Previous
56. Vardaman
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in As I Lay Dying, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Self-Interest Versus Heroic Duty
Mortality and the Nature of Existence
Family, Birth, and Death
Religion and Faith
Language versus Action
Summary
Analysis
Darl describes the experience of being forced onto the train to Jackson by the mental institution workers. He does so in the third person, referring to himself as Darl, with only a few interruptions from the first-person voice. He repeats the word "Yes yes yes yes" and laughs by the window on the train. At the end of the chapter, Darl concludes, "Darl is our brother"¦.Our brother Darl in a cage in Jackson where, his grimed hands lying light in the quiet interstices, looking out he foams."
After the Bundrens send him away to Jackson, Darl's capacity for articulation breaks down. He refers to himself in the third person, suggesting that part of his ability to express observations about others earlier stemmed from his detachment from them. Here, Darl detaches from his own subjectivity and puts himself in the position of his siblings, saying "Darl is our brother."
Themes
