In William Faulkner's novel, As I Lay Dying, the Bundren family faces the loss of the matriarch, Addie (Ma) Bundren. Throughout the novel, the family struggles with personality differences, no character is like the others. Faulkner uses the different traits of these characters to allow the reader to understand that everyone has a different perspective on what is normal and what is not. Addie Bundren is a woman surrounded by people, but she feels isolated from the world, rarely allowing anyone to see who she really is. When Addie's father was alive, he said that the only purpose of life was to "prepare to stay dead", which was burned into his head. Addie never seeks any other goal than to prepare to die. His lack of motivation contributes to his lack of empathy towards humankind. Before marrying Anse Bundren (Pa), Addie is a teacher and seems to almost sadistically enjoy punishing children by saying this. When she punished them, she made the children feel as alone as she feels by thinking, "No....