1. Post a substantial, thoughtful, specific, and exploratory comment on the middle section (pages 84 to 168) of As I Lay Dying by the end of the weekend (pumpkin time Sunday 4/15). (Comments will be richer, I think, if you read what your peers have already written before posting your own comments.)
2. Finish reading and taking notes on As I Lay Dying.
3. Mr. Cook's class needs to finish AP English Literature packet #3.
4. Be prepared to write a term four independent reading and research proposal during the week after vacation. You'll need a thesis, a plan for supporting the thesis, and a description of a creative project.
*******
Other:
For those of you who signed up to take the AP English Language and Composition exam in addition to the AP English Literature and Composition exam. Click here for resources.
Here you'll find the AP English Language course description (including sample multiple choice and essay questions). I recommend taking a look at the readings and multiple choice questions.
Here you'll find more information about the exam including all of the recent essay questions, scoring guides, and sample essays.
*******
Other other:
All of you have written poems. Please send those poems to the Elicitor editors who are currently putting together this year's print issue.
Send your poems to ghselicitor@gmail.com.
If you want to check out the online version of the Elicitor. Click here (TheElicitor.blogspot.com).
In this section of the novel, As I Lay Dying, the idea of self and the need to identify one’s self as well as others once again become pertinent. In one section where Vardaman is speaking to Darl, they discuss their mother and how Jewel had called their mother a horse, while Vardaman had earlier refered to her as a fish. Darl says that his mother is not a horse or a fish, she no longer “is” but “was”. This brings up a conversation of what was and is, as well as Vardaman’s thought “I am”. One can assume that this type of reassurance of one’s self is a coping mechanism to deal with the boys’ mother’s death and reassure themselves’ of their continuing existence.
ReplyDeleteThis passage also recalls some biblical passages. In the novel, the family must take a journey, must like the story of Moses. In the aforementioned passage, Darl conjures up this idea of “I am” which is a quote from Exodus. “Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” In this biblical passage, the jewish people refer to God as “I am”, thinking that his true name was to holy to be spoken allowed. Following this thinking, Vardaman is the Lord, while Darl would be Moses, being sent on a journey. Later in the novel it is also said that Jewel originally does not join them on their journey in the wagon, but instead journeys separately on his horse. Staying with the story of Moses, Jewel could be considered a parallel to the biblical character of Murial who was too shamed to journey with Moses. Although Jewel and Murial do not share the same shame, Jewel does seem to feel shame for something, as represented by his maltreatment of his horse who could also be considered a projection of himself. It is suspected that the shame Jewel does feel could come from possibly being the child of an affair, which is hinted at earlier in As I Lay Dying.
Pg. 84 – 168
ReplyDeleteA motif that I have noticed coming up a lot through out the book is the motif of sounds. The constant noise of the sawing kept coming up in the first section. Right away, in the next section more noise is brought up. “We can hear them, talking and fanning. The fans go whish. whish. whish and them talking, the talking sounding kind of like bees murmuring in a water bucket.” (Pg. 87, Faulkner) Whenever a noise has been brought up it will usually get compared to something else, something normal. In the previous section the constant noise of the saw against the wood gets compared to a dog going to every door of the house waiting to be let in. Whenever a family goes through a death, especially the one of a wife or mother because they are so close – the family looks for a sense of normalcy. Their world has been thrown out of balance. They are looking for anything – even the smallest possible thing like a noise – to help them right and make sense of their world again. “It sounds like her eyes and her voice were turned back inside her, listening; we move, shifting to the other leg, meeting one another’s eye and making like they hadn’t touched. (Pg. 91, Faulkner) I love the description of how her voice sounds. Noises can be quiet or loud but this one that Tull picked up on is quiet. It is still there – it is still present but it is subdued; with the death, it must remind Tull of how he would be feeling. Quiet and subdued but still there.
For the section of page 84 to page 168 in As I lay Dying, I found certain motifs like horses and Addie's coffin. They are both seen numerous times not just in this section of the book, but throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteAddie's coffin and the family's actions toward it are major parts of this section of the book, the motif of horses makes an appearance. While last section horses were more shown, the coffin is mentioned more in this section. One of the first mentions of Addie's coffin in this section was when Cash is fixing uo the holes in the coffin that Vardaman made. Another part is Jewel and Cash discussing the state of the coffin, while Jewel curses it. There also seems to be a motif of Jewel cursing everyone in his family and the coffin. There was another scene where Jewel curses when everyone tried to move the coffin out of the house. During the trip, they lose control of the coffin and have go down a river. The horse motif is mentioned less in this section, but still have a part in this part of the book. Most of the motifs for horses are dealing with Jewel, a horse and his mother. Darl and Jewel in one scene discuss if Jewel's horse is dead, which could be a connection to their mother, which Jewel thinks that his mother is a horse. In a later scene, Darl says that. One of the scene that does not his mother being a horse is when he has to get on a horse to provide support for the coffin.