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