In the novel, As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner writes through the perspectives of several different characters. With this approach, we have a range of lenses to view the story from and are not limited to a single character’s opinion. Entering the story, a family of five children and their father are embarking on a nine day adventure to bury their deceased mother, Addie, in her hometown, Jefferson. Along their trip they encounter several obstacles, leaving Addie and her coffin in poor condition.
As the conflict of the Bundren journey rises, Faulkner interrupts the haracter Darl’s monologue by incorporating a flashback to his memory of the past. We are not only provided with insight into past occurrences but also provides information on certain character’s motives to go to town. This is evident through the character Dewey Dell’s motivations. Although honoring the burial of her mother, Dewey Dell also adventures on this journey for her selfish desires. Overall, Faulkner uses flashbacks to reveal family secrets and uncover the dysfunctional dynamics of the Bundren family.
Due to Darl’s reminiscence to when Addie would always sit in he dark where Jewel was sleeping, we discover unknown secrets about her character. From the beginning of the novel, we adjust to Darl’s objective voice and intellectual mind as he engages in the private lives of the people around him. He understands Addie’s behavior when he contemplates, “I knew that she was hating herself for that deceit and hating Jewel because she had to love him so that she had to act the deceit” (130-131). Darl divulges that Addie wants to keep her confidential act of “deceit” hidden from the rest of the Bundren family.
Despite keeping the “deceit” concealed, Addie’s act of deceit” itself triggers us to infer that she most likely had an affair with some other man and had Jewel as a result. Furthermore, when Addie “cried hard,” “sitting beside” (136) Jewel, she tries to express pity to Jewel, as she feels sorry for leaving him in a family where he does not belong and where he has to suffer the unusual order of the Bundren family. Here, Addie is also portrayed as an ironic character when she teaches her children “deceit was such that, in a world where it was, nothing else could be very bad or very important, not even poverty” (130).
Although Addie explains the awful matters of eceit, in the end, she was the that was actually caught in an act of deceit. In all, Darl’s flashback hints about both Addie’s affair and the abnormality of the Bundren family because everyone believes that Jewel is part of the family, but instead does not exactly fit under the Bundren name. Not only can Darl sense Addie’s hidden message, but he can also devise the unknown story behind Dewey Dell. He thinks, “And I knew that I knew. I knew that as plain on that day as I knew about Dewey Dell on that day” (136).
Darl has discovered that Dewey Dell is pregnant. We can infer that she wants an bortion because she has been keeping the truth hidden from the rest of her family. Dewey Dell follows the family to town not only to honor her mother’s burial, but also for her own selfish desires. She is hypocritical because the original motive of going to Jefferson was to set Addie down, however, Dewey Dell tries to make room for her own benefits, although the journey should have focused entirely on Addie.
This unforthcoming information assists in foreshadowing a later scene when Dewey Dell goes to town to find the appropriate medication to terminate her pregnancy without anyone finding out. Overall, reflective of Darl’s escape into the past and the personal thoughts of Dewey Dell, untold information is exposed about Dewey Dell’s unwanted pregnancy, which also explore the dysfunctions of the family as a result of her hypocritical behavior. As a result of Addie’s unequal share of love between all her children and Jewel’s hostile attitude towards Anse, we are clued that Jewel is not really a Bundren.
From the details revealed in Darl’s flashback, Addie is always siding with Jewel when Anse wants him to complete his share of work around the house. “Pa would have to wake him in the morning,” but Addie would get Dewey Dell to do his milking” and do the other chores “herself when pa wasn’t there” (130). Addie unfairly distributes more love to Jewel by forcing the other children and herself to take over his house chores. She treats Jewel with more warmth because he was the result of her rebellion from the Bundren family and her chance to be free and independent of Anse.
Despite Addie’s contributions to Jewel, he is also very different in personality when compared to Anse. Unlike Anse’s laziness, Jewel “cleaned up that forty acres of new ground … single handed, working at night by lantern” (135) in order to buy the orse he wanted. By making the choice of purchasing the horse, Jewel has decided to separate from the Bundren family and is desiring for independence. Jewel even assures Anse that his horse “wont never eat a mouthful” (136) of his food. He is often annoyed of Anse presence and displays aggressive and assertive attitudes towards him.
Moreover, due to Jewel’s antagonistic perspective towards Anse and Addie’s preferences of Jewel over her other children, it is confirmed that Jewel is not a Bundren. This further reinforces the dysfunctionality of the Bundren family and lets us in on the truths of the family. Not only does Darl know Jewel is not actually a Bundren, but Jewel himself senses he does not fit into the family either. Jewel is not welcoming nor accepting of his brothers, as he ignores Vardaman’s request to ride his horse. “Jewel looked at him, then he looked away again, holding the horse reined back” (136).
He shows he doesn’t care and that he doesn’t need to pay attention. Jewel also acts superior over the other children in the family because of his acknowledgement that they are not really his siblings. Throughout, Jewel wants to be separate from them and attempts to disregard their presences at times. More so, this ties back to the dysfunctional aspects of the Bundren household because it is confusing how half the family knows Jewel’s standing, while the other half of the family does not understand and continues to treat him like he is family.
The Bundren’s are evidently different compared to any other normally functioning family. In essence, through Faulkner’s use of flashbacks in Darl’s monologue, we discover hidden family secrets in which allow for a better understanding of the unusual function of the Bundren family. From Darl’s memory of when Addie displayed more parental attention and care towards Jewel, we sense Addie’s dishonesty when she has an affair with another man and brought about Jewel.
Additionally, Darl invades into the secrets of Dewey Dell, making her reveal her desires to terminate her unwanted pregnancy. In the flashback, we also receive information concerning Jewel’s hostility towards the rest of his family, as they really are not his actual family. This further demonstrates dysfunctionality in the Bundren family because the added confusing drama causes each character to act irrationally and tend to their own needs first, leading to several complications.
