As I lay Dying - Dewey Dell's Character

Throughout William Faulkner’s novel, As I lay Dying, Dewey Dell shows through her actions and thoughts that she values her problems over those of her family. As a 17 year old, she is unable to to deal with the burden of a possible child in her life and as a result, she excludes herself from the main focus of everyone else– burying the recently deceased Addie Bundren. By now being the only girl in the family, she feels alone and is forced to keep in all her secrets, even though she has confided in her older brother Darl in the past.

By being unable to feel included in the society she lives in, Dewey Dell upholds the philosophy of placing her individual will over the will of her family. Her untrusting relationship with the rest of the members in her household shows that she is unable to seek help from the people in her life she needs most and because of this, Dewey Dell is forced to search for the supplies of an abortion by herself.

Dewey Dell’s desire and conquest for an abortion during the madness of Addie’s burial comes to prove that she is more invested in her personal issues over those of her family. During her interaction with Moseley, the town’s market owner, it is shown that she has used money that the family is in desperate need of, in the intentions of her abortion, rather than to help their financial status. His unwillingness to help her desperate needs leads her to believe that, “he could do so much for me if he just would.

Get quality help now

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified

Proficient in: As I Lay Dying

4.7 (235)

“ Amazing writer! I am really satisfied with her work. An excellent price as well. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

He could do everything… But I know it is there because God gave women a sign when something has happened bad. (14.1) In this way, Dewey Dell is similar to Anse– putting his teeth over any other issues going on during the journey to buy Addie and has a constant spiral of recurring thoughts about her pregnancy . Although her issue is more urgent than that of her father, it is likely that she has inherited his selfish traits through the isolation on their farm and having Anse as the only example of a father figure she has. Anse’s self interest has absorbed himself into Dewey Dell’s character and has taught her to use her money for the sole purpose of benefiting herself.

Dewey Dell’s Individualism

Dewey Dell’s individualism results in consequences when she is placed in the hands of MacGowan. Due to her urgent needs, she sees him as a solution to her problems and believes he has what she needs in order to get rid of her baby. This misconception ultimately leads to him raping her and giving her false abortion pills filled with talcum powder which will only do more harm than good. If she had been able to speak to someone in her family about her issues, she would’ve had a higher chance to receive more proper guidance and support on what she should’ve done with her child. Dewey Dell initially seeked the help from Peabody, the town’s doctor, yet after realizing that he would most likely tell her family, she sought out to find other options that could be available even when there was no others nearby. She had even stated that ‘I would let him come in between me and Lafe, like Darl did” showing that she would sacrifice a big part of her life in order to receive proper help to get an abortion. Lafe’s absence throughout the novel shows Dewey Dell’s isolation to the world and her secretiveness proves that she believes no one else is understanding of what she is going through.

The Bundren family consists of multiple individuals with different motives and this separation results in the distant bonds between the siblings. As a female, Dewey Dell is naturally set apart from the rest of her brothers and because of this, she feels uneasy in speaking about her love life with Lafe or any other feminine problems she encounters along the way. She finds a relationship with Darl, yet even so, on multiple occasions she feels threatened by the amount of knowledge he possesses of her and she fears he will let out any information on her that he withholds. Dewey Dell’s initial reaction to her mother’s death emphasizes the theme of self-interest over responsibility and calls into question the Bundrens’ publicly announced reasons for travelling to Jefferson. The close relationship between the Bundren and Tull families demonstrates the societal normalities within the era of this novel and Vernon’s thoughts towards Anse’s treatment towards his family is dependent upon their views of Dewey Dell. Their neighborly interactions shows how Vernon and Coral are constantly aware of the troubles within the Bundren house and how each member of the family is more invested in personal needs than the needs of them all as a whole.

Dewey Dell’s distractions on her pregnancy undermines any concept of how a family is supposed to operate, especially in the event of her mother’s death. This is especially clear given that her worries focus around an upcoming birth, rather than getting her mother’s corpse to Jefferson as she requested before she died. The whole premise of the story revolves around the multiple personalities of the Bundren family and while some characters like Cash focus more on the needs of his family, Dewey Dell is unable to keep her priorities to her family’s situation. Dewey Dell proves to be a loving daughter, sister and lady in the early 1900’s yet her individual will dominates over the rest of her qualities. As a teenage girl, she is aware that the birth of a baby would result in having a poor social status, so she is unable to keep her mind off of the issue. Individuality has always been a part of Dewey Dell’s character, and her pregnancy became the first test to show how she could handle life in the real world.