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. ... Therefore, he wants to thwart their selfish motives and at the same time give his mother a respectable cremation.
What is Darl like in As I Lay Dying?
According to Cora Tull, people find Darl strange and unsettling. ... At times, Darl is almost clairvoyant , as evidenced by the scene in which he is able to describe vividly the scene at his mother's death, even though he and Jewel are far away from the scene when she dies.
Why does Darl go crazy in As I Lay Dying?
Gillespie's barn, leads the readers to conclude that Darl is insane. His insanity is closely knitted with a major mental illness of the time Faulkner was writing ; Faulkner implicitly states that Darl suffers from PTSD. The novel, As I Lay Dying, was written right after the First World War.
Where does Darl go at the end of As I Lay Dying?
Darl stays overnight at Samson's with the family . He gets to the flooded bridge. He expects Vernon to lend his mule to the family. Darl fords the river on the wagon with Cash.
Why was Darl sent to a mental hospital?
Cash explains why the family has decided to send Darl to a mental institution in Jackson. He says that because Gillespie was prepared to sue the Bundrens over the fire , they had no other choice. The family drives into Jefferson. Darl proposes that they treat Cash's leg before burying Addie.
Why did Darl lie under the apple tree and cry?
Vardaman then states that Darl is under the apple tree, lying on top of the coffin, crying. Vardaman thinks he is trying to keep the cat from sitting on the coffin and is crying because she was almost destroyed .
Does cash lose his leg in As I Lay Dying?
Cash sacrifices the use of his leg to the journey to bury Addie and loses out on the graphophone he always wanted .
Who does Vardaman blame for Addie's death?
Vardaman. Vardaman runs out of the house and begins to cry. He sees the spot on the ground where he first laid the fish he caught, and thinks about how the fish is now chopped up into little pieces of “not-fish” and “not-blood.” Vardaman reasons that Peabody is responsible for Addie's death and curses him for it.
What happens to Darl Bundren?
Darl Bundren, a central character in As I Lay Dying, narrates 19 of the 55 interior monologues that comprise this tour de force. ... By his final monologue, Darl sees himself as an onlooker, having lost his distinctness as character .
What was Addie's motive for making an promise to bury her Jefferson?
Addie even acknowledges that part of her revenge would be that Anse “would never know I was taking revenge.” Thus Addie's request to be buried in Jefferson was made essentially for selfish reasons , in a last effort to prove that she was not just useless words.
What is the basic plot of As I Lay Dying?
Plot summary
It is the story of the death of Addie Bundren and her poor, rural family's quest and motivations—noble or selfish—to honor her wish to be buried in her hometown of Jefferson, Mississippi . In the novel's first chapters, Addie is alive, though in ill health.
What does the ending of As I Lay Dying mean?
Dewey Dell earlier compared herself to the cow she had to milk, and more than one woman has expressed the idea that, once they have their babies, they are finally free to die (Tull remembers his mother saying as much, and Addie expresses the same thought in her narrative section).
Whose barn burned in As I Lay Dying?
Darl's Arson in As I Lay Dying: In As I Lay Dying (1930), the fifth novel by William Faulkner, Darl Bundren sets fire to a cabin where his mother's coffin lies on its way to burial.
What is wrong with Darl?
The leading diagnosis of the character Darl Bundren, as given by the critics, is schizophrenia (Simon 106).
Who is MacGowan in As I Lay Dying?
MacGowan is the sleazy pharmacy boy who coerces Dewey Dell into having sex with him.
Why does Dewey Dell hate Darl?
Having no women around from whom she can easily ask advice, Dewey Dell is left to seek information awkwardly from the local pharmacies in the towns the family passes through. All the while, she fears that Darl may tell someone . Her hatred will ultimately find an odious outlet.
