The Themes of William Faulkners As I Lay Dying Essay -- As I Lay Dyin

William Faulkner in his book "As I Lay Dying" portrays a Mississippi family which goes through many hardships and struggles. Faulkner uses imagery to illustrate an array of central themes such as the conscious being or existence and poverty among many others. From the first monologue, you will find and indulgence of sensual appeal, they are a strong aspect through out the novel. Each character develops stronger and stronger by their passages. One of the themes in As I Lay Dying is a Human's relations to nature, Faulkner uses imagery in the sense that he relates some the character to animals. One of the central themes in As I lay dying is the attachment to nature. Darl in this passage relates "the still surface of the water a round orifice in nothingness, where before I stirred it awake with the dipper I could see maybe a star or tow in the bucket, and maybe in the dipper a star or two before I drank."(p.455) His physical necessities are being met, this is a central theme in As I lay Dying, meeting your needs, survival, through out all the tragedies that occur. But here Faulkner shows that there is some progress, due to Darl finding a way to enhance the experience of drinking plain old water by drinking it out of a wooden bucket. The wooden bucket enriches the flavor of water, and connects you to nature through taste. Darl has found a better way to satisfy his needs. William Faulkner overwhelms his audience with the visual perceptions that the characters experience, making the reader feel utterly attached to nature and using imagery how a human out of despair can make accusations. "If I jump off the porch I will be where... ... Imagery alone can be sufficient to give the reader a rich sense of emotion, but when it symbolizes the themes of the Story and reflects on the characteristics of the narrator it is truly a master piece. Imagery has been used by William Faulkner to create parallels that strengthen the themes of the story. The imagery is used a tool to appeal to the reader to convey the authors purpose. It distinguishes literature and helps us appreciate the arts. Imagery in As I Lay Dying is like painting a picture with only thoughts and observations, add to the equation alternate views and biased views, and we have ourselves a great piece of literature. Work Cited Faulkner, William. "As I Lay Dying." The Norton Introduction to the Short Novel. 3rd Ed. Jerome Beaty. New York: W.W Norton & Company, Inc. 455, 468, 466, 456.