FREE ESSAY ON AS I LAY DYING ESSAY

AS I LAY DYING ESSAY

In As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, all of the Bundren family members are quite
eccentric and would be difficult to travel with; but the worst member would have to be
Addie because she smells and slows us down.
While traveling with the Bundrens, one of the reasons I most despise Addie the fact that
her grotesque smell makes me sick and the trip very unpleasant. The first smell I have to
endure and hate the most is the smell of her rotting body alone. After her body has been
decomposing for 9 days, people can smell her miles away! Imagine the smell I have to
experience just a few feet away from her. The next smell is the disgusting fish water
that her body is saturated in. That smell just adds to the horrid stench to create a
smorgasbord of disgusting odors. The rotting body and dirty river water would be enough,
but the she has to go and burn herself too! That fool Darl lit her on fire; and Jewel,
the idiot he is, went and saved her. Now I have to travel with the stench of a burnt
carcass. The combination of all three smells is so unbearable that I can not stand Addie
one second longer. 
Furthermore, instead of enjoying my well-earned vacation to Jefferson, not only do I have
to worry about the safety of Addie's body, but she is also a nuisance to every family in
one way or another. If it were not for Addie, we would get to Jefferson much faster and
enjoy our vacation. Without her, there would have been no trouble crossing the river. She
is an inconvenience to every single member of the family starting with Jewel whom goes
through the trouble of saving her from the river and the fire. Next, Cash breaks his leg
and has to have a concrete cast because of his attempt to get her body safely across the
river. Anse is obviously frustrated with Addie for many reasons. He wants to get to
Jefferson as soon as possible to get his teeth, and he also needs to get a new wife to do
his work for him. In addition to Anse, Dewey Dell also wants to get to Jefferson as soon
as possible to have her abortion. Finally, Darl pays the biggest price for his mother and
is sent to an insane asylum because of his selfless act to try giving her a respectful
burial. Every single member of the family makes sacrifices for Addie and is
inconvenienced in some way by her existence. This is why Addie Bundren is the most
difficult member of the family to travel with.