As I Lie Dying Essay Research Paper — страница 5

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Darl and Jewel are more thoroughly and constantly preoccupied with the loss of their mother, and in this sense it is ironic that they should be on the road at the moment when Addie expires. Let’s look more closely at the case of Jewel. Cora sees him as an insensitive money-grubber who is indifferent to the death of his own mother. Kate sees him simply as a hunk of meat, as marriageable as he is prepared to stray from marriage. But Jewel himself is filled with hurt at what he sees as the insensitivity of his own family in relation to Addie. Faulkner is not attempting to give more credence to one view of Jewel than to another; the reader may do so at his or her own peril. The benefit of Faulkner’s approach is that over time the reader begins to gather a composite picture of

Jewel, which is the richer for its variety of perspectives. Jewel may in fact exist simultaneously as a sensitive person in his own right who comes across callously or coarsely to others. The sense of omniscience that the reader derives from knowing what everyone thinks about everyone else is augmented by Faulkner’s penchant for foreshadowing. Because everyone is so convinced that Addie will die, and because Anse and Darl voice their convictions so explicitly, it begins to seem inevitable. At other points, Faulkner is more subtle with his hints. Kate is one of the few voices to strongly doubt Addie’s imminent death, predicting that she’ll be at Anse’s side for another thirty years. In the face of the evidence such a claim seems outrageous, but it certainly catches the

reader’s attention. Her next remark, a slight revision of her first opinion, is equally striking. “Or if it aint her,” Kate says, considering Anse’s predicament if Addie were to die, “he’ll get another one before cotton- picking.” It is the most explicit criticism of Anse’s coldness yet, and one the reader would do well to remember. Part 3 Summary Vardaman runs out of the house, crying violently. He sees the fish he has caught all chopped up into little pieces. He curses Peabody. He jumps off the porch and runs into the barn. Still crying, he takes up a stick and begins beating Peabody’s horses, cursing them and blaming them for Addie’s death. He shoos away a cow who wants milking, and returns to the barn to cry quietly. Cash passes by and Dewey Dell calls

out, but Vardaman is quiet, crying in the dark. Dewey Dell is stuck in her same predicament again, thinking of her union with Lafe, and the incipient pregnancy that has resulted. Her thoughts shift to Peabody, and the help he could give her as a doctor. Cash continues sawing. Dewey Dell begins to prepare supper, consisting of the fish that Vardaman caught, along with greens and bread. Cash enters the kitchen to announce that Peabody’s team of horses has gotten loose. Dewey Dell invites Peabody to supper. Anse, Cash and Peabody begin eating. Vardaman is missing. Dewey Dell has neglected to cook the fish. She leaves the house and runs up to the bluff. The cow wants milking but she tells it to wait. She passes Vardaman in the barn and he kicks the wall. In the dark she is thinking

now of Lafe. It is quiet. Then Vardaman emerges and Dewey Dell shakes him violently. She scolds him and sends him off to supper. Preparing to milk the cow, instead she returns to her thoughts of Peabody, and how he could help her. Vardaman is staring at the coffin. He cannot believe that Addie is going to be nailed shut inside of it. He cannot believe that she is dead. Tull is roused at midnight by the sound of Peabody’s team. A storm is mounting. Vardaman is knocking at the door, soaking wet and covered in mud. He is speaking of fish. Tull goes out to harness the team, and when he returns, Cora and Vardaman are sitting in the kitchen. Vardaman continues to speak of fish. Cora, Tull and Vardaman make the journey back to the Bundrens, and Tull helps Cash to complete the coffin.

Just before daybreak, they place Addie in the coffin and prepare to nail it shut. Vardaman inadvertently bores two holes into his dead mother’s face. He then falls asleep on top of the coffin. At dawn, Cora and Tull return home. Darl, in the dark, has returned home to get a spare wheel for the wagon, which he and Jewel have run into a ditch. Darl stands near Cash, assisting him as they work to complete the coffin. It begins to rain. Cash, though soaked, continues working on the coffin. Cora and Tull arrive. Cash sends Anse away, and Cash, Darl and Tull make a push to complete the coffin. Just before dawn the rain ceases, and Cash finishes the coffin. Anse, Cash, Peabody and Tull carry the coffin inside. Darl and Jewel set out to complete the job, and Darl lies awake the next