American Lit 1915-60: Exam #2

Second Principle: Existential Freedoms

***In that space, characters find the meaning and depth of their lives, in their choices Existentialism: can't derive codes by any other traditional source, but based on actual experiences o Protest against determinism (with rise of science) We have no control over much of our lives No matter how deterministic your life is, you have some choice, though (protests) Camut explored—always some degree of freedom o Emily, despite her upbringing, has an area

As I Lay Dying: Insane Asylum

1920s: letter from manager of asylum in Mississippi o Most patients were black o Schizophrenia groups predominated o Patients that died: 95 patients died of vitamin-deficiency and illness from eating too much corn, and in poor south, that's all you could eat Died of cheap diets o Death rate among blacks was far too high Could never let the two races intermingle, and freedom of lawns were given to whites to aid in their recovery Blacks confined to inhabitable wards

As I Lay Dying: Conventional View of the Family

A conventional view of the family Pg. 166 Cora Tull: she gives us the conventional idea of the family via middle-class values God gave you children to comfort your heart For in love you can see them ‡ Hopefully that's true, but it isn't always Pg. 169 The three paramount problems by Eliot: causes of the Wasteland = causes of Addie's demise ‡ Sex, death, loneliness She hates the children she's teaching because you had to be single to teach ‡ It was thought that seeing a pregnant teacher would be harmful to these children ‡ VS: my neighbor up the street was trained as a schoolteacher, but the day she married she was fired We know that Addie must've been an old maid ‡ Every child in that room represents a married woman and thus her failure to capture a man I could be quiet and hate them April is the cruelest month, mixing memory and desire ‡ The burial of the dead My father used to say the reason for living is to stay dead for a long time ‡ She's an independent thinker—she does her own thinking She likes when a child transgresses because she can whip them ‡ It was my blood that ran ‡ Now you are aware of me ‡ By whipping, she breaks into their closed sphere which words won't do Pg. 170 Sex, death, and loneliness as forms of suffering ‡ As forms of tragedy in her life This is why I took this slobbish nincompoop as a husband ‡ It was the only chance she had ‡ No man will ever look at her again ‡ She has to explain why she took a hopelessly inferior male He's not a bold lover—he's Prufrock squared or cubed What's wrong with him: terrible posture ‡ VS: If you young people want to look attractive, stand up straight! ‡ He looks like a buzzard with his head sloping forward, and his posture indicates attitude She explains that it's an upsurge of sexual desire that made her marry him ‡ When I looked up that day and saw Anse, I said fine What else he did wrong: this man didn't even get a haircut before he went courting! ‡ His hair looks like a porcupine! And she had to lead him through the courtship ‡ He does at least take her offer You haven't got any womenfolk? ‡ She's already aware of him ‡ VS: it's typical that the woman will be miles ahead of the man and can see through any move he makes She knows he has a farm ‡ The nesting instinct ‡ He does have a good farm where she could raise children ‡ But she has to lead him Are you going to get married?!!! Pg. 171 She has a baby, Cash, and it satisfies her curiosity This was the answer to it! She likes having a child and for the first time in her life she has a bond with another human being ‡ Her aloneness had never been violated until Cash came Anse is a man of words (sign of inferior male) ‡ He called it love ‡ That's just a word ‡ He never violated my aloneness Pg. 172 My aloneness had been violated Having that first child had satisfied her aloneness, but having a second is something different Then I believed I would kill Anse ‡ She resented this baby ‡ As revenge against Anse, she made him promise to take her to Jefferson when she dies ‡ Like the woman in the Wasteland who had 5 children and an abortion—the pigeonhole trap that if you're married you're expected to have all these kids Pg. 174 Then Anse died concerning her ‡ God's love, God's beauty ‡ But what about God's sin: in Faulkner's view, God encompasses all of reality Faulkner's treatment of her secret romance § IN her rebellion against this terrible marriage, she takes the lover of the town minister He's superior because he knows the Bible and can read and write and is a man of words, albeit, but they're sacred words She loves Jewel because he was conceived out of wedlock That rivalry between Darrel and Jewel is the main struggle § Back to the burial of the dead At last I knew what he meant Pg. 176: Cleaning her house before she dies Meaning she'll repair the idea of the family She uses a mathematical formula to describe how she's coping with the family ‡ I gave Anse Dewey Dell (he wants to go on, but I gave him her to negative Jewel to make up for Jewel) ‡ But then I gave him Vardamen Darrell is the one I've robbed him of—he's dead ‡ But he's the one who takes after her with the same intellectual power ‡ But he's the one he resented ‡ This is when I was trapped in the pigeonhole of the family He has three children that are his (Cash, DD, Vardamen), but Darrell is left out because she killed him ‡ Killed him psychologically Something about babies: ‡ Long before they learn language, they know whether they are wanted by the way it's touched, lifted, handled ‡ That will establish or fail to establish a child's sense of worth ‡ Darrell knows he wasn't wanted: he didn't get the basis of a child's sense of worth Pg. 1 Darrell gets most of the monologues because he's maybe the most important character ‡ His psychology is Faulkner's dominant theme Jewel steps right through the cotton house Pg. 4 He steps on the single stride Now it's Jewel who's ahead on the path Then jewel stops at the spring, and I pass him That leap-frog motif between the two brothers signifies the sibling rivalry (relationship to mother is key to it all) Pg. 15 Jewel's only monologue ‡ He's a man of action and the male principle ‡ Man of action His deep resentment ‡ Because he stays there hammering her coffin Pg. 16 These visitors to her death bed—he resents them If it'd just been me when Cash fell off the church ‡ Cash and Pa, because they're so injured, stay homea thte cabin with mother ‡ Jewel has to go out working, but only if he could stay at home with her he would—it would be just me and her A very powerful oedipal connection on Jewel's part, reciprocating mother's love for him In response, we now have Darrell's scheme to separate mother from son at her death bed ‡ vS: I came here from new negland 50 some eyars ago, and at that time you had real southerners instead of carpetbaggers moving in , and I read about a man in prison whose father had died, and they ddin't let him attend the funeral, and they allowed the hearse to go to the prison and they sat there and the boy had to see his father's funeral—this was the idea of the family, he ahd to see his father—how important this idea of the family is in the south Darrell conspiring so that Jewel can't see his mother's funeral Pg. 17 Ma ain't that sick ‡ Sense of denial that's typical when someone's badly ill ‡ Jewel's denial ‡ So he's willing to go transport a load of lumber Pg. 16 We watch Jewel come around the corner Before they leave, Darrell wants to get Pa's permission, but he knows his wife is about to die ‡ Darrell knows his father well and you wave $3 in front of him and he'll do anything Pg. 19 It means $3! Darrell makes a false promise: we'll be back by tomorrow at sundown ‡ Both he and his father know this is untrue, but Anse can convicen himself Pg. 27 Dewey Dell's monologue Where the alienation of Darrell from his sister ‡ He's alienated from everyone in his family He knew ‡ He knew without words ‡ With his intuition knows his sister's pregnant Are you going to tell Pa? Darrell's last looks at his mother: ‡ He stands in the door ‡ She's going to die ‡ "Before we get back"***** That's the whole point!! Pg. 39 They're out on the road hauling lumber With his intuition, Darrell knows what's going on at the cabin Pg. 40 Darrell is torturing his btoerh ‡ Don't you know Addie is going to die? ‡ He doesn't call her mother, since she's not his mother ‡ He likes telling Jewel that Pg. 47 Scene where two boys are out in tehroad and Addie dies Darrell with his intuition and clairvoyance knows its happening and knows exactly the response of each family member Vardamen's a small boy It's Jewel she wants ‡ She knows the time is up now Pg. 48 Addie's last words: "you, Cash" Response of DD first: Ma, ma ‡ Her voice, wailing Pg. 49 VArdamen's response: color drains from face Anse: darn them boys ‡ His response The road where Jewel and Darrell are hauling lumber ‡ This knowledge that Addie is dead is another weapon with which he can hammer his brother ‡ There's a broken axel, and it's typical that Darrell would watch the man of action fix the axel Pg. 50 Cash's response: he's looking down at her, and then saw snores again Because she is female, she is immediately ordered to fill in the role of female ‡ Put supper on, DD! Pg. 52 Pa's response to his wife's death: God's will be done. Now I can get them teeth The double motive ‡ The family has a unified motive to bring mother to her family's graveyard in town ‡ But each has an ulterior motive: which is far more important than that for mother, which is why they go through a struggle to get to town ‡ DD = abortion, Cash = graphophone (he's the artist in the family,making the finest coffin anyone's seen, and he loves music in the evening), Vardamen = toy train in the window, Jewel = gets to eat bananas ‡ Whereas Darrell wants to terminate the whole thing Darrell is very happy to transmit the news: Addie Bundren is dead! Pg. 94 Looks like Darrell has won the sibling rivalry ‡ So Jewel isn't at her death bed ‡ And then by the time they get back Darrell is mistaken Along the way home, Darrell keeps tormenting his brother about mother's death MISSING SOMETHING HERE Pg. 132 Jewel has been disappearing every night, all night ‡ He's falling asleep while milking the cow ‡ He seems to be losing weight So the two boys the head of the family have to find out what's going on They presume that Jewel has a girlfriend ‡ That's why he's disappearing every night Who's the girl? ‡ Cash who's more experienced says it's a married woman ‡ That a single woman couldn't hold Jewel's attention It's not a girl, but he's been working to buy a horse Pg. 135 A crucial scene I bought my horse ‡ With what? ‡ It was my money I'll give, give Then she began to cry ‡ Not hiding her face!! Shows how serious this is on ma's part ‡ Cash is head fo the family and takes charge ‡ You go onto the house, this ground is too wet for you Pg. 136 Darrell makes a discvovery: he found ma sitting by the bed crying hard and then I knew that I knew ‡ He knew with his clairvoyance that someone else is Jewel's father—not Anse ‡ He determined the reason for that special bond between mother and son Pg. 212 With this new information about Jewel's paternity, Darrell has another weapon to clobber his brother Pg. 224 Darrell has set Gillespie's barn on fire to burn up the coffin, and he's failed Vardamen's trying to comfort Darrrell as he's weeping: you needn't cry, Jewel's got him out He's crying because the coffin was saved, though Pg. 80 Darrell's monologue The effect of that vacancy, the lack of the identity that comes from a mother's love Pg. 142 He has a relationship with cash that is sustaining, esp. becaue they're older than the others and share responsibilities to head the family given the nincompoop status of the patriarch Pg. 234 Cash's monologue The great betrayal ‡ That one human bond that has sustained Darrell is broken Either they sent him to the asylum or had Gillespie sue us ‡ They have no money! ‡ So Darrell has to be declared insane Jewel would like to see it happen immediately So it is Cash, the ehd of the family, who declares we'll wait until she's underground Bond from Darrell's view of it We have the black humor response Freud: laughter keeps pain at a distance He's laughing at two things: the concept of sexual conjunction (the origin of a family) and at his family standing around the wagon eating bananas as he's carted off to the asylum

As I Lay Dying: Title

Agamemnon in Odyssey o In an epic, the hero must visit the underworld o This person visits Agamemnon and he asks him what happened o Agamemnon explained that when he came home to his kingdom, he was murdered by his wife because he killed his daughter because the Gods had required him to sacrifice his daughter to get a fair wind to Troy AND because he brings one of the captured queens as his concubine and parades her in front of his wife (who then stabbed him) o "As I lay dying, that woman with the dog's eyes refused to close my eyes so that I could have rest in the next world" In Greek view, if eyes were not closed, they could never rest in next life o Critics have said that Claetemnestra's revenge against her husband is similar to Addie's revenge on her husband But maybe a stretch He also wrote a short story with this title o Around 1928 o Story is nothing more than the spotted horses episode, with Flem swindling his fellow men o Faulkner liked the title and then found a better use for it

As I Lay Dying

Anse Bundren -wants to buy false teeth in town -gets his false teeth and has new bride in town he found before burying Addie -dedicated to burying her in Jefferson -bought new team of mules Addie Bundren -schoolteacher; enjoyed whipping kids -loneliness violated when gave birth to Cash and Darl and declared Anse dead to her -disillusioned that someone supposedly virtuous (Whitfield) could have affair -Jewel: third child -remembers giving birth to Dewey Dell and Vardaman, and describes the births as the final payments in an emotional debt to Anse, after which she was free to die. Addie recalls some of Cora's remarks about sin and salvation, and dismisses them as empty words. Cash (oldest) -broken leg from falling from top of church -wanted new gramophone -built coffin -makes coffin on slant -unconscious at river -horse doctor set his leg Darl -burns barn -cries on coffin -goes to Jackson mental institution instead of Gillespie suing them over burned barn -clairvoyant -questions whether he "is" or not, whereas Jewel knows he "is" -tells Jewel that buzzards don't mean that his horse is dead -says Jewel's mother is a horse Jewel -horse traded in to buy new mules -saves casket from fire and water -spent nights clearing land to buy horse -refuses to answer who his father was to Darl Vernon Tull (neighbor) -wealthier -Darl and Jewel make a delivery trip for him -blames Anse's failures as father and husband for Vardaman's reaction to Addie's death and thus divine judgement Cora Tull -Cora remembers a discussion she had with Addie about religion in which she criticized Addie for presuming to judge what is right and what is wrong, rather than leaving such judgment to God. Cora realizes that Addie was proud and vain, more driven by her love for the thankless Jewel than by her love for God. She remembers Addie speaking of Jewel in terms more appropriate to discussions of God, saying, "He is my cross and he will be my salvation." Whitfield -local minister Addie had affair with -sees as sign of God that he needn't confess to affair since she died Vardaman (youngest) -fish he wants to bring in the house -blames Peabody for Addie's death -scared Addie's going to be nailed in coffin -bored two holes in coffin and Addie's face -fishing in the bog with no fish -sees buzzards Dewey Dell -wouldn't sell her abortion drug -wants Peabody to give her an abortion Gillespie -hosts family in town -barn burned down Lafe (local farmhand, father of Dewey's baby) Town of Mottson Peabody -Addie's doctor -deplores Anse's fatherhood for allowing Cash's leg to be cemented in cast MacGowan -clerk at drugstore who fakes abortion

McCullers: Alienation & Physical Deformity

Automatically alienates a person § CM uses it as the freak—the person who's obviously different John Singer § The deaf mute who literally cannot talk § Explains his bond with Antanopolis Members of the Kelly family who are described as somewhat freakish § Etta: has no chin She's been trying to cover it up and doing exercises § Bill: has huge feet and ears that stick out prominently Feels very self-conscious about that § Mick: she's too tall The tallest in her 6thgrade class Even Harry, the tallest boy she knows, is shorter than she is

McCullers: Biff Brannon's Fallacies

Before Biff can assume his full role as a man of Spinozan enlightenment, there are two fallacies he has to overcome concerning love Loving too limited an object § What they've all been doing § Investing their entire being in a love too limited First fallacy: overcoming gender separation Pg. 236 Biff's original role as a bed buster Losing his potency will be an essential step towards enlightenment § He becomes androgynous After Alice dies, he starts using her perfume and hair ribbons Wants to be a mother, not a father to Mick Pg. 132 She looked like an overgrown boy as a girl Why is it that the smartest people miss the point? All people are both sexes ‡ The proof? Youth and old age He even proved it himself He wished he were a mother § He does transcend the limitations of gender to reach vision Other: his love of a single object Pg. 356 Mick now in the final scene is standing in the café late at night Why keep it open all night? ‡ It certainly wasn't for money But he'd never close up for night ‡ Since he is managing this café somewhat like the true church—where anyone can come off the street and experience an hour of communion Pg. 357 He's examining this flower and plucking off the bright petals And the last petal came up on love ‡ But who would he be loving now? No one person ‡ Anyone who comes in here He knows his loves are over ‡ Even Mick, that love is finished There was no one § Leaves him momentarily overcome by loneliness with that love object no longer there Pg. 358 He calls for his worker, Louis, and doesn't get an answer—he's alone He took charge of Singer's funeral Part of this priestly role as a custodian of the whole community Go on with this experience The silence in the room A quick moment of radiance—becoming one with the whole of humanity in Spinozan vision Of the endless passion fo humanity Endless! His soul expanded Then he lapses into his ordinary selfhood We leave him as the priest supervising the true church—the New York Café, where anyone can come in at anytime

McCullers: Answer to Alienation

Biff Brannon!! o Who practices the religion of love o He's the actual Christ-like figure § They were all looking but don't recognize him Pg. 33 § The lesson is all men seek for thee § He's in a Christ-like posture § And crossed his feet In a cruciform position § Bearded like Jesus § Sun illuminates his head, as if he had a halo Pg. 226 § Singer might've been Jewish? Who knows § But Biff may have been jewish? § Blount and Biff are talking Blount critizies Jake ‡ You look like a Jew (in 1940) ‡ I am part Jew ‡ A Jew from Amsterdam (Spinoza's city) § Biff has a connection with a Jew from Amsterdam Pg. 133 § Spinozan vision Union with the whole of reality and nature § Meaning of this newspaper collection They were a mess for two weeks § We see him reading newspapers along the way § They've been catalogued § The third is the most important He's a high priest of this community and custodian from the past Shared experience is the basis of the human bond Everything in the past outlined and complete Pg. 14 § The freakshow § Jake Blount does look freakish His head is too big, huge shoulders and arms § Alice says that man is a bum and a freak § I like freaks Pg. 18 § He tries to relate to Mick Kelly She sees she's a lonely young teenager He sympathizes § He'd never seen her come with someone her own age If she wasn't nursing she was by herself o Pg. 22 § He was the only one to try to relate to Blount § He did like freaks and felt a special feeling for cripples Pg. 23 § Him connecting with the ideological freak § Jake's half drunk and claims to represent the whole human race in his blood lines I'm one who knows § He addresses Singer who says you're the only one who understands what I mean § But Singer doesn't know what he means § But Biff asks the question that Jake has been waiting for someone to ask There are those who know and don't know Know what????? He's been waiting for someone to ask that § There are so few of us who know Shut up He doesn't answer Pg. 227 § Biff is still trying to relate to Jake, who responds by accusing Biff of being a capitalist hog § You live a fine life § Biff tries to have a serious talk: what is it you want? Beer That's not what I meant § Biff offers him a better job The problem is that Biff represents a capitalist hog § In the end, it's Biff who befriends Jake on his way out of town giving him $40 The encouraging sympathizer

Faulkner: Biography

Biography: Joseph Blotner o VS: two thousand pages of notes that I devoured avidly o 2000 pages o He also edited the letters of Faulkner and the collected short stories He's very conscious of the past o It shapes the present o In the case of Fitzgerald, it's an invented past o There's a fixation on the actual past o True in his own life o In the past in whose living blood and seed we lay dormant and waiting o The past is as real as this moment we have right now o He painted people of pasts very vividly Great grandfather: dominated the family history o One o fht eimportant aristocratic families in that community o Was born dirt poor and came ot live with an uncle He was a heroic fellow—that's important § The past is better than the present § We have this heroic image of the founding father of the family o Fought in the war with Mexico o Killed two men in duels § He believed in honor § Acquitted of murder o During the Civil War, he volunteered for the Confederate Army § They voted for their officers, and he was such a quarrelsome man that he was voted out of office § So he went to MI and raised another regiment o After the war, unlike most southerners, he became a very wealthy man § He was a lawyer, owend a plantation, was an artist, wrote novel (a bestseller) Faulkner would have to live up to this § Built a railroad with a partner · They quarreled over extending the railroad · And he won and bought out his partner and extended the railroad o He announced he was running for legislature of MI § He was going to raise rates on railroads § He was elected § The partner walked up to old Colonel and shot him dead § Tragic but heroic story that looms over their descendants William Cuthbert Faulkner o He added a U to the name! o Born in 1897 1902: when he was 5, they moved to Oxford o Three advantages to living in the county seat: § This is the county courthouse · The place where Faulkner would study the files in the courthouse · Read about crimes committed, nad he had an imagination that could envision the lives of these people · He got lots of names of characters from the courthouse Where Ole Miss was · He attended for one year before flunking out · He had access to the library, and was important to get his education through his own reading Phil Stone was there · Had two degrees from Yale · Interested in modern literature · He guided Faulkner's education o Ulyssees was against the law, but Stone acquired a copy and sent it to him and he was much influenced by it He and Estelle agreed that they'd get married when they were old enough o When he expected to marry her, she rejected him § He's not good enough § Injury to one's sense of worth Important that the same person who inflicted the injury must come around and change her mind and tell him he's a superior male after all § What happened to Fitzgerald after he published his first novel § What happens in the GG o She married a man of higher social status, a better family, and more wealth § He took her off to China § Like many other wealthy men, he was an irresponsible playboy So she divorced him and came back to Oxford § Now, Faulkner had published a few things § She changed her mind and he married her the second time around o But he never got the bitterness of having been rejected the first time 1918: when men's sense of worth is damaged, they often join the army o He was rejected since he was just over 5 feet tall o He went to Canada, cultivated a British accent, and they accepted him into the Royal Air Force § But he never saw action § He couldn't be a war hero, which he wanted to do o He purchased a uniform and a cane and limped around town claiming he had been injured There were times when he forgot to limp and he was ridiculed as: Count No-Account · A man of high pretense, with nothing behind it He wanted to be an artist o So the best thing to be is a poet o He tried really hard for 5 years o Trying to imitate French symbolism o Was rejected by all publsihers o But his friend, Stone, dug out enough money to pay a publisher to publish it · Stone said what you need is to go to europe and get some sophistication and join up an artist community to help your career Went to New Orleans with a friend to try to go to Europe o While in New Orleans, connected with an artist colony, and Sherwood Anderson § He said don't bother with poetry, but if you write a novel, I'll force my publisher to publish it on the condition that I don't have to read it o He wrote his first novel in 6 weeks Sherwood has Soldiers' Pay published o After 6 months, they went to Italy Tjhey moved through Europe, Italy, Paris o His high point was having a glimpse of James Joyce in a Parisian restaurant o And visited the tomb of Oscar Wilde · Then went to England and home · This trip to Europe had no effect on his career whatsoever o Wrote a few stories, but otherwise nothing · He earned $200 (*15) for Soldiers Pay—a decent outcome Second novel: about artist colony in New Orleans 1929: first major—Flags in the Dust o Rejected by a number of publsihers until his literary agent founded his own company and published it 1929: Sound and the Fury o Hereafter would have a divided stream of publications § Would write a stream of novels hoping to make a living § But hten as a serious artist, eh would turn his back on the entire idea of a reading audience to wrote for later generations: which is why he wrote SATF o But Flagsin the Dust was for reading audience Bought an old mansion to fix up o He could thereby refurbish his own sense of worth o Turned it into a splendid edifice o This was his sense of worth, of identity o To prove that he's not count no-account o He was subject to his own theme: a struggle for a satisfactory sense of worth Faulkner represented the rock-bottom of the family reputation § The grandfather, the old Colonel's son, was an alcoholic and lost much of the property and the bank that he'd founded § Then his father was even lower down in the social scale and even became a conductor on the family railroad And Faulkner was lowest: no money, rejected by woman, had fake limp That's why he had to have his mansion · To compel people to look at his place and acknowledge his sense of worth · His best seller: Sanctuary o Faulkner ridiculed as the "corncob man" o Hollywood thought they could use a man like this and so he went ot Hollywood to write scripts for half the year and then the rest writing great novels He was able to buy an airplane o With money he got from Sanctuary and movies o His younger brother died crashing that plane and he assumed responsibility for his brother's family In the war years, the lead plates for his great masterpieces were melted down, all but Sanctuary o If you wanted to read his great masterpieces, you couldn't get them o So after this he was a forgotten man The effort to bring him back to public view: 1. 1946: The Portable Faulkner was published § With short stories § Took chunks of a novel and put it in this § First effort to bring him back from the dead 2. 1949: movie of Intruder in the Dust § Helped bring his name back 3. 1950: he had won the Nobel prize § The American literary establishment had no particular regard for Faulkner,e specially since his works were out of print So it was shocking for them § But then a great rush of scholars and critics came to his door § He was so incensed at being neglected during all those years that he adopted the Faulkner pose: I don't know anything about literature, etc. § When he won the prize, the newspapers were celebrating him: he was a degradation § NYT: they wanted the committee to know that incest and rape may be common in Jefferson, but it's not elsewhere in America—so he had polluted his country with this literature In his last years, the Faulkner Pose weakened o And he did accept some appointments by State department o He compared Japan to the south: two countries which had fought against a greatly superior military, and even though they were crushed, they still had nobility Experienced big stigma in his town because he favored integration of the schools o He published letters, etc. to the editor in favor of integration of the schools o Said we have to go slow with it because of violence § Was castigated for that by civil rights spokesmen Went to live in Charlottesville, and if you believe in southern aristocracy, that's where you'd go o He'd go fox hunting with Virginia's first families o So as to compel acknowledgement and esteem himself and redeem himself in the eyes of his great grandfather By the time he died, he was wealthy and pooled all his resources and planned all the resources for a down payment on a Charlottesville mansion Last year of his life: o He was trying to purchase the Charlottesville estate April 1962: Kennedy invited the Nobel prize winners in America to the WH o Faulkner was only three hours away and would've sent a limo, and he declined the invitation because it was too far to eat o Part of Faulkner pose: where were you when I needed you? o He was nonetheless regarded as one of the great figures in American literatyre Spring 1962: he fell from a horse o But now his back pain became serious o He went to his usual antitime o He was one of those alcoholics where he binged and then was sober for extended periods of time o He went to alcohol to dim the pain and was brought to an alcoholic clinic July 5/6th: he woke up, groaned, had a heart seizure, and died Buried in Oxford cemetery o VS: I was disappointed that it was trashed, his grave § There were tiny bottles of alcohol § If I were an alcy, I would go there and drink it § They had left them as a tribute to Faulkner

McCullers: Biography

Biography: Virginia Spencer Carr o She left her papers at Duke! Born Carson Smith o In Georgia She had a flair for the piano and became a virtual concert pianist 1935: at 18, went to New York to become a concert pianist o Had a penpal in New York that she lived with as a roommate o Her roommate had lost the money in the subway and then didn't have money for tuition o Enrolled at a night class in writing at Columbia and did other things to get by 1936: met a handsome manly young fellow, Reeve McCullers o A Ranger in the Army! o She was dazzled by him and they were married the next year in Charlotte They made a deal that she would write a novel and he would support her o And then vice versa She wrote this novel at our age! o Over the next couple of years 1940: was published to rave reviews · Then it was his turn to write his o He didn't have enough talent and was terribly frustrated o Was drunk and took to beating and terrorizing her o Contemplated a murder-suicide compact o He divorced her She moved into a brownstone house in New York—the February House o With Auden, Benjamin Britton, Ishwood, and the most famous stripper in the country o With other artists o She had a community of artists, something that every artist desperately needs o The New York Café: a tribute to the February House Wrote a second novel during the war years o When she and her ex-husband fell in love again 1945: they got re-married o Same syndrome took place that he was frustrated that his talent couldn't be realized o They became alienated even while still married 1947: went to Paris trying to renew their love Then when in NY and he was in Paris and he committed suicide · VS: I actually met the psychologist who was treating him in Paris at a party o He got a call from him the night before saying I need to meet you o So they were supposed to meet for dinner the next day but he already committed suicide Her most serious issue was health o 1941: she had a terrible stroke o 1947: a second stroke at 30 o 1951: saw a psychiatrist who convinced her that her ailments were psychosomatic But he himself was insane o 1962: breast cancer o 1964: fell and broke her hip and in a wheelchair o 1967: died at 60

As I Lay Dying: Sibling Rivalry

Central narrative • Between wanted son and unwanted • Jewel is so much taller than all the others o We get that feeling that he's different Pg. 4 o Encounter cotton house made of logs o They're walking on the path and they're doing a leap frog motion with one in front and then the other o Motif of the sibling rivalry Pg. 14: Jewel's brief monologue o Jewel: embodies the male principle (man of action and very few words) His only monologue and the words are almost expletives o Sawing a box for his mother o You want to see her in the box? Pg. 15 o Focuses his resentment on the neighbors that watch her die o If it had just been me o Both Pa (if he sweats he dies he thinks) and Cash (broken leg) can stay home o Jewel can't stay home because he has to work o If he were home, he wouldn't watch her die and he would sweep everyone out o The aedopial possessiveness of mother Pg. 16 o Darrell's Monologue (one of them) o Trying to separate mother from her favorite son on her death bed That would be his own retaliation for mother not choosing him as favorite o Insisting they both need to go haul some lumber to get money o Sense of family, no where stronger than in the south The protocol for the southern family is that the child must be there for the funeral So Darrell will violate that protocol and pry Jewel away from his mother's death bed Pg. 17 o He has to get permission from his father to go o Anse lets him go because he waves $3 in front of his face But has mixed feelings because we have to have the whole family here when she dies and we don't know if she'll make it o Jewel: she ain't that sick Denial Pg. 19 o Darrell makes a false promise There's no way he can fulfill it because it's physically impossible to get back by sundown Pg. 21 o Fulfills the idea of "these closed circles" where people don't understand each other o She gets it backwards from truth and reality o In cora's mind, it's Jewel who wants the $3 and is leaving for commercial greed and it's Jewel who's trying to trick Darrell Pg. 27 o Dewey Dell's monologue o She explains how she got pregnant by Lefe o Because Darrell has x-ray vision and clairvoyance becuae he can see right through his family members, he has divined she is pregnant o He said he knew without the words o She doesn't understand her brother: he's not the kidn of man that would tell pa this secret o He's so alientated from his family that he's failed the family etihc What Marx said From each according to his ability to each his need People won't sacrifice for society like they will for their family o He knows the secret but he doesn't lift a finger to help her in need, and they think he'll tell Pa o This is his last look at his mother; he knows she's going to die before they get back Everyone knows Jewelhas to be here when she dies, though! Pg. 39 o Information that mother's going to die before they get back, ascewertained through clairvoyance that he can use as a weapon to club J o J, do you know she's going to die? o He knows her motive for going into town To get an abortion Are you going to tell Pa? No, he would never do that o Sibling rivalry (brother and sister and brother and brother) o Do you know Addie Bunron's going to die? Doesn't call her mother because he was rejected at birth Pg. 47 o Darrell's monologue o They're on the road o D's so clairvoyant that he can see what's ahpepning back at home in the cabin and her death and the family's respoinse to that o He's a small boy, probably 8 o Crucial sentence: Ma, on her death bed, looks at Pa...it's Jewel she wants Where's my favorite son? That's the whole point of them being on the road o Darrell would actually relish this spectacle Pg. 48 o She dies o Last words: "You, Cash" o Responses of family members: Dewey starts to keen, wailing Varnamen: his mouth full open, white face Pa's leaning above the bed, darn those boys o Darrell sees all that through clairvoyance Pg. 49 o Now D can tell Jewel that o They had to endure a broken axel in the wagon o Cash's response: she's gone, she's taken and left us o We have Dewey ordered to step into her mother's role bcause she's female Get supper on Pg. 51 o Peabody's a witness to all this o If only he'd knew...he could've performed an abortion Man's greatest tragedy is what he could've done o Pa above bed Pg. 52 o God's will be done: acceptance Now I can get them teeth o Brings on the motif of the ulterior motive Family has a unified motive to get mother's burial accomplished; a unified purpose But each has an ulterior motive Pa wants to get false teeth Dewey wants an abortion Vartamen will get to see the toy train in the window Cash expects to get a gramophone He's the artist of the group, shows when he makes the coffin He makes wooden plugs to fill holes in the coffin, detailed So a man can have a little music after day's hard work Jewel He's the one who saved the family from flood and fire He will eat some bananas at the end, as does everyone o Italics: back on the road, two brothers hauling lumber Darrell can use this new information he's acquired to torture his kid brother Jewel does all the work in this scene He's the superior male and expresses his nature in what he does: fixing the wagon Addie Bundren is dead o The scheme has worked Pg. 94 o The thread continues o Short monologue by Darrell o He's continuing to torture his brother about mother's death He points to buzzards in the sky, it's not your horse that's dead I lost no mother because I got no mother: crux of rivalry o Three days later, she should be buried in cemetery Durrell's upset that they haven't yet They're waiting not for us, but for him Everyone knows the funeral can't happen without Jewel there o So Darrell's not triumphed yet Pg. 132 o Jewel's narrative flashing back to when he was 15 o Falling asleep over his breakfast and in the field o They assume, the two older brothers, that he must have a secret girlfriend he's been seeing at night o Cash: it ain't any girl, it's a married woman Tribute to the married woman is interesting, seeing critique of marriage It's only a married woman that could hold Jewel's attention this long And the married woman has better judgement as we go on o Still goes on Cash figures out it's not a girl Pg. 134 o Five months since it started, we saw Jewel come up riding the horse in passing A descendent of those Texas ponies Flem brought here 25 years ago (spotted ponies) (so the hamlet took place around 1895) Just after the war (1920?) We look back to that spotted ponies episode Pg. 135 o Moment of epiphany of lighting flashed insight on Darrell's part o Jewel said he bought the horse with his earned money Ma responded: Jewel, you come right to the house and go to bed And then she began to cry, not hiding her face In the code of the hill country, what matters most is having dignity, which means you never let other people see you cry She cries openly is a real crisis on her part, an emotional catastrophe Pa said it's okay Ance isn't the real head of the house, he's a nincompoop So Cash and ___ have to run the house He took care of Ma when she was crying Pg. 136 o Final scene o Darrell sees his mother sitting beside Jewel's bed still crying quietly o He had divined Dewey's pregnangy o Here, he's divining that Jewel has a different father from all the others o That gives Darrell a new weapon with which to torture his kid brother about mother Pg. 212 o Torture leaps off the page at the first sentence Q: Whose son are you? Who's your father? A: ******** you o Rupture is ultimate between these two Pg. 224 o Darrell has tried to terminate this odyssey o Maybe back in the river crossing, the wagon might not have tipped over if he didn't jump off the wagon, but he did and the coffin fell out and it might have floated away in river for good if Jewel hadn't saved it o Was done to prevent Jewel from fulfilling his mother's wishes, but Darrell failed o Burned up gillespie's farm with coffin it Pg. 225 o Varnamen says that Darrell's lying on the coffin He doesn't get it He thinks he's crying because his mother's coffin's almost burned up He's crying because he's failed again in trying to break up Jewel's efforts o Darrell's the loser in this aedopial competition, and loses his sense of worth Pg. 80 o Darrell's monologue o He's about to fall asleep o I don't know if I am or not; Jewel knows he is o In effect, he has no home because home is associated with mother and he has no mother Anywhere would be home now, including the cabin back yonder Pg. 207 o The effect of having no home o Eliot's imagery What makes his men hollow is the lack of a belief, specifically in immortality o What makes Darrell hollow is having nomother, no family, no connection, no relationships There is one exception: ...see 142 Pg. 142 o He has only one meaningful relationship o Darrell's monologue of the river crossing Tour de force of Faulknerian style o They're about to plunge into the river o Cash and I are the older two brothers, about a year apart, 10 years older than younger 3 Because Ance isn't capable, we have to be the head of the house and this is a big emergency That shared experience is what makes a bond between these two o He and Cash look at each other and know each other With long stare Pg. 232 o The upshot, culmination of their relationship o Ironic scene o Because Gillespie knows Darrell has burned his barn, they either have to pay (after he sues) or send Darrell off to the insane asylum in Jackson, which would exempt the family from blame Gillespie learned it because Dewey Dell told him She has her reasons for wanting to get Darrell out so he won't tell Pa about her pregnancy o Pa's not sure o Jewel wants to do it immediately o It's Cash that agrees that the procedure will follow After she's buried, we'll send him to Jackson Pg. 234 o Darrell objects to this time scheme o Cash's lying on the coffin with a broken leg Darrell's concerned about his brother's broken leg—his one meaningful relationship Cash is touched by that concern Darrell keeps insisting they take him to the doctor, even though it's already been nine days since she died Pg. 235 o Get to cemetery o Have to wait while Ance borrows some spades? Pg. 236 o Wants to go back to Peabody's Pg. 237 o Most important scene: betrayal o Darrell's narrating o Betrayal and capture of Darrell o When they take him into custody, Dewey Dell was interesting o "I thought you would've told me. I would never thought you wouldn't have." o That Cash didn't tell him: betrayal! o He can't even lift his head, lying on the coffin I tried to tell him, he can't move o It'll be better for you, Darrell o Laughing and laughing Pg. 239 o Peabody's monologue Of sound body and mind We should trust his account of what happened He knows this family o He's now trying to fix this broken leg o Peadody's indignant about the capture of Darrell Gives us a reliable fix on that problem Pg. 253 o The effect of this last broken relationhip is a clinical case of schizophrenia for Darrell A split personality He sees himself as two different people He's on train to Jackson but is still laughing Pg. 254 o Why do you laugh? o Two answers: Sex Sexuality that is the basis of the family; invented so that offspring could be produced From Darrell's pint of view, terrible mistake because the family has been the source of his tragedy, alienation, etc. We learn that he was in WWI He's looking at a coin on the train, and sees a woman on it He has a spy glass he got in the war (he's more sophisticated than others) From Shakespeare: sex is the beast with two backs In it a woman and a pig with two backs Laughing at the whole concept of sexuality and family creation with absurdity Joke The last thing he sees looking out at the train window is his family It looks no different from the other wagons They're eating bananas: is that why you're laughing? This is the image of the family The whole absurdity of the image is why he's laughing Black Humor Movement: of modern literature When people are suffering with no remedy, then the only remedy is a laughter Wicked, satanic laughter at the absurdity of life The larger project of human life seems so futile and painful and absurd that laughter can be the only defense from pain, black humor What Darrell's doing here That's his final response Pg. 249 o Darrell's last word isn't Faulkner's last word o Vartamen the child Voice of innocence but also of truth in the idea of the family, the myth that we live by o Most important thing for Faulkner is that the idea of the family prevails over the reality Spectacle of suffering, source of pain and absurdity, etc. So we turn to the idea rather than the reality to confirm this theme o Italics in this section: the voice affirms that theme Darrell is my brother Sense of family connection overrides everything Darrell went to Jackson, my brother Darrell, he went to Jackson on the train Darrell is my brother o We are what we learned as children This is what he learned as a child, and nothing will ever undermine this, no matter what the reality is Pg. 252 o Darrell is my brother And not even God can change that Rising above all this chaos, nothing else matters

Faulkner: Wash

Characters Colonel Thomas Sutpen Milly o Wash's granddaughter Wash Jones o Ends up killing Sutpen and his granddaughter and greatgranddaughter 10 years before writing, he had a mental image o Of young boy trying to open big door and it being shut in his face o Tried to put that image in Sanctuary, but it didn't work there Precursor for Absalom o Masterwork on the theme of identity o Versions of the blocked door as symbols as obstacles to sense of worth • Thomas Sutpen o Grew up in WV hillbilly country with Jacksonian democracy I'm as good as any man Rise through personal achievement Meritocracy The only hierarchy up in hillbilly country o When 12 years old, his father took him to Tidewater country where there's hierarchy His father brought him to a tavern to get drunk and a door opens and a huge black man throws him out because he wasn't good enough to be there o Father gets job at plantation there Asks son to bring message to master at main house Son hopes that he at last gets to see the inside of the mansion Elegant black servant takes one look at this boy (obviously white trash) and orders him around to the kitchen Then the door shuts in his face Spends his next 50 years trying to avenge that moment and vindicate his sense of worth First thinks he'll kill the plantation owner and get revenge • He can and has the willpower to Then realizes that if he killed him, that wouldn't elevate his sense of worth and vindicate him So he goes to the West Indies, puts down slave rebellion in Haiti, and the plantation owner gives him his daughter in return White trash ends Then ends up in Faulkner country to set up his dynasty • Becomes the richest man in the area This is third and last attempt to found a Sutpen dynasty and vindicate his sense of worth • What he gets is a girl • A half century of struggle to vindicate himself and absolutely destroys what he was trying to do • Gets Wash Jones' granddaughter pregnant • Daguhter wouldn't carry on the dynasty o The horse had a colt (boy) and she had a girl • Wash is not a cruel man and doesn't mean to give offense, but after a full half century trying to avenge his struggle, Sutpen has just realized that the gods have denied him his last chance to start a Sutpen dynasty 130: the slaves on the plantation ridiculed him ruthlessly he failed to enlist in the confederate army • Circle of black faces surrounding Jones o They should be inferior to him, but he is to them o They're laughing to them o Rationalizes his reason and then uses his only trump card—he's white o They then ridicule his domicile, that Sutpen wouldn't even let his slaves live in First measure/symbol of his inferiority and humiliation—the circle of black faces • Second symbol: face laughing, with blocked door • 134: o When Sutpen had the door closed first, it was a front door and could go through the kitchen o Jones isn't even allowed through the kitchen—he's not good enough Thinks that now's his chance then Sutpen is away He almost makes it Black denies him, and Wash slinks away Low class, white trash, inferiority When this kind of damage is done to a man's sense of worth like this, you rationalize and not reason o He rationalizes in terms of two passages from the Bible o Jones is probably illiterate, but he still knows the Bible o This is the basis of Jones' sense of worth, he has this infallible word of God that attests to his superiority to stand on o Genesis passage 1: if we're all made in the image of God, then we're all equal Pg. 132: it's obvious that God never made blacks to be in the image of Sutpen o Which is why they're inferior o The fact that in actual life they live in better houses, etc. doesn't matter because he created his own reality derived from the Book o Reality contradicts the Bible o Actual world was the one in the Book, where whites are superior o This is Wash Jones' way of rationalizing his hopelessly inferior status Sutpen, to confirm his status, has received a written citation from Lee o Sutpen remains the model for white identity that Jones can aspire to • Sutpen, to confirm his status, has received a written citation from Lee o Couldn't get a more godlike figure to attest to his bravery o Speech and courage o Sutpen remains the model for white identity that Jones can aspire to o During the war, the Yankees came down o After the war, the carpetbaggers have taken everything that Sutpen owned, except for his broken down mansion and a bit of land around it All that he had acquired from Isse o Now he's a ruined man o Forced to make a livelihood by selling rotten goods to poor whites and blacks in neighborhood o With Wash as his clerk o Jones will lie down on the floor to sleep while Sutpen sleeps in bed and sits in chair while Jones sits on floor o After the war, Jones gets into and goes in the front door of Sutpen's door He can because Sutpen's a drunk and Jones has to carry him through Sutpen's daughter opens the door for him Up until this point, Jones has depended on the notion of white supremacy to uphold his worth o Now, he has an object that anyone can look at to determine his sense of worth: his granddaughter o Both aristocratic and lowly white men should have the decency to protect women, though, at their time o His daughter was pregnant our of wedlock, but it doesn't matter as much o The issue is the honor of Jones' women You can laugh in his face and ridicule him aabout living in a shack, but criticizing his women will cause violence o Noticed his daughter was wearing nice clothes and his granddaughter o The honor of southern white women was an unbreachable value o He's assuming that Sutpen, a white southern aristocrat, will uphold his honor Would never get a girl pregnant and simply dump her He's absolutely confident that the code of the southern man will prevail o Baby is new symbol of the confluence of blood lines: magnificent for elevating the entire jones clan into the aristocracy once the baby is born o Wash continues to think of the fine proud figure of man and stallion--and Wash is raised just by being around him o The sun was up now: symbolic of an enlightenment of Jones about the aristocracy up until this point--> the old verities of the heart take over from this point o Faulkner's realism When in the grips of an extremely intense moment, your voice changes Jones' voice sounded flat and duck like A transformative moment for him, a realization • When they fight, they use weapons appropriate to their identity o Rusty scythe is sumbolic of his own laziness Borrowed from Sutpen three months ago nad would never need again o Riding crock is a whip and aristocratic use o A giant is brought down by this lowly on a woman's honor Death of Sutpen • When he runs to the house, we see his own sense of gallantry at work o Instead of running, he's waiting for the posse to come to kill him o Tries to do what he can for his granddaughter then you see what happens when you mess with somebody's worth o When he slaughters the girl and infant baby, it's not murder; it's a sacrifice because he's protecting them from the same degradation he's had to undergo o The only thing in which he took pride—the sharp clean knife Symbol of his identity and manhood o Performs the necessary sacrifice to prevent suffering Symbol of his identity and manhood o Performs the necessary sacrifice to prevent suffering He's got about 5 seconds to live, but he'll soend them fighting the posse and the source od degradation Brave Attaining dignity and rising up Using a scythe He charged them without any cry, any sound The idea of the male principle A man gets his sense of worth from an act or deed (That's his symbol of identity that other people an see) A man of few words or no words at all is most honorable, etc. (more talk is worse)

Faulkner: A Justice

Characters Quentin Compson Sam Fathers o Blue gum: wasn't a negro o Named by "The Man" o Used to be: "Had-Two-Fathers" The Man o Owner of plantation Herman Basket o Pappy's best friend Ikkemotubbe o 2nd Name: David Callicoat o 3rd name: Doom From de l'homme Given by Frenchman in New Orleans o Then the Man Sometimes Wakeup o The Man's brother Pappy o Father Indian The black man o Was supposed to be Sam's father Black woman (mother) Focus on one of the workers at the farm, Sam Fathers, who has an identity problem o People have him misidentified racially o Almost 100 years old, lived with negros, white people called him a negro and blue gum, but he wasn't a negro o They got it wrong --but his name they also got wrong! They call him Sam Fathers, but his real name (according to him) is Had Two Fathers Digression into Doom's identity problem Called Ikke... Identity problem was that he was not born to be the Man because there was already a chief and a son and brother Two people standing in the way, and tries to solve Sense of identity depends on becoming the Man Seven years later, he returns from New Orleans to be the Man Meets two of his buddies, Pappy and Herman—friends as kids Doom has info to give them about his identity o Changed his name to David Callicoat o Getting steamboat became a pursuit of his worth Compared to the Indian village where the man lived, there was no comparison Wanted something of a higher status to live The person who's domicile is a symbol fo their status Wants a steamboat as a visible symbol to acknowledge Doom's worth The name Doom means the Man o In New Orleans, he passed himself off as the Indian chief up the river De l'homme = du homme = Doom They thought he was aristocratic or the equivalent If it were a well dog, you are acknowledging that Doom had the power to kill; and if not, vice versa o Basically a veiled threat to pappy that he has the power to kill him Needs steamboat to prove his outward identity o Entire tribe and their slaves Final obstacle to the love that will produce Sam is that the woman is already married to one of the white men, who is very intent on keeping the woman to herself o She's had a baby o Black man is outraged and brings his case to Ikke Pg. 15: Way to achieve justice o 1. To name him two fathers Not satisfied o 2. Cock fight Doom assigned Pappy and Herman to build a fence around the black man's dwelling Black man soars over the fence

Faulkner: Red Leaves

Characters Three Basket o First Indian Issetibbeha o Doom's son Doom o The man o Ikkemotubbe Moketubbe o Issetibbeha's son Louis Berry o Second Indian He said that all writers write for one purpose: to deny death, to say no to death. Theme: saying no to death o Heroic view of life in Nobel prize speech o Runaway slave, who will be put to death but says no to it as long as he can conceivably stretch out (his dog and horse and slave have to die with him) o Juxtaposition of cultures o In the eyes of Indians, there are three things wrong with black culture: 1. They sweat too much Even more than white people! 2. They taste bitter Since man was not made to sweat So their flesh has a bitter taste 3. They don't like to die Absolutely disgraceful Thus, a people without honor and decorum and tradition Ikke Passed himself off as Indian chief in New Orleans and needs to become that before the woman he got pregnant comes Isse went to Paris to visit the chevalier who Borrowed 300 dollars from him, and in return gave him a new identity symbol: red slippers Women's slippers, too small Symbol of enhanced identity Moke is new chief o Hugely obese, had to be carried o Wearing the slippers o Deterioriation of dynasty Common theme for Faulkner He was the bottom, too as Count No-Account o He will lead the hunt even if he has to be carried on a litter Runaway slave is the inverted hero who exhibited the verities of the heart o Exhibited the courage and strength to say no to death • Realizes he has to say no to death o Knows what it means when Isse is dying • Pg. 65: he admits I am a dead man (when he hears his funeral, watching them dig the hole) o His voices o Thinks about his time on the slave ship on Middle Passage He had survived all that with indominable strength When he says no to death: when bit by a snake, finally verbalizes that he doesn't want to die, and so he runs • He keeps running and takes 6 days before they find him • Pg. 72: they find his blood and for a circle around the swamp o We'll give him time o "Tomorrow is just another name for today"--reverence from the Indians for the man's last days--patience • Before they reached him, he began shouting o Like Emily reverting back to her returning her looks to her courting days by cutting her hair, etc. o He's from Guinea and reverted to his original language, his deepest identitiy, his original culture o He makes himself naked in mud cakes Important that the Indinas are reverent and allow this ceremony to go to the end • He's singing a hymn to his last sunrise o A sacred moment for him o His face lifted to the rising sun o When he's finished, they come up and capture him § You ran well, do not be ashamed Here, we have the ultimate expression of Faulkner's theme of saying no to death Pg. 73 § Something Christ-like about the imagery Of Jesus being marched off towards his crucifixion § He only has minutes to live, but he'll spend them saying no to death with whatever weapon he has Involves the bread and the water ‡ Something resembling the bread and wine of the Gospels Yes, I want to eat! § When they bring him bread, it's clear he's too constricted by fear to swallow He can't eat any of it § Then Basket says: "come" There's tremendous power to that verb But he has to resist that The only weapon he has is to ask for water Pg. 75 § There was a gourd in the well § They watched him try to drink § But as long as he can hang onto that gourd, he can say no to death § And then the water stopped—the gourd is empty § They waited for him § Then the water ceased and he's still hanging onto that gourd § Finally, the game is over Come, Basket said, taking the gourd § The tragic view of this interaction

As I Lay Dying: The Female Principle

Female Principle § Addie Bundren's problem according to a famous feminist (Anais Nin) § We are all engaged § Her true self has been suffocated under the mores of her time and place in society § Addie is highly intelligent, but none of that can find any expression or reality § So we women all engage in peeling off the false selves Frenchwoman, Anai Nann: Eroticism in Women Addie Bundren fits this description Appealing to our programmed selves As a female, you're put in a pigeonhole since you were born and try to get out Peeling off that to get to one's true self

First Principle: Inversion

First Principle: Principle of Inversion He inverts our expectations of what should happen o In his own class, instead of verities, he found a whole lot of self-pity, looking backwards to the lost cause to blame on the Yankees Among his own, he didn't find the spiritual valors he wanted to promote; instead, he found those among the lower classes socially, racially, etc. o Need to find the old verities of the heart where you least expect them Found inspiration in the Bible o Claimed to have read it 1x/year o The principle of inversion dominates o We see repeatedly this principle fo God inverting our expectations regarding all human experience First Hebrew, Abraham, whom God chose to lead the chosen people § They have no children, his wife is past menopause § And so ridiculous that Sarah laughed § But she does have a child! Isaac, next generation (that child): he becomes known as Isaac the Well-Digger § In the Middle East, where water is scarce, he would dig a well and tribesmen would take it and he'd have to move on and dig another one § A sign of contempt—the opposite of an honor man § The last person you can think of carried on the project Jacob: the younger son § Primogeniture: only oldest son inherits § He takes over that role through some very dubious ethical maneuvering § Once again, confoudnign expectation o God chooses the least likely figure to carry on his project Joseph, the great grandson Abraham § Sold by his brothers itno slavery and carried off to Egypt, where he should've died, but he carried on the whole project § His same brothers have to come beg him for food § God choosing the least likely agent to carry out his project Moses: § An Egyptian name § He's one of the enemy, raised as an Egyptian prince § Brings the Jews to the promised land In Christian bible, principle is more extreme § Son of God is born to a lowly family A carpenter's son?! He has the illusion he's a son of God?! Jesus accomplishes his purpose by dying on the cross: the most stigmatized way to die The messiah, the figure, the son of God St. Paul The one who propagated the Christian faith across the roman empire more than anyone else He began as a fanatic enemy of the Christian faith Began career as Hebrew priest, killing Christian Became the paramount agent Find the old vreities of the heart in the last place you'd think to look o Chosen people Chose so old people that they couldn't even bear children o Epic of Ancient Israel During epic poem times with heroic figures Joseph stays alive while a slave building pyramids, when he should have died Moses, an Egyptian king that should be an enemy, goes on to become the highest chosen person o Jesus born into low class family—unthinkable o Jesus saves everyone by dying a death reserved for the worst criminals o St. Paul writes New Testament but killed lots of Christians before conversion experience

Faulkner: Wash's Identity Problems

First: he's a coward § When Sutpen rode away to fight the Yankees, Wash didn't go Any white walking man was expected to fight! § So, he rationalizes it I'm looking after the colonel's place The most generous of those people believed that maybe he himself believed this lie Second: in the social scale, he's so poor that he's below the black people, the slaves on the social ladder § The dwelling represents his status He lives in a shack so dilapidated § The slaves understand his identity problem, and they tautn him about hot being at the war § He uses his only weapon: to call them N Third: when he tries to get into Sutpen's kitchen (he doesn't even try the front door, even after all these years being his servant) when he's away at war, he's still not good enough to come in here! § This time, he almost got into the kitchen! § Stop right there white man! § He's blocked by a black woman—you're not good enough! These black people come in as they wish and he can't · Pg. 134 o He had already seen the ribbon about his granddaughter's waist § She's 15 and pregnant o He will have to accept his own degradation—he will have to accept the ring of faces § But by God no one will get away with sullying the honor of his womenfolk o We don't see him challenging Sutpen, but Sutpen defends the dress § And Wash meets the patriarch's stare!! o A sense of honor cocnering his women § Even with Wash, there's a line you can't cross

As I Lay Dying: Problems of Identity

Gender Family Society Choice Alienation

McCullers: Spinoza

He feels there's something in Spinoza he relates to § The doctor The highest good § The only thing worthy of worship is the whole of nature § God is all of reality—they're the same thing § That's what we worship A one way arrow of love: love of God and nature § But you can't expect nature to love us back § That's what Goethe loved about Spinoza

Faulkner: Nobel Prize Speech

He was trying to discuss what he was trying to do in his lifetime as a writer o To contradict the spirit of the age and give us a heroic view of life § So much writing in this century gave us a pathetic view of life, of victims in society who were tragically crushed (Prufrock, etc.) § Faulkner contradicted all that: people are capable of a heroic behavior He initially addresses, defines his audience o I'm speaking to future artists o This award is only mine in trust o He donated a lot of money to scholarships to college for black youth But I want to use my acclaim to speak to future artists o You must adopt a heroic view of life!! o What stands in the way is the atomic bomb o It's not good enough to write about the atomic bomb—there are still problems of the spirit! Central one: the heart in conflict with itself o We've already seen this in Eliot o With F, we'll see it in term sof ht eold verities of the heart The basest of all things is to be afraid o The fear of the bomb affecting the whole earth Old verities of the heart: o Courage is the most important: it's necessary to activate any o fhte other virtues o Old universal truths: § Love, honor, pity, pride, compassion, sacrifice We're going to pit the heroic view of life against the most pessimistic view of life ever conceived: That of entropy § That the whole universe is doomed to extinction § Idea that stars must use up their atomic fuel o Pit the heroic view of life against that o I believe that man will endure § When the last ding dong of doom o Man's puny, inexhaustible voice o I refuse to accept only this: this voice still talking means that there is an immortal spirit Man will prevail! He is immortal because he has a soul, a spirit capable of those old verities of the heart o The poet's duty is to write about these things! o He has to help man endure by lifting his heart, to help him prevail

McCullers: Singer's Real Identity

He's not who he seems!! doesn't = encouraging sympathizer o But turns out Singer is not who seems § He's not an encouraging sympathizer Pg. 214 Singer's writing to his god, Antonpolous Pg. 215 The one with a mustache is crazy The girl now wears a blue skirt and comes all the time and I wish I knew what she likes about music The black man frightens me sometimes, his eyes are bright Pg. 216 They all came to my room I do not understand I think you will understand

As I Lay Dying: Horse, Cow, and Fish

Horse o Pure essence of the male principle: Jewel and his horse Cow o Female principle o For Dewey, this cow is the only other female she has because of her male family o Horse seems to be a more elegant animal, but the cow is much more smart and reliable Pg. 221 Cow shows up in barn burning scene Horse is wild, crazy creature • It's hysterical in the fire and you have to put a cloth over its eyes with the fire While the cow looks after itself • Isn't hysterical • It gets out on its own Fish o My mother's a fish Pg. 66 Reference to the communion service Why Addie's so mad about her marriage Pg. 67 Vertamen has confused the fish with his mother It's the fish that's dead instead of its mother • He thinks it's going to be cooked and eaten Fish as symbol for Christianity instead of cross Addie's role is that she's consumed by the family • She's totally consumed so that there's nothing left of her

Faulkner: Nobel Prize Speech

Old verities of the heart puny, inexhaustible voice the basest of all things is to be afraid He was trying to discuss what he was trying to do in his lifetime as a writer o To contradict the spirit of the age and give us a heroic view of life § So much writing in this century gave us a pathetic view of life, of victims in society who were tragically crushed (Prufrock, etc.) § Faulkner contradicted all that: people are capable of a heroic behavior He initially addresses, defines his audience o I'm speaking to future artists o This award is only mine in trust o He donated a lot of money to scholarships to college for black youth But I want to use my acclaim to speak to future artists o You must adopt a heroic view of life!! o What stands in the way is the atomic bomb o It's not good enough to write about the atomic bomb—there are still problems of the spirit! Central one: the heart in conflict with itself o We've already seen this in Eliot o With F, we'll see it in term sof ht eold verities of the heart The basest of all things is to be afraid o The fear of the bomb affecting the whole earth Old verities of the heart: o Courage is the most important: it's necessary to activate any o fhte other virtues o Old universal truths: § Love, honor, pity, pride, compassion, sacrifice We're going to pit the heroic view of life against the most pessimistic view of life ever conceived: o That of entropy § That the whole universe is doomed to extinction § Idea that stars must use up their atomic fuel o Pit the heroic view of life against that o I believe that man will endure § When the last ding dong of doom o Man's puny, inexhaustible voice o I refuse to accept only this: this voice still talking means that there is an immortal spirit Man will prevail! He is immortal because he has a soul, a spirit capable of those old verities of the heart o The poet's duty is to write about these things! o He has to help man endure by lifting his heart, to help him prevail

McCullers: Love

Pattern of characters who might initially be innocent (where they're alone but not lonely) § Bubber is a state of innocence before he shoots baby Wilson And then he discovers alienation § When people discover alienation, people try to rediscover people through love But they fail because it's the wrong kind of love and so they flal back into alienation Innocence --> Alienation --> "Love" Because they are both deaf mutes, they have this thing in common and the shared experience is the basis of the human bond § Antinopolis doesn't care about him and he's a greasy slob who only cares about food § Because singer has no other recourse, he tries to establish the bond and radiates love towards A but he then dies and so the singer lapses back into alienation and kills himself Any way out of this cycle? Yes, vision § When singer loves A, he's loving the wrong thing This god figure in his mind is not adequate compared to his love for A § McCullers' vision: relates to Spinoza ...--> "Love" --> Vision

McCullers: Alienation & Love

Pg. 127 § The gender difference can be a serious source of misunderstanding McCullers was sensitive to this subject § Almost a description of her own experience: getting married twice to the same man § You'll let him stay just like before! Biff's own marriage § When they were first married, Biff was a very potent lover He was a bed buster within a couple of months! § Then he became estranged from her and he went to Miss Reba's place and become acquainted from those girls and then became impotent! An important spiritual dimension: that the great spiritual leaders tend to be celibate (Jesus, Gandhi, etc.) Leads to a more enlightened state, apart from being a prisoner of one's sexuality To rise above that state of alienation caused by that sexual desire Like Tyrisius in Eliot Mick's Party § When all the people she invited gathered together for a prom § When the boys were supposed to ask for a dance, they failed to do that And nobody said anything and the party was a flop Mick and Harry's relationship Pg. 268 Beginning of the romance They were good friends, and he was handsome! Pg. 274 The aftermath of the sexual encounter Harry feels profoundly guilty ‡ He cried! Adultery is a terrible sin any way you look at it Mick: I never will marry with any boy ‡ She told her father that because it would compromise her independence A sense of the danger of it Harry says he'll never marry either § He feels guilty that he's exploited her Above all is a sense of rupture with their families Pg. 275 Harry has to leave town because mother would read it in his eyes A secret of this sort is especially alienating if she found out Pg. 276 Same thing happened to Mick when she got home Pg. 278 Do you notice anything different? Maybe she would feel better if they could look at her and tell if they knew But she can't tell, which means there will be some estrangement

Faulkner: Wash's Triumph

Pg. 135 o Wash, Sutpen, and the granddaughter are moving through town § The negros have been saying that Wash has fixed old Sutpen at last For Jones, the birth of this baby will make everyone in this town acknowledge the rise of Wash Represents the white trash Jones bloodline and the Sutpen aristocratic bloodline—the confluence of two bloodlines § And of course he'll marry her! o So he can take pride in that black stallion image § Since he'll now be of the same bloodline Pg. 136 o Sutpen will come galloping up o It's a girl, colonel! § He's taunting him a bit, since he didn't produce a son this time § But for Sutpen, this is utter devastation o Now Wash overhears what Sutpen says to the girl about the mare and stall in stable o Even wash can acquire dignity, courage, to stand up for honor and the old verities § I can't have heard what I thought I heard! o You said!!! o The rise of Wash Jones § Coming forward with a rusty scythe! His response to his identity problem was initially white supremacy o But something much more significant came into his life to solve his identity problem: the birth of his now aristocratic great-granddaughter o He's very happy about this development o It took 20 years, but he's fixed old Sutpen at last to have his palpable, visible symbol of his worth Pg. 136: baby is born o He greets his master and taunts him a bit § You're losing your manhood a bit in your old age to have a girl o Sutpen has just said that, Milly, I'd give you a stall in the stable if you were a horse o Wash doesn't know the story behind his brow o It's dangerous to mess with someone else's sense of worth o You said if she were a mare you'd give her a stall in the stable · This means war, Sutpen! o His response: I'm used to it § This is something he's never seen! The rise of Wash! Which is why his eyes widened and narrowed When it comes to violence, the weapons represent class identity: § Sutpen uses his riding crop § Wash uses a rusty scythe that he'd borrowed from Sutpen three months ago, and it's rusted because he's too lazy to even cut weeds with it—but now he will cut one weed with it Pg. 138 § And which Sutpen would never need again! Like those three white men who made off with the black people That's the violence in Faulkner ‡ Hemingway's iceberg theory: it doesn't have to be stated § This god-like figure struck down by the lowliest worm because this man is brave § He then turns to his granddaughter—do you want anything? Water, sure now He sat at the window waiting § He's not running! § I'm ready for them Pg. 139 § When they do come for him, strong sense of the class hierarchy § Men of Sutpen's own kind Coming for him § Jones was never permitted to come in, but now he understands the sun has risen and his own enlightenment too about the class hierarchy § While he's waiting for the posse to come, the internal effect of losing his sense of worth Oh Wash Jones come a tumble § I can't believe that a southern gentleman would treat a lady like this Pg. 140 § When he slaughters his granddaughter and the infant, he uses not the rusty scythe, but the butcher knife It would be his symbol of identity as a man ‡ Then the prosecutor said why do you need that big knife: I like knives! ‡ Wash's class to keep a knife on hand is a symbol of his manhood He took pride in that one thing, like a priest making a sacrifice § He's got about 5 seconds to live, but he's going to spend them charging This man is brave It's a generous view of human possibility—the old verities present even in this fellow Without any cry, any sound o The male principle: manifests itself in actions, not words o Any man who has to depend on words isn't brave

As I Lay Dying: Christ-like

Pg. 148 o The river crossing o Darrell's monologue o They almost got across the river until the log struck the wagon o The log resembles Christ o The log has a beard § Makes the resemblance closer

As I Lay Dying: Addie Bundren

Pg. 166: introduction to monologue o Monologue by Cora Tull: neighbor of family Represents the absolutely conventional mind vs. Addie as an independent thinker o Conventional view of the family For you bear children in love: idea of family But Addie hates child bearing Pg. 169 o Her marriage is a response to her desperate identity problem She's a schoolteacher They have to be single If a child saw a pregnant woman in the classroom, it would be horrifying Had to be an old maid to be a teacher Addie would have the stigma that Emily Grierson was so scared of—an object of pity and scorn She got married to avoid that stigmatized condition o Why does she hate these children she's teaching? Every child in the room represents her failure as a female because it represents every woman who got married and had a child to have a strong sense of worth Each child represents her inferior sense of identity But also her hormones kicking in, at the start of spring when sexual hormones increase and memory and desire mix, which makes desire cruel because it can't be satisfied The reason for the wasteland is the mix of sex and dead, we can't cope with either of them If there are no better beliefs than that to live by, better for the father to not pass those onto his child o Trying to figure out why she married a hopelessly inferior male: to her loneliness and her hormones Prior to getting married, she tried to solve her loneliness with a switch Teachers could thrash children She liked it because when she lashed them she was impinging on their interior sense of self, that close circle that T.S. Eliot talked about His inferiority is evident from his posture He's not a bold lover Posture indicates attitude and standing up straight means you have some confidence Not much of a courtship Hormones became irresistible at night Even though he's coming to court her Her first remark to him is to criticize him because he didn't cut his hair and his posture She's already scoped him out She's already got the info she needs: she has a farm and lives alone He's such a nincompoop that she has him by the nose "So I took Ance" o She gets pregnant I've always wanted to be a wife and mother This was the answer for money o Her loneliness was satisfied by having baby She enjoys this baby (Cash) Loneliness isn't satisfied by Ance He was satisfied by words, which is not a sign of the male principle (i.e. love) o Up to this point, she's achieved what she needed—wife and mother But when she gets pregnant with #2, Darrell, she gets angry Basis of the narrative, with Darrell as the main character Sent off to insane asylum at the end Her rage at being unwillingly made a mother again was She knew her father had been right (that you live to stay dead a long time, which is why she makes Anse promise to bury her in Jefferson) She had been wrong about wanting to be a wife and mother Husbands wants more children Pg. 173 o When Cora would tell her she's not a true mother (true, because she's an independent thinker who wants her own life and not a conventional destiny) o Her husband died to her emotionally Pg. 174 o Her answer to her dilemma of a bad marriage to a slobbish nincompoop: she acquires a superior male as a lover Minister: makes him automatically a superior male in this community o Then the affair was over because he left But for her, it wasn't because she's pregnant o Baby represents rebellion against marriage, so he becomes her favorite child o She speaks about "cleaning house" Mathematical formula She had a child out of wedlock and her husband wanted more sons, so I'll give him a daughter to compensate for that lovechild Children that are his—they're not my children, mine is my lovechild Children know whether they are loved or not—even before language can explain it These children are Ance's children—enough for alienation for them She has four children that are his: Cash, dewey Dell, Darrell, and ottoman We have to infer that something has to happen to one of those children to be annihilated He knows that his mother didn't want him and he had no sense of worth Most loved vs. least loved child Pg. 176 o It appears that she only loves her love child, and not her other four She loves Darrell o Metaphor of the closed circle, that the circle closed again o She did love one of the children by her husband, but only until she got that love child and that child became a symbol for her of her rebellion o Alright, I'll give him what he wants Who si this child she had robbed him of? Darrell, the one that she was bitterly resentful of receiving Then she hated ance when she discovered when she was pregnant Made him promise she'd be buried in her family's cemetery in Jefferson o Baby symbol of bitter resentment about what the baby represented Babies are very complex Before they learn language, they know things and if they're not wanted Judges facial expressions, knows by the way it's touched And that knowledge is a permanent residue in this child, and this is a fatal wound in the child if it's not loved

As I Lay Dying: Whitfield

Pg. 177 o Whitfield has had that relationship with Addie, but he's not aware that it produced a child, but as a Protestant minister, he feels guilty about it perhaps Should he confess? § If he goes to the next world with a sin, he'll burn in hell forever § Maybe he should get right with the cuckolded husband Satan wants him not to confess, but he handles it by saying God decided that he shouldn't tell the husband § He has to rationalize this § When he gets there and finds out that Addie has died and she hasn't confessed, that's a sign from God that he doesn't want him to confess

McCullers: Alienation & Religion

Pg. 31 § Biff Brannon is thinking about his mother § He had a close bond with her § He's listening to his wife preparing her Sunday school lesson § His mother's wedding ring § He wonders how she would've felt about him giving up church and religion § Alienated by a difference of belief Pg. 146 § Similar rupture divides Copeland from his family § They're talking about their religious experience § Has any of you ever had a sign of heaven? § I seen God's face looking out A white man's face with a white beard and blue eyes § Copeland felt the old evil anger in him White man in white robe Jake's encounter with Simms, the religious fanatic Pg. 159 Looks like he's going to get a bond with a fellow ideologue who shares his idea of destroying the class hierarchy Pg. 280 When they do have an encounter A serious rupture His eyes were bright and crazy The mark of Satan is on thy brow—there won't be any bond here

As I Lay Dying: Origin

Pg. 36 § What's got Faulkner thinking about these people § Anse Bundren thinking about roads He's not a person of action He hates to get up and move from his domicile But he'll get theological support for his point of view § When God makes something to move, he makes it longways If he aimed for man to move, wouldn't he put it longways? Faulkner produced this novel in response to this image Title: As I Lay Dying o It's also Darrell who lays dying in his own way

As I Lay Dying: Addie & Peabody

Pg. 44 o We see Dr. Peabody coming to visit Addie When he comes into the bedroom, she looks at us and only her eyes seem to move § It's like they touch us § She doesn't look at Anse at all She's looking so intently at the doctor § When she sees him, she knows he's about to die § And she knows because her husband's character would get the doctor at the last minute

As I Lay Dying: WASP Code

Pg. 6 § When Cora, this perfectly conventional woman, speaks of her husband, she calls him Mr. Tull They were married 30-some years And when he thinks of her as Mrs. Tull He said in his interviews that this hillbillies come down into the town into Oxford onto the weekend, and he notices that they're desperately poor, but they have tremendous dignity And that's their gesture towards their dignity, their WASP code

McCullers: Jake Blount & Marxism

Pg. 65 When he first comes into town, he sees men on a porch I've got the Gospel in me, and I want to tell it to somebody It's not that kind of Gospel, it's better, it's the truth Mad!! Nobody will understand his gospel of social reform o Pg. 296 § Most uncivilized states in the whole globe § Corporations worth billions with so many not able to eat § Southern people end up peasants § In the 1940s

McCullers: Dr. Copeland & Marxism

Pg. 80 He looks at his children, Hamilton, Karl Marx, William and Portia Hamilton would be a great scientist, Marx a teacher of negroes, William for social justice, Portia a doctor for women and children He knew that his wife was teaching his children the cult of meekness and teaching them about heaven and church Their whole race was sick! The stereotyped, frivolous negro Alienated from his family because of his ideology Goes to see the judge and rather than allowing him to see the judge, he's put into a jail cell and treated very shamefully

McCullers: Alienation & Harry Minowitz

Read about a convention of deaf mutes, but was going to before make Harry Minowitz the main character because he was a Jew o He would have been alienated in the most Christian part of the country Pg. 248 § 6th or 7th grade § VS: I used to read Ivanhoe in the 7thgrade, and there was a character named Isaac the Jew. I don't remember anything about him except his name, but every time there's a mention of him, all the children in the class would swivel their head around and stare at Harry The Sartrean stare § The other kids would look around at harry and he would cry and he stayed out the whole year o Irony: he's not a jew ideologically § He would've also been a protagonist ideologically Pg. 267 He's a Spinozan Pantheist ‡ Greek god Pan: of nature ‡ Sees God as pervading nature as transcendentalists did ‡ You'd end up a part of all the world They talked about god § Being a Spinozan Pantheist makes someone an outcast in a Christian society He was officially expelled from the Jewish community in Amsterdam around 1650, which was rare

McCullers: The God-Making Process

Search for the historical Jesus: resulted that no man can actually know § So people will fill that void for making him resemble themselves § People will make a God that answers their own needs At work in Wash Jones § Creating his God to resemble the ideal man in Sutpen Strom Thurmond: § One of the most ultra-conservative members of the Senate (SC) § A flagrant racist and won his elections by appealing to that § He had no concern whatsoever for poor people § There was an article about people going hungry in his state, but he dismissed the whole thing in terms of his version of Jesus Jesus did say the poor you'll always have with you § Context that he doesn't refer to: Jesus will be crucified the following day, and he accepts it, and a woman pours oil on his feet since he didn't have socks, but one of the disciples complains that she wasted the money that she could've used on the poor But Jesus said use it on my because I won't always be here § Get up and get a job! Be willing to work Stokely Carmichael: a black militant § VS: I heard him speak in Page in 1967 § His Jesus is a radical, military, violent revolutionary § He quotes Jesus: I've come to bring dissention, even within the family There will be no peace until there is justice § People make over their God to be whatever they need Jake Blount: a revolutionary § says Jesus is a Marxist § Said it's easier for a camel than for a rich man to enter heaven § Jesus was set against the rich—the rich can never enter heaven § He's on my side! Reverend Albert Cleage: § A black minister whose church was the Church of the Black Madonna § He couldn't countenance a white Jesus in the 70s § Mary was black and so Jesus was black § In Page Auditorium § Jesus came from a black area! The only people who deny that are Americans § He was not a savior of white souls—he was a savior of black men against white Romans § The ultimate misidentification is when you paint Jesus as the image of your oppressor VS: I've seen many cathedrals in my time, and there was one that astounded me (I'm not going to say where it was, but it was in America), and the whole back wall was a mosaic of Jesus with blonde hair and blue eyes! § Somebody thought Jesus was blonde with blue eyes! Why he grieves when his wife takes the kids to church

As I Lay Dying: Transcendence

Serving the idea greater than oneself Joseph Conrad Idea of family vs. reality of family Psychology of the family Idea important Lena Grove: family organizes whole life Even Popeye is arrested going home to see his brother Bayard and his brother, didn't commit suicide so he could serve the family o Some idea connecting himself greater so he can exist and idealize his existence

McCullers: Collapse Back into Alienation

Singer's suicide brings a collapse back into alienation for his followers § Too narrow a god for them Copeland's Response Pg. 330 ‡ Dr. Copeland ‡ He's now ready to be removed from his home because of his TB ‡ So he's going to be carried into the countryside ‡ This could not truly be the end ‡ The voice of Jesus and John Brown ‡ Karl Marx and Spinoza Pg. 334 ‡ Highboy cranked the automobile ‡ Copeland will have to sit on Highboy's lap ‡ He thinks he'd rather not ‡ So he's going to ride out to his home in the country in a mule cart, away from his purpose ‡ That would've been the symbol of the hopelessness of black poverty in the South ‡ Especially humiliating because it's backwards ‡ For 40 years his life was his mission ‡ I believe in justice ‡ I aint able to hear you ‡ He felt the fire in him, but there was no one to hear him Blount's Response The direct opposite to communism—community We have the capitalist manifesto ‡ Each man fighting for himself So he ends up leaving town on the lamb? Mick ends up in a department store instead of developing her talent with music

McCullers: Alienation & The Kellys

Social injustice for Mick's family Her father can't be a carpenter because of his injury and feels like an outcast § They're sinking into poverty So Mick cannot pursue her innate talent § Will end up as a clerk in a department store

Third Principle: Symbols of Identity

Struggle for identity and satisfactory sense of worth in all stories Characters have chosen a symbol for identity o For Faulkner: his mansion, no longer a bum or Count No-Account, to compel acknowledgement of his worth

As I Lay Dying: Comedy or Tragedy?

The ways in which we can interpret black humor Could be seen as a comedy § Not in the sense of black humor § But in the Greek and Roman traditions that points towards a funeral Burial of Addie Spiritual death of Darrell (as I lay dying referring to him) § In the sense of the triumph of the family We have Darrell as a lump of poison within the family The idea of the family is mutual support through thick and thin Darrell sees the sufferings of his siblings, but he doesn't lift a finger and tortures Jewel and fails utterly in his obligations to the family with DD (any decent brother would try to help her, while he remains totally isolated from her and fails the ethic of the family) Because he's a lump of poison, he's trying to thwart the entire expedition (drowns coffin, sets barn on fire) The health of the family requires removing Darrell as the poison After he's removed, the family is reconstituted ‡ They acquire a new mother figure § A comedy points towards a wedding, and we do have that at the end Or as a tragedy § For the intellectuals in the family who experience devastating isolation Addie and Darrell, those most intellectually superior characters § Sense of tragic waste What could be great potential never gets realized because of the circumstances

McCullers: Community

There are two characters who do achieve community 1. Portia 2. Biff Brannon By linking up with people the way they actually are § We don't demand that people meet our standards Portia Pg. 72 She's established a bond with her husband and her brother, Willie Way to make the money work Each of us does our parts § The alliance holds until Willie goes to prison Effect of the broken bond on Portia Pg. 141 Portia was changed two weeks after Willie was sent away She's taken to drink § But they do reestablish their bond after Willie gets back from prison Pg. ____ His shoulders broad and shrug At the endish Highboy danced That is an answer to the problem of alienation, but it's not McCuller's answer

McCullers: Overcoming Alienation via False Ideal of Love

They make the love object Singer, in the same way he makes a love object of Antonopolous Pg. 217 § For that symbolic dream that Singer has § A flight of stone steps § Gazed at it as though in prayer § Singer's looking up towards A at the top and can sense people down below He felt their eyes on him § He fell himself falling downward That's the design of this god-making process Pg. 200 § The whole town is making Singer their god through the god-making process Making a bond with him based on how they see him § The rumors about the mute were rich and varied The Jews thought he was a Jew Those in the textile union thought he was a union organizer Turk claimed the mute was Turkish Pg. 233 § McCuller's statement about this § Biff comes to this realization The thing that mattered was the way ick and Blount made singer a homemade god They were able to give him all the qualities they wanted him to have § When Strom Thurman made his Jesus into a man who cared nothing for the poor, you might think a voice might boom down from the sky disagreeing with him Or at the opposite end of the spectrum making Jesus black, you'd think there'd be a voice booming down, but there is no voice So they go on making their Jesus represent something they need § He cannot speak and cannot correct their misunderstanding of him Pg. 6 § They'd been living together since the age of 32 Jesus was thought to live until 33, when Singer will expire and commit suicide § Singer's a Christ figure or Christ-like Pg. 31 § Biff with his mother § And the lesson from the Gospels § All men seek for thee What seems to be going on with Singer's role among these followers Pg. 119 § Mick's response to Singer God forgive me for what I do God was silent like Singer § Singer is silence Copeland's response to Singer Pg. 70 Copeland's response to Singer Tonight he read Spinoza ‡ Felt that he almost understood Pg. 90 Nadjhak Pg. 189 He was not like other white men There was something gentle and Jewish Pg. 187 Singer stood in the doorway standing by himself His face resembled a picture of Spinoza, a Jewish face He'll see his god in this man o But turns out Singer is not who seems

As I Lay Dying: Triumph of the Family

Triumph of the family: through Vardamen § For better or worse, we are what we learn as children Pg. 249: what a child learns Nothing goes deeper than this In this section, we look at the italicized portion to underline the idea of the family Darrell is my family ‡ That is the foundation of the universe—not even God can change that My brother. My brother is going to Jackson. My brother went to Jackson. Pg. 252 My brother is crazy and went to Jackson. That's what gets hammered into the marrow of the bones The idea of the family transcends dysfunction The idea is what matters Parallel to GG: the idea of America has been denigrated and become farsical, but in that final scene shows us that the allure of the idea of America still lives

As I Lay Dying: Faulkner & His Characters

UVA Interview: o how important is technique? Something possessed him and he simply wrote it With me, there is always a point when the characters come alive and dictate to the writer that they will do whatever they order him to do What's the significance of Darrell laying in front of his mother's coffin? Idk, they just do what they do "Each character takes charge of his own behavior" Darrell just insisted on doing things Explains Faulkner's power—dictating what the characters tell him o Autonomous characters once he gets up and moving

As I Lay Dying: Children's Impressions

We are what we learned as children (Joan Dideon) o We learned the idea of the family, most importantly Role of mother in the family When something's wrong with a person, look for neuroses in the mother Mother, Addie, appears to be the main character and looms over the book because ofher resentment of her role of wife and mother, false self that's been imposed on her, which has deformed the personalities of the children Most important thing about mother: must have spontaneous and unearned love for their children, simply because they exist Builds up the child's sense of worth If the child doesn't get that, its sense of worth will be damaged Role of the father in the family Most important thing is to establish a role model for his children Son: I should be like him Daughter: I should marry someone like him Dan Spundren: poor role model, nincompoop, irresponsible

As I Lay Dying: Anse's Growth

What did Anse learn in his courtship of Addie that he used in his second courtship? o He went to the barber shop

Faulkner: Wash's Bible

When people suffer this sort of humiliation, they rationalize o He rationalizes through two verses in the Bible o He believes that all white people are superior to all black people § He sees the Bible as justifying this First: Genesis 1 § 1:26 § If we're all made in tehimage of God, that makes us automatically better § He would've known the Bible inside and out Second: Genesis 9 § God making man in his own image applies only to black people § Story of Noah's flood § 9:18: after the flood subsides, only this one family left on earth Noah, his three sons, and his wife ‡ From them, the whole population § Chem, Ham, ___ Thought that these sons represent Oldest: father of caucasion Shem: father of semites (Asians) ‡ The Middle East Ham: father of the Africans § Ham is biased from the beginning Ham is the father of Canan ‡ The cananites were the deadly enemies of Israel, and when they tried to take possession of Israel that God had offered them, the Cananites resisted saying there's war over it Gives a sense of the lowliness § Noah went ahead and planted a vineyard He then grew some grapes and produced wine Tehn he became drunk and was lying naked in his sin § Ham, the father of Cannan, saw his father naked That's a monstrous offense ‡ The patriarch = God in the family ‡ To see his father naked is sinful Then he went out and told his brothers about it! ‡ They covered the nakedness of their father and didn't look at him § When Noah came out of his drunken state, he laid a curse on his youngest son Cursed be Canaan, a servant shall he be to his brothers But more recent scholars have given a more exact translation Ham will be a slaveto his brothers § God himself ordained slavery! o This fantasy of white supremacy is what Wash depends on for his sense of worth Pg. 132 o When Wash sees Sutpen glalopping around the plantation on his black stallion, he's thrilled to see a Godlike figure made in God's image o For that moment, his heart would be quiet and proud o He shares that identity—proud to be like that man § He's made in that image, too o Qualification in story of Noah's son § It would seem to him that the world in which negros have a better house than himself vanishes, and the biblical vision of a just society in which all whites are superior to all black can take place § This is the sole support for his sense of worth

As I Lay Dying: Alienation

William James: breach between any two minds is perhaps the greatest breech People cannot understand each other T.S. Eliot: explores loneliness (Wasteland) Every sphere is opaque to others that surround it Loneliness brings on possible cure: odvaum is a sanscript word for sympathize Metaphor: solitary confimenet in prison cell If it turns twice, it's locked "My experiences fall within my own circle" other circles are opaque to others outside of it § Eliot: every sphere is opaque to the circles which surround it We have the interior monologue ‡ That is the truth of one's innermost being, whether it has validity or not doesn't matter ‡ All that matters is the truth (like my bridal chamber) ‡ All the other circles are eyes looking in, and all they see is facts, not truth ‡ They see the facts that wash is a coward Faulkner makes a distinction between facts and truth ‡ The truth is your innermost being ‡ By moving the interior monologues from one circle to the next, we can see how badly people misunderstand each other § Faulkner: man's tragedy is the impossibility of communication Faulkner: see quote (man's tragedy is the impossibility of communication" Portrayed this theme in his style Interior monologues arranged in a succession so we see what's going on in each of their heads and what the next character understands about the first monologue The characters don't understand each other

McCullers: Singer's Suicide

With the suicide of Singer, the whole god-making process collapses Pg. 323 The last visit to Antonopolous His friend was not there He looked at the note a long time, and it was written that A was dead Great transformation of his personality with the loss of his god ‡ Instead of a great sympathizer, he becomes anti-social He cornered the clerk furious He stole three towels, etc. Pg. 325 Singer walks past a pool hall and sees three deaf mutes talking with their hands He formed a word of greeting He told his name and then he asks the crucial question: did you know Antonopolous? ‡ No, so that makes any connection with him impossible The incommunicable past ‡ Essential to the problem of alienation ‡ We can communicate some sense of our past, but the real feeling of it is opaque to other spheres So he cannot make a bond with them and so ends his life

As I Lay Dying: Existential Affirmation

o All of us lives in a predetermined matrix: historical moment, race, class, etc. But within everyone's life is an area of free choice § And exercising that free choice herorically Cash: an artist with breathtaking artistry § He can't prevent the death of mother § But he can make the finest coffin § He's out there in a torrential rainstorm hammering away—that existential choice he has to do what he can, all he can on behalf of mother Jewel: heroic action in saving his mother's coffin twice Against all the predetermined obstacles one faces

McCullers: Loneliness

o Certainly I've always felt alone The original title: The Mute § She was reading about a convention of deaf mutes meeting in a town nearby § But the editor suggested retitling it In order to get support for writing, she wrote an outline to get financial advance Theme: man's revolt against his isolation § To express oneself, to communicate § The ultimate expression of that urge is religion—holy communion The central theme of every branch of the Christian faith Communion with Jesus, to communicate Through creating some unified idea of God

McCullers: Alienation & Mental Difference

o The two Marxist ideologues: § Jake Blount § Dr. Copeland o Willie: treated even worse in prison that his feet froze and had to be cut off McCullers certainly sympathizes with these ideologies, but they demand an ideal society instead of joining people the way they are and coping with society the way it is § So they are alienated from actual society with their ideology

Faulkner's Purpose

o To bring back a heroic view of life o To Bring back the old verities of the heart to lift the heart

As I Lay Dying: Choice

§ A young person faces all these problems § To choose a new self, you have to kill off all the others To make a choice in this way

As I Lay Dying: Gender

§ Addie Bundren's problem according to a famous feminist (Anais Nin) § We are all engaged § Her true self has been suffocated under the mores of her time and place in society § Addie is highly intelligent, but none of that can find any expression or reality § So we women all engage in peeling off the false selves

As I Lay Dying: Alienation

§ James: the breach between two minds is the greatest breach in nature Eliot: every sphere is opaque to the circles which surround it We have the interior monologue ‡ That is the truth of one's innermost being, whether it has validity or not doesn't matter ‡ All that matters is the truth (like my bridal chamber) ‡ All the other circles are eyes looking in, and all they see is facts, not truth ‡ They see the facts that wash is a coward Faulkner makes a distinction between facts and truth ‡ The truth is your innermost being ‡ By moving the interior monologues from one circle to the next, we can see how badly people misunderstand each other Faulkner: man's tragedy is the impossibility of communication

As I Lay Dying: Society

§ Sartre: ell is other people because they will not acknowledge my sense of worth § Cassirer: we need other people to see our sense of worth § James: we have as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize us To wound any of these images is to wound him We show a different side of ourselves to each person we know

As I Lay Dying: Family

§ The deepest form of identity, and the earliest § VS: I was thinking this morning about my little dog, and even it is a part of the family as the years go by § Didion: for better or worse, you are what you learn as a child § Critique of parents Addie fails in the first count Anse fails in the second count A child's sense of worth depends absolutely on the unconditional love of the parents, especially the mother Your sense of worth will be established through that love Once someone has mental illness, you look at problems with the mother Here, the family is dysfunctional because Addie hates her family, and she expresses that resentment of this family through the relationship of the children, which is not satisfactory Father should also love his children to sustain their sense of worth, but he also has the additional role of being a model For the son, it's about emulation For the girl, it's a model for her future husband But he's a horrible father, a hopeless and weak individual Everyone needs some kind of father figure!

McCullers: Alienation

· "the most futile cry of the heart is the wish to be understood"—but it simply cannot be done o That's what McCullers is talking about o One can be understood superficially, but not in the deep way one needs

Faulkner: Sutpen

· Sutpen is the really heroic figure o He came back with a paper signed by general lee himself!!! Saying this man is brave!! § The highest of virtues · After the war, the carpetbaggers ripped through the south and took Sutpen's HUdnred and reduced it to less than 1 square mile o Now he's reduced to running a crossroads store with Wash being its clerk

As I Lay Dying: Addie's Dress

· The ladies reverse the position of Addie in the coffin o To make room for her wedding dress o Was a convention for people like this § A symbol of a marriage that poor Addie hated!!! She'd be stuck in it forever!

Faulkner: A Rose for Emily

• Miss Emily • Toby (loyal man servant) • Mr. Grierson • Homer Barron • The rest of the town o New generation o Old generation Colonel Sartoris, confederates, etc. **The quintessence of Faulkner's thinking Her symbol to identity: the bridal chamber o Necrophiliac, insane, murderous, etc. Her identity: a bride She has a husband, is there for her every night on the mattress, has been there with her for decades Inversion: the fact that they had to smash down the door to get to her secret Stay out of this chamber is the advice Connection to Nobel Prize Speech • She used what little freedom she had to achieve what she needed • She did not need confirmation from other people to acknowledge her sense of worth Second hero in the story: her manservant, Toby o He has the old verities o Negro has them, with compassion, endurance, loyalty o He can't get paid, but has serviced her as needed o When the ladies show up after her death, he can't do anything so he leaves out the back door Homer Barron o Hopelessly unsuitable for Emily because: 1) Yankee (old enemy fo the south), 2) laborer who works with his hands, and 3) kind of man that's not the marrying kind as a traveling construction worker who gets a new woman in each town (does she know this part?) But Emily knows, but doesn't care about convention or what the townspeople say That's her existential freedom to choose against the pressures from outside • Victories over the townspeople: she shuts them out, she vanquishes the tax collectors, she acquires the poison (her existential choices) --> she used what little freedom she had to achieve what she needed Truth vs. Fact -in her head, she's a bride in the bridal chamber and Homer's her husband --> she did not need confirmation from other people to fulfill her sense of worth ***Emily is one of Faulkner's romantic heroines o This is his inversion She may look like no one special, a small fat woman in black Compared to Fitzgerald's beauty heroine What matters is the fire and passion inside