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subjectivity in as I lay dying

            The novel, As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner is composed of narrations by individual characters in the story that use their own personal experiences to describe what is occurring throughout the book. Each character in the novel has his or her own voice and opinions as they tell story of Addie Bundren's death and the family's consequential trip to town. However, despite this wide array of narrations, the novel cannot be called objective. The characters' monologues provide a variety of viewpoints, but each one's subjectivity does not necessarily lead to the objectivity of the novel.
             Most of the narrations in the novel have opposing beliefs and ideas. Although almost all of the characters participate in the same events, their own histories and personal thoughts often cause them to formulate extremely different views about the same situation. The story actually becomes somewhat of a compilation of "half-truths." The current narrator and what he or she considers to be true shape each set of events. The narrators believe that what they are saying and thinking is reality. However, it is really very little more than their perception of the truth, and this makes each passage exceedingly subjective. A prime example of a character's views opposing the true situation is the relationship and lack of understanding between Cora and Darl. Cora narrates, "He did not answer. He just stood there and looked at his dying mother, his heart too full for words"(25). Cora mistakenly believes that Darl is a loving son who cares so much about his mother that he is unable to express it. She believes that his mother unfairly favored her other son Jewel and that Darl should have been the "chosen" child. The reader comes to understand, however, that this is far from the truth. Although Darl certainly seems to care somewhat for his mother, he is not quite the son that Cora believes him to be. He is actually fairly indifferent to his mother when he is trying to determine whether or not to make the trip for the three-dollar load and risk not being there when Addie dies.


Essays Related to subjectivity in as I lay dying

1. Melville's

As his perspective swings between the objective and subjective, so swings the theme from comedy to tragedy. ... At that point, Melville introduces his first bit of comic relief, enlisting the audience's empathy in stating, "To befriend Bartleby; to humour him in his strange wilfulness will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience". ... I never use it myself". ... His though process begins with the suggestion that, allowing Bartleby's occupation of his offices would result in him having to "mason up his remains...

  • Word Count: 925
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. The Writing Style of Washington Irving

As the clouds lay on the pavement, and the sun sets on the horizon while the birds start opening their wings to embrace the new day, it is easy to picture Washington Irving sitting at the side of the road with his pen on hand ready to write down what is happening around him. ... However, Irving mastered the act of merging the objective point of view with the subjective point of view, used during the Romanticism. An example of this is, "The mutability of literature" which has objective points of view and subjective points of view. ... Irving gains credibility through objectivity and uses it to...

  • Word Count: 2209
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3. Kant

Kant assumes that universal morality lays within oneself, thus avoiding complications in determining which actions lead to better consequences. ... Though we took a different route in getting there I can safely say that the outcome that I have chosen is a moral one and Kant would agree. ... I would have to say that I would let the five men die. Who am I to say that this hermit doesn't have a right to live. Just cause he is different doesn't mean he or she is intended to die to save five non-hermits. ...

  • Word Count: 886
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Autobiography: Battle Ground of the Self

In other words, the experience of transcribing one's experience causes a discovery of a singular, subjective experience, human nature, and the self. ... At the outset of an autobiography, both parties stand on opposite sides of each other; the audience is reading the author (the subjective), and the author is reading his audience (observing human nature). ... Wordsworth poetical passion for nature also drives his love for mankind: Thus were my thoughts attracted more and more By slow gradations towards human Kind And to the good and ill of human life; Nature had led me on, and no...

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5. The Suicide Tourist - A Film on Assisted Suicide

Symbolic interaction theory analyzes society by addressing the subjective meanings that people impose on objects, events, and behaviors. ... There were times where he would tell me how bad he wanted to just die already and let the disease win, but I always tried to help him see the brighter picture. ... Before watching the film, I thought assisted suicide was merely taking someone off life support, but now I see that it is much more sinister than that. ... You can try to convince yourself that you're ready for something like this, but in reality I don't think anyone is ready to watch...

  • Word Count: 1347
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Dispatches

Even though supporters of opposing ideologies may die by the thousands and millions, America's manifest destiny ideology ironically sees the death as necessary for the betterment of those opposing people. ... As a result, Herr sheds the objective, detached perspective characteristic of conventional reporting and slides into the subjective, immersed reporting perspective characteristic of literary journalism. Herr's subjectivity became so extreme that at one point, Herr becomes a warrior himself "propped up behind some sandbags at an airstrip in Can Tho with a .30-caliber automatic i...

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7. Love

The poem Sonnet 43, which is also known as "How do I love thee? ... She gave up a relationship with her father to be with Robert because after her mother died, her father forbid any of his children to marry. Readers can also tell she loved her father because of the statement that was said in line eleven, which was, "I love thee with a love I seemed to lose" (1119). ... When she became an invalid, she did not lay there and allow her life to fade away; this is where she gained most of her knowledge about English. ... Readers see this on line nine when she moans "I love thee with the passion p...

  • Word Count: 1099
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  • Grade Level: High School

8. Heart Of Darkness Analysis

However, I wasn't going into any of these," continues Marlow, "I was going into the yellow. ... There were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men - men, I tell you. But as I stood on this hillside, I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly.... " (Conrad 32) Marlow's horror at the grove suggests that the true evils of this colonial enterprise is just, death: "Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees, leaning against the trunk...

  • Word Count: 1049
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9. Consider how documentary serves as a vehicle for the perform

Unlike directors such as Ross McElwee or George Kuchar who produce small subjective non-fiction films about their personal lives Michael Moore and Nick Broomfield are media personalities whose films serve as a platform for self publicity. ... Over the course of this essay I intend to use these two filmmakers use the documentary film serves as a vehicle for the promotion of self. ... As Brian Rohrbough, whose son Daniel died at Columbine, said of Moore (and Bowling For Columbine), 'This is just a guy trying to capitalize on the tragedy of others.' ... As Catherine Russell states "A...

  • Word Count: 2396
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  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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