jaemie’s Reviews > As I Lay Dying > Status Update

it’s interesting that faulkner doesn’t just write from perspective, he writes from mentality. he uses it, bends it. reaches in, grasps, and twists it.

i understand that he has to keep things moving and be the adult for his kids, yet we all know that’s not his devotion. that’s not his heart, his desire. it’s this incapability to care and that’s worse. it doesn’t come from a place of pain, rather narcissistic indifference.

dear sweet vardaman. though he’s little, he’s the only one who immediately gravitates toward grief like a normal human being. crying and screaming and just… hurting. when do we grow up and forget how to hurt properly?? anse asking dewey to hurry up and make dinner RIGHT after addie dies is genuinely not even messed up, it’s outright delusional.

dewey dell’s chapters are annoying as hell, almost as bad as anse. speaking of him, he’s pathetic. he got his stupid three dollars and sacrificed his son’s time with their dying mother. jewell might not have cared, but darl did. that was an injustice to him and anse just plays the dumb father. no, it’s not grief. it’s selective selfishness.

darl staring at his mother knowing its his last time seeing her alive is so akin to his personality, not even depth in the plot. it’s embedded into his character. just like him sitting at the table, “with his eyes gone further than the food and the lamp, full of the land dug out of his skull and the holes filled with distance beyond the land.” even dewey dell and cora know darl is a soft, soft, beautiful soul

cora’s second part opens an outsider narrative like that of many families today; judgment and being perceived are two counterproductive aspects of a person. on one hand, cora is self righteous and morally uptight as observer and neighbor. judging a family, while being perceived completely differently by them is not only irony, but chastisement. a warning sign for those who think they know a family, but don’t

Cora narrative: “So that when I lay me down in the consciousness of my duty and reward I will be surrounded by loving faces, carrying the farewell kiss of each of my loved ones into my reward. Not like Addie Bundren dying alone, hiding her pride and her broken heart. Glad to go. Lying there with her head propped up so she could watch Cash building the coffin, having watch him so he would not skimp on it, (…)”

oh god, pa - he’s the birthed reason people say screw the patriarchy; i know vernon has a good head on his shoulders, but oft i feel as though he believes its his right, a superiority through the lens of neighborly christian-hood.

jewel’s chapter was anything but interesting— and yet that doesn’t mean it didn’t, no matter the progression of the prose, expedite the plot. apparently his favorite word is “goddamn” - gives him more character i guess, or/for the lack thereof

darl’s libido as a 28 or something year old is actually eye opening for me knowing and being familiar with his overall character - his deep observational skills are intimate, this night time act with himself is a mirror to that. it’s not erotica, but rather, another facet of his intuitive and perceptive character; i’m interested in his hyper aware eventual breakdown during their journey.