veggiedog
New Member
Hello all! I just got back from taking the SAT and desperately need some intelligent conversation after being locked for four hours in a stuffy room of crude, illiterate, juvenile delinquents.
I have once again failed in my efforts to find a thread for a book, so I have created one. I apologize beforehand for my ignorance if there is already an active thread for As I Lay Dying, and if somebody could point it out to me, that would be great.
My class finished reading this novel a few months ago, and I am rereading it because I did not do a very thorough job the first time
. As it turns out, I really do like it while the rest of my class despised it with all their hearts. Typical. It is difficult reading, due to the fragile and calculated structure of the changing viewpoints. I am one of those people who doesn't pay attention to chapter titles
. Nevertheless, I am liking it this time around.
The premise of the novel is deceptively simple, isn't it? The story of a family taking its dead mother to a cemetary to be buried isn't the most gripping and complex storyline, or at least it would appear so on the surface. What surprised me was the complexity and depth of each of the characters, and how they each interacted with one another. It was clearly a dysfunctional family before the term was even coined. There are many underlying messages and layers. I don't know if I'm reading to much into everything, finding symbolism where there isn't any, et cetera because I have a tendency to do that. So bear with me!
I am in the middle of Armstid's chapter. Here is what I have decided about the main characters based on the first two thirds or so of the book:
Darl - Faulkner's voice (main reliable narrator), knows his family better than they know themselves, sees/observes everything, cared deeply about his mother,
, knows things (you know what I mean), pesters his younger siblings (namely Jewel and Dewey Dell) either to get them out of denial of their problems or just to be mean (not quite clear), second oldest
Jewel - reacts violently to his mother's death, hard worker, doesn't respect his family, Addie's favorite,
, high tempered, independent (not selfish, as he is mistaken for by Cora), loves his horse, third oldest
Vardaman - uses a fish to understand the death of his mother, very young and innocent, needs love and protection,
, doesn't understand death, misses his mother, is confused by much of what is happening about him, wants to go to town to get a toy train, youngest
Dewey Dell - feels sexuality from everyone about her, feels sexually pressured by her family as the only woman amongst five males,
, shares a special connection with Darl (communicate without words), second youngest
Cash - carpenter, logical/methodical, emotionally stunted approach to Addie's death, puts all emotions into the completion of the coffin (the one thing he can do for Addie), twice broken the same leg, reasons through everything,
, eldest
Anse - selfish, resigned to Addie's death, frugal, pessimistic, blames everything on the bad luck, everyone helps him even though he doesn't deserve it because they've been doing it for so long it has become to late to stop,
, lies to himself and believes himself (ex: sweating disease), uses words to fill the lack, father
Addie - is dead (yes, at least I got that much!), Cora views her as blasphemous/sacreligious and a poor wife and mother, masochistic, desperately wants to feel something (namely love), marries Anse because she thinks it will help her feel, former school teacher who hated children, takes pleasure in whipping children to have a connection with the word, finds words to be to fill in the lack, only actions make any difference in the world--not talking about it,
, feels pressured by Anse to make babies even though she doesn't want to (he never asked, only expected), despises Anse, feels it is her duty to make babies, gives up on life, mother
These are just a few of the assumptions that crossed my mind after reading what the character thought of themselves and what others thought of them. I realize that not all of them may be correct.
If anyone has read this book and would like to discuss, I would be interested in discussing a few specific lines and passages. I think that Faulkner addressed many issues in this novel, and some passages have multiple meanings that go beyond the literal one. Please reply!
Thanks for your time!
I have once again failed in my efforts to find a thread for a book, so I have created one. I apologize beforehand for my ignorance if there is already an active thread for As I Lay Dying, and if somebody could point it out to me, that would be great.
My class finished reading this novel a few months ago, and I am rereading it because I did not do a very thorough job the first time

The premise of the novel is deceptively simple, isn't it? The story of a family taking its dead mother to a cemetary to be buried isn't the most gripping and complex storyline, or at least it would appear so on the surface. What surprised me was the complexity and depth of each of the characters, and how they each interacted with one another. It was clearly a dysfunctional family before the term was even coined. There are many underlying messages and layers. I don't know if I'm reading to much into everything, finding symbolism where there isn't any, et cetera because I have a tendency to do that. So bear with me!
I am in the middle of Armstid's chapter. Here is what I have decided about the main characters based on the first two thirds or so of the book:
Darl - Faulkner's voice (main reliable narrator), knows his family better than they know themselves, sees/observes everything, cared deeply about his mother,
refuses to acknowledge her existence because she no longer 'is,' struggles with questions of existence
Jewel - reacts violently to his mother's death, hard worker, doesn't respect his family, Addie's favorite,
bastard child born of Addie's affair with Whitfield--I was actually very proud of myself for figuring this out before Addie's chapter
Vardaman - uses a fish to understand the death of his mother, very young and innocent, needs love and protection,
believes Peabody killed his mother (or does he not think that anymore?)
Dewey Dell - feels sexuality from everyone about her, feels sexually pressured by her family as the only woman amongst five males,
is pregnant--I figured out this one on my own too
, wants to go to town to get an abortion, too preoccupied with her pregnancy to worry over Addie's death

Cash - carpenter, logical/methodical, emotionally stunted approach to Addie's death, puts all emotions into the completion of the coffin (the one thing he can do for Addie), twice broken the same leg, reasons through everything,
very bothered by the fact that the coffin is off balance because the women placed her body in backwards so her dress would flare out, becomes ill during the river crossing
Anse - selfish, resigned to Addie's death, frugal, pessimistic, blames everything on the bad luck, everyone helps him even though he doesn't deserve it because they've been doing it for so long it has become to late to stop,
only wants to go to town to get his false teeth, not for Addie's sake, probably wife-hunting
Addie - is dead (yes, at least I got that much!), Cora views her as blasphemous/sacreligious and a poor wife and mother, masochistic, desperately wants to feel something (namely love), marries Anse because she thinks it will help her feel, former school teacher who hated children, takes pleasure in whipping children to have a connection with the word, finds words to be to fill in the lack, only actions make any difference in the world--not talking about it,
has an affair with Whitfield, invests all her love in Jewel because he was born of passion rather than the others, had Dewey Dell and Vardaman to negate Jewel's birth, felt that after repaying her debt to Anse she was ready to die and served no purpose
These are just a few of the assumptions that crossed my mind after reading what the character thought of themselves and what others thought of them. I realize that not all of them may be correct.
If anyone has read this book and would like to discuss, I would be interested in discussing a few specific lines and passages. I think that Faulkner addressed many issues in this novel, and some passages have multiple meanings that go beyond the literal one. Please reply!
Thanks for your time!