Bauby And As I Lay Dying

Sharon Yun March 2009
E701 period 8 Ms. Rosen
Senior Thesis Final

Humans have the ability to be at their very best when things get rough. Unfortunate circumstances they must face include overcoming death of a dear person or living life with a handicap. It's fascinating to see how people find their inner strength to live life to the fullest. Life will never be a smooth line and it surely will have bumps and turns throughout. In literature, many novels show characters dealing with their conflicts. Two works of literature that shows the idea of overcoming life are The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, a memoir by Jean Dominique Bauby, and As I Lay Dying, a novel by William Faulkner. These two works of…show more content…
For instance, “His pop's throat is tight, his hands are sunburned, and his bottom hurts from sitting on it too long, but he has had a wonderful day. And what about you kids, what will you carry back from this field trip into my endless solitude” (75). This quotation is very emotional as Bauby feels so incapable as a father to his two beloved children. Despite this tragedy, Bauby still stayed strong with his life as a handicap. In the book, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, the importance of family bonds was expressed. This novel emphasized more on family bonds. The value of family bonds were displayed as the Bundren family cooperated and fought against hardships life together. The importance of family, shows struggling in issues in life, such as social classes and the importance of hardships. As their mother, Addie dies, the Bundrens learn to cooperate and work together to fulfill their mother's wish. According to Daniel J. Singal, "Two things are especially striking in this sequence: the way all the characters, in one form or another, take on maternal roles towards boys or young men...”…show more content…
Everyone has their rough times, but we do not give up. Instead, we get back up on our feet and find a way to cope with it. Along the way, people help each other become supportive as well. As Darl said in As I Lay Dying, “Life was created in the valleys. It blew up into the hills on the old terrors, the old lusts, the old despairs. That's why you must walk up the hills so you can ride down” (217).

Works Cited

Bauby, Jean-Dominique. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. Memoir. First Vintage International Edition. July 1998. 17, 75, 82
Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. Book. Random House Edition. 1990. 51, 56-57, 217
Hunter, Douglas, Lewith, George T., Schwartz, Gary E.R. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Comp. September 1, 1997, 3(3): 297-299. doi:10.1089/acm.1997.3.297. Google Scholar Search. 13 Feb. 2009 .
Singal, Daniel J. “Fierce, Small, and Impregnably Virginal,” “Into the Void”. The Making of a Modernist. Book. The University of North Carolina Press, 1997. 77, 144-53, 164, 171.
Weinstein, Philip M. “Faulkner and Post Modernism,” “A European Perspective,” “(Un)Making The Father”. The Cambridge Companion to William Faulkner. Book. Cambridge University Press 1995. 48, 83,