Animals In Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
Brittany N. Rice
February 27, 2009
English 204
As I Lay Dying
Animals
In Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, he used animals to symbolize characters. The Bundren children are obsessed with animals throughout the novel. Vardaman is convinced that his mother is a fish, Darl declares that Jewel’s mother is a horse, and Dewey Dell relates to the farm cow as another woman. After each character learns of their mother’s death they each relate an animal to situations apparent to their own lives. Varadaman sees Addie as a fish because of the way that she has been transformed from alive to dead. Vardaman catches a fish on the day his mother dies and cuts it up and brings it inside to be cooked. The blood of the fish is all over his clothes and on the same day Addie dies. Vardaman connects a fish with his mother and believes her to be a fish. “Vardaman comes back and picks up the fish. It slides out of his hands, smearing wet dirt onto him, and flops down, dirtying itself again, gapmouthed, goggle-eyed, …show more content…
Dewey Dell is the character that relates most with the family cow. The cow just like Dewey Dell has something inside of them. The cow lows at the foot of the bluff. She nuzzles at me, snuffing, blowing her breath in a sweet, hot blast, through my dress, against my nakedness, moaning. ‘You got to wait a little while. Then I’ll tend to you,’” (Faulkner, 61). The milk inside the cows body is related to the baby growing inside of Dewey Dell. The milk is symbolic of the thing inside her body. “The cow nuzzles at me moaning. ‘You’ll just have to wait. What you got in you aint nothing to what I got in me, even if you are a woman too,’” (Faulkner, 63). Even though Dewey Dell is pregnant now she finds that she has to be the maternal figure in the house. “’You go on to the house and get your supper.’ He draws back. I hold him. ‘You quit now. You leave me be,’” (Faulkner,
February 27, 2009
English 204
As I Lay Dying
Animals
In Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, he used animals to symbolize characters. The Bundren children are obsessed with animals throughout the novel. Vardaman is convinced that his mother is a fish, Darl declares that Jewel’s mother is a horse, and Dewey Dell relates to the farm cow as another woman. After each character learns of their mother’s death they each relate an animal to situations apparent to their own lives. Varadaman sees Addie as a fish because of the way that she has been transformed from alive to dead. Vardaman catches a fish on the day his mother dies and cuts it up and brings it inside to be cooked. The blood of the fish is all over his clothes and on the same day Addie dies. Vardaman connects a fish with his mother and believes her to be a fish. “Vardaman comes back and picks up the fish. It slides out of his hands, smearing wet dirt onto him, and flops down, dirtying itself again, gapmouthed, goggle-eyed, …show more content…
Dewey Dell is the character that relates most with the family cow. The cow just like Dewey Dell has something inside of them. The cow lows at the foot of the bluff. She nuzzles at me, snuffing, blowing her breath in a sweet, hot blast, through my dress, against my nakedness, moaning. ‘You got to wait a little while. Then I’ll tend to you,’” (Faulkner, 61). The milk inside the cows body is related to the baby growing inside of Dewey Dell. The milk is symbolic of the thing inside her body. “The cow nuzzles at me moaning. ‘You’ll just have to wait. What you got in you aint nothing to what I got in me, even if you are a woman too,’” (Faulkner, 63). Even though Dewey Dell is pregnant now she finds that she has to be the maternal figure in the house. “’You go on to the house and get your supper.’ He draws back. I hold him. ‘You quit now. You leave me be,’” (Faulkner,