Addie Bundren In William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

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William Cuthbert Faulkner was born on September 25, 1987 in New Albany, Mississippi to Maud Butler and Murry Cuthbert Faulkner. He left high school before he could graduate, but he had always enjoyed reading and writing. (Atchity 67) He began writing in 1921, he published his first book in 1924, and by 1949 he was recognized for his work with a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949. (Schmoop 1) One of Faulkner’s many novels, “As I Lay Dying,” takes place in Mississippi in the 1920’s. When Addie’s Bundren’s dying request is to be buried with her blood family in a town forty miles away, her husband and children do just that upon her death. Their long journey is arduous and full of turmoil and mishaps, but they are successful in the end. In the novel,…show more content…
Addie is the wife of Anse Bundren and the mother of five children. (Schmoop 1) Addie’s iciness is seen in her behavior and actions towards the rest of her family. She is unhappy with her marriage to Anse and cannot find it in herself to love him. (Sparknotes 1) Her relationships with her children is an improvement from that of her relationship with her husband, but still lacks the devotion from that of a warm mother. To begin with, Addie is not overly fond of motherhood or children, as she takes to beating her students at school. (Page 114) She never really wanted the children she had with Anse, and thus shows favoritism towards the one child that was conceived through an affair. Another driving force behind her personality is her bitterness. Her cynicism can be traced back to her childhood. Growing up she was deprived of typical family relationships. Her father had a cynical outlook on life and often said that, “ the reason for living is getting ready to stay dead.” (Page 113) The bitterness she feels towards her family, mostly Anse, is one of the reasons that prompted her to request her family to bury her in Jefferson. (Wadlington

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