As I Lay Dying Speech Analysis

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William Faulkner, author of As I Lay Dying, won a Noble Prize for Literature in 1949. Despite his thick country accent Faulkner gave a speech depicting love, compassion, pity, pride, honor and sacrifice. Addressing the young people about how to use their feelings to write their books. In which Faulkner did use his feelings in writing As I Lay Dying. “I feel that this award was not made to me as a man but to my work.” (Faulkner, pg 1) This excerpt from his speech shows the readers that Faulkner does use his emotions to write his books. One of Faulkner’s characters named Vardaman, an 8 year old boy, shows great love for his mother. The loss of his mother affected him very badly in which he began to “vomit the crying.” (AILD, pg 54) In meaning that the death of his mother made him cry so badly he was unable to stop crying. His compassion for his mother is very strong. With the love and compassion Vardaman has for his mother shows that he has tremendous respect for his mother. Nevertheless, Faulkner felt pity for Vardaman because he, Vardaman, couldn’t comprehend the death of his mother, so he says, “My mother is a fish.” (AILD, pg 84) On the other hand Cash, the eldest child age 28, shows pride and honor. Cash shows pride in his work. Specifically, when working on his mother’s coffin. “Addie Bundren could not want a…show more content…
As love, honor, pity, sacrifice, pride, and compassion. Giving those emotions in the story gives each character heart, instead of a book that does not have any emotions. As said in Faulkner’s speech. “He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed – love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.” (Faulkner, pg

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