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As I Lay Dying Critical Analysis

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Critical Analysis “Grief is life the ocean, it comes in waves, ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn how to swim.” - Vicki Harrison. When it comes to losing a family member or friend, people tend to cope with it in many different ways. In As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is about the Bundren family as they go on a trip to bury their mother in the wake of her death. As they are on their journey they face several challenges and as well as their own emotions as they cope with their mother’s death. The Bundren family each come to terms with their mother’s death in very different ways as seen in Cash, Darl, and Anse. Cash Bundren is the oldest child of Anse and Addie Bundren …show more content…

Before Addie dies Anse promises her to bury her in her hometown of Jefferson and once she dies nothing seems to stop Anse from finishing this takes. Him getting her to Jefferson to be buried seems to be Anse’s way on coping with her death and almost like his last duty to her. Floods, broken bones, and not even fire could stop him from finishing his task. Although not even twenty-four hours after Anse buried Addie he went out and found another wife at the end of the book. Some might have seen Anse’s determination to bury as sweet, but in most of the book Anse acts selfishly and blames most of his problems on his bad luck rather than taking responsibility for it. The Bundren family each come to terms with their mother’s death in very different ways as seen in Cash, Darl, and Anse. A very large theme in As I Lay Dying is that the same situation can be seen and reacted to in very differently from to different people. Each character reacts to the event of the story in very different unique way and it lets the reader be able look at the same situation through different eyes. This teaches readers to look at the circumstances of their lives in different ways to fully understand what is going on and be able to making a more educated decision on what to do

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