Addie In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

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When discussing Addie's sole chapter in class, everyone had a hay-day ripping on the poor, dead woman and we found out that she was not really so poor anyways. The class dappled back and forth on the subject of if Addie really does love her family or if she is even capable of loving anyone, much like the light dappled back and forth on Darl's body as he weeped on top of his mother's coffin. But what if Addie's chapter didn't exsist? We would have never been able to take a glimpse inside her surprising mind and would still feel sympathy for her and the struggle her family is making to bury her body all the way in Jefferson. We would have never understood the strange mindset she has about life and about her role as a mother. If Addie's character did not exsist, there would not even be a book, no plot line! William Faulkner would have named As I Lay Dying, As I Die Sitting on my Butt Doing Absolutely Nothing at All. While Addie is dead for most of the novel and we do not get a chance to pick at her brain much, Faulkner's only integration of her mind is a vital part of the story. The first we see of Addie is in…show more content…
It not only changes our view on Addie, but our view on the novel as a whole. Addie's voice is imparative to the reader's outlook and while we can sense it through the voices of others, her chapter best sums up her mind. So, what if Addie's chapter did not exsist? For one, we would never have comprehended her mind and the way it twists around things like how she feels about her children and husband. We would have all thought of her as still the same loving mother who watches her son, Cash, methodically build her coffin not because she is ready and wanting soon to be in it, but because he is her son and she loves to see him work. And I know for sure if Addie's chapter was never written, that our English round table discussions would have never been as

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