As I Lay Dying Blog V - 4.25.16

How do you respond to the final line of the novel? Why end the novel this way?

     The novel of As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner was troubling to myself as a reader at times, but there was definitely more unexpected than the end of the novel in itself. The last sentence just (most likely) shellshocked every single reader that I know of; it was so unexpected that it was in a way, almost good. You are probably wondering what the ending of the novel is… Here it is, “‘Meet Mrs. Bundren,’ he says.” (Faulkner 261) At the same time from liking the end, I feel like it was all just so sudden and thrown together. I felt that there was this journey from around page 48 to almost the end to bury Addie, but that journey turned into a journey for several other things. Like teeth, a gramophone, and an abortion. Never once did I think that Anse was going to get himself a new woman to replace Addie; although, looking back on it, I can see some subtle hints that can foreshadow this event. It was kind crazy to see that this entire family goes on a journey where they get in extreme amounts of trouble, and even at one point goes backwards. (not exactly backwards, but in the wrong direction in order to get to somewhere else) The only reason I actually liked the ending that Faulkner gave us, the readers, is because it was completely unexpected unless you are a literary guru who can see that he was foreshadowing some of it all along. Personally, I believe that William Faulkner ends this novel the way he does just to show that women only serve very little, unless it is with “household purposes” like having children, cooking, or just being a wife in general. We even see that Anse goes to get this wife before Addie is even buried. Which ultimately shows that wives and women can be replaced easily with another as apparently they add very little to someone else’s life. But in the end, we see that Addie has fulfilled her life as she had once said she would, by having children and being alive, she would be ready to die. I personally think that Faulkner did a great job writing this novel, and he does a great job by hooking the reader with his writing by ending the novel the way he did.