Final reflections on As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Julie's comments:
Overall, I really do like this book. There is one section in particular that I want to figure out what Faulkner is trying to say. On Pg 66 Vardaman is talking about how he seems to wish that he could live in town. Dewey Dell is talking about getting bananas. At first I passed right by it, but after a lovely conversation with Mr. Ogle, I wanted to look back because he was saying how everything has a meaning, even when it seems like it doesn't.
I first figure she just wanted some bananas. But then I started to think, what the color yellow means. There are so many meanings for he color yellow it confused me even more. However, almost all of the meanings make sense in some way in the story.
The first one, Yellow means joy: Dewey Dell wants to buy the bananas in order to emphasizes that she is the character who wants to spread happiness in an otherwise depressing environment.
It also represents cowardice. Maybe Vardaman is actually a coward because he tries to run from his problems?
Yellow is also an unstable and spontaneous color, so it could represent the instability within this household.
I just found it so interesting.
Did Faulkner choose yellow because he knew each of its meanings could fit with his story? That would be so cool it were true.
I stand by the fact that I like the book, even if it is so confusing.


Chloe's response:
It's clear that I don't like this book, I haven't from beginning to end. I have a difficult time reading books that jump from one person's point of view to another's, none the less when it's written in stream of thought. When written from the point of view of many there is the opportunity to get the full picture of an event or situation. With many perspectives on one thing a complete understanding can be formed as opposed to it being completely biased the entire time. However to do this takes a lot of work when its written in stream of thought. Since the characters are thinking to themselves, descriptions aren't very explicit as if they were talking to another person. A person's thoughts are their own, in a way only that one person can truly understand. It takes a lot of analyzing to comprehend their true meaning.

I guess I can see why this book is considered a master piece and a classic. It takes a lot of skill to accomplish this type of writing and apparently to have done it in such a short period of time as well. Each character has their own unique thought process and manner of speaking. They are each their own individuals with their own personalities. Faulkner does this so well with the use of diction and syntax that at no point in the story are you as a lost as to which point of view you are reading. However regardless of how exemplary it is as a piece of literature and as an educational material, for enjoyment and interest this book is greatly lacking. The important thing though is that you can learn from it, and that's what it is mainly about.

Bobby's comments:

For the most of book, I found As I Lay dying to be very boring with a plot that has no point. However, the last part of the book was very good. There are such things that were shocking and not right. I think that Faulkner is making a social commentary on the southern society during that time. It was as if he was setting everything up until the later chapters to tie it all up. The Bundren family is one of the most dysfunctional families I have ever known. The most shocking part was the end when we learn Anse has a new wife right after he buried his old one.

One of the issues I noticed while I was progressing through the novel was the development of the characters; two in particular who are my favorite are Darl and Jewel. At first they seem indifferent and cold but they end up revealing just how much their mother had meant to them. Jewel risks his life to save his mothers corpse while Darl eventually breaks down crying on the coffin. It was mentioned after all that Jewel was Addie’s favorite. I felt that the madness of Darl was only induced because of Anse labeled him crazy just to get out of the lawsuit and the source of his newly insane actions are from his suppression of his emotions for a prolonged period of time. Darl is not crazy, and this is another example of Anse’s immorality and selfishness


Sherry's journal entry:Journal, As I Lay Dying:

After reading about how Cash broke his leg, I was quite surprised at how much of a man he really is. He got his siblings to pour cement on his leg, in order for it to heal properly, as a substitute for a cast. This brought out Cash’s character a bit more, as a strong person who doesn’t seem to want to be a burden to others.
He isn’t much of a complainer and he seems to just accept things in life as they come. For instance, not only his reaction to his mother’s death, but how he speaks after breaking his leg. “‘I’m obliged’, Cash said. ‘It feels fine’” (Pg. 213). He basically sucked up the pain and wanted to get his leg out of the way, so to speak.
Besides Cash, I feel that the ending is a bit surprising and left me thinking.
• I understand that the family is not the most legitimate one, and Jewel’s father is the Reverend, but why would Anse re-marry so quickly. [If I read the text properly]
• The children had no clue who Anse was walking with, “Who’s that?” (Pg. 260)
• The ending sort of supported the fact that the family isn’t as close as they would like to be. Jewel being from a different father and Anse not being so affected by Addie’s death.
• Anse disrespected Addie by finding a new wife- someone who he probably knew before hand. This shows his lack of character and self-respect, he never showed affection for Addie, and maybe she’s just another runner up like the new, Mrs. Bundren.

Katie's comments:
In reading As I Lay Dying I found myself bouncing from liking the novel to disliking it. There were some parts that I really enjoyed and caught my attention. For example, the scene where they leave the house and the mother is at their feet in the wagon and Darl was laughing. I actually found myself thinking about a time in my like where I experienced the same thing only the casket wasn’t at my feet and we weren’t leaving from our house. Scenes that got me confused were when they called the mother a fish, but after class discussions, I began to understand it. I looked at it with a religious viewpoint and I now get it.. I like the themes of the novel. The fact that it deals with death, infidelity, and betrayal kept me interested. Over all I really enjoyed this novel and learned a lot from class discussions

Stacey's thoughts on the text:
I honestly wasn’t a big fan of As I Lay Dying. I couldn’t get into the storyline and I didn’t understand the purpose of the book. In order to gain a better understanding, I had to re-read most of the chapters. The ending was a huge disappointment. I felt that Darl did not deserve to be put in a mental institution. Out of all of the characters, he was the one I admired the most. I felt he was the most educated out of everyone. He seemed to be the only one with emotions and the one who cared for everyone around him… maybe that’s why he became mentally unstable; because he didn’t receive the manner he gave to others. In my opinion, he was mourning the death of his mother, however, he did so in a negative way.

As I read this novel, I had to roll my eyes at this dysfunctional family. I couldn’t believe that Anse remarried right after he buried his dear wife. It was as if he wanted Addie to die as much as she did. It seemed like he just wanted to remarry, get a new set of teeth, and move on with his life.

I believe the reason I didn’t enjoy this book is because too much was going on at once. Nobody got along, and I felt so horrible for Addie’s dead body, as her coffin was literally dragged around on their journey. The family members showed no loyalty to one another. It was just such a painful book to read, not only because I couldn’t get into it, but also because I cringed at how everyone treated one other.

Nicole's Reflection on As I Lay Dying:

I think that the ending of As I Lay Dying put everyone in the Bundren family to shame except Anse. He has laid back and watched his wife and children work hard for years, always expecting others to lend him a generous helping hand. He made it seem so important to get Addie back to Jefferson and bury her there as if he really cared about her and her wish, when really all he card about was himself. He just stood there watching his children and Mr. Tull nearly kill themselves trying to cross the water. Jewel rarely said anything, but he cared and he worked to help the family. When Anse didn't say anything, it was because he had nothing to say, he had no feelings, at least not after Addie cheated on him, because that was when he "died."
By getting new teeth and a new wife, while full of pride, shows his children that everything they did for Addie was in vain. Anse couldn't have cared less about Addie's wish to be buried in Jefferson or not, just as long as he could change after her death and start over. She needed to be far away for him to do that, and apparently so did Darl. He gave Darl one shot and that was lighting the house on fire, then he sent him away. If anything it was more insane to carry your wife's smelly coffin everywhere and tag your children along to see and do everything for you. Now that he has taken advantage of his family and neighbors, his children will grow to have even more problems, unless Jewel takes them under his wing and helps them as God would.

Zeehan:
I began this book with a very negative attitude because everyone that has read it before exaggerated about how boring it was, but I enjoyed this book. The most important thing about this book is that it’s not a book that was written merely to entertain people, but it has a very important message. The ending of the book made me feel hopeless, not only for the burden family, but also for this world. The end of the book made me realize that money and wealth plays the most important role in this world, to the extent where it can make people immoral and make all relationships insignificant. I was very disappointed when Darl was compelled to go to the mental institution because the Burdens wanted to be saved from being sued by Mr. Gillespie for the burned barn. In his grieve for being forced to enter the world of insanity, Darl actually becomes insane. The fact that his own family put him in this situation shows that no matter what kind of relationships people have between each other, when it’s a matter of financial security, it’s all men for themselves. Faulkner further proves this as he shows that Dewey Dell was taken advantage of by MacGowan when she was seeking help for an abortion. MacGowan’s sexual desires shows how corrupt self- interest has made this world, and everyone is merely concerned in saving their own business, even if they have to kill their conscience and morality to do it. From the very beginning, Anse had no affection for any of his children or for Addie. Anse’s self-interest is shown by his concern for new teeth, for which he takes Cash’s money which he earned with his hard work, sells Jewels horse, which is his life, and takes Dewey Dells money which she saved for her abortion. At the end of the book, Anse gets his new teeth and is married merely ten or twelve days after his wife’s death. The significance of money in this book and within the Bruden family is shown by the names of the characters, such as “Cash” and “Jewels”.
The lack of affection between the Bruden aggravated me to a very large extent. I think that Faulkner used the relationships in the Bruden family in order to show how insignificant family bonds were becoming in twentieth century America. The extra marital relationship Addie had with Mr. Whitfield shows the growing infidelity between people and the growing insignificance of morals in the modern world. Addie had stated that she was very tired of her marriage and her children and the only reason she gave birth to Vardaman and Dewey Dell was to repay Anse for cheating on him. This shows that self- interest often makes the purest of relationships into a burden. The only reason Anse took the trouble of going to Jacksonville to burry Addie was because it was her wish, not because he truly loved her.
Along with the message that Faulkner wanted to send, his writing style is the other factor that makes this book worth being called a “masterpiece”. What I love about this book is that it’s not grammatically correct like all other books, but the book is written the way normal people would speak or think, which makes it a real piece of art. For example, when Darl questions his existence, he thinks in a jumble, like anyone would, “I don’t know what I am. I don’t know if I am or not. Jewel knows he is, because he does not know that he does not know whether he is or not” (Faulkner 80). I loved reading Faulkner’s simple thoughts that he makes into riddles and the way a character would start thinking something and never finish the thought, which is how normal people thinks. This style added to the mystery in the book and made me think about what was really going on.

Stacey:
I honestly wasn’t a big fan of As I Lay Dying. I couldn’t get into the storyline and I didn’t understand the purpose of the book. In order to gain a better understanding, I had to re-read most of the chapters. The ending was a huge disappointment. I felt that Darl did not deserve to be put in a mental institution. Out of all of the characters, he was the one I admired the most. I felt he was the most educated out of everyone. He seemed to be the only one with emotions and the one who cared for everyone around him… maybe that’s why he became mentally unstable; because he didn’t receive the manner he gave to others. In my opinion, he was mourning the death of his mother, however, he did so in a negative way.

As I read this novel, I had to roll my eyes at this dysfunctional family. I couldn’t believe that Anse remarried right after he buried his dear wife. It was as if he wanted Addie to die as much as she did. It seemed like he just wanted to remarry, get a new set of teeth, and move on with his life.

I believe the reason I didn’t enjoy this book is because too much was going on at once. Nobody got along, and I felt so horrible for Addie’s dead body, as her coffin was literally dragged around on their journey. The family members showed no loyalty to one another. It was just such a painful book to read, not only because I couldn’t get into it, but also because I cringed at how everyone treated one other.