William Faulkner clearly displays that Addie Bundren and her 2nd born boy Darl Bundren, are the two cardinal figures in the novel As I Lay Diing. Despite the fact that Addie is non populating for the bulk of the novel, and there is merely one chapter written in her position, her kernel is mostly a portion of the secret plan. And although there is a deficiency of progressive penetration into Addie ‘s head, it can be attempted to construe Addie ‘s motivations for her deceasing petition and in that procedure understand why her household goes through such lengths to carry through it.
Addie Bundren bore no love for her household. Faulkner typifies her run-of-the-mill matrimony with Anse as holding zero emotional connexion. In Addie ‘s lone soliloquy, she casts off their wooing with the blunt words: “ So I took Anse ” . In her chapter we besides learn that she felt dismissed by her male parent in her dramatic comment, “ I would detest my male parent for holding of all time planted me. ” Probably as a consequence of this disregard, she struggled to experience that others were cognizant of her presence, and she became defeated that even her matrimony with Anse failed to “ go against ” her solitariness. Consequently she built her life around force. After Cash was born, she states that her solitariness “ had ne’er been violated until Cash came. Not even by Anse in the darks ” . In other words, their relationship was tiring and meaningless. She began to spot that words are useless, and when Anse said “ love ” it meant nil to her ( 170-172 ) .
Coercing the hard journey to Jefferson upon Anse was an act of retaliation, and a concluding effort to do her presence known. She felt that Anse had failed to assist her achieve consciousness. Therefore, by demanding her household to bury her cadaver in Jefferson ; she would burthen herself as a world to others. In her selfish effort to turn out that she was more than merely “ useless words ” , Addie Bundren ‘s program backfired.
With Cash, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman, Addie fails in her program to coerce consciousness of her upon them. Merely capable to contemplate one undertaking at a clip, Cash is at peace with the universe. Slow and meticulously obsessed with the building of his female parent ‘s casket ; Addie ‘s decease does non busy his head. Therefore, Addie failed to perforate Cash ‘s consciousness. Dewey Dell is preoccupied with her unexpected gestation and is merely interested in sing the pharmaceutics in Jefferson. Therefore she convinces Vardaman who is more baffled with the state of affairs than anything. In an effort to apologize his female parent ‘s decease he becomes obsessed with the thought that his female parent is a fish. In his infantile head: the twenty-four hours his female parent died a fish died as good, so they must be one in the same. Consequently, he is more concerned about the plaything train that Dewey Dell bribed him with than even the malodor of the casket.
Addie ‘s attempts to coerce consciousness of herself on her household fail with Anse every bit good. Anse is rather content with going to Jefferson-not out of regard for the dead. It seems that, along with Cash, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman, the Bundrens are instead comfy with decease because they have their ain subterranean motivations for going to Jefferson. Anse reveals himself as a dissembler by continually knocking his kids for holding deficiency of regard for their dead female parent while, “ Supreme beings will be done ” and subsequently, “ now I can acquire them teeth. That will be a comfort ” is the extent of his feelings ( 111 ) . Addie ‘s vindictive demand crippled even more when it ironically affected Darl and Jewel the most-the two people who she likely least intended to impact.
After Addie ‘s affect on the Bundrens has been established, the character Darl Bundren can be analyzed. There is small uncertainty that William Faulkner intended Darl to be the primary storyteller of the narrative. Darl ‘s importance is non merely apparent through complex idea procedures and deep apprehension of the other members of his household, but besides in the fact that all of import events of the novel are seen through his eyes.
Unlike the other members of his household, Darl is capable of understanding the feelings of others-especially Jewel and Dewey Dell. Detecting the relationship between Addie and Jewel, he finally figures out that Jewel ‘s male parent is non Anse. Tension between Darl and Jewel rises as he holds this over Jewel ‘s caput by teasing him, “ your female parent was a Equus caballus ” , mentioning to Jewel ‘s Equus caballus that he loves as a replacement for Addie, “ but who was your male parent, Jewel? ” ( 212 ) . Darl ‘s twits stem from the fortunes of his ain birth: neglected by Addie, he does non hold a female parent. Darl cruelly uses this to his advantage by taking Jewel off from Addie ‘s Death bed. “ ‘It agencies three dollars ‘ ” Darl says, converting Anse to allow Jewel and him finish a occupation that would necessitate them to be off during Addie ‘s decease ( 19 ) . The tenseness rapidly escalates when Jewel sells his Equus caballus. When Darl is taken off to Jackson, Jewel ‘s voice can be heard over the shrieks of Dewey Dell and Vardaman, “ Kill him. Kill the boy of a bitch ” ( 238 ) .
Not merely does Darl perforate Jewel ‘s consciousness, his insight allows him to project himself into Dewey Dell ‘s head every bit good. He knows his sister ‘s secret-her gestation. She feels “ bare ” as Darl stares at her during the waggon drive to Jefferson, but he refuses to take any definite action. Therefore, tenseness rises between Dewey Dell and her brother until she interruptions and violently lashes out at Darl. At first it is merely a dream, “ I killed Darl ” she dreams of knifing him with a knife ( 121 ) . But, when Darl is taken off to Jackson “ it was Dewey Dell that was on him before even Jewel could acquire at him ” ( 237 ) .
Although, Darl appears to travel insane at the terminal of the novel, his narrative has to be trusted throughout the novel in order to grok the narrative. This is because it is through Darl that the reader learns of several of import parts of the narrative. His soliloquies describe to the reader of the scenes of: lading the casket, Jewel obtaining his Equus caballus, the crossing of the river, the recovery of Cash ‘s tools, the combustion of the barn, and of several descriptive descriptions of Jewel and Anse. It is questionable whether or non Darl really went brainsick at the terminal of the narrative. Faulkner flips the reader ‘s sentiment of Darl upside down in Darl ‘s concluding soliloquy. It consists of him holding a conversation with himself, clearly a mark of insanity. Although Darl ‘s eccentric actions such as firing down the Gilespie ‘s barn, express joying uncontrollably and mentioning to himself in 3rd individual ( 253 ) seems like every ground to believe that he is insane, his actions can be justified. Possibly Darl ‘s mental high quality over the remainder of his household caused him to acknowledge the absurdity of harmfully transporting a decomposition cadaver 40 stat mis to be buried. As a consequence, firing down the barn was his effort at respectfully cremating Addie ‘s organic structure. And possibly his laughter at the scene of his going to Jackson may hold been his reaction to the absurd state of affairs. Last, when he refers to himself in 3rd individual, possibly he was merely recognizing what others have been believing about him.
One of the greatest sarcasms in the book is Darl ‘s day of reckoning. The lone member of the Bundren household able to hold on the complexnesss of life is sent to the insane refuge while the staying members-including the most insane character Anse-are free. With Dewey Dell destined to give birth to her kid, Cash with an even more halt leg, and Anse with a new bride, a complete alien to the reader, the narrative ends. Ultimately, Addie Bundren finds her resting topographic point in Jefferson and the dysfunctional Bundren household remains ungratified. Possibly Addie succeeded in her retaliation, after all.
