Of the Humorous and the Insane: An Essay on As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
The Epic Bundrens
As
I Lay Dying is, at first read, a senseless book of
betrayal and deceit, of redundant monologue and repetitive actions. Yet at
second glance Faulkner’s novel is a work of art, one that simply cannot be
overlooked. Though one may find it difficult to read or even understand, it is
a book of utter importance in American literature. The Bundrens’ hardships,
perils, and humorous events are sometimes not easily understood but impossible
to pass by. There is a sense of comical insanity throughout the entire novel,
not only from Darl (though he holds the trophy as the craziest) but from the
entire family. Even the neighbors, who are innocent (or sinful, as is
Whitfield’s case) bystanders of the horrific funeral procession into Jefferson,
have an air of insanity about them.
With their insanity comes heroism, and with this same heroism comes selfishness. As Cleanth Brooks states, “Anse longs for a set of store-bought teeth…” (Brooks 249). Dewey Dell only longs to acquire the abortion pill her partner has promised her was in Jefferson. Cash has his eye on a music box. All of these things are ulterior motives for the Bundrens’ to make what seems like, to sane individuals, a long and hard journey of nonsensical proportions, risking life and limb to bury Addie at her final resting place in Jefferson. Anse would only say, “I give her my word…It is sacred on me” (Faulkner 1908). Are these his true intentions, to fulfill his dying wife’s wish and bury her in Jefferson, or does he use this as a great excuse to make the long trek to get his new teeth?
Addie does not go without her evils. Even from the grave she tells of her plans for Anse to make this tumultuous trip, and eerily it seems she already knows of the hardships he and her family will face in getting her body to its final resting place. She oozes a secret hate for them all, some overshadowing the others, but it seems her hate for Anse burns the brightest flame. From Hell, it seems, she wants to haunt him. She alludes to the fact that Jewel is a child of deceit and adultery, but she never reveals who the true father is (Faulkner 1920-3). Faulkner brilliantly and quickly informs the reader of who it is in Whitfield’s following chapter.
Whitfield holds the trophy, in my opinion, for being the most ironically evil and comically insane character in the entire novel. In his one chapter, Whitfield displays courage, cowardice, fear, honor, betrayal, redemption, and finally he decides he has been forgiven of all his sins before blessing yet another home (Faulkner 1923-4). Brooks and I agree in that all of Whitfield’s actions are merely bottomless words (Brooks 254). I find it quite funny how, at the beginning of his chapter, he is frantically overreacting, scrambling to find a way to get to the Bundrens’ house before Addie passes away, almost battling with himself on whether he should go or not. Once he finds he is too late, instead of expressing regret, he is actually relieved. Whitfield is not the only character who expresses this, but he is the only character who expresses it the best in such a short amount of time.
Mixed about all the fury and sadness is a slight humor, almost dark in a sense. Perhaps the most humorous part is when Addie’s corpse takes a dive in the cold river and everyone is frantically trying to keep her above water and get her safely to shore. Cash is knocked unconscious, his leg broken in the process, but during his episodes in and out of consciousness, all he can ask about is his tools. Even long after they have gotten away from the river and have settled at Armstid’s for the night, Cash is concerned only with his tools. When he is asked about Jewel being kicked in the stomach by his horse, he tries to reply, and Dewey Dell gives his answer for him. “’What is it, Cash?’ Dewey Dell said. She leaned down. ‘His tools,’ she said” (Faulkner 1924).
An example of the morbid humor that this book contains is within a child, Vardaman. “My mother is a fish” (Faulkner 1889). Although this small child’s grieving should most likely not be taken as comedy, it is hard not to snicker as Vardaman makes his nonsensical and childish statements throughout this adventure. He continuously asks Cash if he is going to nail her into the coffin; to shut him up, they lock him in his bedroom. While he is locked away, it is almost as though he is suffocating because “the rat was breathing up all the air” (1882). Before they even get out on the road but well after Addie has passed away, Vardaman must ensure his mother can breathe in her coffin. He drills large holes into the top of the coffin, unwittingly also carving his mother’s face into something terrible. It is almost as though he has gone crazy over his mother’s death, but it is easy to sympathize with him because he is only just a child. However, there are others in the book who some cannot empathize with.
There are rather awkward points of foreshadowing sprinkled throughout the novel, most of which occur in Darl’s chapters. Darl appears to be the craziest and most humorous of the characters in the novel, but it is almost as though he is telling the story not from the action as it takes place but after everything has already been done. We find late in the book that Darl is taken away to the crazy home. If one reads the book a second time, however, one will see that Darl may have been there all along, telling his chapters from the comfort of his white room. One line that strikes me as rather odd (among many, many of the lines in this book) is, “How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home” (Faulkner 1888). I find this odd because what strange roof is he lying beneath? Is he foreshadowing to the barns that he must take shelter in during the journey to Jefferson? Perhaps he is letting the reader know that he is, indeed, already in the crazy bin and is speaking from beneath his strange roof there. His paragraph before that quote is a hard to understand but also eerie statement of existence. Does Darl actually exist? Most certainly he does, because all of the other characters in the novel are able to see and talk with him. He struggles with whether he is or isn’t (1888). Perhaps this is another way for Faulkner to show Darl’s slow decline into insanity or a way to show his already settled in insanity.
Many readers, upon their first reading of As I Lay Dying, will deem only one character insane: Darl. Darl is not alone in his insanity. All of the characters in this novel share their tinge of craziness, including those outside of the Bundrens. The novel also carries an air of humor throughout its entirety, at some points not as apparent as in other times, and one without an open mind will not find anything funny about any of the events depicted within this work. By the end of the novel, all of the insanity becomes victory for the Bundrens, finally achieving their goal and acquiring their wants and desires. As I Lay Dying is a preface for one to look at one’s family and one’s self and perhaps discern the insanity that is within all of us.
With their insanity comes heroism, and with this same heroism comes selfishness. As Cleanth Brooks states, “Anse longs for a set of store-bought teeth…” (Brooks 249). Dewey Dell only longs to acquire the abortion pill her partner has promised her was in Jefferson. Cash has his eye on a music box. All of these things are ulterior motives for the Bundrens’ to make what seems like, to sane individuals, a long and hard journey of nonsensical proportions, risking life and limb to bury Addie at her final resting place in Jefferson. Anse would only say, “I give her my word…It is sacred on me” (Faulkner 1908). Are these his true intentions, to fulfill his dying wife’s wish and bury her in Jefferson, or does he use this as a great excuse to make the long trek to get his new teeth?
Addie does not go without her evils. Even from the grave she tells of her plans for Anse to make this tumultuous trip, and eerily it seems she already knows of the hardships he and her family will face in getting her body to its final resting place. She oozes a secret hate for them all, some overshadowing the others, but it seems her hate for Anse burns the brightest flame. From Hell, it seems, she wants to haunt him. She alludes to the fact that Jewel is a child of deceit and adultery, but she never reveals who the true father is (Faulkner 1920-3). Faulkner brilliantly and quickly informs the reader of who it is in Whitfield’s following chapter.
Whitfield holds the trophy, in my opinion, for being the most ironically evil and comically insane character in the entire novel. In his one chapter, Whitfield displays courage, cowardice, fear, honor, betrayal, redemption, and finally he decides he has been forgiven of all his sins before blessing yet another home (Faulkner 1923-4). Brooks and I agree in that all of Whitfield’s actions are merely bottomless words (Brooks 254). I find it quite funny how, at the beginning of his chapter, he is frantically overreacting, scrambling to find a way to get to the Bundrens’ house before Addie passes away, almost battling with himself on whether he should go or not. Once he finds he is too late, instead of expressing regret, he is actually relieved. Whitfield is not the only character who expresses this, but he is the only character who expresses it the best in such a short amount of time.
Mixed about all the fury and sadness is a slight humor, almost dark in a sense. Perhaps the most humorous part is when Addie’s corpse takes a dive in the cold river and everyone is frantically trying to keep her above water and get her safely to shore. Cash is knocked unconscious, his leg broken in the process, but during his episodes in and out of consciousness, all he can ask about is his tools. Even long after they have gotten away from the river and have settled at Armstid’s for the night, Cash is concerned only with his tools. When he is asked about Jewel being kicked in the stomach by his horse, he tries to reply, and Dewey Dell gives his answer for him. “’What is it, Cash?’ Dewey Dell said. She leaned down. ‘His tools,’ she said” (Faulkner 1924).
An example of the morbid humor that this book contains is within a child, Vardaman. “My mother is a fish” (Faulkner 1889). Although this small child’s grieving should most likely not be taken as comedy, it is hard not to snicker as Vardaman makes his nonsensical and childish statements throughout this adventure. He continuously asks Cash if he is going to nail her into the coffin; to shut him up, they lock him in his bedroom. While he is locked away, it is almost as though he is suffocating because “the rat was breathing up all the air” (1882). Before they even get out on the road but well after Addie has passed away, Vardaman must ensure his mother can breathe in her coffin. He drills large holes into the top of the coffin, unwittingly also carving his mother’s face into something terrible. It is almost as though he has gone crazy over his mother’s death, but it is easy to sympathize with him because he is only just a child. However, there are others in the book who some cannot empathize with.
There are rather awkward points of foreshadowing sprinkled throughout the novel, most of which occur in Darl’s chapters. Darl appears to be the craziest and most humorous of the characters in the novel, but it is almost as though he is telling the story not from the action as it takes place but after everything has already been done. We find late in the book that Darl is taken away to the crazy home. If one reads the book a second time, however, one will see that Darl may have been there all along, telling his chapters from the comfort of his white room. One line that strikes me as rather odd (among many, many of the lines in this book) is, “How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home” (Faulkner 1888). I find this odd because what strange roof is he lying beneath? Is he foreshadowing to the barns that he must take shelter in during the journey to Jefferson? Perhaps he is letting the reader know that he is, indeed, already in the crazy bin and is speaking from beneath his strange roof there. His paragraph before that quote is a hard to understand but also eerie statement of existence. Does Darl actually exist? Most certainly he does, because all of the other characters in the novel are able to see and talk with him. He struggles with whether he is or isn’t (1888). Perhaps this is another way for Faulkner to show Darl’s slow decline into insanity or a way to show his already settled in insanity.
Many readers, upon their first reading of As I Lay Dying, will deem only one character insane: Darl. Darl is not alone in his insanity. All of the characters in this novel share their tinge of craziness, including those outside of the Bundrens. The novel also carries an air of humor throughout its entirety, at some points not as apparent as in other times, and one without an open mind will not find anything funny about any of the events depicted within this work. By the end of the novel, all of the insanity becomes victory for the Bundrens, finally achieving their goal and acquiring their wants and desires. As I Lay Dying is a preface for one to look at one’s family and one’s self and perhaps discern the insanity that is within all of us.
Sources
Brooks,
Cleanth. “Odyssey of the Bundrens.” William
Faulkner: The Yoknapatawpha Country. New Haven: Yale UP, 1963. 141-66.
Gorra 248-62. Print.
Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. Norton Anthology of American Literature. Gen. ed. Nina Baym et al. 7th ed. Vol. D. New York: Norton, 2007. 1860-1955. Print.
Gorra, Michael, ed. As I Lay Dying. By William Faulkner. Norton Critical Ed. New York: Norton, 2010. Print.
Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. Norton Anthology of American Literature. Gen. ed. Nina Baym et al. 7th ed. Vol. D. New York: Norton, 2007. 1860-1955. Print.
Gorra, Michael, ed. As I Lay Dying. By William Faulkner. Norton Critical Ed. New York: Norton, 2010. Print.
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