It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

598 Words2 Pages

Emily Dickinson once wrote: “Much madness is divinest/Sense-To a discerning Eye.” This means that madness is actually just a higher level of sanity when looked at by the wise. In As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner uses different mental illness to explain many of the character’s actions and decisions throughout their journey. The character viewed as the most crazy by many is Darl. Darl is an all-knowing or omniscient narrator and this is thought to be madness when it is first written in the book. When the eventual outcome is revealed it becomes obvious that Darl was the smartest of all the Bundrens. Darl’s madness allows the reader insight to the secrets of his family members and eventually reveals that Darl is the normal one and is able to see the irony of his family member’s actions and feelings.
Darl’s madness throughout the novel grows until an eventual climax that lands him in an insane asylum. When he is introduced he is portrayed as seeing all of his family member’s actions even when he is not present and knowing their feelings, leading the reader to believe ...

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