Bad Luck

William Faulkner certainly likes to make a large number of characters to throw into a story. It’s difficult to keep them all apart, especially when they are family. The title seems to suggest that the story revolves around the protagonist “As [she] lays dying.” However, considering that she dies not long after the beginning of the story, this is obviously not the case. At the same time, her importance inside of the coffin and the troubles she causes for her family after death seem to show that even though she does nothing purposefully, she is still around to communicate to everyone in someway. In a sense, Darl might have seen or understood the troubles that the dead woman was causing for he and his family, but his reaction did nothing more than cause even more troubles and eventually sent him to an institution for the insane. Whether this is the spirit of Addie causing difficulties for the journey or simple bad luck following the coffin, once the corpse is buried the story and the journey end, letting the time for healing begin.