Jewel Character Analysis
In the book As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, the Bundren family is financially depressed and can't get out of the lower class no matter what they try to do. The story of the Bundrens is following their journey to bury their mother/wife, Addie Bundren. The whole journey is filled with tragedy, either humorous or grotesque, depending on how the reader interprets it. Throughout the book we see how, even though the Bundrens are a family who has just lost their mother, they could not be more selfish or divided. Sure, the family is truly making the journey to Jefferson to bury their mother, but in reality every member of the family has a self serving reason to go to Jefferson. Everyone agrees that this family does not really live the American Dream, but there are different theories why. Some say that the Bundrens don't have access to the American Dream because they are poor and live in the country and not in town. Others may say that the Bundrens DO have access to the American Dream they just don't take advantage of it. One specific character that we see making a huge effort to get somewhere is Jewel. Jewel is an outsider in the family to begin with. He is a head taller than all of the other men in the family, he does;t get along well with anyone, and he always makes small efforts to distance himself even more from the family. Eventually, we do find out that Jewel is the product of an affair that Addie had with a priest from town. Addie was unhappy in her marriage to Anse Burden, so she felt that she had to go and have an affair in an attempt to make herself happy again. The affair produced Jewel, who seemed to be her favorite child. Addie felt sorry about her affair, and so she "repaid" Anse by having two more of his children, Dewey Dell and Vardaman. After this, she felt that she could finally die peacefully. She recalls the quote her father said to her many times, "We live life in preparation to die" (paraphrased). In the middle of the book, we learn about Jewel staying up through the night to work on a field so that he could get himself a horse. This is something that the rest of the family hasn't done, and probably wouldn't do. The thing that makes Jewel special though is that he can self-determinate to get things done and get himself out of his impoverished lifestyle. In the Bundren's situation, the ONLY way they could get out of the lower class is by going above and beyond and making extra efforts to get there. Jewel is the only one willing to risk his own comfortableness to make something for himself, which makes him different and individual compared to the other Bundrens.