Dewey Dell's Character Playlist
An Analysis on Faulkner's Character and its Relevance to Today in Modern Media
As I Lay Dying is a novel by William Faulkner that follows the Bundren family on a journey to bury their dead matriarch, their mother/wife, Addie Bundren. The only daughter, Dewey Dell, seems to have been left on the wayside and long forgotten about by critics and, it seems, like Faulkner himself. Dewey Dell does not have a major roll in the plot of the story except for replacing the Addie's role. In As I Lay Dying she is one of the characters that has the smallest voice making it hard to figure out her true identity. Since Faulkner made it hard to figure her out in words I figured maybe another media to try would be music. I am going to select crucial scenes that illustrate her inner character turmoil and connect them to a song in order to illustrate the emotions and motives of Dewey Dell in a media that today's society might be able to connect to.

One way to define Dewey Dell's character is to examine the images she is connected with. According to Terrell Tebbetts, "Dewey Dell is twice a cow" once in the barn at their home (61) and another time in Jefferson (251) when she is about to get raped by the shop clerk ("Discourse and Identity in Faulkner's
As I Lay Dying and Swift's Last Orders" 75). The image of a cow is connected to Dewey Dell throughout the novel. In a sense it can be seen as Faulkner saying that Dewey Dell is only good for providing food for the family and is otherwise not intelligent enough for much else. Or, as is later examined, the cow can be linked to Dewey Dell in a spiritual way. They are connected to each other not because of their intelligence or worth but because of their gender and experiences. The cow image also appears in the scene where Vardaman is waiting outside the cellar door for Dewey Dell and does not realize his sister is being raped.
"I hear the cow a long time, clopping on the street. Then she comes into the square. She goes across the square, her head down clopping . She lows. There was nothing in the square before she lowed, but it wasn't empty. Now it is empty after she lowed. She goes on, clopping . She lows." (251).
The cow represents her throughout the novel. In the barn it was Dewey Dell's voice asking for help and here it is the same concept. Dewey Dell is being raped during Vardaman's narrative and the lowing of the cow in the emptiness represents the cry in the dark for help that Dewey Dell would be crying if she only could. This girl needs help, but it seems like the only one who cares is the cow.
Tebbetts continues to describe Dewey Dell also as "an instrument, her leg a 'lever which moves the world'" showing that she is an important character; she is the one who holds everyone else together ("Discourse and Identity in Faulkner's
As I Lay Dying and Swift's Last Orders" 75). Ever since Addie died Dewey Dell had to take up the role of mother, daughter, and sister. Vardaman always has something to say about her in his chapters and always goes to her when he's scared like a child to a mother would.
In essence, Dewey Dell's character can be described as a scared child crying out for help or a child thrown into the conflicting roles of mother, sister, and daughter. She is a conflict of emotions that I believe even Faulkner did not understand and so therefore he leaves the interpretation for her inner workings up to his reader. My goal is to use the following eight songs to help enlighten readers to a side of Dewey Dell that might not be obvious in the book, but can hopefully be seen through the examination of music.