As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is a great American Novel. The Bundren family is faced with the death of mother and wife Addie Bundren, the novel is told by many narrators providing the insight and thoughts of every character throughout the story line. The most important characters in the novel would be Darl and the other children of Addie. However the neighbors are also import to the novel as well, they provide a view of the Bundren family from the outside looking in.
Of the characters outside of the Bundren family Cora Tull is very insightful and her thoughts of the Bundren give the readers a view of the Bundren family from the outside looking in. Cora is the wife of Vernon Tull and a neighbor of the Bundren Family. Reading Cora’s narrative and some dialogue with her husband Tull we can further analyze characters of the Bundren family through her observations and the opinions she makes about each character.
Cora is the second character to narrate in the novel and the first character outside of the Bundren family. In her first dialogue Cora’s mind is on the cakes she proudly made without a cost to bake them. For m this narrative we learn that Cora is amongst the poor of her community since she is very proud of making the cakes for close to nothing. Cora also makes a few remarks which reveal her true character. “There’s not a woman in this section could ever bake with Addie Bundren….First thing we know she’ll be up and baking again, and then we won’t have any sale for ours at all.” From this quote we can tell that Cora focuses more on herself than anyone else. Addie is dying and she’s concerned about the money she wouldn’t be able to get if Addie was well and making her own cakes.
The second of Cora’s narratives beginning on pg 21, Cora reveals her thoughts about Darl. Often Darl is described as the weird one in the family. From Cora’s views of Darl in comparison to Jewel and the rest of the family we can tell that everything she says should not be held accountable. “It was like he knew he would never see her again….I always said Darl was different from those others…he was the only one that had his mother’s nature, had any natural affection” These are the thoughts of Cora as Darl and Jewel leave their mother for a chore that pays $3. What Cora sees is far from the truth, Cora sees Jewel as the son that really deserved Addie, when in fact Jewel was the one who didn’t want to leave his mother. From Cora’s second narration we can see her very religious and God fearing side. “ I have tried to live right in the sight of God and man, for the honor and comfort of my Christian husband and the love and respect of my Christian children.” All while Cora proclaims her faith it seem that her thoughts focus back on to herself, when her original thoughts were on Darl and his mother.
Looking at Cora’s name itself, "Cor" means "vulgar corruption of God." This is not surprising see that Cora always seeks the faults of other people, including Addie Bundren on her death bed, as she fails to see her own.
