Criticism: Odyssey of the Bundrens Flashcards
Tone
#1
A reflection of a writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward the subject.
Why is Faulkner’s use of tone is considered untraditional?
- Traditionally - one tone used
- Faulkner - mingles contrasting tones
What happens when you mingle contrasting tones?
“It’s not only difficult to cope with - it becomes unsettling and disturbing” [Brooks].”
Faulkner’s contrasting tones:
a.) Grotesque and Heroic
b.) Comic and Pathetic
c.) Pity and Terror
Why does the heroic act sometimes make itself vulnerable to the comic?
#2
A heroic act is that which …
1.) violates common sense
2.) fosters a dogmatic belief
The Bundrens undertake the burial of Addie DESPITE the obvious violation of common sense and refuse to entertain any other course of action.
How does the reader recognize that the actions of the Bundrens are not representative of Southern traditional culture?
#3
By the reactions of all non-Bundren characters.
- Lula Armstid: “It’s an outrage [Anse] should be lawed for treating her so.”
- Samson: “…a woman that’s been dead in a box 4 days, the best way to respect her is to get her in the ground as quick as you can.”
What is the primary question that readers must encounter and attempt to answer?
#4
Primary question: “Why do the Bundrens carry out their strange and difficult task?”
Why is this a difficult question to answer?
- Violates common sense
- Anse is lazy
- Opposed by one brother - Darl
- Involves hardship and loss
What are some possible motivations?
#4 (continued)
Anse: new teeth, new wife, a sense of freedom
Dewey Dell: to get an abortion
Vardaman: the toy train
Cash: to see the coffin’s purpose be fufilled
What does Brooks mean by “a code of honor”?
#5
The need of the male to prove himself.
The promise made to Addie must be fulfilled to the letter and nothing will impede that obligation.
Why are Cash and Jewel elevated to the status of heroes? And, what role does Darl fulfill?
#5 (continued)
Cash is elevated to the status of hero primarily because of his suffering and Jewel for his brave actions.
While Darl is not granted the status of hero, he does fulfill the role of the critic of the action.
NOT ON TEST
What reason does Brook give for claiming that Darl is the “sane” brother? And, how does Darl’s truth make him inhuman?
#6
Darl is sane: He is the one who knows the truth.
Inhuman: His truth is cruel and revealed without pity. Darl is the rational deflating force━opposite of the hero
NOT ON TEST
How many times does Darl narrate? How does Faulkner use Darl to depart from the “naturalistic presentation of events”?
#6 (continued)
- 19 times
- Darl’s narratives sometimes include a fictitious construct ‘imagined’ by Darl
(Is able to recall Addie’s death even though he was not present.)
How is Dewey Dell ‘atypical’ of Faulkner’s typical female character?
#7
What are the three characteristics that Faulkner’s ‘typical’ female characters share?
Faulkner’s female characters are a.) practical and too b.) concrete and c.) immediate in their relation to reality.
Why might Dewey Dell appear to be ‘atypical’ of Faulkner’s usual female characters?
- She approves of the quixotic journey (quixotic = foolishly impractical)
Why would the reader be mistaken?
She has a practical reason for
the journey, getting an abortion
What is Addie’s malady?
#8
A loss of a sense of community
(shared emotional connection).
NOT ON TEST
Although dead, Addie becomes the most vital thing that rides upon the Bundren wagon. How does Faulkner create that vitality?
#9
- Anse: “Addie is set on it.” [state of being-present tense]
- Vardaman: worries Addie will suffocate in coffin
- Darl: ‘hears’ Addie speaking from within coffin
- Dr. Peabody: comments on Addie’s hands not yet realizing they are ‘dead’
- Addie: speaks narrative after she is dead.
How might one argue that each of the Bundren children is alone in making the journey?
#10
Each is a.) shut within his/her own consciousness and b.) unable to communicate with the others.
Jewel: Cannot understand Cash’s ‘insensitivity and callousness’ in building coffin
Dewey Dell: Cannot discuss her pregnancy, the only daughter and sister of the Bundren family
Cash: Cannot understand Darl’s laughter “I be durn if I could see anything to laugh at”, and focuses on one thing at a time
How does the narrative style reinforce this isolation?
#11
Because the novel is presented through the consciousness of a particular character…
- We are always in one mind AND never a collective objectivity
What is Faulkner’s main concern in all his books?
#12
What the human can endure, dare, and accomplish.
