The Themes In As I Lay Dying By William Faulkner

The novel As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner presents an in-depth insight into the Bundrens family and presents a detailed analysis into each of the characters in the novel. The novel shows the journey that the Bundren family goes through with the corpse of their dying mother. Throughout the novel, the protagonists and narrators are changed from family member to family member, providing us with a direct insight into the dynamics and relationships between each character in the novel. The novel provides a gruesome yet comic view into how the lines between life and death are blurred, and the troubles that Addie Bundren (the matriarch) gives to her family with her last dying wish. This novel has Christian themes, a lot of symbolism, but most importantly has a constant change in perspective, switching the narration from different characters in the family.

William Faulkner, the author of As I Lay Dying was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature for his works in short stories, and novels. As I Lay Dying, is known to be one of his key important works, as it pushes the bounds of how storytelling is done in novels. The novel was written in the 1920s, following world war one. The novel itself presents a comic perspective to death and last wishes and also presents different themes that are philosophical. Faulkner was a religious Christian, as many were during that time, and as a consequence, his beliefs are reflected constantly throughout the novel. Ideas such as abortion, are looked down upon in the novel.

When examining the time era that William Faulkner was living in, it becomes apparent that the novel is reflective of the great depression that plagued much of the southern united states at that time. During the great depression time era, suicide rates were at an all-time high. Faulkner provides an insight into issues in mental health during a time period where discussions on mental health were taboo, through the character of Darl. “By presenting the tale of the Bundren family with such a degree of poignancy that it made reviewers at the time uncomfortable, Faulker gets at the reality of life. He doesn’t shy away from Darl’s madness, rather he uses the stream of consciousness narration to expose it. By employing this mode of narration, it makes all of the characters seem a bit mad, and it makes mental illness more accessible to readers than was considered customary in the early 1930s in America” (Ebby, 2018).

Faulkner, being a Christian presents many concepts in this novel which align with Catholicism. Particularly, in the view where adulterers are used and have bad luck following them. Addie, the mother who is dead was seen as a character that was not loyal to her husband, and therefore her body was treated so poorly. In many ways, Addie was alive till she was buried, and in the novel where she herself spoke (to provide the context of her past), she spoke about cheating on her husband, remembering her marriage with Anse, and cheating with the minister Whitfield. The bastard child Jewel was always treated disrespectfully in the novel and looked down upon. Also, the concept of abortion was looked down upon and Dewey Dell had struggled with getting exploited by characters in this novel due to the fact that she was pregnant with a child without being married. All of these themes in the novel align with Christian morals, as well as provide perspective on how the family is being punished for their sins that align with Faulkeners beliefs.

Furthermore, in the 1920s when this novel was written Poverty was rampant. Themes from the novel present the struggles that the family has to face going through such deprived circumstances. In fact, out of the many books that Faulkner wrote, this was primarily the novel that most reflected the great depression as the entire family was relatively poor, and sought out refuge with more wealthier families. “On October 24, 1929, the day before Faulkner began writing As I Lay Dying, the American stock market crashed. This financial disaster ended a period of post-World War 1 economic expansion and marked the beginning of the Great Depression of the 1930s” (Napierkowski).

“Why, for the last three weeks I have been coming over every time I could…Not that I deserve credit for it: I will expect the same for myself. But thank God it will be the faces of my loved kin, for my blood and flesh, for in my husband and children I have been more blessed than most, trials though they have been at times. ” (Faulkner, 118). This quote presents us with a context that the family is going through and aligns with the poverty that is present from the great depression. Faith in God is the only thing that has allowed the family to go through these tough trails and times.

Further analysis into Faulkner's life shows that during the time when Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying, he had recently been very upset due to the fact that the women he was dating at the time had married a rich and wealthy lawyer. There is a strong parallel between this fact and the fact that Addie was unhappy with her marriage and started an affair with the local minister. The themes of depression and loneliness and cheating are reflective in the novel that he wrote. Isolation and depression are themes that are most relatable to Darl, as we can see from his narration Darl is completely isolated, and going through pain. Themes of depression are also prevalent in Cash, who goes through much of the novel with a broken leg and continues to put in effort even though he does not address his underlying issues.

When discussing the context of characters in this novel, the character of Cash presents a Christ-like figure, who is a carpenter like Jesus was. The fact that he has a broken leg and is suffering due to the sins of his family tremendously throughout the entire novel is reflective of Christ. Even him, carrying the coffin at the beginning of the novel while he has a broken leg, and also building the coffin is similar to that of carrying the cross, throughout the novel, he remains faithful to Addie and goes through tremendous pain for her. Throughout the novel, Faulkner presents insight into the mind of each character, switching narration as the novel progresses. Much of the novel is narrated by different characters, which provides us insight into the major theme of alienation which is prevalent in this family. When Cash speaks to Darl, he expresses his craziness “Sometimes I aint so sho who’s got ere a right to say when a man is crazy and when he aint…It’s like it aint so much what a fellow does, but it’s the way the majority of folks is looking at him when he does it. ” (Falkner 125). He talks about how he has the right to act how he does, and even though people think he is crazy to do what he does, he has morally justified it himself.