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As I Lay Dying was the fifth novel by William Faulkner that was published in 1930. Like ‘The Sound and The Fury’, it is also a story of a South American family on the verge of decay. Faulkner employed the stream of consciousness technique to tell the story of the Bundren family of Yoknapatawpha County (fictional) of Jefferson, Mississippi. The story is depicted through 15 characters in 59 chapters of varying length.
Most of the chapters are narrated by the family members though some chapters are narrated by other characters like neighbors, a doctor, local farmers, and a minister. The novel has a very intimate tone while Faulkner presented the story from 15 different points of view narrated by 15 different characters. Darl Bundren is the central character. While many Bundren family members offer interior monologues in the novel, Darl’s monologues are most distinct, clear, and intellectually superior. This novel is considered one of the best of the 20th century.
Characters of As I Lay Dying
Addie Bundren is the matriarch head of the Bundren family who is terminally ill and about to die. She is the wife of Anse Bundren and mother of Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman.
Anse is a poor selfish farmer afflicted with a hunchback. He is the father of all kids of Addie except Jewel’s. Cash Bundren is a skilled carpenter, eldest son of Addie. He is in his late twenties. He shows a strong attachment to his carpenter tools. Darl Bundren is the second son of Addie. He appears to be the most articulate character with high emotional intelligence. He alone narrates 19 chapters out of a total 59.
Jewel Bundren is the third son of Addie, a grown-up youth probably 19 years old. He is the favorite son of Addie, an illegitimate child of Addie, and Reverend Whitfield, a local minister. However, it is a well-kept secret and it appears that only Addie and Whitfield know about this. Dewey Dell Bundren is the fourth child and only daughter of Addie and Anse. She is seventeen years old. A local farmer Lafe impregnates her and gives her $10 to abort the child. Vardaman Bundren is the youngest child of Addie, around 8 years old. He is not mentally sound.
Vernon Tull is a local farmer, a good person with less religious inclination than his wife Cora Tull. Eula Tull and Kate Tull are the two daughters of Vernon and Cora. Peabody is a local doctor. Samson is a farmer of Jefferson, Mississippi who lets the Bundren family stay at his house. Rachel is Samson’s wife. All 15 characters offer their point of view of the incidences depicted in the novel.
Summary of As I Lay Dying
In the beginning, Addie is alive but she is terminally ill and knows that she won’t live for long. Addie is a frustrated person. Despite being the matriarch head of the Bundren family, she always felt as if she was unloved and unwanted by her family and she resents this. She wants to make herself count anyhow and thus she gets involved in an extramarital affair and gives birth to Jewel an illegitimate child. Though nobody is aware of her affair, her frustration keeps building up. She has a nihilistic thought that life is nothing but an extended preparation for death and that is what she prepares for. She holds no love for her husband or any of her children except Jewel. She asks her family to fulfill her death wish which is to be buried at Jefferson after her death. Her only motive for this wish is to somehow trouble her husband and thus, take revenge on Anse for tricking him with words. Addie plans all this while saying Anse "would never know I was taking revenge."
Cash is the calmest son of Addie and despite her negligence, he loves her mother. He is a skilled carpenter and decides to create an impressive coffin for her. He works on the coffin outside the window of the room where she lies dying. Anse sends Darl and Jewel on a lumber shipping job so that they may earn some money that will help the family for the funeral. Darl doesn’t want to go as he knows that it will mean that he and his brother wont be at their mother’s side when she dies. However, he decides to go as the family needs money. During their trip, they meet an accident and are forced to turn back home. But Addie dies before they return.
Cash completes the coffin and the family arranges for the funeral. After the funeral, Darl and Jewel go back to the job to earn some money to fulfill the last wish of their mother. The family sets off to Jefferson with the coffin after they return. Addie’s last wish was to be buried at Jefferson where she took birth. Anse's motivating reason to go to Jefferson, however, is to get fitted for new teeth and, if possible, find a new wife. Two other sons, Darl and Jewel, struggle both with their mother's death and their own mental health. Darl is perceptive and insightful but taunts others mercilessly, while Jewel knows how to express love and affection only through violence because his mother sought violence when she conceived him during an affair with a preacher. Dewey Dell accompanies them. She is a simple young woman who is incapable of forming deep, logically sequenced thoughts, is pregnant and in a hurry to get to Jefferson for an abortion. She is just 17 years old and was tricked by a local farmer Lafe who gave her $10 to abort the child. The youngest son Vardaman is mentally retarded. He is around 8 years old and he confuses his mother with the fish he catches on the day she dies.
It is a hot wet season and suddenly a storm hits out at Jefferson while the Bundren family is on the journey with the coffin. It has been a few days when Addie died and her body start deteriorating, creating a foul smell. The family travels in a wagon and faces many difficulties due to bad heavy rain weather. Anse continues to stubbornly reject help offered by others while claiming he wishes to "be beholden to no man," thus manipulating the would-be lender into giving him charity as a gift not to be repaid. The family is often forced to remain hungry and sleeps in barns as Anse continues to reject any assistance including meals or lodging.
Jewel had a horse that Anse sold against his wishes to get new mules for the wagon. He thinks of leaving the family but decides not to leave them in such a time of tribulation during the journey. As the family wagon crosses the bridge to Jefferson, the mighty river washes off a part of the bridge and the coffin starts going down the river. Cash heroically tries to save the coffin as his most prized carpenter tools were attached to a side of it. While Cash fails to catch the coffin, his tools fall back in the river and he breaks one of his legs while trying to save them. Two of the new mules are also lost during the ordeal. Meanwhile, Jewel saves the coffin in time.
As the body further deteriorates, it creates a horrific stench and the sheriff of Mattson objects to it. Anse argues against him while Cash pretends he is not suffering despite being in pain because of his broken leg. The family buys some cement to put a makeshift cast of concrete on his leg.
The wagon reaches Gillepsie Farm of Samson, a farmer who offers the Bundren family a night stay. Samson’s wife Rachel is not very happy about it and she complains of the extremely foul and unhealthy smell coming out of the coffin. Darl gets too upset with the situation as he could no longer stand what is happening to his mother’s body. He decides to put fire to burn the dead body Addie. The fire spreads and the whole barn gets burned. Meanwhile, Jewel succeeds in saving the coffin again and the foul stench keeps polluting the surrounding. Meanwhile, Cash’s leg gets further deteriorated as he is seriously injured and the makeshift concrete cast has only made matter worse. Samson and Rachel discover the origin of the fire and blame Darl for it. Anse decides to declare Darl mentally insane and agrees to send him to a mental asylum as he doesn’t want to reimburse Samson for the barn that was burnt to ashes.
The family reaches Jefferson on the ninth day. The townspeople notice the stench and complain against it. Anse borrows two shovels from a local lady. Anse and Jewel dig up the grave and at last, they bury the coffin. Each member has their own motives to settle in Jefferson. Cash meets Doctor Peabody who tries to cure his leg. Vardaman continues to confuse his dead mother with the fish that he caught and killed the same day Addie died. Dewey Dell visits a pharmacy for an abortion but fails to ask while the pharmacist tricks her into having sex with him. Later on, Anse threatens Dewey Dell and forces her to hand over the $10 that Lafe gave her for an abortion. Anse decides to get ‘new teeth’ and soon he proposes and marries a local woman of Jefferson from whom he borrowed the shovels. He introduces his new wife and Mrs. Brunden to his family.
So this is it about As I Lay Dying. We will continue to discuss Modern American English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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