In this week’s blog, I want you to examine what Faulkner says in his Nobel Banquet Speech.
Read his speech and determine if his novel As I Lay Dying does what he says is the role of the artist.
Write a letter to one of the characters using both the speech and the novel as your support to answer the question: Does the novel do what Faulkner says writers should do in a piece of writing?
Your letter should be a couple paragraphs answering the question and addressing a specific character.
Dear Addie,
ReplyDeleteCertain characters in a novel can radiate the author’s purpose and underlying motivation for writing a piece of literature, though this may be hard to see on a surface level. I believe you are one of the characters that does this. William Faulkner’s Nobel Banquet Speech explains what he believes is the role of the artist: to write not of fear, but of the heart, so that man can not simply survive, but truly thrive. He recognizes that humans will always possess a fearful side of them, but to leave that aside when writing, and instead analyze the truths of the heart. This, Faulkner muses, will ultimately help refuse to accept the end of man, because he will prosper even amongst doom and death. His novel As I Lay Dying, revolving around a road trip a family makes to bury you, Addie, their dead mother, does indeed achieve Faulkner’s idea of what a writer should do in writing. As I Lay Dying is able to capture Faulkner’s advice in the Nobel Banquet Speech, because the characters’ ability to keep fear out of the way of the heart and prosper during tragic situations embody the message Faulkner wanted to emulate to other writers.
In As I Lay Dying, you, Addie Bundren show that fear is no object, and your son Darl illustrates the ability of man to thrive in a situation where simply surviving is challenging. In the small chapter you get to narrate, you mention topics that are considered scary to society, but tackle them head on. For example, you openly say and believe, “I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time” (Faulkner 101). Though thinking about death normally frightens the average person, you use it as a way to describe your life and family. The way you tackle this fear exhibits Faulkner’s idea of what a writer should do. He says in his speech, “Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it” (1). You, Addie Bundren, are not fearful. You face death head on, admit you had an affair, and talk openly about these without anxiousness about your honesty. This is one step in achieving Faulkner’s goal of a writer today mentioned in the speech. Additionally, your son Darl has presented support toward showing underlying themes that Faulkner aims to reveal. Though I know he is not your favorite son, he truly does thrive in circumstances of doom. Darl talks in the third person, saying, “Darl has gone to Jackson. They put him on the train, laughing, down the long car laughing, the heads turning like the heads of owls when he passed” (Faulkner 232). Darl, as you may know, is an intelligent and three-dimensional thinker, unlike the rest of your family. He is deemed mentally insane, and heads to Jackson to go to an asylum, but is capable of laughing and looking at the benefit this situation has: he can finally live his life without being anchored down with familial stupidity and absurdity. No offense to you, Anse, or your kids, but Darl may be better off on his own. The choice your author, Faulkner, makes-- to place Darl in such a terribly tragic and absurd family who decide to send him away-- is done on purpose. Faulkner believes man “will endure: that when the last dingdong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking” (1). Even in this situation of doom for Darl, he pulls through, laughing and brushing it off, mirroring the “still talking” voice that Faulkner mentions.
You and your son Darl both embody themes that Faulkner aims for future writers to cover. You have the power to use your heart to speak without fear of what others will say, and Darl can prevail in the worst of times. Your author Faulkner made no mistake in creating characters such as you and Darl. He wanted to show the power of man through his writing, in hopes that the future of literature remains rooted at the heart, in absence of fear, and presenting man in a positive light.
ReplyDeleteDear Jewel,
ReplyDeleteI have been posed with the question of whether Faulkner does what he says writers should do in a piece of writing. Basing from his nobel banquet speech, I do believe that he follows in his own advice to other writers.
One of the actions that Faulkner says should be done by all authors is to write with the blunt and honest reality of situations. Faulkner does indeed write as it is, and can almost be too honest and some moments. Not only does Faulkner describe your mother’s corpse in quite a detailed manner, he also blatantly states the events and conflicts that occur in the novel. Faulkner does “write not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion,” which refers to the boldness of words and events that an author chooses to include in his story. As an example, Darl narrates, “The air smells like sulphur,” directly referencing the smell of the rotten body without any expression of emotion (76). Unfortunately, the rotting of the corpse is unavoidable, and considering that the family is still present with the corpse, the stench to come is inevitable, and Faulkner does not hesitate in presenting the detail to the audience. Directly connecting with the conversation of your mother’s body, there is the gruesome situation of the accidental drilling through her eyes, in which I am terribly sorry to hear, as it is disrespectful and morbid. Vardaman narrates, “And tomorrow it will be cooked and et and she will be him and pa and Cash and Dewey Dell and there wont be anything in the box and so she can breathe,” which at first is confusing to the audience, yet reveals the true meaning when a veil is draped over your mom’s face, to cover the holes that bore her skin (67). Faulkner displays no pity or compassion when describing the events, therefore living up to his suggestion of what an author should do.
Faulkner also says that an author “will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man,” until he relearns the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself. The novel itself displays this within the first half of the story, in which the you and your siblings and father watch Addie die. Until the second half of the story arises, the descriptions and events dealing with her seem lifeless and permanently gone. Then, descriptions of her are deemed as somewhat immortal in the sense that she has feelings and emotions like an undead person. Vardaman narrates, “She was under the apple tree and Darl and I go across the moon and the cat jumps down and runs and we can hear her inside the wood,” meaning that your mom had still maintained some characteristic of life, specifically conversation, making her seem immortal once the juxtaposition of being dead and having no qualities of life with being lifeless yet having the human element of speaking has been established (214). As Faulkner said in regards to immortality, his novel follows the exact sequence mapped out, as death becomes an entire new life and a renewal occurs. Your dead mother does in fact start to endure as the story progresses, giving her a new persona.
I hope I have not bothered you with this answering with details of your mother’s death, as I write of her with all due respect. My goal is that this provided you with insight as to the great depth behind your mother’s death and how it follows Faulkner’s suggestions for author’s novels.
Dear Addie,
ReplyDeleteYour voice, alone, stands. The world that was once yours seems to be swallowed by a series of misgivings and misunderstandings, and in that coldness your words have a certain glow.
William Faulkner, whose imagination breathed life (and death) into your character, asserts in his Nobel Banquet Speech that a writer with a true appreciation for artistry must deeply explore the entire spectrum of genuine human emotion to find a story worth telling. He says, “the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself” are the only things “worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat” (Faulkner 1). He believes in the immortality of man not because our “puny, inexhaustible” voices are always heard through the greatest tragedies, but “because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance” (Faulkner 1).
Upon first reading, this definition of what valid writing must be seems to defy Faulkner’s very own work. As a family living in rural Mississippi, your life with your children was far from filled with the “love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice” (Faulkner 1) that the author seems to so treasure. Your neighbor, Cora, describes a Bundren as “loving nobody, caring for nothing except how to get something with the least amount of work” (Faulkner 22), and every single member of your family is more concerned about their own motives than allowing you to peacefully reach your final resting place. Your own husband couldn’t wait to introduce the new Mrs. Bundren to the children you bore not even an hour after you finally reached Jefferson, and with his “kind of hangdog and proud, too, with his teeth and all” (Faulkner 261) demeanor, Anse is effectively finalized as anti-human. Dewey Dell only says, “I heard that my mother is dead” (Faulkner 120) and focuses on the abortion she barely understands, and Vardaman makes it very clear that you are now “a fish” (Faulkner 84). In a place where your death seems to have little impact on your own children and husband, how can there be compassion? How can we see anything but writing “not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion” (Faulker 1) in As I Lay Dying, if all of the characters feel cruel and heartless and unfeeling?
In this chill, your living words among the journey to bury your dead body shed a warmer light on the Bundren family dynamic. Because, as you showed all of us, words are empty. You do not believe in love as “[Anse] called it,” because “that word was like the others: just a shape to fill a lack; that when the right time came, you wouldn’t need a word for that anymore than for pride or fear” (Faulkner 172). In his speech, Faulkner made it clear that writing must be able matters of the heart, not of the “glands” (Faulkner 1). You know better than anyone that those matters of the heart are not contained in the simple definitions of words like compassion and sacrifice.
Instead, these things must be felt. In this way, Faulkner actually accomplishes the goal he set out to achieve as a reader. Sacrifice. We feel your sacrifice in having children you never seemed to want in the first place. You show the reader the multiple dimensions of sacrifice - by both devoting yourself to others, and by demonstrating that you need not enjoy the act of sacrificing. Through your sacrifice, we then beginning to see the sacrifices of others, from Cash “never being bothered much” (Faulkner 240) by his broken leg to the family’s sacrificing of Darl to the mental institution in the name of what they believe to be saving their son and brother from grief.
ReplyDeleteAddie, through your eyes, we begin to see the humanity of As I Lay Dying. This humanity is not clear-cut, or cozy, or full of emotion. It is raw. It is complex. It is to love and to hate, the be afraid and to be nonchalant, to be a mother and not want anything to do with your children, to be a father who might think he is keeping his promises but is destroying his family in the meantime, or to be in a state of perpetual inner conflict.
Through this complexity, Faulkner faces the final and most horrifying frontier of yesterday, today, and the future. He takes on the conflicts of the human heart, displaying them in their glorious discomfort and fallacies. If an artist must embrace the full spectrum of human emotion, then Faulkner displays an immense sense of artistic skill in his depiction of undeniably real human behavior.
And you, Addie, are his masterpiece.
Warmly,
Audrey Miles
Darl,
ReplyDeleteDear sir, you are quite eccentric, aren’t you? You are part of a family of people with simple minds, don’t you think? Jewel is either angry or getting ready to be angry. Cash is a good carpenter. Dewey Dell meets boys at night. Vardaman is a little kid. Anse is your father. Addie is/was your mother. But you think very differently. You talk a lot, too. Maybe that’s why everyone thinks your crazy. Even Vardaman says, “Darl is my brother. Darl went crazy” (Faulkner 250). In a family of callous individuals, it is natural that the only person that thinks differently from the rest.
I don’t know if you are aware of this, but your real dad (William Faulkner) believed that it is a, “... privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past” (Faulkner). Even though everyone, including your family thought you were crazy, I think that your whole existence was meant to provide perspective. When your mom died, you were hysterical, whereas the other boys were unwilling to show how they felt. Even Cora, the most critical of Christians, praised you by thinking, “[she] felt the bounteous love of the Lord again and His mercy” (Faulkner 24). Your real dad gave you the gift of emotion. You wear your feelings on your sleeve, sometimes at the expense of others. However, your ability to translate what you feel into words is a gift that none of your other family members possess. While your courage and compassion did not make your family realize their flaws such as greed or lust, your words were enough to show that you cared.
I think the reason that everyone thought you were crazy was because you were able to maintain your youthful innocence. Don’t get me wrong, you are no angel. However, as your mother died and your father dragged the whole family to town you were the only person that did not experience a complete crisis. Jewel tried to run away with the horse, Cash was always ‘fine’, Vardaman contemplated his entire existence at every mention of a fish and Dewey Dell was pregnant for Heaven’s sake! Each of your family members suffered greatly as a result of their own internal battles. You had equally as challenging battles to fight, but you were the only one who truly articulated your thoughts. You never stopped talking, “[You are] immortal, not because [you] alone among creatures [have] an inexhaustible voice, but because [you have] a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance” (Faulkner). Your inexplicable comprehension of other people’s deep, buried feelings is shocking and you vocalization of your own emotions makes others think twice. Even on you way to the looney bin, you kept on laughing, “They put him on the train, laughing, down the long car laughing, the heads turning like the heads of owls when he passed” (Faulkner 253).
You are exactly what your read dad wanted you to be: someone that stands out from the crowd. Someone that will live on forever because you were alive. Even though you were crazy, your spirit permeated every one of your family members’ lives. I think your real dad is proud of you.
Laurl
Dear Dewey Dell,
ReplyDeleteI think you are by far the most complex character to understand. The more analysis readers do on your action and dialogue makes you increasingly more difficult to understand, and thus more interesting. I feel as though what you truly need is someone to be there for you, to love you, and to tell you that everything will find a way to work itself out.
The man who wrote you into existence, Mr. William Faulkner, engineered you to be the perfect picture of hopelessness. With this he achieved his vision of a story composed purely of "...old verities and truths of the heart..." and a melange of "...love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice" (Faulkner). Faulkner paves himself a path by which he may construct a character of all of these aspects, while still staying true to the story line.
I believe he's done a good job in doing so. By allowing you to have your fair share in irresponsible decisions and having little to no say in the methods of your family, William Faulkner fosters an environment in which the naked truth may lie out in the open. I recognize that these facts may be difficult for you to process and that you may even wish that you were never written to be. I recognize that the newly acquired role of the maternal figure or the consequences of carelessness no doubt chase you down the winding road that is powerlessness, but please realize that you will allow many to see these same signs in their own lives. When you father, Anse, "...took the money [for your medication] and went out", it showed some women just how vulnerable they were in a world where men had the power over every sector of every person's life. It likely inspired many to stand up for what not only they believe in, but for those who didn't have the spine to stand for themselves.
Although I'm deeply apologetic for all that has happened to you, please understand that you deserved to be a stronger character than you were, and I recognize that the fact that you're not isn't your fault.
Do well for yourself and remember this letter.
Nautica
Dear Darl,
ReplyDeleteThe way William Faulkner wrote your character, I believe that you are one of the characters that show what Faulkner explains as the true meaning of writing. Darl, you alone can see the world differently from all the rest of the characters and you show how writing can “help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past” (Faulkner).
By seeing the world through such fine detail, you are able to provide these characteristics throughout the novel and show what it means to be a dynamic character. You are the emotional, caring character and provide the only trace of passion in your family. The only people that notice this are the people outside your family. Cora Tull states: “I always said [Darl] was the only one of them that had his mother’s nature, had any natural affection” (Faulkner 21). Faulkner gave you, Darl, the responsibility of carrying out his meaning of writing and to preserve what it means to write. By being the most dynamic character of the book, you are able to keep the voice of the writer and “help him endure and prevail” (Faulkner).
By examining each of your family members in such precise detail and knowing practically everything about them, William Faulkner is able to achieve his goal with writing and conveying his message of writing through you.
Sincerely,
Alana Melvin
Dear Cash,
ReplyDeleteYou might as well be the father, the man of the house, the leader. When losing your mother, you do not freeze, but rather, you do the work that needs to be done. You are a steward of the family that serves by giving everything you have. It is not enough for you to get the job done, but it is only done when it is your best work. Faulkner writes, “I made it on a bevel…” (71) with a list of reasons as to why you took the time to craft the most intricate coffin. As many view it as morbid, it is a testament to the work you do for your family. Even after they are gone, you put in the time and effort to make it your best work. You lead by example and by being level-headed amidst the chaos of family. You work to keep the bonds of family in tact as a support system, even if your family is not emotional.
As your family journeys to bury your mother, you must cross the river. It is daunting, but you risk it all for your mother and your family’s peace. You even risked, “the same leg he broke when he fell offen that church” (Faulkner 144). Your family poured concrete on your leg, and you did not even complain. You are loyal to a fault, which is why Faulkner charged you with the task of “reminding him [the reader] of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past” (Faulkner Lecture). You encompass these traits through your loyalty, and even when it almost destroys you, you choose the care and safety of your family. You are a type of selfless we hope to endure. Your character is a “life’s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before” (Faulkner Lecture). You do not see your task, your duty as a checklist, but your role has meaning and value. You value your family and all of their dysfunction because they are yours. You remind us to see the beauty in the crazy and unique family that we are lucky enough to call our own.
My endless thanks,
Rachel Russo
PART 1
ReplyDeleteDear Anse,
There is no doubt that in the minds of the readers you are considered the ‘bad guy’ in the novel As I Lay Dying. By consistently putting your own goals and desires above everyone else's, you have created an aura of selfishness that has spread to every single member of your family. Due to this fact, it is very hard to imagine how you demonstrate Faulkner’s idea of the importance of writing about love, compassion, sacrifice, and endurance that he portrays in his “Banquet Speech.” However, although you do not portray his ideas in a positive manner, Faulkner uses your viewpoint to demonstrate a societal truth during this time, and how it becomes a necessity to focus on your own self-interest in order to survive in a crumbling world.
From the onset of the novel, you begin to show your selfishness in many different ways. Knowing that their precious mother was about to die, you still persisted that Darl and Jewel travel to make just the smallest amount of money. Pushing aside their feelings about missing the death of their mother, you urged them to go, even though it only “‘...means three dollars’” (Faulkner 6). Not only do you sacrifice the emotions and feelings of your kids, but you also stand by and watch as their lives are put in danger. Rather than helping your children as they battle against the ferocious current of the river, you “...and Dewey Dell stand watching…” (Faulkner 93). You have consistently thrown your children into the troubles you have created, hoping that they will solve them, while you sit back and watch them do all the hard work. However, your most notable action of selfishness comes when having to take your late wife to her burial. Although you proclaimed that “‘I give my promise’...‘She is counting on it,’” the only reason you are going into town is because of your own self-interest and goals (Faulkner 88). You are so concerned with getting your new set of teeth, that you are willing to steal money from your daughter and abandon your kids when they need you most. Because of your selfish actions, your own wife's death is a minor detail throughout the course of your story. Then one must try to understand why Faulkner, who believes that man should write “...not of the heart but of the glands,” would include a character like you in his groundbreaking novel (Faulkner). To answer this question one must consider the reason behind your actions.
PART 2
ReplyDeleteIn his speech at the Noble Banquet, Faulkner urges the crowd to look into the new writings of the day, and do their best to realize the transitions that need to be made in order to try to find a new type of language. Faulkner believes that characters, just like you Anse, should portray the “...truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed” (Faulkner). Another aspect that Faulkner finds very important in a character is “...a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance” (Faulkner). Although, as previously mentioned, it is very difficult to see you as an outwardly passionate man, you do have the sense of sacrifice that is described by Faulkner. In a twisted way, you sacrifice your children and their happiness for your own. You are also compassionate towards people or situations that will benefit yourself. For example, you displayed a strong sense of compassion when convincing your various neighbors to provide your family with lodging or to help you out with various resources. However, the most notable characteristic that you have that aligns you with Faulkner’s belief is your sense of realism. Through your actions, readers can truly see the struggles of southern families and the actions they are forced to take in order to prevail. Faulkner states “The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.” In As I Lay Dying the pillars you created may be selfishness and greed, but at their foundation, they are what is necessary to survive. Rather than describing your life in glossed-over terms, you describe it to the most real extent. You do not sugar-coat it for the audience, but rather show them the truth. This truth is why you are consistent with Faulkner’s beliefs.
Oh, Anse. Although it may seem that you are the villain in the novel, you are so much more in the eyes of Faulkner. Through your dedication to showing the truth of southern society, you have demonstrated the glory of literature. Thank you for being real.
Sincerely,
Erika
Dear Dewey Dell,
ReplyDeleteThe way you speak and act in the novel can lead people to believe that you are shallow and dumb. However, they do not realize the whole story. I believe that millions of girls across the world are able to relate to you. Just because you cannot speak in the way the world wants you to does not mean that you are ignorant. You are strong and brave even though people perceive you to be weak. I know how hard it can be to want someone's approval so bad that you lose who you are in the path of reaching for it. That is why you must stop looking. The right one will give you his or her approval one day, but it cannot be looked for. You must simply be yourself.
I believe that you can "endure and prevail" in your life (Faulkner). In order to do this, you must make yourself heard. Do not be shy because that will only lead to the loss of your voice in this world. I know it can be hard, but it will be worth it. You do not need a significant other in your life to make you happy. Sure, it helps, but true happiness can only come from within ones state of mind. I hope this helps, and I wish you the best on your road to finding true happiness.
Sincerely,
Victoria
Cash,
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say? You were the reason why your dysfunctional family got literally and metaphorically anywhere. You constantly worked hard to ensure that progress was made. All of this while your circumstances worked against you. Addie, your loving mother had died and had requested that you undertake a grueling journey for 40 miles in order to have her buried in Jefferson. Anse, your father had committed to contributing as little as possible during the journey and spent the entirety of it complaining about how “‘You all dont know what it is. You never pure loved [Addie], none of you’” (Faulkner 228). Whether his actions were out of grief or not, Anse had chosen to not be the father figure in the family for that time. The torch was then passed down to you and you took it with honor, becoming the caring older brother that wanted nothing more than to help your family.
This is why you are the perfect person in William Faulkner’s eyes. You have “a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance” (Faulkner Speech). Out of all of the members of your family, you have the most compassionate and sacrificial part. While the rest of your family had their own personal motives for travelling to Jefferson, your only goal was to fulfill the wishes of your mother. Even after sustaining excruciating pain with your leg injury and its aftermath, you endured through the pain to remain a source of strength for your family.
You do exactly what Faulkner says that a writer should do. Your story is told in a way that depicts not just the action and plot, but also includes the struggles and emotions that differentiates a human from any other living being. While everyone else around you works toward ambition and personal gain, you selflessly work toward helping the ones you love. For that I thank you.
Sincerely,
Alex
Dear Cash,
ReplyDeleteHey Cash. I am a person who has looked at y'all's family situation very closely. Now with that, I extend my deepest condolences to you during what must be a very, very troublin' time for y'all. Sho, yo Daddy went off an married another woman once y'all hit Jefferson, but I'm sho he still very much in grief. Enough of all that talk though. I's gonna talk a little bit bout somethin else. What I was hopin to talk to you about is that it seems from the outside that you weren't afraid of somethin you sho should have been. You had a broken, friggin, leg, and didn't complain none. I would commend you, but the man who created you, Mister William C. Faulkner thinks that man should, " teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart." He be lyin though when he say that stuff. Folks be askin you in yo novel, "As I Lay Dying," if you wantin to fix up yo leg, and all you be sayin is, "I feel fine." Even though you be hurtin real bad, you still think you fine? No, boy. You can't be fine. It never says that you are fine though does it? That breaks Mister Faulkner's point now don't it? You don't have ta answer that m'boy Cash, cause I know it. I know with that, that Faulkner be wrong.
However, I think that Mister W.C. Faulkner may right with somethin. He also says that man must be taught, "the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed – love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice." That is truly shown in yo case Mister Bundren. Or is that yo father? I don't know, but he ain't much of a man to let you break you leg and to turn the other way towads it, and to let his boys cross a river on they own without any of his help. Still, you and yo family show compassion and sacrifice with actions like that, and you in particular when you keep goin even though deep inside you have to be hurtin like hell. So, I guess Mister Faulkner is both right and wrong with his big moral writin lesson he be talkin bout. I just want to tell you Cash, that I know you tried yo best with the dealins of yo mother, despite all the wrongs that happened, but be sho of yo self, and be confident with what you do, because you should know that you can do anything. You be smart enough. Good luck in yo future m'boy Cash.
Sincerely,
John Boy Michael Gregg
Dear Cash,
ReplyDeleteThroughout your family’s difficult journey, you have been the glue holding everyone together. Your father is not a great example for his children, yet you continually display the attributes of an upstanding young man despite your very dysfunctional family. Your “compassion and pity and sacrifice” (Faulkner Speech) separates you from the rest of your family and society. When times are hard you move on and say “it never bothered me much” (Faulkner 240). Taking care of your family when your father was only a problem himself takes “love and… courage” (Faulkner speech) for a young man of your age.
I’m writing to let you know that I admire your efforts and the load that you have taken on in the passing of your mother and absent guidance of a father. You do “not merely endure” (Faulkner Speech) the hand that has been dealt to you, but make best of the situation and steer your siblings down the best path you can find. You have become a father figure without any example to follow and still do not denounce the poor choices of your old man either when most believe you should “have stuck his head into the saw and cured [your] whole family” (Faulkner 240). You have “a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance” (Faulkner Speech) that is refreshing knowing the self-conceited parents that you have.
Cash, continue down this good path and light the way for your siblings. Have them follow you as their example, not your old man. You are the epitome of what everyone in society should strive to be with all the difficulties and heartache in the world. Your story is worth telling.
Sincerely,
Abby Rudolph
Dear Cash,
ReplyDeleteThe focal point of the novel may have been Addie and the father figure may have been Anse, however, both should be you. Cash you were the one that got the ideas out through each piece of dirt you traveled through. For heaven’s sake, you were the one that made the coffin for your mom. While ensuring that it met all of your specifications and expectations.
You embody all that your author wanted authors to envelop within their writing. “It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past” (Faulkner). You explicitly lifted your heart to ensure your mom got through everything and made it to the city. You persisted through a washed away bridge (119). You went through a snapped leg, including it being covered with cement and being set by a horse doctor (168). These have all been sacrificing you have made within your life to arrange the path for your mother and her inevitable final resting place. You have shown compassion through your work by making each corner and intersection of the coffin secure so it can hold up through the travels (70). However, most importantly, you took what you love (carpentry) and sacrificed through the horrors of making it the best spot of your mom. You took your glory of the past and made it a sacrifice.
You may have done everything out of your heart, but in reality, you knew you would have to do it no matter what. “His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands” (Faulkner). The mention of scars and the absence of them parallel your actions of breaking your leg. “‘Go on, no morning her. We have things to do’” (167). You wanted your family to continue on and not cater to you. You wanted them to mourn your mother rather than you. By being able to your heart into making the coffin rather letting it get to you, knowing the result is remarkable. You assured that it was the best coffin you could make. All while suppressing the concept of it housing your dead mother for the rest of her life. You performed each action with your glands and sweat rather than let your heart overwhelm you.
Cash you embody Faulkner’s visions. You should have been the focal point of the novel. You took your old passion and turned it into a sacrifice. You worked with sweat rather than let your heart beat out. Cash you are the main point of your author’s speech.
Sincerely,
Nathan
Dear Vardaman,
ReplyDeleteYou may be young, but please never lose that childlike wonder. I know it may seem as if people may not take you seriously now, but one day they will. You are a lot better than you think you are. William Faulkner once said “writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat” though you Vardaman have that. You have the drive to ask questions and this unfiltered curiosity. You may not understand what I’m writing you or even understand what you even think about, but trust me it is there. Take care of your skills you do not know how to use them now and that’s okay. I know one day you’ll use them for the better, you’ll hone them in and become a great writer because you already have the potential.
I am so proud of you for handling yourself so well as the youngest of the Bundrens. You ask questions, you’re curious, you want to know what’s going on around you and that’s something special. Granted you’re not always taken seriously, it is okay because you can use that to your advantage. You can ask those boundary pushing questions without much speculation. You are able to unearth certain qualities in your siblings that they might not share with others. You are especially close with Darl and you get him to reveal how he really feels with a simple question. “‘Then what is your ma, Darl?’ I said. ‘I haven’t got ere one,’ Darl said. ‘Because if I had one, it was. And if it was, it cant be is. Can it?’ ‘No,’ I said. ‘Then I am not,’ Darl said. ‘Am I?’ ‘No,’ I said. I am. Darl is my brother” (Faulkner 88). You were designed to be aware, not just of who are, but who your siblings aer. Vardaman you may not know it yet but you are special. You are able to establish that relationship needed to be a good character. You wonder, you think, maybe not so deeply though it is there. In a time where you and your family are supposed to be grieving, where your siblings decide to be quiet, to get lost in their own problems, you bring them closer to their mother. You try to understand how they feel about her, how you feel about her because that is an important part of your young life too.
You are a more simplistic version of Faulkner’s ideal writer. The truth is you are not great, you are not great...yet. I know you will achieve greatness one day though you already show you are capable of being something more “not because he [you] alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he [you] has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance” (William Faulkner). You simply have the characteristics although you have not been completely aware of them and are not using them to their limit. But frankly Vardaman, there is no limit. Keep growing. Keep persevering. Ask questions, feel pain, know who you are, know who your family is. Never change and become a great writer just as Faulkner would say you are.
Best of Wishes,
Maleia Mirasol
Dear Cash,
ReplyDeleteI know that, especially with your leg situation, you have bigger concerns at the moment than whatever I may say so I’ll try and keep this as brief as possible. During his Nobel Banquet Speech William Faulkner, a man you may already know, said that “I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance” (Faulkner). Throughout this journey to Jefferson, you have endured pain and ridicule without complaint and sacrificed the full functionality of your leg in order to help your family bury your mother but this is not why I am writing you today.
I am writing to you today to talk to you about balance.
You’re a carpenter, you know the importance of balance in a project as well as a person, remember what you said about Darl? “I think it aint none of us pure crazy and aint none of us pure sane until the balance of us talks him that-a-way” (Faulkner 233). Now that Darl has been locked away in an institution, Addie has been buried, and even Anse seems to have gotten what he wanted the balance of your family seems to be slowly falling back into place. But there are still some things you don’t know. Dewey Dell is pregnant and Vardaman is traumatized and confused-- even Jewel needs your help now that he’s alone without his horse. Although all your instincts as a carpenter, an artist, a sibling and a son who possesses all of the strengths of the human spirit may tell you that it’s your job to fix them and return the balance no matter the sacrifice, I urge you to stop. Stop and heal. You almost lost your leg and your life on this journey.
We both know problems don't solve themselves but you and your family will always manage to endure and eventually prevail. I mean Anse did and you and all of your siblings are far more capable and dedicated than him (keep in mind you owe him nothing). You’ll save enough money to buy your gramophone and after all of this, I’m sure your family will land on their feet.
Take care of yourself,
Kaeli
Cash,
ReplyDeleteYou fit Faulkner's description of what writers should do in a piece of writing. He discusses the idea of "leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart". This is displayed by you more so than any other family member. You put the needs of your family before your own needs. I think you did this because of how much you value family and hold it as truth.
One of your needs that you put on hold was your physical health. You ignored your broken leg for the sake of your family. You claimed that "it never bothered me much" (Faulkner 240) but everyone could tell that it did. That was a very extreme example of putting others before yourself, but you did it because of how much you care for your mother.
Dear Jewel,
ReplyDeleteYour capacity to hide your feelings is matched by your character and the truth behind how you really care for your mother. You are a hard worker who is powered by a seemingly high motivation of money but, that motivation does not run to the roots and "rot" your core from the inside.
One question originally given is if Faulkner's own novel does what he thinks it should do in a piece of writing. Simply put, yes it does. In fact Jewel, you are the main reason why it does. In staying up night after night after a day of regular farm life you would get up and light the kerosene lamps while working some more to secretly save up for a horse which Faulkner relates to in terms of work: "I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work – a life’s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before: (Faulkner 1). The profit in your case was the feelings of your mother when she was so happy to see that horse as she didn't know that you were out nights working hard. another example of this, "is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past" (Faulkner 1). lYou even exhibited a very courageous journey in which you had to reflect on your actions like taking your horse with you on the journey to your mother's final burial place, to taking that trip with Darl for 3 dollars which cost your family time, to even helping your family cross the river which cost you your horse in the long run. All three of these actions show sacrifice which outcomes are to be pitied. However, over the course of your past your future became more accustomed to how much you actually loved/loves him mother even though she had died.
Overall, your journey of sacrifice and overcoming obstacles for your mother showed Faulkner's idea of an enduring relationship, "through the fire and flames" would be less accurate as water was the guiding cleansing symbol and forebodence of misery in your journey, Don't forget that your family has your back Jewel and even though you are a tough wooden shell, even wood can get wet and be axed down which is why your family is your bark.
Make sure to take care,
Kaitlyn
Dear Cash,
ReplyDeleteA family needs to have a heart to truly be considered a family. A story needs to have emotion to really have an impact on people. Authors must write from the heart and not from the mind. A journey must be told through a lens of hope and not told with the the lack thereof. This idea is clearly evident in William Faulkner’s nobel banquet speech when he says, “It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past” (Faulkner 6). Writing truly takes courage and authors must put a piece of themselves into their writing in order to become courageous. This is how they are able speak from the heart with their writing because their writing is a reflection of themselves. This self reflection can captivate readers and those around the author because they can feel this emotion. Writing is not so much for the author himself as it is for the ones who experience it because they are the ones who will truly be affected by this emotion. Stories need to come from the heart.
You, Cash, are not much different in this case. You are the glue that holds your family together. It is through you that people can truly see emotion. This is seen when you say, “It’s like it aint so much what a fellow does, but it’s the way the majority of folks is looking at him when he does it” (Faulkner 233). I understand that you are referring to insanity here, but this point applies to you. You are the oldest child and people often look toward you for help and guidance. You are the emotional center of your family. You are the most selfless person and you truly contain the heart of your family. When you injured your leg, you just brushed it off for the sake of helping your family. Your love for your family creates an emotional response in readers. It is through you that Faulkner has the courage to speak from his heart. He is able to use you to instill hope in even the most desolate of situations. You seem to be the reflection of everything that he values in himself. You bring out emotion in people and you help them prevail. For this reason, Faulkner accomplishes his goal. For this reason, you are truly a role model to all
Sincerely,
Blake
Dear Cash,
ReplyDeleteWilliam Falkner argues in his Nobel Banquet Speech that in order for a writer to be good, they must write of the problems of the human heart at conflict with itself, that only through seeing the tragedies of reality and still going forward, that only by acknowledging our fears and move past them can good writing occur. I believe that you are an example of this. You demonstrate that Faulkner has accomplished this monumental goal as an author
You are the very definition of acknowledging your fear and moving forward. When you break your leg a second, what do you do? Do you scream in agony and demand that you receive proper medical treatment? Do you moan over the pain? No. Instead, you do something incredible. You say, “It never bothered me much” (213). Instead of putting yourself first, you put the priority of the family first, no matter how logical it may be to otherwise. It is the literal manifestation of what Faulkner was talking about.
Dear Dewey Dell,
ReplyDeleteI know it does not seem so now, but you will survive this. Not only that, but if Faulkner is right about human beings, you will thrive from this as well.
It is a shame that you have had to live your whole life isolated from town--alone with the men of your family. Faulkner needed this setting to teach us something about humanity that we could not see or feel with politics distracting us from what matters. It is a shame that you had to be surrounded by men and women of such simple character and that you too, had to be simple because Faulkner wanted to use this also. He desired show above all else how stubborn human beings are faced with the seemingly impossible.
Whatever humorous failure it was that your family faced, you all continued to march on to Jefferson in order to fulfill Addie’s last wishes. Nothing stopped you from completing your journey: not a flood, Vardaman drilling holes into Addie’s face, or any problems between family members. Your family moves in an endless cycle it seems when Anse brings home his new wife to start it all over again.
Your story is not over either, Dewey Dell. Faulkner said, “I decline to accept the end of man.” Faulkner shows us that if this family of little education and even little connection to one another can prevail, then anyone can. This includes you, Dewey Dell. You must be afraid. He believed being afraid is the basest of all things, and you must hold onto that. That fear and also a stubbornness to overcome will lead you to gain another ten dollars, or hopefully the strength to face the next coming trial.
Best regards from another fear-filled person,
Abby Pizon
Dear Darl,
ReplyDeleteYou are uniquely different from the rest of those you call your family. You have an ability of thought - deeply complex thought at that. In Faulkners mind and what he believed was worthy to write about: when "the human heart [is] in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat". When you're family was going to bury Addie, you faced incredible inner conflicts on what to do to preserve the dignity of your family and Addie. Your agony, sweat, and tears, is what greatly sets you apart and Faulkner shows this in your story, he does exactly what he thinks writing should be like.
You sacrificed your well-being and gave into the accusations of your family in order to preserve their dignity. That is a greatly complex experience you lived through. Just promise us that you won't lose yourself and who you once were. Stay Strong Darl.
With Care,
Allison Krueger