As I Lay Dying - Blog 3

                I have just finished the novel. The ending is surprising but it follows the theme and characterization presented throughout the story. The family finally reaches Jefferson and buries Addie. However, there is a twist at the very end. The day after the burial, Anse introduces to the family the new “Mrs. Bundren”. Instead of mourning the loss of his first wife, Anse goes to town to get new false teeth and finds a new wife. Ironically, the new Mrs. Bundren was the same person that lent Anse the shovels that the family used to dig a hole for the coffin.  I was shocked by this ending and how abrupt it was, but I felt it was a satisfying way to conclude the novel. The novel has a cynical tone from the beginning, and the family must have had a cynical view about life after they met the new Mrs. Bundren.

                A lot of negative things happened as the Bundrens were nearing Jefferson. First, they needed to bring the wagon across a flooded river, which didn’t go well. They nearly lost the coffin and Cash got severely injured. The Bundrens’ ridiculous solution to Cash’s broken leg was to pour cement around it to create a cast; it ended up creating more difficulties than solving them. This event really exemplified how senseless the family is. When this was all happening, Anse didn’t do anything to help. Although Anse is intent on making it to Jefferson, he seems to just be a bystander whenever the family is struggling while on the journey.

                One of the most unforeseen plot developments was when Darl set fire to a barn where the family was staying for a night. The entire family thought Darl was crazy for doing this, and they they decided that they were going to send him to a mental institution. The supposedly most logical character in the novel was regarded as a madman. This section – especially Cash’s reflections on the subjectivity of who is crazy and who isn’t – reminded me of 1984. In that novel, Winston is a lunatic because he is a minority of one, even though he has a grasp on the true nature of the society. This is similar to Darl’s situation; being the only sane person in an insane family makes Darl seem like the crazy one. The motivation for burning the barn was to burn Addie’s coffin and finally end the misery it was bringing to the family. In my opinion, this was actually a brave and intelligent decision by Darl. Burning Addie’s body would be more humane than letting it rot and having it attract buzzards.

                This novel was tremendously enhanced by the multiple narrators used for the point of view. The fact that Darl is viewed as the crazy member of the family makes me want to read the book again to reevaluate all the narration done by Darl. Faulkner even gives the narration to the deceased Addie. She reveals that Jewel was not Anse’s child, which is why Jewel was her favorite. This was a pivotal point in the story, and it finally explained why Darl would taunt Jewel by asking who his father was.

                As I Lay Dying presents a bleak outlook on life and the integrity of everyone in a position of power. Instead of helping Dewey Dell by giving her an abortion, a man pretending to be a doctor simply takes advantage of her as a payment for his “medicine”. The story of the journey ends with the family realizing the pointlessness of it all. It seems as if Anse’s true intentions were to reach Jefferson to get new teeth and a new wife. Faulkner demonstrates the absurdity of life and the effects of a death on a family. Faulkner questions whether love and salvation have actual meaning or if they are merely words made up by those who never realize either of them. 

As I Lay Dying - Blog 2

                I am about halfway through As I Lay Dying and the novel still challenges me to find the truth behind the narrations of multiple characters. Addie finally succumbing to death amplified the dysfunction running through the family. Sure enough, Darl and Jewel missed their mother’s final days in order to earn three dollars. That didn’t even turn out as planned as their wagon gets stuck in mud. It takes the outside characters, such as Vernon and Samson, for the reader to fully realize how oblivious and pathetic the Bundrens truly are. Darl and Cash seem to be the only two members of the family that have some common sense. Anse is too busy worrying about fulfilling his promise to Addie to bury her in Jefferson to understand he is putting his whole family in jeopardy to embark on the journey. Jewel is too stubborn to be a great benefit for the family. He refused to listen to Cash about balancing the coffin while loading it into the wagon; this could foreshadow future catastrophes involving the coffin. Vardaman seems to be the most troubled by Addie’s death. The way he tries to understand mortality is both humorous and pitiful. His confusion is best summed up with his narration in the interesting chapter that only consists of the sentence, “My mother is a fish.”
               Each member of the family is reacting to Addie’s death in a different fashion. To me, Darl is the most reliable narrator because he seems to be the most objective and calm during the difficult times for the family. Cash and Darl are the only two characters that I find to be likeable. The others are secretive, hard-headed, selfish, and lazy. One particular narration from Darl concerning Anse revealed his character, or lack thereof, and his failure to have a fatherly presence in front of his sons. While Cash is outside working hard on the coffin for his mother, Anse merely watches. Even when it starts raining, Anse brings a jacket for himself and not his son. He is useless when Cash asks for help. When they begin the journey, they require some assistance from Vernon and Samson, even though Anse repeatedly says he doesn’t want to burden anybody. Anse is impossible to admire.

               Vardaman is the most interesting character of the entire novel. He associates his mother with a fish because he caught and cleaned one right before she died. That similarity between the two overtakes Vardaman’s perception of them; they are now the same to him. When the fish was alive, so was his mother; when the fish died, his mother died. Furthermore, he doesn’t realize the meaning of death. He is appalled when he learns Cash is going to nail the coffin shut; he wonders how she will breathe in the box. This leads to the brief, yet powerful description of Vardaman sleeping next to the coffin after boring holes in it to let his mother breathe. In doing so, however, he accidentally drove two holes into his mother’s face. This is an important symbol of how the Bundrens’ ways of dealing with death tend to cause more problems than heal emotional wounds. Although Vardaman’s five word chapter comparing his mother to a fish is juvenile, its meaning can be applied to the entire family. No one besides Darl and Cash are handling the problem with logical thought. Vardaman thinks his mother is a fish, but Anse is anticipating burying his wife so he can get new teeth. At least Vardaman was emotionally affected by the loss of a family member; the same can’t be said for Anse, Jewel, and even Dewel Dell, who is too focused on her pregnancy and the possibility of an abortion. The Bundrens would need serious counseling for any chance of them acting in a normal, calm, and collected manner.

As I Lay Dying - Blog 1

                In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, the Bundrens are a poor family preparing for the death of the mother, Addie. She is already on her deathbed at the start of the novel, being attended to by her daughter, Dewey Dell, and her neighbors Vernon and Cora Tull. On the bed, Addie watches her oldest son, Cash, build her own coffin. In addition to demanding a homemade coffin, Addie made her husband, Anse, promise to bury her across the state in Jefferson. This journey across Mississippi will be the major obstacle throughout the novel. Anse is a helpless and lazy man – he says he will die if he sweats from working too hard – who agreed to send his sons to town in order to earn three dollars instead of staying with their dying mother. The sons are named Darl and Jewel and they are not very fond of each other. Jewel is hotheaded and stubborn while Darl seems like the most logical person in the family. Darl even knows he will miss his mother’s death by going to town for three dollars, but he brings Jewel along to help him load the wagon anyway. Vardaman is the youngest son and he does not seem able to understand what is happening to his mother. The Bundren family is highly dysfunctional; making the journey to Jefferson will be difficult with all of the different personalities.

The point of view is central to the development of the plot. There are numerous narrators throughout the novel; the perspective changes every chapter. Since no character is completely unbiased, Faulkner gives the reader the task of separating true events from embellishments. Also, the entire novel uses stream of consciousness, meaning the narrator simply pours whatever is going on in his/her mind onto the page. This leads to many random and scattered thoughts, which makes the novel very confusing. For example, after Anse asks Darl, “Where’s Jewel?” Darl muses for nearly a page about drinking water from a cedar bucket before answering Anse. Stream of consciousness is a challenging point of view for a novel to be in. Another example is a chapter narrated by Dewey Dell. At first, she is talking about cotton picking with her boyfriend Lafe, when she subtly begins talking about losing her virginity to Lafe and becoming pregnant. It is obvious she is distraught by her pregnancy, but the only other people who know are Lafe and Darl. Darl did not even have to say anything for Dewey Dell to know that Darl knew. Since the Bundrens are poor, they are uneducated, which makes many passages nearly incomprehensible.

However, this unique point of view gives the reader the most insight into what each character is truly thinking and feeling. Jewel is the only Bundren who disapproves of Cash building the coffin right in front of Addie. Jewel dislikes Cash for being a show off and wishes he could be alone with his mother alone for her final days. This temporary insight into Jewel’s thoughts enhances the meaning of the story because it seems that Jewel is the only Bundren who actually cares about his mother’s feelings. Everyone else simply follows what she says or what they think she wants them to do. Anse almost seems eager for Addie to die so he can finally go to town and get new teeth.

Even though this story may seem a simple journey from one point to another, Faulkner makes it original through the point of view. Although it is difficult to read, switching narrators every chapter allows the greatest possible insight into all of the characters’ minds.