What is wrong with Darl in As I Lay Dying? So by the end of the novel, Darl is most definitely insane. From the very beginning of the book the man was not in perfect mental health. The events of the trip caused him to inevitably devolve into a truly insane person. However, he cannot be diagnosed with a specific psychosis.
Is Darl the narrator of As I Lay Dying? Darl is Addie’s second child and narrates sections 1, 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 21, 23, 25, 27, 32, 34, 37, 42, 46, 48, 50, 52, 57. He is probably in his late twenties.
What did Darl want in As I Lay Dying? André Bleikasten states that the act can be explained by “his desire to avenge himself on Addie,” and he asks, “could his act not be interpreted symbolically, as a last and desperate attempt to take possession of his mother?” (Faulkner’s 88) He also suggests that Darl sets the cabin on fire in order “to take possession
Why did Darl set the barn on fire? In the early part of this section, Darl tells Vardaman that he heard his mother asking to be hidden from the sight of man. This is one of the motivating reasons behind Darl’s decision to burn the barn. It can be assumed that Darl saw through the ridiculousness and absurdity of the entire procession.
What is wrong with Darl in As I Lay Dying? – Additional Questions
Why is Vardaman’s mother a fish?
Let’s start with Vardaman’s decision that his mother is a fish. Vardaman caught a fish and was holding it in his hands. Then he cut it all up into little pieces; once it was cut up, it was no longer a fish. So it was a fish, and then it was not a fish.
Why is Darl the narrator?
Faulkner writes Darl this way to show his personality. Faulkner shows the audience Darl’s personality rather than telling them about Darl. If Faulkner had used stream of consciousness as he did with the other characters, he would have contradicted how he wanted to craft Darl.
Why is Darl laughing at the beginning of the journey?
Darl’s laughter emphasizes his ability to detach from the situation at hand—sitting in the wagon with his mother’s coffin—and to have perspective on it. This can perhaps be seen as Darl’s self-interested tendency that keeps him at a distance from the romanticized ideal of fulfilling a heroic familial duty.
How old is cash in As I Lay Dying?
1. Robert Parker, in Faulkner and the Novelistic Imagination, estimates the ages of the Bundren children (except for Vardaman) as follows: Dewey Dell, seventeen; Jewel, eighteen; Darl, twenty- seven or twenty- eight; Cash, over twenty- eight (25 – 26).
Who is Cora in As I Lay Dying?
As I Lay Dying/Characters
Which aspect of Anse’s narration from As I Lay Dying?
What aspect of Anse’s narration from As I Lay Dying most clearly makes him an unreliable narrator? his insistence that the road brings bad luck.
What does bundren mean?
But the morphemic root of Bundren is “bund,” meaning a league, confederacy, or association. The Bundren family is forced to try to function as at least a loose confederacy, and the ironies of the funeral journey and their return home both point to this need and the family failure to achieve it.
How does Darl feel about Addie?
Only upon Jewel and Darl is Addie’s presence deeply felt, and ironically these are the two whom she least wished to affect. After the relationship between Addie and the rest of her family has been established, the next problem lies in Darl’s relationship to the Bundren family, and especially their attitudes toward him.
What kind of person is Cash in As I Lay Dying?
He’s a type-A perfectionist – notice how he holds each board to the coffin up to the window for his mother to approve. This might seem a little tactless –and indeed it is from more than one perspective in the novel – but Cash clearly doesn’t intend it this way.
What does Addie say about words?
Addie asserts “words are no good,” (As I Lay Dying, 171) and are just trying to imitate feelings or actions that cannot be represented by language. Addie uses ‘motherhood’ as an example of a word that is “invented by someone who had to have a word for it” (As I Lay Dying, 171).
Why does Addie cry over jewel?
Jewel swears that his horse will never eat anything of Anse’s and will never cost him a cent. Addie is shocked that her son has been keeping this secret. She starts crying, and Cash consoles her and leads her into the house.
Why did Addie cheat on Anse?
She hasn’t become her own person – she’s become part of a family. Now she resents that attachment, which is why she feels her “aloneness has been violated.” This is, of course, the reason for Addie’s affair with Whitfield – to rebel against her role in the family. Or, as she calls it, “revenge” against Anse.
Why does Addie favor jewel?
While Cash, Darl, Vardaman, and Dewey Dell are all the children of Anse and Addie, Jewel is the child resulting from the affair between Addie and Father Whitfield. As such, Addie favors Jewel over all the other children. Addie even admits to Cora that Jewel “is [her] cross and he will be [her] salvation.
What happens to jewel at the end of As I Lay Dying?
Because Jewel is unable to express his love for his mother, he substitutes all of his love for the horse. Thus, later we get from Darl the accusation that Jewel’s mother is a horse. We eventually learn that Jewel is the “cross” that Addie bears and that he is to be her salvation.
Why is Jewel important as I lay dying?
Darl’s frequent descriptions of Jewel as “wooden” reinforce the image of Jewel as impenetrable to others, and also establish a relationship between Jewel and the wooden coffin that comes to symbolize his mother.
Who did Dewey Dell sleep with?
Dewey Dell throws herself on Darl, clawing at him, to ensure the officials get him. She goes to a local pharmacy and offers ten dollars (but pays more in dignity fees) to MacGowan for a supposed abortion fix. She is coerced into having sex with MacGowan in the cellar.