Christian Religious Symbols In As I Lay Dying By William Faulkner

Many critics of William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying, can agree that he drew inspiration from the Bible to create many of his allusions, metaphors, and symbols. Other works also reveal his awareness of the Christian mythos. In this novel, Faulkner extends his allusions and symbols to include the Old Testament. He draws upon the Hebraic-Christian tradition of man’s attempts to find meaning in a chaotic and unpredictable world. He exploits symbols from that Hebraic-Christian tradition to enhance the struggles that the Bundren family face to come to terms with the realities of human mortality and to find some meaning in them. Faulkner uses the biblical material to inverse the Christian mythos story and turns them into an ironic dramatization of their original intended meaning. At a surface level, the plot follows the Bundren’s family journey to Jefferson City to bury their mother, but from a thematic and psychological viewpoint, it’s an account of a family pilgrimage to find some meaningful understanding of their connection with their dead mother and living relatives. By doing so, they gain some meaningful understanding of themselves and their world. Each of the characters has his own motivation for going on the pilgrimage. Anse wants to acquire new teeth, Dewey Dell wishes for an abortion, Jewel finds this as an opportunity to show off his horse, Vardaman wants a chance to see the model train, and Darl takes the opportunity to pry into other’s personal business. In William Faulkner’s, As I Lay Dying, he uses these questionable motivations to give thematic weight to the significance of the novel, for each of the characters pilgrimage affords not only the quest for meaning, but also the moral judgement brought onto them by paralleling their decisions, and subsequent moral judgement, to Christian symbolism, metaphors, and allusions.

The narrative technique of using differing, introspective character viewpoints helps both carry the plot along and unearth their attempts to grasp the realities of human mortality. Addie’s corpse becomes the focal point for all of the action in the novel. The decaying corpse is the symbolic representation of each character coming face to face with the aspects of both life and death. Each character is then judged according to how they respond. The journey to Jefferson City is centered around Addie’s coffin. They often find themselves focusing solely on her arrival. The coffin becomes as important to them as the Ark of the Covenant is for the Hebrew people. It becomes a symbol of both salvation and damnation. The coffin is the symbolic hope of their repentance and reconciliation with the moral realities of their existence, yet it is also a physical sign of their failure to do so. Each character in the novel is symbolic of different representations of grief responses to reality.

Anse is a self-centered father who despite all of the events and mishaps on the way to Jefferson, is still the leader of the family group. In the Christian Bible story, Anse fulfills a role much like the Old Testament patriarchs, especially Noah. In the Genesis flood narrative, Noah and his family were spared from the devastation of the flood. Much like Noah’s family being spared, so was the Bundren family and Adie from being washed away. He promises Addie to deliver her dead body to Jefferson. He does this not out of love for Addie, but out of some strange sense of religious expectations. Maybe it’s not expectations at all, but for a more selfish purpose of getting his new teeth. Anse’s warped sense of human emotions causes him to coerce his neighbors and children into putting in more work. In spite of his indifference to actual emotions and lack of decisiveness, he still manages to be the leader of the family.

Dewey Dell is the suggestive symbol of the Virgin Mary and her trip to Bethlehem. Faulkner reverses the traditional Christian birth story of Jesus and the impregnation of Mary. He uses obvious irony by contrasting Mary’s bravery and selflessness to Dewey Dell’s egotistical and failed attempts at an abortion. Throughout the entire novel, Dewey Dell is looking towards Jefferson as the source of her hope and deliverance, but unlike Mary, she finds no hope and no deliverance. She finds only her failure of an unsuccessful attempt at an abortion and is confronted with the knowledge that she must now acknowledge her sinful affair with Lafe. Her unsuccessful attempt to destroy the evidence of her sin is apparent. Dewey Dell is afraid to publicly acknowledge her lapse in judgement and momentary love affair. She has failed to achieve the strength and courage necessary to accept her fate in a responsible manner. The irony assigned to Dewey Dell is apparent by contrasting Mary’s virginity to Dewey Dell’s sexual immorality with Lafe and Macgregor and also, her reluctance in accepting her fate as a mother and trying to cover her sin with an abortion. Faulkner states she not only committed the sin of adultery, but she also committed the sin of egotism and murder (almost).

Vardaman lacks any awareness of the death of his mother. His mind often wanders and presents a strong contrast to the other characters' thoughts and perceptions. His childlike response to faith comes to symbolize the devout believer. His innocent thoughts of life and death are just that, innocent. He doesn’t perceive death in the same light as the older siblings. Right before his mother dies, he brings to the house a fish. Anse orders him to take the fish outside and clean it for supper. Through the death of the fish and the death of his mother, they become identified in his mind as one, much like the Christian Eucharist. He thinks, “then it wasn’t and she was, and it is and she wasn’t. And tomorrow it will be cooked and et and she will be him” (Faulkner 1). Later in the development of Christianity, the fish came to be a symbol of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross and then rose three days later. Vardaman is relating his mother’s death to Jesus Christ. He doesn’t believe that she has died and is no longer going to be in existence. He thinks though she is not there physically, she will be spiritually. He rejects her decaying corpse in the coffin and begins to believe that he will see his mother again someday, “my mother is a fish. Darl says that when we come to the water again I might see her” (Faulkner 1).

Darl can be symbolic of the Genesis story of Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel were the first sons of Adam and Eve. Despite each of their sacrifices to God, Abel’s sacrifices were much more accepted by God. Cain then, out of anger, killed his brother Abel. Darl did not kill his mother, but he can be described as the brother that is not the prized jewel of his mother. His spiral into insanity parallels Cain’s own path for revenge against his brother. Darl’s lingering around the home and collecting information on the family can also be a symbol of a prophecy. He knows about Dewey Dell’s pregnancy, Jewel’s illegitimacy, and Anses unfaithfulness to Addie. His inability to cope with the realities and coupling his obsession with spying, ultimately bring his demise. He can not accept the brutal and harsh realities of life, which leads to his mental breakdown. Darl tries to burn Addie’s corpse. This can be an interpretation of his need to symbolically destroy the chaos, death, and ambiguity surrounding him. His unsuccessful attempt at destroying the events that plague his mind ultimately destroy him. God punished Cain to a life of wandering for killing his brother. Darl’s mind is now on the same journey as Cain’s physical wandering.

Jewel, the favorite child and product of infidelity, represents God’s favorite Abel. Abel supplied God with the best sacrifices and produce. Jewel is Addie’s favorite child. Addie allows Jewel to dominate her thoughts and emotions, ultimately excluding the other children from sharing in her love. Jewel could also come to symbolize Moses. Moses followed God’s directions and saved the Israelites from the Pharisees. Moses led the Israelites to safety just like how Jewel led his family to Jefferson. He not only helped guide the family along but he also saved Addie from the burning barn. Moses also communicated with God through the burning bush. In Christianity, the burning bush became an important symbol to many Christians and Jews. The light of the burning bush represents God’s love, illumination, and clarity. Jewel ended up gaining some clarity after the burial of his mother. He was on a quest from Addie to bury her dead body in Jefferson.

There are many religious Christian symbols in As I Lay Dying, from the Genesis story of the flood, Cain and Abel, and the burning bush. Faulkner uses direct reference to judgement, showing how each character is judged based on their moral behavior. The characters' understanding of their sin and judgment occur only in relation to their actions of confronting the experiences on the journey. The characters are either damned or saved according to their responses. They each fail to gain an insight into the realities and nature of a meaningful existence. The novel is a reflection of self-centered characters becoming mature through their need to face reality. Their maturing through their suffering.

Works Cited

• Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying, www.fadedpage.com/books/20171024/html.php.