Freedomain Radio

As the character of Darl Bundren from the novel As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, is closely investigated, it is apparent that his ability of clairvoyance is not merely a result of insanity or perspicacity. The easiest way to prove the presence of a channeled influence on Darl is his spontaneous outbreaks of articulacy, which he himself could in no way have spoken on his own. Faulkner’s copious criticisms of religion destroy the likeliness of some supernatural figure, so all that is left is the possibility of Faulkner himself as Darl’s inducer. Moreover, the notion that Darl is merely an alter ego of Faulkner explains the most important elements of the work, for through the actions of Darl, Faulkner is able to attack the zeitgeist and customs of the post-bellum south. Darl’s outward duplicity can be explained in the framework of the conflict between his desire for familial love, and Faulkner’s want for him to abandon the society in which he lives. 

From his nascence, the impressible Darl seeks intimate relationships, but finds nothing but an overwhelming sense of nihilism and despondency. He witnesses a passionate but shameful love between his mother and his younger brother Jewel, and as a result his subconscious need for maternal love intensifies. Faulkner gives Darl the power to see all the iniquity in the family, but this only serves Faulkner’s motive for a violent rebellion, for Darl’s spectacular insight does nothing but isolate and disillusion him, and he continues to separate from any form of love. His passion reaches a climax when he attempts to burn his mother in her coffin- but this is, irrevocably, not an attempt of destruction on his part, for he is found lying on her coffin alone afterwards - it is an act of incest. Darl, as he is innately driven by need for love from his mother, uses the sultry fire as a symbol for sexual love, as it his only way to achieve intimacy with her. The malevolence of the sagacity given to him by Faulkner is explicit in the fact that it is Dewey Dell who incriminates Darl, and her impetus was purely revenge, for she was deeply angry of his ability to discover her ignominious pregnancy. This was indeed intended by Faulkner, and it will be clear once his own motives are discovered.

 In Faulkner’s mind, the Bundrens are a microcosm for the post-bellum state of the south. As a result of the defeat and stagnation of the southern economy, the pernicious philosophies of nihilism and religious fundamentalism dominate. The overwhelming sense of paralysis is evinced by the attitude of Anse, the obvious hypocrisy of fundamentalism is shown by Cora, Dewey Dell shows the extreme absence of thought and reason, and Addie perfectly represents the death worship that permeates. Faulkner influences Darl to act violently in order to combat this overwhelming hopelessness, but Faulkner does not allow him to succeed. The bitterness of Dewey Dell is the only reason for the subsequent capture of Darl, as it is explicitly stated that Dewey Dell is the incriminator. Faulkner’s sacrifice of Darl represents the sacrifice of his own antagonistic ideals, and it solidifies his own acquiescence to the society. As the narrative continuously switches from first to third person in Darl’s final section, Faulkner’s presence in him is destroyed, but at the last moments most explicitly expressed. He speaks the most important and reverberant line of the entire novel, “One of them had to ride backward because the state’s money has a face to each backside and a backside to each face, and they are riding on the state’s money which is incest” (254). Faulkner is saying that just as Darl’s act of incest is a corruption of the family, the state is a corruption of society. He compares his crime of incest to the crimes the state, especially the government in the north during and after the Civil War, enacts on his culture, which results in the very desolateness that drove Darl to commit the incest. He then says, “Darl had a little spy-glass he got in France at the war. In it had a woman and a pig with two backs and no face. I know what that is” (254). He relates traumatic experiences of wars to the trauma of seeing the lack of communication between his two parents, for father is merely a pig unable to communicate genuinely, just as his mother. Thus, Faulkner serves to expose the corruption in his society, while his alter ego exposes the resulting corruption in the family. But, just as Faulkner remained in the south despite the injustices he saw, he exiles Darl and his rebelliousness, for Faulkner believes that he will be better off conforming to the culture in which he has lived his whole life.

 For anyone who has read it, definately go back to Darl's last section and see what he says about the state, its pretty shocking.