As I Lay Dying Style paper 2011
Poetic Description
 Darl – The Coffin
“The lantern sits on a stump. Rusted, grease-fouled, its cracked chimney smeared on
one side with a soaring smudge of soot, it shed a feeble and sultry glare upon the
trestles and the boards and the adjacent earth. Upon the dark ground the chips look
like random smears of soft pale on a black canvas. The boards look like long smooth
tatters torn from the flat darkness and turned backside out” (Faulkner 75).
o The lantern is personified, and represented as a life-sustaining force.
o The lantern is a symbol of Addie Bundren.
o As people come nearer to their death, they appear weak and tarnished.
Similarly, the lantern becomes old and tarnished so the light it sheds
becomes weak and dim. Both signify a gloomy end.
o The trestles and boards refer to the coffin Cash is building.
o The coffin is described as grim because they are said to be pieces ripped
from darkness.
o The author opens with this quote to hint or foreshadow the fate of Addie
Bundren and what to expect in the upcoming chapter. It shows how the
mind of Darl works; he takes the images from the environment and makes
them realistic and connects it with another idea or thing.
 Darl - Time
"It is as though the space between us were time: an irrevocable quality. It is as though
time, no longer running straight before us in a diminishing line, now runs parallel
between us like a looping string, the distance being the doubling accretion of the
thread an not the interval between" (Faulkner 146).
o In this passage Darl explores the idea of time. By using similes and repetition,
Faulkner effectively creates a passage about the strange qualities of time
through the character Darl.
o Darl thinks about the space between himself and his family. The space seems
odd to Darl; he compares the time between him and his family to a “looping
string.” The theory evolving in Darl’s mind is difficult to grasp. The superior
diction and abstractness force the reader to submerge himself or herself into
the world and language of Darl.
o The passage is effective due to the strong and acute diction in a poetic
language, and the compelling reference to time and a “looping string.”
Faulkner wants readers to sink into the mind of Darl by convincing readers of
his “All-seeing eye” of knowledge.
 Darl – Cash speaking
"When something is new and hard and bright, there ought to be something a little
better for it than just being safe, since the safe things are just the things that folks
have been doing so long they have worn the edges off and there’s nothing to the
doing of them that leaves a man to say, That was not done before and it cannot be
done again."
o The passage before is about Cash and how he knows about Jewels
sneaking out. When Cash says the statement above, he thinks Jewel is
going to see a woman.
o Cash's oral language is great and makes Jewel' behavior seem almost
heroic. He really glorifies Jewel here.
o The comment is interesting, deep and philosophical; it is about a man's
quest to push the boundaries further and do new things.
o The statement is profound and bold. Faulkner's genius emerges through
such descriptions and enriches the novel with lines that are otherwise quite
bland and insignificant.
Repetition of Words
“He could do so much for me if he just would…He could do everything for me…He
don’t even know it…He could do so much for me and he don’t know it. He don’t even
know it” (Faulkner 58-59).
“I heard that my mother id dead. I wish I had time to let her die. I wish I had time to
wish I had. It is because in the wild and outraged earth too soon too soon too soon. It’s
not that I wouldn’t and will not it’s that it is too soon too soon too soon.”
“Darl he went to Jackson is my brother Darl is my brother…Darl went to Jackson. Lots
of people didn’t go to Jackson. Darl is my brother. My brother is going to
Jackson…Going on the train to Jackson…Darl is my brother. Darl went crazy…He went
to Jackson. He went crazy and went to Jackson both…Darl is my brother. My brother
Darl” (Faulkner 249).
Dewey Dell repeats the fact that Peabody has the potential to do so much for her and rid
her of her unwanted, unborn child. She repeats it in order to emphasize the importance of
having this abortion. Her repetition amplifies her loneliness she feels in that no one is
able to help her because no one knows of her troubles. She also repeats the words “too
soon” which makes us aware that she truly has not had time to grieve her mother’s death.
She has been focused on herself and her issues that she has not had time. The repetition
gives us the impression that she feels some guilt for not taking the time to miss her like
she should and that she wishes she had just a little more time with her mother. In the last
example, Vardaman speaks of Darl and his trip to Jackson. His repetition of words here
exemplifies his immaturity and inexperience in life. He is confused about why Darl is on
a train by himself and why he went crazy. The repetition helps him to convince himself
that this is actually happening and to make more sense of the situation. Repetition of
words within a chapter can reveal much about the narrator as well as their current feeling,
preoccupation and priorities.
Tone
“I said You dont know what worry is. I dont know what it is. I dont know whether I am
worrying or not. Whether I can or not. I dont know whether I can cry or not. I feel like a
wet seed wild in the hot blind earth” (Dewey Dell 64).
—It makes sense for Dewey Dell to speak this way because of the situation she is in.
With all that is going on in her life, she does not know how to feel about anything. She is
upset that Peabody does not know she wants him to give her an abortion, and is too
caught up in her emotions to feel anything for her mother’s death. After repeating “I dont
know” so many times, we feel her confusion and can coincide with her mixed feelings.
“I said if you’d just let her alone. Sawing and knocking, and keeping the air always
moving so fast on her face that when you’re tired you cant breathe it, and that goddamn
adze going One lick less. One lick less […] One lick less and we could be quiet” (Jewel
15).
—After reading this, we can feel the irritation in Jewel’s voice. He is the only one who is
clearly focused on his mother’s death. Jewel feels everyone is trying to rush her to die,
and we can tell how he is absolutely frustrated and annoyed with this once he uses a curse
word in the middle of a run-on sentence. The repetitiveness of his words add to the
overall tone, for when a person becomes narrow-minded, he or she begins to repeat
themselves.
Symbolism
 Vardaman’s Fish
“Jewel’s mother is a horse. My mother is a fish. Darl says that when we come to the water
again I might see her and Dewey Dell said She’s in the box; how could she have got out? She
got out through the holes I bored, into the water I said, and when we come to the water again
I am going to see her. My mother is not in the box. My mother does not smell like that. My
mother is a fish” (Faulkner 196).
“Then I begin to cry. I can feel where the fish was in the dust. It is cut up into pieces
of not-fish now, not0blood on my hands and overalls.” (Faulkner 53).


Vardaman is a child; he associates his mother’s death with the fish he
killed. Thus, his mother is the fish.
The fish is cut up and then it is a “not-fish”, or not the same fish, just like
Addie is in a different state then when she was alive; she is not his
mother. The fish seems to be experiencing the same things as Addie as
she dies.


Vardaman attempts to make his mother alive by drilling holes in the
coffin, he is not drilling her face on purpose, but if she is alive she needs
air. He believes she is no longer in the box; she is like the fish, in the
water.
He finds closure in thinking that he can find his mother in the water.
 Cash’s Tools
“’What is Cash?’ Dewey Dell said. She leaned down. ‘His tools,’ she said. Dewey
Dell lifted Cash’s head so he could see” (Faulkner 181).
“It won’t balance. If they want it to tote and ride on a balance, they will have”
(Faulkner 96).
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
When Cash is not in close approximation with his tools, he looses his self.
His tools define him. He can not even finish his sentences because he is
interrupted by his family members because he can’t be seen as himself,
unless he is working with tools.
Tools are what Cash turn to in order to move on from Addie’s death.
Cash has seven tools in his tool box; there are seven Bundrens’. Each tool
has own unique qualities that can correlate with each other, making
either a good or bad result—similar to the Bundren’s themselves.
The tools symbolize the family—when the tools scatter in the water, it
isn’t Cash who jumps in to retrieve them. By losing the tools, the
Bundren’s feel they are losing Cash because the tools are symbolic of
Cash’s character.
 Eyes
Darl-“Jewel’s eyes look like pale wood in his high-blooded face” (Faulkner 17).
Tull- “His eyes look like pieces of burnt-out cinder fixed in his face, looking out
over the land” (Faulkner 32).
Both characters refer to Jewel’s eyes as wooden-like; setting him
apart from the rest of the family.
Cora-“two candles when you watch them gutter down into the sockets of iron
candlesticks” (Faulkner 23).
Peabody- “She looks at me. Her eyes look like lamps blaring up just before the oil
is gone” (Faulkner 45).
Darl- “She looks like Vardaman; her eyes, the life in them, rushing suddenly
upon them; the two flames glare up for a steady instant. They go out as though
someone had leaned down and blown upon them” (Faulkner 48).

Addie has eyes like that of fire, which is clearly burning out as she
dies.
Dewey Dell- “And I did not think that Darl would, that sits at the supper table
with his eyes gone further than the food and the lamp, full of the land dug out of
his skull and the holes filled with distance beyond the land” (Faulkner 27).
Anse- “…with his eyes full of the land, because the land laid up-and-down ways
and his eyes still wasn’t till that ere road come and switched the land around

long ways and his eyes still full of the land, that they begin to threaten out of
him, trying to short-hand me with the law.





Dewey Dell and Anse both talk about the land running out of
Darl’s eyes.
Eyes are symbolic of an insight into the character; foreshadows
Darl’s insanity
The book focuses us to view different characters’ perspectives, but
the connections made through eye description, indicate similarity
between characters.
Dewey Dell is obsessed with Darl’s eyes because he knows her
secret, thus she feels threatened by his eyes like he is looking right
through her.
Both Addie and Jewel are described with having “burnt-out” eyes,
thus showing their strong connection/relationship.
Tull—
“…big-eyed he was watching it, like he was to a circus” (124).
“When I come up she looked around at me, her eyes kind of blaring and going
hard like I had made to touch her” (124).
“Darl was looking at me, and Cash turned and looked at me with that look in his
eyes like when he was figuring on whether the planks would fit that night…”
(124).
“I always say it aint never been what he done so much or said anything so much
as how he looks at you. Its like he had got inside of you, someway. Like
somehow you was looking at yourself and your doing outen his eyes” (125).
“Jewel looks at me. His eyes look like pieces of broken plate” (126).

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
The scene when Tull joins the Bundren’s by river; each character
looks at him in different ways, none speaking, but he can still tell
a lot about them.
Vardaman is the innocent child who is overwhelmed with taking
his frantic environment.
Dewey Dell shows sexual resentment, suspicious and guarded
because of her secret.
Darl’s gaze is mysterious; with an overpowering desire to observe
his environment. On such a level that makes everyone around him
uncomfortable.
Jewel shows independence and frustration. His glare shows his
grief of Addie’s death and the humiliation his family is facing.
Figurative Language
Simile “If I jump I can go through it like the pink lady in the circus, into the warm
smelling, without having to wait” (54).Simile –Jewel- “Upon his face the rain streams,
slow as cold glycerin…He moves again and falls to shifting the planks, picking them up,
laying them down again carefully, as though they are glass” (78).
Faulkner uses figurative language to create images in the readers mind. Similes especially
enable him to provide a clear description of events, people, and setting. He describes
Jewel lays down the planks gently. However, he expands on that detail with a simile. By
adding “as though they are glass”, one truly understands just how careful Jewel carries
out his work. The reader not only received vivid imagery but, character insight as well.
(In this case into Jewel).
Irony
Whitfield
Faulkner uses Whitfield as a medium to comment on the hypocrisy of religion and it’s
followers. Whitfield believes that his efforts; the mere courage and desire to confess is
enough to be forsaken. In the mind of Whitfield, he is being noble and true to the
principles that he has vowed upon. In reality, Whitfield cannot comprehend the invalidity
of his pursuit. He does not concern himself with such things for the etrnuos effort to get
to the home of the Bundrens was so strenuous that “it was as though it were done.”
Whitfield is more concerned with his image and the consequences HE will endure if he is
not the first one to confess. He dare not allow the “sin of her broken vow upon [his]
soul.”
Dewey Dell
Dewey Dell ironically parallels the life of her mother when she unwillingly becomes
pregnant. She feels stuck in her circumstances and does anything within her power to rid
herself of her unwanted child. Similarly to her mother, the child was not her choice and
now she must go through with the pregnancy with not a single woman figure in which
she can confide to. Instead it was brought to upon her by shameful circumstances.
Colloquialism
“He kilt her,” he says. He begins to cry.
“Hush.”
“She never hurt him and he come and kilt her.”
“Hush.” He struggles. I hold him. “Hush.”
“He kilt her.” (63)
“Hurt?” Darl says.
“It don’t bother none,” Cash says.
“Do you want pa to drive slower?” Darl says.
“No,” Cash says. “Aint no time to hang back. It don’t bother none.” (196)
The use of colloquialism in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying is consistent throughout
the novel. Almost all of the characters have some form of colloquialism in their
narrations and dialogues. Through the use of this type of diction, the characters become
more real and gain a distinct personality. Vardaman’s dialogue reveals his naïve and
young nature, while Cash seems hardened, as if he does not have much to say.
Diction

“That’s what they mean by the womb of time: the agony and the despair of
spreading bones, the hard girdle in which lie the outrages entrails of events,”
(121- Dewey Dell)
o This is an eloquent form of Dewey Dell’s thoughts.
o Where they once used to be simple, Faulkner changes his style with this
character in order to show growth.
o “Pa dassent sweat because he will catch his death from the sickness so
everybody that comes to help us,” (26- Dewey Dell)


The grammar is flawed, hinting at an uneducated narrator
“No you never, I says, because its always men cant rest till they gets the house set
where everybody that passes in a wagon can spit in the doorway, keeping the
folks restless and wanting to get up and go somewhere else when He aimed for
them to stay put like a tree of a stand of corn.” (Anse 36)
o Simple yet cohesive
o Faulkner uses a folksy and simplistic tone to assert a complex and
understandable thought

Done to show how the fumbling character that is Anse can have a
cohesive and complex thought.
Colloquialism
1) “He had a word, too. Love, he called it. But I had been used to words for a long
time. I knew that word was like others: just shape to fill a lack; that when the
right time came, you wouldn’t need a word for that anymore than for pride or
fear.” – Addie ( 172)
2) “Nonsense,” Anse said; “you and me aint nigh done chapping yet, with just two.”
–Addie (173)
3) “Durn him. I showed him. Durn him.” –Vardaman (56)
Explanation:
One of the writing styles that William Faulkner uses in As I Lay Dying includes
colloquialism. Colloquialism is an ordinary conversation, rather than formal speech or
writing. When Addie Bundren speaks, it is noticeable that she is educated, and doesn’t fit
in with the southerners. Anse is the complete opposite of his wife Addie. In his
monologue, it is noticeable that he is uneducated and rural. Faulkner does this to make
the story more believable/real to the reader.
Diction
Darl: “Upon the impalpable plane of it their shadows form as upon a wall, as
though like sound they had not gone very far away in falling but had merely congealed
for a moment, immediate, and musing” (76).
 Darl has an advanced way of speaking
 Uses unfamiliar adjectives
 Speaks poetically
 Forms complex sentences
WHY: Darl’s elevated language adds to his dominant role throughout the novel. It makes
us pay closer attention to him because we need a dictionary to understand the meaning of
several words that he uses. Because of this, Darl demands both our attention and trust
with his persuasive nature. His advanced vocabulary also adds to the greatness of his
character, for he knows all the details to events where he is not present. His complex
sentences may also manipulate us to believe exactly what he perceives.
Vardaman: “My mother is a fish” (84).
 Short and direct
 Clear
 Honest
WHY: Vardaman’s blunt way of expressing himself truly defines his overall character.
Because he is a child of about 10 years old, we can infer that Vardaman is innocent. He is
completely honest with the things that he says, because that is the only way he knows
how to explain his inner thoughts and feelings. The fact that he is honest makes him a
reliable narrator which helps us to trust the information being told from his point of view.
Anse: “Durn that road. And it fixing to rain, too. I can stand here and same as see
it with second-sight, a-shutting down behind them like a wall, shutting down betwixt
them and my given promise. I do the best I can, much as I can get my mind on anything,
but durn them boys” (35).
 Southern accent and tone (folksy)
 Slang words
 Use of complex simile to explain something
WHY: This folksy manner of speaking does not surprise us, for the novel takes place in
Yoknawpatapha County, a southern place. It is more natural to for the characters to speak
with a southern accent since that is the location of the plot. It also provides us with a
“homey” or comforting feeling because most of the south is country-like and peaceful. In
addition, the slang terms make it relatable to us, for we also use colloquial phrases;
although they are not the same terms, we can understand why Faulkner has them speak in
such a fashion.
Irony
“Mr Tull says Mrs Bundren liked Jewel the least of all,…” (Faulkner 22).
It is clear that Mrs. Bundren treats Jewel differently than she treats the rest of her
children. Whether she treats him more harshly or with greater respect, there is a change
in her treatment between Jewel and the rest of her children. Addie feels more connected
to Jewel because he is different than the rest of her children; he has a different father.
This difference causes Addie to feel a greater connection with Jewel. Therefore, it is
ironic that Mr. Tull feels as if Jewel is Addie’s least favorite, when in reality, it is the
complete opposite.
“And Jewel dont care about anything he is not kin to us…” (Faulkner 26).
Dewey Dell is not aware that Jewel is not really completely there brother, which is why
this is ironic. Jewel is not their family because he does not have the same father as the
rest of Addie’s children. Dewey Dell and the other siblings have no idea of this at this
moment. Jewel also cares less for his siblings because he is such a strong connection
with Addie. Addie shows her favoritism to Jewel. Jewel strictly cares greatly for his mom
and not for the rest of his siblings. Jewel is kin to Addie and that is it.
Symbolism
The Fish: Vardaman connects the death of his mother to the death of the fish, thus
his mother “is a fish.” His innocence makes him incapable of understanding his
mother’s death in any ways except for connecting it to the fish: both were once a
live, and both then die. When Dewey Dell cuts the fish into “jagged pieces” and it
“bleeds quietly in the pan”, it is similar to the ways in which childbirth, marriage to
Anse, and the remainder of Addie’s life have “cut her up” and thus made her
spiritually and emotionally dead and left to “bleed quietly” for the remainder of her
life.
o “My mother is a fish.” (84)
o “The fish, cut into jagged pieces, bleeds quietly in the pan.” (59)
The Cow: The first cow represents Dewey Dell’s inability to deal with her own
issues, despite the fact that they consume all of her thoughts. Like the cow, her
pregnancy cannot be “tended to” because caring for her mother and getting her to
Jefferson is consuming her family. Like the cow, she is also impatient; and like most
of the Bundrens, Dewey Dell is preoccupied with her own needs while traveling to
Jefferson (Anse wants his teeth, etc.) and thus Addie’s burial seems to become
second wind to Dewey Dell’s desperation to get an abortion.
“The cow lows at the foot of the bluff. She nuzzles at me, snuffing, blowing
her breath in a sweet, hot blast, through my dress, against my hot nakedness,
moaning. ‘You got to wait a little while. Then I’ll tend to you.’ She follows
me into the barn where I set the bucket down. She breathes into the bucket,
moaning. ‘I told you. You just got to wait, now. I got more to do than I can
tend to.’ […] The cow in silhouette against the door nuzzles at the silhouette
of the bucket, moaning. […] I feel my body, my bones and flesh beginning to
part and open upon the alone, and the process of coming unalone is terrible.
Lafe. Lafe. ‘Lafe’ Lafe. Lafe. […] I begin to rush upon the darkness but the
cow stops me and the darkness rushes on upon the sweet blast of her
moaning breath, filled with wood and with silence.” (61)
The Corpse: The deteriorating state of Addie’s corpse and coffin represents the
decline of the Bundren family. The more rotten and repulsive the corpse becomes,
the worse off the family is – particularly Darl, who is sent to the mental institution by
the time Addie has been delivered to Jefferson.
“The tall buzzards hang in soaring circles…” (94)
“In a couple of days now it will be smelling…” (108)
“… Smelling it even when I knowed I couldn’t. I couldn’t decide even then
whether I could or not, or if it wasn’t just knowing it was what it was.” (118)
Colloquialism
“I ain’t a-goin to milk you. I ain’t a-goin to do nothing for them.” (Vardaman 55)
“I done my best” I says. (Anse 106)
“Ain’t no time to hang back. It don’t bother none.” (Cash 196)

Colloquialism is a phrase that is common in everyday unconstrained conversation.
o Faulkner’s use of colloquialism exemplifies the simplistic ways of the
south. It makes the dialogue more relatable and juxtaposes the long poetic
language used by narrators, such as, Darl. The dialogue is also more raw
and realistic.
 Vardaman
 Colloquialism shows he is an innocent, uneducated, child.
 Anse & Cash
 Colloquialism represents their lack of education and
epitomizes their poverty-stricken lifestyle.
Repetition

“New Hope. 3 mi. it will say. New Hope. 3 mi. New Hope. 3 mi. And then the
road will begin curving away into trees, empty with waiting, saying New Hope
three miles.” (Faulkner 120).
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“It is because in the wild and outraged earth too soon too soon too soon. It’s not
that I wouldn’t and will not it’s that it is too soon too soon too soon.” (Faulkner
120).
“I believe in God, God, God, I believe in God.” (Faulkner 122).
“You never got her. Darl. Darl. Darl.” (Faulkner 151).
“Yes yes yes yes yes.” (Faulkner 253).
Repetition is used to put emphasis on words, phrases, or ideas that are repeated and to
show some insight into characters. For example, “New Hope. 3 mi” is repeated
multiple times because Faulkner wants the reader to understand that it is an important
concept and to remember it through the novel. The quote about “New Hope” also
shows insight into Dewey Dell by putting emphasis on the fact that she is so anxious
about reaching this town and reflects on the fact that she is pregnant and looking to
get an abortion. Similarly, when Darl says “yes” repeatedly it shows first that the
words he is saying are significant, and second, further illustrates his insanity
Punctuation
“Cash tired but she fell off and Darl jumped under he went under and Cash hollering to
catch her and I hollering running and hollering and Dewey Dell hollering at me
Vardaman you Vardaman you Vardaman and Vernon passed me because he was seeing
her come up and she jumped into the water again and Darl hadn’t caught her yet”
(Vardaman 150)
Vardaman’s lack of punctuation suggests he is speaking in a streaming flow of
consciousness. His language provides an image for the reader as it exemplifies the action.
The fast paced speech shows how wild the scene is where the boys are attempting to
return Addie from the water. There are so many stimuli at one time for Vardaman that he
cannot organize his thoughts and so they come out in one flowing statement.
“Jewel’s hat droops limp about his neck, channeling water onto the soaked towsack tied
about his shoulders as, ankle-deep in the running ditch, he pries with a slipping two-byfour, with a piece of rotting log for fulcrum, at the axle. Jewel, I say, she is dead, Jewel.
Addie Bundren is dead” (Darl 52)
Similar to Vardaman, Darl’s punctuation provides an example of a streaming flow
of consciousness. Instead of using many periods, Darl instead uses commas suggesting
that the thoughts are somewhat separate but also connecting. Despite ending the first
sentence with a period, the last sentence proclaiming Addie’s death misses a period. This
signifies that Darl knows his mother is death but he has yet to find closure so the sentence
remains open.
Poetic Description
" In a strange room you must empty yourself for sleep. And before you are emptied for
sleep, what are you. And when you are emptied for sleep, you are not. And when you are
filled with sleep, you never were. I do not know what I am.jewel knows he is." -Darl (80)
In the above quote, Darl shows why he is the most poetic character of the novel. The
poetic nature of his style shows how powerful his observations really are. In this quote he
meets with his own secrets and fears because he questions his own identity. He hints that
Jewel knows who Jewel is because Jewel Has Addie Bundren, a mother, but Darl does
not know who he is because he refers to his mother as was and not is, so she
does not exist. In Darl's mind, if Addie Bundren does not exist, then he must not either.
"This world is not his world; this life his life." -Cash (261).
I found the above quote to be interesting, especially since Cash showed some poetic
dialogue instead of Darl. In John 12:25 the text reads,"Those who love their lives will
destroy them, and those who hate their lives in this world will guard them for everlasting
life." I find this peculiar because Cash is justifying what happened to Darl. He
understands that the course of events was out of Darl's control and just maybe he loved
life so much that it destroyed him, whereas Cash was distraught about his mother ever
waking minute, driving himself crazy to make sure everything was taken care of and
perfect and he ended up suffering the most with all his injuries.
Tone
The overall tone of “As I Lay Dying” is one of morbid irony. Whether the book is being
serious or not, there is a constant underlying tone of humor.
-“When they told me she was dying, all that night I wrestled with Satan, and I
emerged victorious” (177). This is said by Whitfield, the man Addie had, in the past,
cheated on Anse with. This is ironic because he knows of Addies condition, and the only
thing he can think about is making sure Anse finds out about the crime Addie and himself
committed against him.
-On his way to the house, he plans how he will tell Anse and “it was already as though it
were done. [Whitfield’s] soul felt freer, quieter than it had in years; already [he] seemed
to dwell in abiding peace again” (178). This is humorous because, upon his arrival to the
Tull household, he finds out Addie has already passed. He considers this a blessing that
she took her secret to the grave, and decides not to tell Anse. The whole plan he had
created in his mind to confess his sins was all just to ease his own mind. This is also
ironic because Whitfield is a Priest, and he should know better than anyone that the sin he
has committed is a great one, and he should confess.
-“I have sinned, O Lord. Thou knowest the extent of my remorse and the will of my
spirit. But He is merciful; He will accept the will for the deed” (179). This is said by
Whitfield when he decides not to tell Anse of the sin he has committed. It is humorous
because he is scared to tell Anse what he has done, so instead of confessing, he decides to
say how the lord will forgive him for truly, in his heart, being sorry for the act. He says
how the fact that he feels bad is good enough. This is comical because he has tried to
convince the reader how he is such a good person for going to confess and he makes it
seem like he is a man who does the right thing when in the end, he is too scared to admit
it.
Voice
“Darl had a little spy-glass he got in France at the war” (254).
Every chapter told in first person except Darl (253). The first person POV
provides insight into the character’s thoughts and feelings which not only tells more
about the narrator but also about other characters.
“It’s a outrage, a outrage” (188).
The different points of view are effective in telling the opinions of other
characters such as the neighbors. All the different narrators tell their opinions on the
situation. Sometimes there is one event happening but multiple narrators telling their
point of view. The different points of views also allow is to learn secrets of characters.
For example, we learn from Dewey Dell’s chapter that she is pregnant and has an ulterior
motive to go to Jackson.
“He went to Jackson. He went crazy and went to Jackson both. Lots of people go crazy.
Pa and Cash and Jewel and Dewey Dell and me didn’t go crazy. We never did go crazy.
We didn’t go to Jackson either. Darl” (251).
Stream of consciousness is apparent in most of the chapters. The narrators often
speak their mind as thoughts come to them. One narrator that exemplifies this quality is
Vardaman. Because he is so young, he speaks his mind most of the time without thinking.
Stream of consciousness allows you to relate with the character and their flow of
thinking.
“A feather dropped near the front door will rise...” (19).
Soliloquies are found mostly in Darl’s chapters. It gives insight to his thoughts
and also shows what kind of character he is. Because he is more introverted and does not
have a lot of dialogue, these soliloquies help us understand what he is thinking. It also
shows us that he pays attention to little details that one would normally miss.
Figurative Language
 Similes:
o “He looked at me, his eyes round and black in the middle like when you
throw a light in a owl’s face.” (70)
o “…a kind of duck-shaped woman all dressed up, with them kind of
hardlooking pop eyes like she was daring ere a man to say nothing.”(260).

Faulkner uses many similes throughout the book. The use of
similes allows the reader to picture what is going on in the story. It
allows the reader to relate with the characters because it gives them
more insight into how they perceive things.
 Metaphors:
o “My mother is a fish.”(84).
o “Jewel’s mother is a horse.” (95)

Metaphors show how different characters connect certain events. It
show how they see and understand what is going on around them.
Vardaman says his mother is a fish because that is how he connects
events. Vardaman caught a fish on the day that his mother died. He
sees the two dead things as one, and connects the two events.

Darl says that Jewel’s mother is a horse, not my mother. Darl
knows that Jewel is not his father’s son.

Later in the book, Vardaman says that his mother is a fish, but
Jewel’s mother is a horse. He uses the metaphor to make another
connection. He knows that Jewel has a different father and a
completely different relationship with his mother. Vardaman’s
mother is a dead fish, while Jewel’s mother is a beautiful horse.
Sentence Patterns
1. “She goes on,clopping. She lows. My brother is Darl. He went to Jackson in our
wagon. Darl She has been in there a long time. And the cow is gone too. A long
time. She has been in there longer than the cow was. But not as long as empty.
Darl is my brother. My brother Darl (Vardaman 251)

Vardaman’s thoughts are short and random. This is evident in the sentence
structure. He talks about the cow, and then suddenly mentions Darl. The
lack of punctuation shows that Vardaman also makes no distinct
separation between his thoughts. Vardaman’s sentence patterns also
indicate that he is still only a child because he has a random, constant,
unfiltered, flow of thoughts. There are also large spaces between some
words. These represent the gaps in his mind
2. “Beyond the unlamped wall I can no longer hear the rain shaping the wagon that
is ours, the load that is no longer theirs that felled and sawed it nor yet theirs that
bought it and which is not ours either, lie on our wagon though it does, since only
the wind and the rain shape it only to Jewel and me, that are not asleep.” (Darl 80)

The long sentence pattern in Darl’s speech is important to understand his
train of thought. He puts all different thoughts together, hence the very
long sentences. His sentences are this way because this is how his brain
works. He just sees everything at once and speaks about everything at the
same time. His sentence structure definitely a key factor in seeing that his
mental state of mind is not sane.
Figurative Language
 Personification
“Before us the thick dark current runs. It talks to us in a murmer become ceaseless and
myriad, the yellow surface dimpled monstrously into fading swirls travelling along the
surface for an instant, silent, impermanent and profoundly significant, as though just
beneath the surface something huge and alive waked for a moment of lazy alertness out
of and into light slumber again.” (Darl 141)
Darl uses a lot of personification while describing the river. Personification is defined as
attribution of personal qualities; especially: representation of a thing or abstraction as a
person or by the human form. In this case the river is given life-like characteristics.
Faulkner uses this to give vivid descriptions to the reader. As the current “murmurs” we
can hear the stream running. And when it falls asleep and wakes up we can see the
changing of the current. Like the Bundren family, the river is always in motion and can
be related to life. The Bundrens are in moving, picking up sped and rest continuing to live
their life with different attitudes and the current goes through moments of calmness and
rapid feelings.
 Simile
“I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth.” (Dewey Dell 64)
Faulkner throughout the novel uses simile in almost every chapter. It is an important way
of giving description and having the reader relate what is going on to terms they can
understand. It allows the reader to visual what Faulkner, and the characters are thinking.
Simile is described as a figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is often
introduced by like or as. As the reader finds out Dewey Dell is pregnant and she
describes her current state through a simile in order for the reader to understand what is
going on without saying the words. The fertilized child is represented as the wet seed and
Dewey Dell is hot blind earth. She is unsure and unaware of what to do and she can not
control the growing of the child inside her. Without guidance or correction the child (like
a wild flower) is freely growing inside of her. Dewey Dell uses this simile to portray to
the reader her state of confusion and confirm her situation.
Symbolism
“The fish, cut into jagged pieces, bleeds quietly in the pan. I put it into the cupboard
quick, listening into the hall, hearing. It took her ten days to die; maybe she don’t know it
is yet. Maybe she wont go until Cash. Or maybe Jewel” (59)
“Where is ma, Darl? I said. “You never got her. You knew she is a fish but you let her get
away. You never got her. Darl. Darl.Darl.” (151)
“My mother is a fish” (84)
“The cow lows at the foot of the bluff. She nuzzles at me, snuffing, blowing her breath in
a sweet, ho blast, through my dress, against my hot nakedness, moaning. .. She breathes
into the bucket, moaning… The cow in silhouette against the door nuzzles at the
silhouette of the bucket, moaning. (61)
“The cow nuzzles at me, moaning. You’ll just have to wait. What you got in you aint
nothing to what I got in me, even if you are a woman too.” (63)
The fish is brought up several times in the book and it clearly symbolizes Addie
Bundren. Vardaman sees her as a fish because it is the only way he can relate and
represent her death. As a young child, it is understandable for him to connect the death of
his mother with the death of the fish he caught. He gets upset when Darl attempts to save
the coffin and comes up with empty hands, again he refers her as a fish that Darl couldn’t
catch.
As Dewey Dell goes to look for Vardaman to tell him supper is ready, she thinks
of Lafe and of her pregnancy. Dewey Dell thinks of what is growing inside her and that
soon will make her just as heavy as the cow that is filled with milk. The cow moaning at
Dewey to be milked symbolizes Dewey also moaning internally for someone to get rid of
the baby inside her.
Punctuation
“Cash made it clockshape, like this (coffin Picture) with every joint and seam beveled
and scrubbed with the plane, tight as a drum and neat as a sewing basket, and they had
laid her in it head to foot so it wouldn’t crush her dress”(88).
-Tull uses this coffin picture to help the reader visualize how Addie will be laid in her
coffin, head to foot due to her large wedding dress. Since the coffin symbolizes death
which is such a huge symbol in this novel, the coffin makes everyone visually aware that
their lives are going to drastically change due to Addie’s passing.
“If it takes wet boards for folks to fall, it’s fixing to be lots of falling before this spell is
done”(90).
-Tull also uses italics in this chapter to display his thoughts, without making them public
to other characters. This allows the reader to get inside of Tull’s thoughts and opinions
and make their own judgments.
“Jewel, ma said, looking at him. I’ll give—I’ll give—give—Then she began to die.”
Darl uses dashes because he is not able to say what he is thinking. He is mentally
unstable and cannot express his true thoughts in words.
Poetic Description
 Metaphor
“But Jewel’s mother is a horse. My mother is a fish.” (196).
This quote shows that Vardaman uses child-like sentences, and he uses the
metaphor about his mother being an animal a number of times throughout the
story. Vardaman feels that his mother is best represented as a fish, while Jewel
sees his mother as a horse. Each of Addie’s children views her differently.
 Simile
“Her eyes are like two candles when you watch them gutter down into the
sockets of iron candle-sticks.” (8).
This simile shows that Cora feels that Addie’s eyes look like melting candle
sticks. This simile brings the image that Addie is tired and worn down. Addie is
slowly melting away as time goes by, just as candles melt away as time goes by.
Symbolism
“I aim to show it to ma’ Vardaman says. He looks toward the door. We can hear talking,
coming out on the draft. Cash too, knocking and hammering at the boards” (31)

Cash dedicates his time to create Addie’s coffin, stopping only upon its
completion. The sound of the wood shaver shaving wood rings in the characters
ear as they try to move forward throughout the day . His unceasing strokes, each
the same as the last, acts like the tick of clock in a classroom, a constant reminder
of the approaching end. The sanding also gives insight into Cashes character. He
possesses a simplicity about his emotions that causes the reader to question the
connection to his mother. Most humans would cringe at the thought of building
their mothers coffin but Cash’s command-obey mentality overrules any internal
objections he may possess.
“It begins to rain. The first harsh, sparse, swift drops rush through the leaves and across
the ground in a long sigh, as though of relief from intolerable suspense. They are as big
as buckshot, warm as though fired from a gun; they sweep across the lantern in a viscous
hissing. Pa lifts his face, slack mouthed, the wet black rim of snuff plastered close along
the base of his gums: from behind his slack-faced astonishment he muses as though from
beyond time, upon the ultimate outrage. Cash looks once at the sky, then at the lantern.
The saw has not faltered the running gleam of its pistoning edge unbroken.” (76-77)

After a death occurs in a family it usually takes a while for a person to realize the
large change that takes place. The swift rain serves as the harsh reality of Addie’s
death. Whether the Bundrens like it or not, they are going to have to make new
adjustments in their lives. The failure to complete the coffin by this point in time
represents the family’s inability to properly adjust to Addies death. Addie
becomes the burden the Bundren’s must deal with, and not until the coffin is
complete, and Addie is underground can the family move on and start anew.
Symbolism
The Bloody Egg
“The sun, an hour above the horizon, is poised like a bloody egg upon a crest of
thunderheads; the light has turned copper: in the eye portentous, in the nose sulfurous,
smelling of lightning”(39).
Faulkner allows Darl's descriptions of the sunrise and the brewing storm to foreshadow
the doom and unlikely fates that are to come upon the Bundrens. He succeeds in creating
symbolisms with his use of sensory imagery. A sunrise means the dawning of a new day.
Darl depicts the sunrise as an ominous sign; he describes the sun as a bloody egg, talks of
the reeking sulfurous smell about the air, and the crest of thunderheads heading towards
the farm.The blazing red, rising sun represents the egg in Dewey Dell's womb which will
soon become a rising problem for her as well. When the sun rises, it is exposed and in full
view; Dewey Dell is under time pressure to get her abortion before it is too late and her
secret is exposed. The sulfurous air will reappear as the stench of Addie's rotting body.
2. Cash's tools
“He has returned to the trestles, stooped again in the lantern's feeble glare as he
gathers up his tools and wipes them on a clothe carefully and puts them into the
box with its leather sling to go over the shoulder” (80).
Cash returns to his work spot to takes his time to gather and put away his tools.
He takes pride in his tools as wipes each one and places then back where they
belong. The calm manner in which way he puts them away suggests order and the
fact that they are tools, suggest control.
The scattering of Cash's tools represents loss of order and chaos when they are
lost in the turbulence of the river crossing in Darl 156.
3. The lantern
“Then he puts down the saw and and goes and crouches above the lantern,
shielding it with his body...Cash reaches back and picks up four sticks and drives
them into the earth and takes Dewey Dell's raincoat from pa and spreads it over
the sticks forming a roof above the lantern”(77).
The lantern's symbolizes Addie's vulnerable and critical condition. When the rain comes
and Cash realizes the lantern needs to be protected, he stops his work and protectively
huddles over it. He then constructs a rude shelter for the lantern out of a rain coat and
four sticks. Cash's actions demonstrates his feelings protectiveness over his mother that
he feels he can only demonstrate in this way. Cash also needs the lantern in order to see;
to him Addie is the flickering lantern that he must try his best to preserve.
2. Jewel's horse
'“Jewel's mother is a horse,” Darl said' (101).
When the Bundrens set off to to Jefferson in the wagon, Jewel chooses to take his
own horse and ride a safe distance from the rest of his family. Jewel feels he does
not belongs in the wagon with the rest of them. He knows he is of different blood
than they; he cannot share their same mother. As Darl intelligently observes,
Jewel wants something he can have to himself, and finds it comforting to replace
his mother with his horse- the object of his affection.
3. Vardaman's Fish
“The fish, cut into jagged pieces, bleeds quietly in the pan” (59).
“But my mother is a fish. Vernon see it. He was there” (101).
Vardaman repeatedly refers to his mother as a fish. Despite his immature
mentality, he is still able to make the connection between his slaughtered fish and
his mother. He is angered by this, and sees his mother as a sacrifice who had to
die for the selfish benefit of others. The rest of his family will benefit from
Addie's death for their individual reasons of wanting to go to Jefferson and now,
they enjoy the fish he had laboriously caught. When Dewy Dell speaks of the
fish's blood quietly seeping into the pan, a reference to a Christ-like symbolism is
made. Christ, the ultimate symbolic sacrifice, had bleed on the cross quietly.
Diction
CASH
 Through the sections Cash has narrated it is clear that he is logical and
meticulous. These qualities make him a stable and constant character throughout
As I lay dying, in comparison with his family members
Ex. “‘Lucky Cash got off with just a broken leg,’ Armistid says… ‘Twenty-eight foot,
four and a half inches, about,’ Cash says.” (90)
Ex. Cash (82) is an entire section written as a list of different way to improve the coffin.
 Cash’s extensive detail to the coffin is his way of honoring his mother with a
coffin Addie would be proud of, and others can admire.
DARL
 Darl is the observer, he knows of all the secrets of his family members. The way
he narrates his sections gives the impression he is very intellectual, almost
philosophical. He uses his sections to comment on others and their situations.
Ex. “She sets the basket into the wagon and climbs in, her leg coming long from beneath
her tightening dress: that lever which moves the world; one of that caliper which
measures the length and breadth of life.” (104)
 Darl is the only person that is aware of Dewey Dell’s delicate condition and the
reason he knows is because he witnessed the event that lead to Dewey Dell’s
pregnancy.
Ex. “He [Jewel] goes on toward the barn, entering the lot, wooden-backed.” (103)
 By Darl’s diction one can get the sense that he feels Jewel is very different from
the rest of the family, also there is a competitive nature between them, and also
Jewel is constantly described as wooden.