“苦难与救赎”是《圣经》传统中的重要母题。福克纳在小说《我弥留之际》中延续了对这一母题的化用，讲述了本德仑一家长达十天的送葬之行。但在《圣经》母题的神圣外衣下，小说以色彩对立的强烈反讽，揭露了“苦难之行”的荒诞本质，更在无信仰、无理性的“非英雄”群像建构中排斥了他们获得救赎的可能性。在多重负面意指中，福克纳通过剥离“苦难与救赎”母题的神圣外衣，在文学诗性与宗教神性的对峙、交融中暗示着现代人的精神荒原，给予现代的哲思。

"Suffering and salvation" is an important motif in the biblical tradition. Faulkner continued to use this motif in his novel "As I Lay Dying", telling the ten-day funeral of the Bundrens. However, beyond the sacred cloak of the "Bible" motif, the novel uses the irony of emotional opposition, exposing the absurd essence of the "journey of suffering", and rejects the possibility of people’s salvation by constructing the "non-hero" group portraits. Among the multiple negative connotations, Faulkner strip off the sacred cloak of the motif of "suffering and salvation", hinted at the spiritual wasteland of modern people and gave modern philosophical thinking during the confrontation and fusion of literary poetic and religious divinity.