Socratic Seminar WITD - 4.29.16

The Bundrens must endure a number of obstacles on their way to Jefferson. To what extent are the elements against them, and to what extent do they sabotage themselves?

OBSTACLES:
• The bridge.
• The river.
- The river and the bridge go part in part with one another as the bridge is basically destroyed by the river, and even if the family attempts to cross, they would be unable to because it is flooded.
• The fire.
- "soundless explosion as the whole loft of the barn takes fire at once, as though it had been stuffed with powder" (219)
• Money. (Goes in part with traveling, as they cannot afford a pack of mules)
• A way to travel. (Horse, mules)
- Anse has to sell stuff, use funds for his teeth, and use some of Cash's money in order to get mules to travel to Jefferson.
• Insanity. (Darl)
- "And I saw something Dewey Dell told me not to tell nobody" (215)

The elements are against this family because they honestly are not that smart. They sabotage themselves by making idiotic moves in order to try to cross the river, and then they all are ignorant to the fact that Addie smells and going to town for other reasons than her death is just ridiculous. Then again, they also forgot a shovel, which makes it even more evident that they were careless about playing out her death and the burial of her coffin.

In the end of it all, was Faulkner really trying to say that Anse marrying a new woman makes women seem as a replaceable object in everyday life, or was it just by incident that it came out this way?

As I Lay Dying Blog V - 4.25.16

How do you respond to the final line of the novel? Why end the novel this way?

     The novel of As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner was troubling to myself as a reader at times, but there was definitely more unexpected than the end of the novel in itself. The last sentence just (most likely) shellshocked every single reader that I know of; it was so unexpected that it was in a way, almost good. You are probably wondering what the ending of the novel is… Here it is, “‘Meet Mrs. Bundren,’ he says.” (Faulkner 261) At the same time from liking the end, I feel like it was all just so sudden and thrown together. I felt that there was this journey from around page 48 to almost the end to bury Addie, but that journey turned into a journey for several other things. Like teeth, a gramophone, and an abortion. Never once did I think that Anse was going to get himself a new woman to replace Addie; although, looking back on it, I can see some subtle hints that can foreshadow this event. It was kind crazy to see that this entire family goes on a journey where they get in extreme amounts of trouble, and even at one point goes backwards. (not exactly backwards, but in the wrong direction in order to get to somewhere else) The only reason I actually liked the ending that Faulkner gave us, the readers, is because it was completely unexpected unless you are a literary guru who can see that he was foreshadowing some of it all along. Personally, I believe that William Faulkner ends this novel the way he does just to show that women only serve very little, unless it is with “household purposes” like having children, cooking, or just being a wife in general. We even see that Anse goes to get this wife before Addie is even buried. Which ultimately shows that wives and women can be replaced easily with another as apparently they add very little to someone else’s life. But in the end, we see that Addie has fulfilled her life as she had once said she would, by having children and being alive, she would be ready to die. I personally think that Faulkner did a great job writing this novel, and he does a great job by hooking the reader with his writing by ending the novel the way he did. 

Argumentation Practice - 4.22.16

Argumentation Practice: Introduction

      

      The idea of politeness and polite speech in a culture and/or community is to define the behavior of the groups that are and are not using it. Polite speech used by these groups helps create a sense of relationship between two people that possibly did not have a set relationship before. Holding a door open for an individual could represent a kind gesture and take a relationship level from being strangers to being acquaintances. Phrases that represent being polite just as the anthropologist studies can be seen in phrases like “How are you?”, “Nice to meet you,” and “Let’s get in touch.” All of these phrases represent the kindness that individuals have to one another and as previously stated, can bring forward a new relationship between two or more people. However, not only that, but being polite can shed your personality in a certain way and can give the individual a characteristic that they did not have previously.

"We knew who we were..." - 4.19.16

In your blog write a reflection about what you heard. What was the intention of those who participated in the example you heard? How is this different than a traditional interview or storytelling?

From the podcast that I listened to here, I listened to a guy named Andy Goodling who wasn't open about his sexuality until after his secret boyfriend of four years died. I feel the biggest part about this podcast is just to tell people and let them know that it's perfectly okay to be open about your life and who you are as a human being, whether or not you are different from the rest of the crowd. If you happen to like the smell of smelly cheese, then you do you. I feel his intention of his podcast was to just get the point across that it isn't worth it to keep something in about yourself that no one knows for so long, just so you don't ruin someone else's view of you, or feel that you will be put down or ashamed of who you are. As a listener, I actually really liked his interview that Goodling had with his father about the subject at hand, it felt as if it was a more personal experience by listening to their voices and the tone of their voice rather than just trying to interpret someone's emotions through the bland text on a piece of paper. 

As I Lay Dying Blog IV - 4.17.16

Addie finally speaks to us, this time from the afterlife, what insight do we get from her

narration? Focus on one revelation and connect it to another narrator’s.

     Throughout “section three” of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, we learn about the new troubles and struggles that await the Bundren family. Those struggles being how to get across the flooded/broken up bridge, having to get transportation to Jefferson after the wagon falls into the water along with the coffin and several other things, the coming out of how Addie had an affair with Brother Whitfield which caused Jewel to be born. Finally arriving at the town of Mottson, which obviously is not Jefferson, it’s simply just a pit stop on the way because “Dewey Dell had to deliver a package.” Anyways, that is just a summary from what I recall of section three. This section had its ups and downs, but the most interesting part of this section by far had to be Addie’s narration, and also Cora’s narration which led up to Addie’s as if trying to prepare us for what we are about to read. Through Addie’s narration we actually learn a lot… We learn about her unhappy marriage with Anse and how that all came to be. They met in Jefferson and he had lived out in the country, later on they had decided to get married. From that they had the children; they were one of the biggest issues for her as she felt she was “violated” by them and no longer had any privacy or free-time because of them, so she had resented Anse for fathering them both. After that, Addie had her third child, Jewel. From her writing she reveals that Jewel was the most loved child because he was the only one that was “truly hers” because he was fathered by another man, and that man was Whitfield. After that she had two more children, Dewey Dell, and Vardaman which she felt fixed the issue of her having Jewel and repaid the debt to Anse (even though he did not know she had an affair). To connect this to another narrator’s revelations it would most definitely have to be Cora’s narration, as her section is right before Addie’s. In her section she talks about sin and the different types of sin. One of these sins would be the fact that she had an affair with another man, and Addie did not seem to care that Cora knew or had been troubling her about it — Cora had always wanted Addie to get on her knees and pray. Addie did not want to repent because she felt that Jewel was not her punishment just as Cora did; she felt that Jewel would save her “from the water and from the fire.” (Faulkner 168) which is so far true because Jewel did actually save Addie and her coffin from the water which flooded the bridge and river. So, in conclusion, throughout Addie’s section of narration we learn several things about her — her unhappy marriage, and the affair that she had with Whitfield that caused Jewel to be born. 

As I Lay Dying Blog III - 4.12.16

     In William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying we see the two different “classes” that are portrayed throughout the novel. Those classes and separations are the townspeople, and the poor white farmers. An example of a townsperson would be Peabody, while an example of a “poor white farmer” would be the entire Bundren family. In my opinion, I do also believe that the Bundrens are included in this novel to represent some stereotype about lower class farmers and townspeople. I believe that the family is included to mainly undermine the lower class farmers; however, at the same time there may be included stereotypes. There are stereotypes like how we have learned (although it is not said word for word, we infer it) that Jewel is a child that is the product of an affair that Addie had. So, I suppose that at the same time, the stereotype of Southern women not being able to control themselves sexually contributes to undermining of Southern women. Honestly, all throughout the novel there will be stereotypes that contribute to the undermining of all groups represented in this novel. For example, Peabody is an overweight man that has to be tied up on a rope in order to get to the house of the Bundren’s before Addie dies. This I believe is just undermining most townspeople as if they are all overweight and/or out of shape. I also think that the character of Anse represents a lazy farmer, because… well, it is pretty obvious. The number one reason is because he says that if he sweats he “will die.” This is hilarious to me, because unless he has low blood sugar (possibly diabetes?) or is extremely dehydrated from any lack of water then we know for a fact that this isn’t true and that he is just representing the stereotype that poor farmers are just in fact lazy farmers. However, the only ones in the Bundren family that I believe are not lazy are Cash (because he is non-stop making the coffin, because it must be marvelous, and from his narrations we view him as a perfectionist and a hard-worker) and possibly Jewel (because he loves his mother very much and would most likely have done anything for her, and to be there for her death).  I think this portrayal of the Bundren family being “lazy” or “hard-working” represents the success and failures of the family as a whole. If you look at some of the characters you definitely know why they are poor farmers. They rely on the phrase “The Lord giveth,” which means that if God had given them something, then they would need it, and if God did not give them it, they would not need it. Just by relying off of this one phrase and religion helps show that they do not do anything for themselves, they do not believe they should invest in things unless God tells them to do so. However, the only character that I feel goes the opposite way of this phrase is Jewel, because he goes out to get his own horse, he works somewhere else and earns himself a horse that we see him use on the journey to Jefferson later on in section two. 

Image Explosion - 4.12.16

Pages 80-81 of As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner:

I would like to write about sleep, because sleep is what I need. Right now I would consider myself "empty of sleep" just as Darl describes on page 80. Because quite honestly, what is a person without sleep? They are deprived of one of the most beautiful things in the world and without sleep we would all be tired human beings just wandering around not getting anything achieved. Sleep is honestly a beautiful thing, especially after sleeping in on a long weekend, or on summer vacation. But, the fact that Darl narrates about sleep and how it makes you what you are, and what you are not, it makes me think and wonder whether I am or not in Darl's point of view. But, who knows, I could have interpreted the sleep mumbo-jumbo completely wrong.

As I Lay Dying Blog II - 4.10.16

     The character in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying that I would like to give a general response to today is the character of Vardaman Bundren. Just to give a brief background on Vardaman’s character, he is an eight year old child (approximately) and the son of Addie and Anse Bundren. Throughout the story and the different parts that he narrates, we learn that he is a person of symbolism. He brings out the idea of the fish to represent his mother in different ways. For instance, the fish is once alive, like his mother, and then the fish is dead, just like his mother. His character, in my opinion, is very hard to understand when trying to grasp what exactly he is saying (most of the time). I found it hard to understand the fish concept until I researched it and it was explained in a class discussion, however, that is not the only thing that I found confusing about his character. I felt that his character’s narration was also slightly unreliable because of his age and the trauma that he is going through — simply because he exaggerates things and has an anxious tone for most of all his narrations. One thing that I do like about his character though is how he does make the analogy of the fish and his mother, which after much explanation it starts to make sense and I am sure that the analogy/symbol will be used throughout the entire novel. However, of course, there are things that I do not like and just confuse me about him. I was confused about why Faulkner actually included him other than to make the fish analogy. By Faulkner including Vardaman we see the child’s life through his own eyes, and just how much anxiety he has at the time of his mother’s death. I am sure that as the story proceeds we will see more of his character and how he goes about different situations. In the future pages of this novel, I am anticipating that something happens on the family’s journey to the town of Jefferson where they will bury Addie Bundren. But, I am sure that when something does happen on this journey we as readers will see through Vardaman’s eyes and interpret his narrations with even more symbols and analogies to his mother and maybe even more family members, like possible Darl, Jewel, or even Anse. 

A Rose for Emily Blog - 4.8.16

• Who is the "we" in "A Rose for Emily"? Is the narration reliable? Why or why not? [use evidence from the text]

In William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily the narrator is a questionable subject where we really are not sure who exactly it is. As the reader, I interpret the "we" to be a narrator from the New South that is just interpreting the character of Miss Emily and the daily life that surrounds her and every one else in the town of Jefferson. I believe this for many reasons. One reason is because throughout the story, it seems that the narrator(s) (if there are multiple narrators, we are unsure) continue to talk badly about her, and very rarely even praise her character. For example the narrator says, "So the next day we all said, 'She will kill herself'; and we said it would be the best thing. When she had first begun to be seen with Homer Barron, we had said, 'She will marry him.'" (Faulkner 4) This narration makes me think that the narrator is a female, however, I could be wrong. It may be a group of people just interpreting her life, meaning it may be a mixed group of genders. Also, I do believe that the narration is reliable, because from what it seems, the character of Miss Emily was interpreted correctly. They show that she had gone crazy (murder & necrophilia), which in my personal opinion sounds like a correct description of her character because she becomes a recluse after a whole bunch of stuff happens. Like the New South "paving" its way into Jefferson and her being a "fallen monument" after she dies.  

A Rose for Emily - 4.7.16

Q: How do you feel about the ending of Faulkner’s short story? Did it surprise you, or was there evidence all along, building to the conclusion?

A: Honestly, I am not sure what I expected to be at the end of this short story. I actually expected her to die from the beginning, so I really was not surprised by the events in this story. We learn that she is growing old in her house, that her father dies, and she loses love. We also learn that she does not leave her home nor speak to anyone outside of her house... It is assumed that she does not even speak to her servant who runs her errands. The fact that she has gone through so much, like death and the loss of love, but also the fact that we are told at the beginning that the whole town had gone to her funeral, it was kind of hard to be surprised that she died from a "sickness". This sickness possibly being a metaphor for a broken heart; it being broken by Homer and her father who drove away men. So all in all, I was not surprised by the events of this story as I felt there was evidence throughout the story that led to the conclusion.


*Apparently I misinterpreted how the end happened and that it just wasn't about her death.

As I Lay Dying Gallery Crawl - 4.6.16

My reflection question: 

     " What could Faulkner's purpose of contrasting the townspeople & the poor white farmers on the base of class suggest about early Southern 20th century life?"

Personally, I believe that I can continue to support my reflection question as the question I asked was about the plot in general and how Faulkner continues to contrast the townspeople and white farmers on the basis of class, even though the contrasting is not obvious, but it is instead seen through how each narrator characterizes another one. Some people posted several questions that could be added onto my reflective question, and those questions did not even come to mind when I created my statement. For example, people asked, "Which class do you think Faulkner favors?" or "How does this shape the plot of the story and the character?" or even how race is not a present figure in the novel, even though taking place in the early 20th century south, prejudice is still present and looked at with the factor of class. I believe I can still investigate this question because now I can look for how class affects other characters and what it will come out to be in the end. As I move on through this reading I will scope out for details about how characters like Peabody, Anse, and other characters characterize one another. 

As I Lay Dying Blog I - 4.4.16

     In William Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying, there are many different narrators throughout the entire book. Some narrating more than others, some being more reliable than others, and some there to just add value to the plot and what exactly is going on throughout the novel. As a reader, I sometimes like the way that Faulkner lays out his novel with different narrators. However, there is one narrator in particular that has been more prominent over the other narrators. That person would be Darl, who is one of the Bundren children and according to Cora is one of the most caring and loving to his mother, Addie, who dies in the first part of the reading. However, while discussing as a class he (most likely) was not the most caring of his mother, because, in fact, he called his mother by her first name and Jewel had been there for Addie more often and defended her with some sort of sanity. Although, that does not matter too much at the moment. What really does matter though is the fact that Darl’s narrations are sometimes a mix between third-person limited and third-person omniscient. It seems that Darl can communicate with other characters and see what they are seeing without actually being with them, around them, or even with literally communicating with them. I quite honestly believe he is one of the more reliable characters in this novel, even though I do not believe anyone can actually be reliable since they all have their own biases and views. Compared to other characters though, I feel like the incorporation of multiple narrators makes the novel more reliable as a whole as we are seeing it from everyone’s eyes instead of it being from a single person.

     Compared to other narrators like Nick in The Great Gatsby or Huck Finn in Huck Finn, I believe that Darl’s narrations compare differently. Even though in The Great Gatsby we grasp a glimpse about Jay Gatsby and his life, and also the lives of other wealthy people… I believe that these narrations differ because of how everything is laid out and portrayed. Nick had a longer amount of time to put everything into detail and describe events and stories, while Darl’s narrations were snippets of his everyday life and descriptions of what is going on around him. In the end though, I do believe Darl may possibly be more reliable than the other characters like Vardaman, Cora, or Peabody. That is because they all are different from one another. Vardaman is only an eight year old and he views things from a different perspective, he can tend to exaggerate what is going on around him. Cora could be less reliable because of her religious views, and Peabody less reliable because of how he is a townsman and a doctor. The townspeople and people from the country are different as seen when the Bundren family criticizes them, including Peabody who is a doctor who came out to see Addie Bundren on a short notice. So all in all, depending on how the reader views the different narrations and how Faulkner lays out his novel, the reliability may change from person to person. But one thing is for certain, I would trust Darl’s words over someone like Anse, Vardaman, or Cora. 

As I Lay Dying Free Write - 4.4.16

William Faulkner's novel, As I Lay Dying, was honestly kind of weird to me as a reader. I am not entirely sure of the purpose to this writing or who/what the intended audience is. The dialect and dialogue throughout the first part that we read could be confusing at times, but it could also be very easy to read. Sometimes while reading I'd have to go back and make sure I actually read something correctly because the sentence structure was really weird. I am also very confused on why Addie Bundren died at the beginning instead of the end, because usually an author will kill off a character towards the end or at the climax of a novel. So, maybe Faulkner is setting her death at the beginning in order to build something off of it, but I am not even sure what he would want to make off of the death. The narration throughout the novel was kind of nice, but also kind of weird because at times I would actually forget who was saying what and I'd have to turn back a few pages and see who was talking about the death, or what was going on. Since we didn't get last names and whatnot towards the beginning of the book for every character, I was confused on who was in what family. That being the Tulls or the Bundrens or even possibly another family that I don't even know about. The novel itself was weird to me, and it could be because I don't know what it is about in the first place, other than to show her death and possibly some outcomes that come from her death and the things leading up to it.