Causes Of Darl Bundren's Tragedy: A Tentative Study Of As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner is a very outstanding writer in American literature, the Nobel Prize winner. His works were very influential in the 20th century. As I Lay Dying (1930) is one of his loved works, a masterpiece of modern American literature. Critics and researchers have studied this novel, from such perspectives as psychology, feminism, naturalism and so on. This thesis intends to explore the character Darl Bundern's tragedy and its causes with Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis together with the theories of New Criticism. Darl Bundren is a tragic figure, and this thesis studies his tragedy from his personal, familial, and social aspects. Besides the introduction and the conclusion, the thesis falls into three chapters. The first chapter discusses Darl Bundren's personal factors. It is divided into fours sections: Darl's queer character and weird behaviors alienate himself from others; he fails to get an emotional substitute to release his desire for motherly love; his clairvoyance creates hostility around him; and his doubts and his contradictions turn him crazy. The second chapter examines Darl's tragedy in relation to his parents'failures, the collapse of the family and family members'estrangement and isolation. The last chapter discusses the influences of society,the decaying South, the collapse of Southern tradition on Darl's tragic fate .According to the analysis of this novel, people can know more about the tragedy of an individual with an abnormal and unhealthy mental condition in a decaying family and society. This thesis tries its best to investigate and analyze the tragedy to understand its causes. The thesis believes that it requires people's common efforts of love to build a harmonious and healthy society.