William Faulkner Repetition Era

 

    One prominent theme throughout As I Lay Dying is Faulkner’s use of repetition. For example, there are several mentions of the vultures in the sky circling Addie’s coffin. In the first few chapters, we also see the repeated auditory image of Cash sawing Addie’s coffin and Anse massaging his legs over and over again. I think these repeated, almost hypnotic sounds and movements, and the repetition of repetition itself throughout the chapters, are characteristics of the presence of animal magnetism in the novel.

    If you recall the Mental Floss article on animal magnetism we read in class, animal magnetism "exists in all of us as a magnetized liquid—one that empowers us, of course, but that can also form dangerous clots that will give your cosmic alignment the spins” (Burns). Animal magnetism connects all living things, and when a person’s magnetism is blocked, they are said to be prone to various forms of physical and psychological distress. Treatment for these blockages included a repeated massage motion on the patient’s body and staring deeply into their eyes, which is reminiscent of certain forms of hypnosis. I think these repeating, hypnotic motions that continue throughout the book, much like the methods used to keep a person’s animal magnetism in check, give a sense of balance in Faulkner’s world and are representative of the characters’ grip on reality.

    One way we can see that repeated sounds and motions in the novel show the characters’ connections to the world and other characters is through Vardaman’s spiral after Addie’s death. The beginning of Vardaman’s descent into craziness coincides with Cash finishing Addie’s coffin, and therefore the end of the sawing sound that was constant throughout the previous chapters. The sense of balance and comfort in Vardaman’s world is gone now that his mother is dead, and Faulkner represents this lack of familiarity by taking away the sawing noise that we have become used to in the novel.

    We also see a similar change in the repetitive elements of the book (in this case the vultures circling the coffin) in the chapter’s leading up to Darl burning the barn. On page 194, there are seven vultures, and Vardaman remarks that, “Yesterday there were just four." On page 196 there are nine vultures, and on 197, there are ten. The family’s arrival at the barn that Darl later burns happens shortly after these pages. This imbalance in the number of vultures ramps up to the book’s climax and builds up to Darl’s loss of sanity, culminating in the moment where he burns the barn. Much like Vardaman, Darl’s spiral coincides with the change in constant repetitive elements, showing that the use of repetition in the novel can be interpreted as a representation of the characters’ connection to reality, and therefore their animal magnetism.