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Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying: the Corrected Text. Vintage Books, 2013.

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William Faulkner’s characterization of you (Jewel Bundren) in As I Lay Dying presents the theme that someone’s opinion and view of another is not always accurate, shown through how we viewed you, how you truly felt about Addie, and the sacrifices you made for Addie to get her to her final resting place. We all viewed you as arrogant and selfish because you were more independent from the family, and your expression of love towards Addie was not very common and often unrecognizable. Our views as the Bundren family are proven wrong as we recognize your real love through selfless acts, and you become less self-reliant and more giving. Our jealousy, wanting love from Addie, clouds our opinions on you, which you prove to be inaccurate. On behalf of the entire Bundren family, we are sorry.

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Yes, I am starting to see this, too. Another event that opens my eyes to your love for Addie is when I light the barn on fire to incinerate the coffin, and you risk your life to try and save Addie's corpse and her coffin. This is one of my chapters, and I say “We see his shoulders strain as he upends the coffin and slides it single-handed...the sparks rain on him [Jewel] too in engendering gusts, so that he appears to be enclosed in a thin nimbus of fire” (Faulkner 222). This dangerous mission by you shows me and probably the rest of the family how much you always loved Addie. It is an obvious act of love and it shows how willing you are to fulfill the final wish of Addie. It proves to us that our view of you as unloving was not accurate, and you just had your own ways of expressing your love that was different from than normal. This evident expression proves to us that you did love Addie, and you were neither selfish nor arrogant, but rather acting independently as you had to from a young age, knowing you were not truly a part of our family. Everybody's opinions and views of you were false because we lacked the love that Addie gave to you, so we saw you as arrogant when you just showed your love to Addie differently. This makes sense now.

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I guess that is true. As I am looking through our book again, near the end your love for Addie becomes increasingly evident to all of us Bundren children through your actions and the sacrifices you make as we work to get Addie to her final resting place. To do this, it takes a team of mules which we all know are expensive. Anse trades your beloved horse for a team of mules, and the narrator of the chapter, Armstid, describes the scene, saying you “turned and went on to the gate and unhitched the horse and got on it...by the time he was on it they was tearing down the road” (Faulkner 191) however, later you make a huge sacrifice in giving up your horse as the farmhand, Eustace, says “‘I just found the horse in the barn this morning...I told Mr Snopes and he said to bring the team on over here’” (Faulkner 193).

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See? Addie’s death caused me to be less self-reliant and more giving to others because I lost the one person who I love. I am still removed from the Bundren family, however I became more wise and aware of others’ needs and I sacrifice my own things and my life to help our family, which ultimately helps Addie get to Jefferson. I have always loved Addie, however I just did not express in normal ways that were evident to you all.

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My love for Addie is also evident when I tell the reader I imagine that “It would just be me and her on a high hill and rolling the rocks down at their faces, picking them up and throwing them down the hill faces and teeth and all” (Faulkner 15). Harming you all with Addie while she lives out her final days, just the two of us, was our idea of fun. This shows how I truly love Addie, wishing to be with her and ignore the rest of you. This also shows how Addie’s love has reached me and how mutual our love for each other is despite how it seems through your jealous eyes.

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I still just do not see a point to your argument Jewel. You are a selfish person, and it only seems as though you are making elaborate excuses for your behavior now. Even in your very own chapter, where you had an opportunity to change the view of readers, you yell at Cash in your head and criticize him, saying “It’s because he stays out there, right under the window, hammering and sawing on that box...I said Good God do you want to see her in it” (Faulkner 14). You are just plain awful and you express this even in your own chapter when you have a chance to change the readers' views.

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You are wrong. In my chapter, I clearly show my resentment when I criticize you all, especially Cash, however I am protecting Addie with my criticism. I am trying to protect her from the misery of her fate by keeping her from seeing the coffin, as though she will not die if the coffin was not being made.

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Yes, well I was trying to get Addie's coffin across the river as quickly as possible to make the trip to Jefferson as efficiently as I could. Would you want to spend many days on end saddened by the knowledge that your dead mother is in a coffin right next to where you sleep?

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What about while we were trying to get Addie and her coffin across the river? You lashed out at me unnecessarily. I told you that Addie was unbalanced in the coffin, but you neglected to help and fix the situation, yelling at me and saying "'Pick up. Goddamn you, pick up'" (Faulkner 96). You couldn't have loved her that much if you did not care that her coffin may break or worse. You reacted harshly to me and you showed no evidence of caring for Addie and getting her to Jefferson at all.

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While I was lying, covering up my fatigue is not to deceive, but rather to attempt to avoid any worry that I may cause to Addie. This is how I express my love, so you all inaccurately view my dishonesty as deceit instead of what it really is, protection of Addie.

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We all feel that you selfishly hid whatever you did that made you tired, as to avoid being caught in the deceptive trick you were participating in. We believe you were lying to the whole family.

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I love Addie in ways shown that are uncommon and therefore unrecognizable to you all. An example of this is when Addie asks me “‘are you sick?’ ma said. ‘Don't you feel all right?’ ‘Yes,’ Jewel said. ‘I feel all right’” (Faulkner 129). I say this to ensure Addie does not worry about me. This is a subtle way I express my love to her. I am not trying to worry or upset her, I show my love for her by my act of protecting her from any anxiety.

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I think I speak for all of us when I say that I see you as arrogant and selfish, using the love from Addie to your advantage without returning it and even lying to her.

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I am truly just acting independently because I know I am not really a part of this family. I do love Addie. She shows her love for me when she says after I fall asleep during chores “‘I want him to stay at home today’ ma said. ‘I’ll need him,’ pa said. ‘It’s tight enough, with all of us to do it.’ ‘You’ll just have to do the best you can with Cash and Darl’ ma said” (Faulkner 129-130). Addie allows me to rest at the cost of the rest of you all and shows me affection as I sleep. Addie disregards the rest of you all, of whom she does not love, so the one child she does love, me, knows it. She expresses her love to me through leniency that she gives to nobody else.

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I believe my perception of you is accurate. For example, do you remember the summer when you were always sneaking away at night? You were trying to earn money for a horse then sleeping through your chores the next day. Addie shows you relentless love and affection during this summer, however it seems as though you just betray her. Your selfish and arrogant behavior is betrayal toward the one person who loves you. You show her no love when she shows you an abundance of love.

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William Faulkner’s characterization of me (Jewel Bundren) in his novel, As I Lay Dying, presents the theme that someone’s opinion and view of another is not always accurate as shown through how I am seen and described in my response to my mother’s love while she is alive, my thoughts while she is dying, and the sacrifices I make at the end of the novel to help our family get Addie to her final resting spot in Jefferson.

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I finished reading our book, As I Lay Dying, and I am furious about how you all inaccurately describe me. I mean sure, often siblings feel as though parents are not being fair, and Addie does not show love to all of you as much as she does to me, but that is because I have a different father and she does not like Anse. I know that I am spoiled by Addie, who constantly shows unconditional love to me, and I love her back. Because there are very few chapters narrated by me, readers often see how I react to events from the viewpoint of you all and your views of me simply are not correct. Because of this, I come across as selfish and arrogant, even to Addie’s love, however I show my love to her differently, in ways you all don't recognize.