William Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying'

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Composition- Faulkner – AILD - Essay. The novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner indicates the action that occurs simultaneously to the matriarch dying. Through the journey, the readers not only experience the aftermath of Addie’s death, but also they experience the dying relationship of the Bundren’s Family, the dying values of each narrator, and the death of society’s moral values. Faulkner’s choice or narration, stream of consciousness could not be any more perfect. The Bundrens have not form of civilized communication. They always end up disagreeing with each other. This has created intense barriers in their family life and has pushed away the possibility of being a normal family. In the novel, one realizes that Addie’s children resent each other and they are always competing for their mothers love. "If everybody wasn’t burning hell to get her there, with Cash all day long right under the window, hammering and sawing at that…" (6) Clearly from this statement, Jewel felt that his family was exaggerating the issue of Addie’s death. He is not very attached to his mother as the rest of the family. In respond to his remark Anse said, "It was her wish, you got…show more content…
Addie had an affair with the minister. (60) The fact that the affair was with “a man of God” makes it worse. The minister goes around telling people to do good but he goes forth and sins. When Dewey Dell went to the pharmacy to try and have her abortion, the assistant pharmacist saw that she was "a pretty hot mamma, for a country girl," (83) and he decided to take advantage of her lack of wisdom. Anse is another great example of the death of the morals of society. He went through all the struggle to get his family and his dead wife to Jefferson while all along he had other intentions. He was ready to get rid of Addie because he found himself a “new Mrs. Bundren.” (90) One realizes that Anse is full of deceit and

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