Thursday, April 22, 2010
Guest Blogger - Melanie J.
While reading, As I Lay Dying, I have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan. However, now that we’ve gone over symbolism and dug into character analysis, I feel that there is much more to this “southern fiction” that Faulkner envisioned. Though the book is about ordinary people, I think the meaning behind each action of the characters represents something much deeper. When looking back on Faulkner’s Nobel Prize Speech, an important line that sticks with me says, “The universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed—love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.” When reflecting on As I Lay Dying, he writes using all of these “truths.” Of all of these, I feel that sacrifice is most prevalent throughout the book. Though the journey to Jefferson represents Addie’s own resentment, Anse chooses to pursue her wishes and follow through with it. During each step of the voyage, every one of the characters loses a little bit of themselves. Whether it is Jewel’s horse, or Cash’s leg, each family member gives up more and more of themselves until the river scene, where sacrifices reach an ultimate height. “I felt the current take us and I knew we were on the ford by that reason, since it was only by means of that slipping contact that we could tell that we were in motion at all. What had once been a flat surface was now a succession of troughs and hillocks lifting and falling about us, shoving at us, teasing at us with light lazy touches in the vain instants of solidity underfoot. Cash looked back at me, and then I knew that we were gone” (147). This is a climatic moment, and could have many meanings behind it. Honor, pride, compassion, and sacrifice are all used in this scene, and it makes someone question, why? Though the whole situation seems completely out of hand, I feel like almost anyone can relate to these moments in life. Someone’s life doesn’t change overnight, and small decisions can escalade to unrecognizable people. I think Faulkner thought really deeply about anything he wrote (evident when he said writing was agony), and that he not only wanted to make people apply the story to their own lives, but to seek a deeper meaning of life.
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Apply it to our own lives? Seeking life's deeper meaning? You make it sound like Faulkner was a great philosopher that rivals Plato or Socrates. In my mind, a person wouldn't write a book like this while constantly thinking "How can I get people to apply this to themselves?". No, I think William Faulkner wrote this book to simply try being innovative with the idea of seeing something from all ways possible (through multiple points of view). Then as he was writing, he probably thought about the multiple ways that people can view a death, and decided that was a good subject and source of conflict to make the book interesting. Finally, today we find ways to make simple ideas like this increasingly complicated by bringing out ideas that aren't intended by the author. For example, if you wrote a poem, and let people analyze it, they would find things you didn't set your mind on while writing it. For instance, they might say it's in iambic pentameter with use of symbols and metaphors that parallel for all life. Well, if you only wrote that to describe nature, they would be making false conclusions. Anyway, I would say that overall this book does present some interesting ideas for those who search for them, but to assume the author's intentions (though I did as well - sorry) is another story. What do you think about this (anyone else who replies to this post)?
ReplyDeleteThere is no way for us to know if Faulkner was seeking life's deeper meaning or trying to have readers apply this to themselves. For all we know Faulkner could have been great philosopher, or he could have writing for his own entertainment. Either way Faulkner himself is the only one that knows the meaning behind As I Lay Dying.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Melanie that each character had a purpose in the book. I believe that the ouside characters like paebody and the families that they meet along the way are just thrown in to add an outsiders view of the family who all realize the ridiculous situation of the family and don't really agree with it. Each of the family mambers gets their chapters to argue about their love or dislike for addie or the family. Then Addie gets her chapter to just bash her family and get a laugh out of their struggle. I am really confused on the point to William Faulkner's novel.
ReplyDeleteI think that there was a point to everything that Faulkner wrote in his novel. Even some of the dialogue and events, which may seem to simply be filler, gave the reader a greater understanding of each character's personality. The characters were so diverse and unique that every piece of information from the story had to have contributed to the characters and the story line in someway. Even though I did not find AILD to be an enjoyable read, I was impressed that Faulkner could create distinct characters from the most minute details.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen the structure of "As I Lay Dying" in any other book; with such a unique way of conveying ideas, I find it hard not to believe that Faulkner was writing incredibly deep dialogue. Themes of love, confusion, and anger are The multiple points of view may not be so unique, but the way Faulkner made his characters talk is. The language is rough, and at times indecipherable. This colorful way of talking definitely added to the way I understood the book.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Melanie on the fact that sacrifice is an extremely important aspect of this book, and how each character had to give up something unique of themselves during this journey. For example, I believe that Darl gave up his mental health in this journey. He progressively got more and more unstable, and his breaking point was at the farm.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tom, I don't think anyone will ever know what Faulkner meant to do. I think that he meant to leave the reader thinking and wanted them to be able to put the characters how they wanted. There was so much going on behind each character once we looked at all of them and compared them in class.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that these concepts show up in the book, but Faulkner twists them into something else. What appears to be Anse's honor and sacrifice at the beginning of the book actually turns out to be selfishness at the end. He hauls Addie's dead body all that way and says he does it because that was her dying wish, but he really has alternate motives. As soon as her body is in the ground, Anse runs out and buys himself some new teeth. Then, he goes to return the shovel he borrowed and comes back with a new wife. That seems pretty disrespectful of Addie's wishes to me. Yeah, maybe Anse sacrifices a few mules on the waym but he does not really honor his wife at all.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that sacrifice was a major role throughout this book. Most characters had to give something that made them who they are up even though they probably didn't want to, or even had the choice.
ReplyDeleteI also think that Faulkner intended for his readers to try and understand the deeper meaning of this book and somehow apply it to their lives in anyway possible.
I agree with Tom initially. Obviously none of us can pretend to know how deep Faulkner meant to go with this book. However, I do feel that it is believable that Faulkner did really intend for us to think about all the symbolism in this book. What Melanie said is true. All the characters in this book had to sacrifice something to reach their goal and I do feel that sacrificing something to reach one's goal is a fairly common theme in life. Whether or not Faulkner intended to include that as a way of making one thinking about their own life or not is impossible to know for sure, but it doesn't seem like all that much of a stretch for that to be the case.
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