The ending of As I Lay Dying is pretty crazy. Darl proves the be more mentally unstable than everybody thought, Dewey Dell has some really sketchy experience at the pharmacy, and Anse GETS REMARRIED? A day after he buries his wife? Cora's gonna have a field day with this one.
Anse's remarriage certainly adds some new... dimension ... to his character. Throughout the book, the line of sympathy for Anse has been "He may be a bumbling idiot, but he's honoring his wife's dying wish and taking her to town." His whole excuse is really thrown into question when he marries the first woman he meets in twelve years, and Anse's heroism, which we've been tentatively tracking for the whole novel, is shot out of the sky. This makes the ulterior motive of new teeth look saintly.
The whole Darl situation is a lot less cut and dried. He does seem pretty whacked in his last chapter, and he did set Gillespie's barn on fire. On the other hand, as Cash points out on 233, maybe "it aint non of us pure crazy and it aint none of us pure sane until the balance of us talks him that-a-way. It's like it aint so much what a fellow does, but it's the way the majority of folks is looking at him when he does it." This observation certainly fits with the whole "what is objective reality, anyway?" theme of the book.
Anyway, let's assume that Darl is nuts. How would that bit of information affect the rest of the book? On one extreme, we could reread his highly perceptive, borderline clairvoyant moments as lunacy. Early in the book, Darl's objectivity, easier-to-read descriptions, and narration of events he is removed from compel the Faulkner-shocked reader to trust him. If he's crazy, his narration of moments like Addie's death or Jewel breaking the horse is could be completely made up. I'm not inclined to believe that they are. It's made clear that Darl knows about Dewey Dell's pregnancy, and it's fairly heavily implied that he knew about Addie's adultery. So, Darl's supposed insanity doesn't drastically change my understanding of the book. But I'm super into conspiracy theories, so comment if you have any ideas!
In the last chapter, there is a marked change between all of Darl's other narration. He starts using third person, referring to himself as "Darl" and "our brother Darl." I don't think it's that weird that he is talking about himself from his siblings' point of view, because for the whole book, Darl has specialized in extreme understanding of other people. Something must have snapped though. He was probably pushed over the edge by Addie's death. Since we never see him grieving in any other way, her death seems like a rational explanation.
Haha, clever and funny title!
ReplyDeleteNever did I thought Anse would be a hero in this book. Turns out, he is a coward. He didn't take this trip to fulfill Addie's wishes about where to be buried. He just did this to get new teeth. It may also be that he was waiting to meet his new wife in town, but I'm not sure. What raises questions to me, however, is that did Anse know that Addie had cheated on him before? Hopefully we discuss this in class because so I can hear opinions. Personally, I think he did know.
I agree with you that the Darl situation is very strange. To me at least, Darl never really seemed insane at all during the course of the story. He seems to be by far the most intelligent and the best narrator from the start of the book up until close to the end, where Cash takes over that role. His narrations do get a little bit more emotional and scrambled towards the end of the book, but not to a level where I would assume the narrator is crazy (Vardaman at the start of the book). I sort of understood why he burnt the barn, he was just trying to end this crazy journey that was causing so much trouble. This is also how I took his laughter as he was taken away, he was just incredulous that he was being punished for trying to help his family. Up until this point, I thought that he was sane, but his last chapter is completely ridiculous, and it makes me think that there must have actually been something wrong with him, as no sane person would say the things he says in the last chapter.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Will that the Darl situation was a bit odd, especially because it seems like such an insignificant part of the story. Besides Cash and Vardaman, no one seems very upset that Darl has been taken away. I was glad to see Cash step up and become such a reliable narrator, though.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, YOU'RE TITLE IS GREAT. Thank you for that pun. Also, I have been thinking a lot about Darl and his ending diagnosis as crazy. How much does that throw our opinion and trust of him?! I somehow still love and trust Darl in this weird way. Though Darl being shipped off to the loony bin DOES help Cash grow into this cool role of a really confident narrator, which I liked a lot, mostly because Cash was one of my favorite characters.
ReplyDeleteGreat title. I wonder how Darl will respond when he comes home and finds out he has a new mom. Or will his mind progressively become worse until the point where its unfixable, like Cash's leg? But can his life in the wacky shack be any worse than what everyone has to deal with in the Bundren house, probably.
ReplyDeleteGreat point about Cora. I hadn't thought of that aspect before--it almost makes me glad that Anse did what he did, so that she can get all worked up about it (and I can picture Vernon just shrugging and letting her have her say). Again, we have Anse's combination of "hangdog" and proud defiance: Cora will judge, but we know she has no idea what she's talking about.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, it's fun to imagine the reverse journey, with the wagon passing all the houses with the wives complaining about the new Mrs. Bundren and the husbands shrugging their shoulders and referring to Anse being Anse.