Character Analysis: Jewel

In the novel "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner, Faulkner uses an interesting twist in his stories. Instead of having the whole story told by one narrator, he decided to use all the characters and made them all narrators. Each character has their own chapter that's self titled and it has that character give their personal thoughts or views on a certain situation. This was a clever way to make the novel because with each chapter, its like the character is revealing more and more about themselves and their personal character. The chapters are like brief journal entries for every character and thats where they reveal their true feelings about whatever's going on in their lives. Another interesting thing about this novel is that all the characters are different and they have their own way of expressing themselves especially when it comes to language and diction.
One of these interesting characters would have to be Jewel. Surprisingly, Jewel is actually a male and he is one of Addie's children. I think he is one of the more interesting characters because his connection with everyone else in the novel is very distant. Jewel really separates himself from the other characters because of previous actions in the story. His relationship with his other siblings isn't very good either. The other siblings seem to be jealous of Jewel at times because Addie, the mother, loved him more than his other brothers and sister. I know it sounds really bad but unfortunately its the truth.
In the novel its clear that Jewel had a better relationship with his mother more than the other siblings. In Darl's section of As I Lay Dying, he and the rest of the family are traveling to Jefferson, which is where Addie wished to buried. During this journey there were alot of obstacles they had to overcome and one of them was working as a team. Jewel was portrayed as being very stubborn and difficult with everyone. For example, Jewel's brother, Cash would try to work with him and direct Jewel but he would ignore him completely. Throughout the novel Jewel would purposely separate himself from other people. For example,when they were all trying to cross the river, Jewel was very attached to the horse and nothing else. He even went as far as to try and carry it across the river himself. Cash would try and tell him just let the horse swim, but Jewel refused to listen to him (p.144-145).
Another characteristic about Jewel is that he loved and adored his horse dearly. Everything he would do involved his horse. Even though Jewel separated himself from everyone in the "river crossing" scene, he stayed attached to his horse. The horse is very important in characterizing Jewel because it represents who he is in so many ways. For example, Jewel and his horse's relationship is an extended metaphor of Jewel and Addie's relationship as a child. Jewel was obviously the favorite of Addie's and she never tried to hide it. Jewel and his horse represent him and his mother because it says that "Ma would sit in the lamp-light, holding him on a pillow on her lap. We would wake and find her so. There would be no sound from them"(p. 144). Then the scene goes on to show Jewel comforting the horse as they crossed the river. Jewel calms the horse by saying" Go on,I aint going to let nothing hurt you. Go on, now" (p. 144). This part truly reflects the loving bond between Jewel and Addie, as well as Jewel and his horse. Also, Jewel ignored Cash's voice, just as Addie would ignore them many times as kids.