“I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time.” ~pg. 155
For this reason Addie would never take anyone’s words for face value. So much so that, to her, words were completely vacuous- just meaningless sounds.
“That was when I learned that words are no good; that words dont ever fit even what they are trying to say at.” ~pg.157
“He
had a word, too. Love, he called it. But I had been used to words for a
long time. I knew that that word was like the others; just a shape to
fill a lack; that when the right time came, you wouldn’t need a word for
that anymore than for pride or fear.” ~pg.158
“The right time” referring to death. The things that people said (her husband too) could never capture the reality which they symbolized. It’s all moving towards death, what’s the point? For Addie, life was just a waiting time before the darkness set in and no words could help her cope with that conviction instilled in her by her father. The brief nine pages in which Addie’s persona is illustrated testifies to her previously mentioned selfish qualities. I surmise that it’s hard to give generously of oneself when one’s present moment is constantly tainted with the conviction that everything is moving towards death [and nothing else]. How is someone give of themselves to their children as a mother does or to her husband as a wife does with that despairing motto constantly in their mind? I think therein lies the profound tragedy; Addie lived a mediocre existence, died, and left her family truly motherless forever.
Works Cited
Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying: The Corrected Text. New York: Vintage, 1987. Print.
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