As I Lay Dying: The Love Of Family :: essays research papers

Ah, love. Love is so often a theme in many a well-read novel. In the story, As I Lay Dying, one very important underlying theme is not simply love, but the power to love. some(a) of the characters have this ability some can only talk about it. Perhaps more than anyone, Addie and gemstone have this power- one which Jewel, by saving his set out twice, merges with his power to act. As the Bible would have it, he does "not love in word, neither in tongue but in deed and in truth" (1 John 318).Jewel, Addies son by Whitfield, is 18 years old. Like Pearl, the product of Hester Prynnes adulterous affair in Nathaniel Hawthornes novel The Scarlet Letter, Jewels piss is a symbol of the value his mother places on him. The favoritism that Addie showed him is responsible for the antagonism between him and Darl. Jewel personifies Addies preference for experience over words. He is ceaselessly in motion. He expresses himself best by dint of actions. When he verbalizes his love for Addie - in his single monologue- he does so with a violent fantasy about cast down stones on outsiders. Elsewhere, he expresses his love for her through deeds, not words.While Addie lies dying on her corn-shuck mattress, Darl convinces Jewel to take a trip with him to pick up a load of lumber. Darl knows that Jewel is Addies favorite child. The trip for lumber is a contrivance- Darls way of keeping Jewel from his mothers bedside when she dies. A wheel breaks on the wagon, and before Darl and Jewel can replace it, bring the wagon home, and load Addies body onto it for the trip to Jefferson, three days have passed. By this time, heavy rains have flooded the Yoknapatawpha River and serve out all the bridges that cross it. The river is vicious, and the Bundrens mules drown. The wagon tips over, and. Jewel, on horseback, manages to keep the wagon and its load from drifting downstream, saving his mothers decomposing body. When the family finally makes it through the ordeal, they spend the nig ht at the Gillespies farm. Darl sets fire to the barn where Addies body is stored in an effort to spare his mother. However, Jewel once again saves her coffin with a epic act.