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Introduction to mental health awareness
Introduction to mental health awareness
Introduction to mental health awareness
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The line between sane and insane is obscure and depends on each person’s perspective. William Faulkner depicts the fine line of being mentally stable through the Bundren family in As I Lay Dying. After the death of their mother, each child deals with grief in different manners- from suppressing it, becoming obsessive in a new task, or getting caught up in philosophical thought. Each character has their quirks and flaws and altogether are viewed as an aberrant family. Two flawed siblings that both react to their mother’s death very differently are Cash and Darl. Cash is introduced with obsessive tendencies, while Darl is the intellectual one. However, after many hardships the reader's first impressions shift and the characters begin to sway …show more content…
His initial monologue is concise and insightful as he describes every detail of his surroundings. Darl, in comparison to Cash, describes the situation, sound, and imagery around him more than his own thoughts. His language is clear and he does not have as strong of a southern accent as his siblings. He immediately stands out among his family as the more sensible character. He is an ominous character that can chronical a moment in time, like his mother’s death, without actually being in the room. The outsiders, like Cora, could see that Darl was distinctive because he “was different from those others. I always said he was the only one of them that had his mother's nature, had any natural affection” (20). Darl showed emotion and often got caught up in theoretical thought instead of being in …show more content…
Under pressure is when people’s flaws are exposed which is exactly what occurs to Darl. Cash on the other hand, due to his more realistic and obsessive behavior becomes the more sane brother and shifts to the head narrator. Near the end of the novel, after Darl is institutionalized, Cash finally begins to question his family and social norms. Cash states, “sometimes I aint so sho who’s got ere a right to say when a man is crazy and when he aint. Sometimes 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. It’s like it aint so much what a fellow does, but it’s the way the majority of folks is looking at him and when he does it” (223). Cash realizes that sanity is all based on perspective and in the conservative, religious south, Darls rash actions are condemned. How Darl went about burning his mother’s coffin is looked at an action of someone who is mentally ill, however, Cash claims he had thought about getting rid of her multiple times during the journey and “how it would be God’s blessing if He did take her outen out hands” and that he can “almost believe that he [Darl] done right in a way” (233). The rest of the family thought selfishly- scared of being sued- instead of being true to their familial bond. Since the majority agreed on punishing Darl, he was sent away, proving Cash’s point that it “aint nothing else to do
The most insane people are the ones who were kept sane the longest. In the stories “ A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “ Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl the women are both completely insane. They both kill the ones they love because they don’t want them to leave. Although Mary and Emily both have different stragities of killing them. They are both very sneaky about hiding it up and how they get away with it.
“God’s will be done, now I can get teeth,” Anse says after Addie’s death. To some people, it may seem weird that someone wants new teeth, and to others, it might make them wonder if he’s sad about his wife’s death. Anse Bundren, a middle-aged man, has a reputation of being a lazy and selfish person. But how does that play a role in As I Lay Dying? How has Anse’s relationship with his family, his wife, and himself affect the outcome of the story? Another thing about Anse is his view of Addie’s death. How has Anse Bundren become dead in the story, but is really still alive?
Metamorphosis William Faulkner in his book, As I Lay Dying, portrays a Mississippi family who goes through many hardships and struggles. Faulkner uses imagery to illustrate an array of central themes such as the conscious being or existence and poverty among many others. From the first monologue, you will find an indulgence of sensual appeal, a strong aspect of the novel. Each character grows stronger and stronger each passage. One of the themes in As I Lay Dying is human relations to nature.
A major transition occurs in the story when Darl is able to accurately describe his mother’s death, despite the fact that he and Jewel were miles away when the event actually took place. This gives the other characters a clear understanding of just what Darl’s powers entail. As a result, his family alienates him completely, as they do not want to risk Darl being a constant intrusion on their personal lives. One could argue that this fear is the true reason why the family chose to commit Darl to a psychiatric asylum, rather than his act of arson in burning down the barn.
Addie is actually the perfect character to try and describe the lack or void of words and meanings. The very fact that she is dead and is talking about this void from the dead is important. In a way she is speaking from a void between life and death. Morna Flaum expresses this idea in her article, “Elucidating Addie Bundren in As I Lay Dying.” “Her condition of deadness, speaking from the void between is and not-is makes her the perfect vehicle for Faulkner to describe the indescribable, approach the unapproachable, express the inexpressible, as he so gracefully does, does-not. The placement of Addie’s chapter in the middle of her long journey from deathbed to grave is also significant.” Flaum goes on to say that this placement of Addie’s chapter
“As I Lay Dying, read as the dramatic confrontation of words and actions, presents Faulkner’s allegory of the limits of talent” (Jacobi). William Faulkner uses many different themes that make this novel a great book. Faulkner shows his talent by uses different scenarios, which makes the book not only comedic but informational on the human mind. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is a great book that illustrates great themes and examples. Faulkner illustrates different character and theme dynamics throughout the entire novel, which makes the book a humorous yet emotional roller coaster. Faulkner illustrates the sense of identity, alienation, and the results of physical and mental death to show what he thinks of the human mind.
William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, chronicles a family facing a series of trials in the wake of a traumatic event, Addie’s death. Faulkner first suggests that the journey to bury Addie, a wife and mother, is a way for her family to show her their final respect, yet each character’s real motivation in participating begins to emerge as the novel progresses. The motivations and circumstances present as an over-the-top dramatic tale, something that often times only appears on reality television. Through the use of Biblical allusions and religious contradictions, Faulkner presents a sarcastic tone mocking the backwardness of the journey and the Bundren family’s ethics. Faulkner chooses to use these stylistic devices to expose the impact of religious
Toni Morrison’s Beloved tells a story of a loving mother and ex-slave who takes drastic measures to protect her children which later affect her entire life. In contrast, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying goes through the life of the Bundren’s after their mother passes away and their journey to get her coffin to Jefferson. The bond between a mother and her children is chronicled in these novels. Both Faulkner and Morrison explain how the influence of a mother can affect how a child grows and matures through her love and actions.
All of us would love to believe we are, in essence, sane. Yet, does anyone know the line between sanity and insanity? Insanity, when we think of the word we think of those many people, locked up for killing their children, burning down hospitals, and all those who claim to see visions or ghosts. None of us think of the fact that insanity is all around us. It’s insane the way people can leave there children, abandon them, or force them to grow up way before their time. It is insanity that fuels our soc...
In As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner uses the characters Anse and Cash, and a motif/symbol in "My mother is a fish," to reveal the psychological and societal problems of the twenties and thirties. Written as soon as the panic surrounding the stock market in 1929 started, Faulkner is reported as having, “took one of these [onion] sheets, unscrewed the cap from his fountain pen, and wrote at the top in blue ink, 'As I Lay Dying.' Then he underlined it twice and wrote the date in the upper right-hand corner"(Atkinson 15) We must take care to recognize Faulkner not as a man of apathy, but one of great compassion and indignation at the collapse of the economic foundation of the U.S. This is central in appreciating the great care with which he describes the desolation and poor landscape of Yoknapatawpha County, which is where As I Lay Dying takes place.
William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi where he became a high school drop out and was forced to work with grandfather at a bank. In 1925 Faulkner moved to New Orleans and worked as a journalist, here he met the American Sherwood Andersen, a famous short-story writer. Anderson convinced Faulkner that writing about the people and places he could identify with would improve his career as a writer. After a trip to Europe, Faulkner began to write of the fictitious Yoknapatawpha County, which was representative of Lafayette County, Mississippi. Often in this series of novels one could read of characters who were based on Faulkner’s ancestors, African Americans, Native Americans, hermits, and poor whites. At some point in this period of writing, around 1930, William Faulkner wrote the novel As I Lay Dying.
Show how a character from The Tall Woman and Her Short Husband and one other story are put under pressure. Explain how and why this happens. All the stories I have studied from “Opening worlds” have shown some form of pressure towards a character in the stories. This pressure that is created is designed to build up tension which keeps the reader interested in the story. The pressure in “The Tall Woman and Her Short Husband” and the “The Gold-Legged Frog” are created by a confrontation
A horrific aspect of life that many people have a difficult time dealing with is death. The thought of death scares people because as humans we do not have a way to comprehend something that we cannot test, see or even have a grasp of. When a person loses a loved one they get scared by this reality of that they do not know where they are going and when they make it there how will it be for them. In William Faulkner's book, As I Lay Dying, we go through the process at which a family loses a “loved” one and we follow the family all the way until the deceased, Addie Burden, is buried in Jefferson. In As I Lay Dying you see the steps of grieving are different for many people and some of the people will come out destroyed and others without a scratch. The character Cash goes through a process of grief, odd to most in his way of grief we do not see pain because of the pressure he puts on himself to finish the journey for the family. Cash’s brother, Jewel, seems to snap from the pain of losing his mother and he let the pain ingulf his life. Finally, the last
From the dysfunctional family, to the crazy obsessions of the characters, “As I Lay Dying” and “Salvage the Bones” are quite similar. Both novels’ plots are similar, with the family starting off in a bad place, progressing to a worse situation, and coming back out of it in one piece. They also have their fair share of differences. With the most notable difference being their ethnicity, or the different attitudes and the different vibes from the characters. But, let’s look into how these similarities and differences add to the plot of the story?
Many people find it hard to imagine their death as there are so many questions to be answered-how will it happen, when, where and what comes next. The fact that our last days on Earth is unknown makes the topic of death a popular one for most poets who looks to seek out their own emotions. By them doing that it helps the reader make sense of their own emotions as well. In the two poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickenson and “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, the poets are both capturing their emotion about death and the way that they accepted it. In Dickenson’s poem her feelings towards death are more passionate whereas in Dylan’s poem the feelings