There are many recurring themes from the novel “As I Lay Dying” by William Faulkner, most of which that have to deal with family, loyalty, and love. The author helps brings together this large cast of fifteen different narrative characters by having each character's different ideas and passions within their lives to teach the audience that despite the disagreements and misunderstandings, the idea that the sense of family should stimulate a sense of loyalty and compassion in us all. Through the narration of Addie Bundren, who is by all means one of the most important characters since the entire story revolves around her death, we are able to see how her attitude towards her family and how it doesn’t bring out any good memories. When Addie …show more content…
Anse in the novel frequently calls himself the most “luckless man that has ever lived” (Faulkner 110) and how he is a “man without hope” (Faulkner 70). What makes this agitating for the reader is that throughout the novel, we come to realize that Anse is in fact a very shallow and selfish person. His selfishness can be seen when he uses Cash’s money without his permission, when he tried to trade in Jewel’s favorite horse, or when he says “Now I can get them teeth” (Faulkner 120) when Addie had just died. Anse also tries to deceive Dewey Dell when he attempts to convince her that he has sacrificed so much for them, so it’s their responsibility to be making sacrifices for him now. When Addie was still alive, she schemed up a revenge plan where she would make Anse promise her that he himself will bury her in Jefferson when she dies. With the foul stench of her corpse in the casket, it caused the townspeople to go and try to convince Anse to bury her someplace else. But it was Anse’s stubbornness that demonstrates his loyalty to the promise that he had made to her. Even though Anse acts like he couldn't care less about anyone but himself, the author provides Anse with the dialogue “I give her my promise”(140) and “ She’ll want it so”(114) to reveal that in order to show his part of loyalty, we need to overcome the outside critics that might be able to stop us from …show more content…
Cash for instants exhibits his loyalty for when Addie’s coffin had been almost lost in the river, and when almost destroyed in the barn fire. Darl, in spite of his insanity showed his love and concern for Cash when he had broken his leg, saying that he really needs to go see a doctor. Darl is also loyal in the sense that he can read into the thoughts of the other characters, knowing their secrets, without telling a single soul. But throughout their entire journey, it is the desires each of the characters have to meet their own personal objectives that they endure while on their way to Jefferson to prove their loyalty to the family. Regardless of their differences, the characters managed to work together to fulfil Addie’s dying wish. Darl keeps a lot of information withheld that he could have told the rest of the group like Dewey Dell’s pregnancy, Cash could have stayed at the hospital, but instead chose to finish the journey, Dewey Dell let’s Anse take her money, Vardman does not let his infatuation for the bananas distract him from the main reason why they took the trip to Jefferson, and Anse’s neighbor Vernon offers the Bundrens help crossing the dangerous river despite of their hostile hospitality towards him. All of this is certification that William Faulkner planned for readers to realize that how even though we might hold grudges or resentment towards one another, or even having contrasting motives;