Universal Truths In Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

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Faulkner’s “Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech” is given to acknowledge the work put into a long-lasting book. He encourages young writers to not write in fear or their stories will be “ephemeral and doomed”. Instead, he wants to writers to write about things that deal with “the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself.” Faulkner adheres to his advice and incorporates some those truths in his novel. “As I Lay Dying” incorporates the universal truths, as a way of dealing the conflict that the character must overcome, Dewey Dell sacrifices her privacy in this novel.

Dewey Dell is a character that expresses a universal truth through the novel. She is seen sacrificing her privacy. Her privacy is extremely important to her. She doesn’t want people to know about her illegitimate child, since she feels ashamed for what she has done.Her privacy is something she has contemplated over in the the novel. It is something she holds dear to her. She expresses this feeling while being in the barn”It’s because I am alone. If I could feel it, it would be different, because I would not be alone. But if I were not alone, everyone would know it. And he could do so much for me then I would not be alone. Then I could be alright alone.” Dewey Dell wants to be alone,meaning she wants her privacy. If she were to have the baby and no
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This conflict then creates the foundation for a good novel. Theses conflicts of the heart and “old universal truths” are what make the story last.The way the character deals with the conflict , makes a good piece of fiction. In this novel the character's conflict is dealt with by sacrifice, one of the universal truths. The reason why the story stays with the reader is because the reader will feel an emotion that is very strong once the character deals with his/her conflict. The emotion will stay with them and as Faulkner states it “leave scars” in their