Ironies of the Bundren Journey

As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, is a novel set in the rural Mississippi county of Yoknapatawpha in the early 1900’s. The story centers around the journey of a poverty-stricken family trying to bury their mother. In addition to its outward appearance concerning the Bundren’s journey, the novel also portrays the irony of understanding one’s true reality, the feeling of loyalty toward one’s family, and finally the misconception of heroism.

Indisputably, Darl is the only member of the Bundren family who sees life for what it really is. Jan Bakker states, “ Darl’s tragedy is that he is intensely aware of his predicament, as is shown in his obsession with nothingness and dissolution” (227).

In the third person while going to the Jackson asylum, Darl clearly answers a crescendo of yeses when he asks himself, “ Is this why you’re laughing Darl?” (Faulkner 254) because laughter has become the tears which he cannot shed (Bakker 228). It is ironic that although Darl is in touch with reality, he is the only character to go mad. He knows he can never attain the partiality th

at Jewel and Cash receive from their mother. Finally, after the death of his mother, Addie, the only link he has to the world […] he goes mad, laughing with the laughter of the mad but with peculiar lucidity (Bakker 228). It seems laughter has become the only outlet for Darl to express his emotions.

Bakker, Jan. “As I Lay Dying Reconsidered.” Modern Critical Views: William Faulkner.

Undoubtedly, Anse is the driving force behind the family’s expedition, though none of the heroism, which the family has to display in bringing it to a successful end, falls to him (Bakker 223). Anse believes that the journey he is taking is an almost heroic crusade from God. He remarks, “ I am the chosen of the Lord, for who he loveth, so doeth he chastiseth” (Faulkner 111). The true responsibility of this trip is fully shouldered by Cash, whose superhuman efforts to save the coffin from the raging elements fully deserve the qualification of heroic (Bakker 223). Although these incredible feats by Cash in rescuing the wagon and coffin from the flood and safely delivering them across the overflowing river are viewed as heroic, to him; it is

Some topics in this essay:
Undoubtedly Anse, Jewel Cash, William Faulkner, Jan Bakker, Lay Dying, Jewel Addie’s, Darl” Faulkner, Furthermore Bundren’s, Ironically Darl, Faulkner’s Southern, lay dying, william faulkner, loyalty one’s family, bakker 228, one’s family, loyalty one’s, true reality, bakker 223, bundren’s journey, starting fight, wagon coffin, jewel starting fight,