Essay --

Nicholas Edel Form V English 10 The Servant Song In William Faulkner's novel, As I Lay Dying, the flood and the fire are two important events that occur over the course of the Bundrens’ journey to bury their mother Addie. Both fire and water are used as Christian symbols as well. For example, when people are baptized they are blessed with holy water and then they are cleansed of their original sin and become a member of the Church. Fire is used in Confirmation, especially when the Holy Spirit came over the apostles and gave them â€Å"tongues of fire† on Pentecost which was the first Confirmation. People are brought into the Church through the baptismal waters and they become strengthened through the fires of Confirmation. However, fire and flood can also take a negative connotation, such as bringing along destruction with them. Things are wiped out by floods, for example the Bible story of Noah’s ark where the whole world is flooded and the world is cleansed of the evil because of it. Also, fire is the elemen t of destruction, it is uncontrollable in its nature and only brings destruction wherever it sweeps. However, for the characters Cash and Darl, the flood and the fire take on the different connotations and they both develop differently because of them. The flood and the fire play a key role in the development of Cash and Darl, where Cash becomes a Christ-like figure for the family after being reborn in the waters of the flood and Darl who takes on the role of the anti-Christ and tries to tear the family apart after his first transformation in the flood and his rebirth in the fire. Cash is like Christ to the family but he does understand his role until after his baptism in the river crossing. Cash, like Jesus, is a carpenter an... ...aken on the role of Christ and the devil respectively, and, in the end just the way Jesus wins, Cash prevails over Darl and the family buries Addie after a long journey. They both play key roles in the family’s journey and they both are greatly affected by the flood and the fire. Both are baptized into different positions at the river and there was nothing they could do to change what would occur after the river crossing. Their destinies had already been set for them and there was no way that they could change it. Then, with the fire at the barn, both achieved their final calling and both fell into what their roles truly were. Both shaped the way the family went about its time on the journey and no matter what, the family will never be the same after the flood and the fire incidences that cost both Darl and Cash something, whether it be a leg or their whole psyche.