Literary Analysis : As I Lay Dying

              In the novel As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner presents the story of a poor rural family in fictional Yoknapatawpha County, the Bundrens, who set out to fulfill their dying mother’s wish. Faulkner utilizes multiple narrators, fifteen in all, and stream of consciousness passages in order to tell the story. This use of multiple perspectives has the effect of forcing the reader to sort through the individual biases and objectivity of the events and insight in each passage. Woven into all the stylistic experimentation is the tragic and ironic story of a family learning to deal with loss, the fleeting idea of existence, the futility of life, and the dynamics of a family.

              In 59 sections, Faulkner employs 15 narrators with varying degrees of intellect and objectivity. The narrators range from the intensely intellectual and insightful Darl, who is able to reveal his family members’ thoughts and uncover their secrets, to the young, imaginative Vardaman who, upon learning of his mother’s death, can only react by comparing her to a fish. We also come to the individual characters’ attitudes towards Addie Bundren and her dying wish to be buried in Jefferson. Anse, Addie’s husband, is portrayed as simple and uneducated through his thoughts and words. We also learn that his desire to bury Addie in Jefferson is partly motivated by his yearning for false teeth. This, followed by his abrupt marriage shortly after his wife’s death, shows his lack of genuine emotion and his selfishness.

                The stream of consciousness style applied by Faulkner allows characters to express whole trains of thought rather than individual insights or emotion. It also allows the characters to communicate in a way that traditional dialogue or their own sense of self will not allow. The communication between characters is sparse and lacks insight. The reader is forced to sort through the thoughts of the characters in order to gain perspective on the relationships between the family members. When Darl and Jewel are returning from their work, Darl intuitively knows that his mother has died while they were away. Both Darl and Jewel find it hard to express their emotions to each other, and instead Faulkner lays out their thoughts in stream-of-consciousness. Darl expresses a sincere level of regret at his mother’s death, while Jewel, Addie’s prized son, expresses a complicated mix of emotions regarding her death.

                The circumstances and social class of the Bundrens have an ironic and deterministic effect on their journey to Jefferson. They are limited by their resources, and must transport Addie’s body and coffin themselves. The journey itself is revealed to be absurd and futile, much like the lives of the characters. The family members question Addie’s insistence on being buried in Jefferson, yet they sacrifice themselves in order to accomplish the dying wish. When Cash breaks his leg, he refuses to complain and may lose his leg due to his refusal of medical attention. This act of selflessness contrasts with Addie’s selfish wish to be buried in Jefferson. The aforementioned passage in which Vardaman compares his mother to a fish serves a purpose other than to expose Vardaman as young and imaginative; it serves as an existential statement. Vardaman is able to make the connection between the fish he recently caught and cleaned, leaving him with parts that don’t look like a fish, to his mother’s death, which leaves her children with memories, resentment, and a body to transport to Jefferson.

                The effect of weaving the dramatic elements of style with such an ironic yet heartening tale of a poor family lend to a fascinating if not challenging read. Also ironically, Faulkner wrote the novel in order to improve the fortunes and finances of his own family, as he set out to write a tour de force. He succeeds with an incredibly poignant and stylized tale capable of deftly exploring the role of family in the social structure.