Symbolism and Theme in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

Introduction: A Corpse as Narrative Center

As I Lay Dying is a unique novel in that there is no discernible protagonist. In place of a protagonist is a corpse — Addie — who is dead for most of the book. The novel is written in the first person from the perspectives of Addie and her family, although the point of view shifts across most chapters between Addie's self-interested family members, with Addie herself contributing only one chapter. Addie's dying wish is to be buried in Jefferson, and the story follows how she makes it there. Although Addie is not alive for much of the novel, her son Jewel reflects her interests after her death and acts as her legacy.

That the novel is the story of a dead person whose ends will not be met until she reaches her grave is thematically consistent with voodoo cultures that existed in Mississippi's colorful history. Another theme is that of the oral tradition in the Old South — a tradition kept alive not only in African American circles but also in folk tales. As with oral traditions, the story maintains distance from the perspective of any given individual by sustaining so many first-person voices. By using this technique, Faulkner attempts to distance himself from his own emotions. To a certain extent, this Faulknerian de-emphasis on any single perspective lends weight to naturalistic themes. When the coffin is nearly lost while traversing a stream, we see that nature still plays a powerful role.

One of the novel's themes is that poor white people whom we might consider irrational and illogical have their own dramas and intrigues. Darl, who is the most eloquent narrator in the book, is also the antagonist: he sets fire to a barn and criticizes the journey at several points. Whereas most novels feature a perceptive if not rational protagonist, here the protagonist is a corpse. A corpse is, at most, the echo of a protagonist, and nature often serves as antagonist. In Moby Dick, Queequeg effectively rescues the protagonist in that his coffin is used by Ishmael as a flotation device. In the flood scene in As I Lay Dying, we see the opposite: Jewel saves his mother's corpse. Jewel, who never narrates a chapter of the novel, is an extension of his mother's will.

Jewel as Addie's Legacy and Spiritual Extension

It must be remembered that Jewel is his mother's love child. For this reason, we associate him exclusively with his mother and not with Anse. Typically, children of single mothers take their mothers' last names. Because the father plays no active role in Jewel's life, Jewel is her legacy. The other children can be seen as the legacy of the union between Anse and Addie, while Anse himself only wants to go to Jefferson to get a new set of teeth and a new wife. His selfishness precludes him from truly reflecting Addie's interests.

In the single chapter attributed to Jewel, his concerns seem to be those of the corpse. Although this is thought to be largely empathetic, it also points to Jewel's function as a vehicle for his mother's spirit. We see this in the one chapter he narrates: rather than thinking of himself as the other characters do, Jewel is disturbed that something might interfere with his mother. "I said if you'd just let her alone. Sawing and knocking, and keeping the air always moving so fast on her face that when you're tired you can't breathe it, and that goddamn adze going One lick less." (Faulkner, 347) Here Faulkner signals to the reader that the corpse is disturbed, but the agency of that disturbance takes the form of the boy. The racket near Addie's face angers her spirit, and no other character is as concerned with Addie's situation as Jewel is. In the novel's opening, Jewel's eyes are described as being like wood. This detail becomes more significant when two holes are drilled into the coffin: his eyes become the eyes of the corpse he is entrusted to protect. When Cora watches Addie earlier, she remarks, "When she finds me watching her, her eyes go blank." This reflects the dynamic between Addie and most of the other narrators.

Jewel's relationship with non-human forces is established when we see him communicate with his horse. This relationship is simultaneously violent and loving. Although all of the children have associations with animals, Jewel's bond with the horse seems the most nurturing and caring. His resentments are superficial, reflecting his relationship with his mother, which has always been characterized by conflict. His bitterness mirrors hers, and his relationship with her after death reflects her feigned indifference toward him in life: his love for his mother is unrequited, so her transition into death is just another manifestation of her apparent indifference to his needs. It is later revealed that one reason for Jewel's sense of rejection is that his mother intentionally spurns and troubles him — usually attributed to her guilt and her fear that Anse might discover he is not Jewel's father. Jewel's narrative, full of strong passions, jealousy, and anger, provides a vivid contrast to Darl's narrative, which is far more tightly organized.

An analogy can be drawn to the birth of the Centaur in Greek legend, who was created from the union of an earthly king and a cloud formed into the likeness of the goddess Hera. Although his mother lacked form or substance, he was born of her nonetheless and continued to represent her interests even as he fathered the race of centaurs. Jewel's bond with the absent, then dead, Addie carries similar mythic resonance.

Cora contends that Darl was always Addie's favorite and that others regarded him as "queer, lazy, and pottering." She believes Addie appeared to favor Jewel most, but that this was a ruse and that she really loved Darl. All of the characters hold their own feelings and reservations about Addie's love, though Darl's perspective is the most direct and honest. In many respects Darl is an anti-hero — the smartest of the group despite his faults. Faulkner uses Cora's monologue to establish ambiguous relationships between characters and to highlight their differing interpretations: Darl's narrative suggests Jewel and Anse are the ones most concerned about Addie, whereas Cora's narrative proposes that Darl is most concerned. Darl's actions later disprove this reading when he burns down the barn.

Eye Imagery and Symbolism

Another prominent theme in the novel is eye imagery. Addie's eyes are truly a window to her soul; we are presented with them alternately as glassy, like candles — reflecting her dying — and finally put out by Vardaman. By having wooden eyes, Jewel is shown to remain close to his wood-encased mother until she is buried. A unifying characteristic of Jewel and Vardaman is that both are in denial about their mother's death. Vardaman attempts to drill a hole in the coffin so that his mother can breathe, but in doing so inadvertently puts out her eyes. Those eyes serve as the definitive symbolic link between Addie and Jewel.

Conclusion: A Bankrupt Culture Kept Alive

The ultimate impression given by the novel is that the culture is bankrupt — as dead as the woman in the box, and yet, like Addie's corpse, it is kept alive for irrational, unintelligible reasons. The image we are left with is that of people enduring tribulations they have brought upon themselves. The only meaningful outside perspective is that of the doctor, whom Anse dismisses, limiting his voice to a single chapter. Here we get the impression that Faulkner, as an intellectual, was forced to interact with such people throughout his early life, and that far from being noble savages, they were little more than ragged, driven animals. He draws us into their way of thinking, compelling us to understand their interlocking dilemmas — only to leave us with the impression that doing so is ultimately a waste of time, as these people cannot be redeemed even by their moments of warmth and compassion.

Faulkner brings us into their world not to teach us to appreciate Southern culture, but to mimic it with the detachment of an impressionist. This is where he differs from other writers who portray Southern figures sympathetically, such as Mark Twain's portrayal of Huckleberry Finn. Faulkner is not trying to conceal a redemptive message in his work: the journey of the Bundren family is the equivalent of a Homeric odyssey undertaken for the most trivial of ends. One can only fully understand the mentality he wishes to portray by recognizing his voyeuristic inquiry into the daily lives of the Southern poor.

In the seemingly valiant effort of protecting his mother's corpse and rescuing it from the fire, Jewel is not only his mother's legacy — he is the foot soldier in the perpetuation of a meaningless process. He reminds the reader of all those people dutifully willing to protect the honor and tradition of things that possess no intuitive value.