As I Lay Dying Analytical Essay

In the novel, As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, two characters ,Darl and Jewel Bundren, each cope with their mother’s death and deal with their isolation from their family by expressing their feelings in deeply emotional behavior. Darl, the second eldest sibling out of five, questions his existence because of his isolation and the lack of love he received from his mother growing up. Jewel, on the other hand, was his mother’s favorite of all five of her children. Jewel was the bastard son of Addie Bundren and the minister she had an affair with, Whitfeld. Due to the violent situation by which he was conceived, Jewel expresses all of his actions, including love, through violence and hatred. Both Darl and Jewel Bundren, convey their isolation through the manner they were conceived and raised by their mother, Addie.

Darl was driven insane through his lack of a definite way of identifying himself, due to the limited amount of love he received from his mother. For example, Darl remembers seeing his mother crying besides Jewel’s bed, thinking “She cried hard, maybe because she had to cry so quiet; maybe because she felt the same way about tears she did about deceit, hating herself for doing it, hating him because she had to (32 136).” He knew Jewel was his mother’s favorite. Darl could see through Addie’s tears and realized he was unloved by his mother. In addition, when Addie explains her pregnancy with Darl she exclaims, “Then I found that I had Darl. At first I would not believe it.

Green 2

Then I believed that I would kill Anse. It was though he had tricked me, hidden within a word like within a paper screen and struck me in the back through it (40 172).” Addie’s isolation from Anse contributed to help mold Darl into who he is. Darl feels loneliness and uncertainty, just like his mother Addie did. Darl’s lack of love and his confusion of why Addie favored Jewel, eventually led to his future outcome.

Although Jewel was favored by his mother Addie, Jewel’s deep hatred for his step-father, Anse, and his violent character causes him to feel isolation