A lot of crazy things happened
in the last section of As I Lay Dying,
but one thing that really shocked me was Anse turning Darl in to a mental
institution in Jackson. In his chapter, Cash justifies this decision by saying,
“It wasn’t nothing else to do. It was either send him to Jackson, or have
Gillespie sue us, because he knowed some way that Darl set fire to it”
(Faulkner 222). Here Cash is referring to Darl setting fire to Gillespie’s
barn, with his animals and Addie’s coffin inside, which was a serious crime.
Cash is one of the most logical and reliable narrators in the book, so I am
usually inclined to believe what he says.
I think it’s very possible that the Bundrens were forced to turn Darl in because of his actions, because they couldn’t afford to be sued. However, this doesn’t convince me that Darl is in fact crazy and I don’t think Cash is convinced either. Later in that chapter, when Darl has been taken Cash says “I aint so sho that ere a man has a right to say what is crazy and what aint” (Faulkner 228).
Darl has been referred to as being kind of weird by other narrators in the book before, especially Cora, a neighbor of the Bundrens. His narration is also fairly strange, with him knowing about and relating events that he wasn’t present at. The action that gets him labeled as crazy by some was him lighting the Gillespie’s barn on fire, while knowing that his mother’s coffin was inside. However, in class we even discussed justification for this. The way Addie’s coffin was being dragged around for over a week after her death as “an outrage” and it’s possible that Darl shared the same sentiments. Although arson is a pretty drastic solution, maybe Darl just wanted the journey to be over and didn’t see another option.
Does this make Darl “crazy”? Were the Bundrens justified in sending him to a mental institution? Let me know what you guys think.
Interesting points. Darl is definitely crazy to some degree - he laughs as he's dragged away to the asylum. But I don't think he deserved to get taken away for his insanity alone. His act of arson, however, is what deserves punishment.
ReplyDeleteNice post. Darl is definitely wack yo. It might just be other characters projecting their opinions on me, but when he just randomly laughs both in the wagon with Addie's coffin and when he's about to be taken to Jackson, I definitely felt unsettled by him. I sorta get the logic behind burning the coffin to end the journey, but burning a whole ass barn is too extra. At some level, if literally every other character thinks he's weird (except Cora, who is totally unreliable), he has too be crazy.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I understand where the rest of the world is coming from when they call Darl crazy. But I don't think burning down the barn alone is enough to label him crazy. Like you said, there's some justification for that. But there's no real sense that he's actually mentally insane throughout the rest of the book (excluding his last chapter, which is pure nonsense for all intensive purposes). Darl's definitely weird, but he's not insane. If his family had to send him anywhere, I would think it would just be a normal prison. Arson's just arson -- there's really not a ton of evidence for Darl's mental state being abnormal.
ReplyDeleteNice post. I'm not entirely sure whether I think Darl is crazy or not. I think most people think he is crazy because of what they see him do, like laughing by the coffin. However, we as the reader have been inside of his head and we see that he isn't really all that crazy.
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't know if Darl is crazy or not. His laughter in the face of serious situations seems like a classic cinematic way of showing that someone is crazy but it still doesn't convince me. I can totally understand why he would burn down the barn (I don't think I would have done it, but I see where he's coming from) because I would also be sick of seeing my mother's coffin mistreated so much.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it depends on what you consider to be "crazy". From an outside perspective (the other narrators, and perhaps the readers as well), Darl is definitely portrayed as insane. He's creepily clairvoyant from the start, he burns down a barn for no discernible reason (to them, anyway), and he laughs hysterically as he's dragged away to an asylum/penitentiary. He's even said to be foaming at the mouth as he sits in his cell.
ReplyDeleteDarl's own narration, though, has always proved to me that he's not "insane" - or at least, he has a motive for all he does. Though his actions may be deserving of punishment, he's not a character who just commits acts of extreme violence for the hell of it. There's a method to his madness, which perhaps excuses him of the deepest, darkest bits of insanity.
One thing that I've been thinking about is how much the whole family has been through in this entire ordeal. I think that it definitely has to be a traumatic experience to loose your mother and then spend over a week in a wagon transporting her, not even considering all of the obstacles they faced on the way. Therefore, any of the family members would be justified in going "crazy". What I find interesting, is the way that Darl has sort of become a self-fulfilling prophecy. From the beginning of the book, we're given perspectives from other characters painting him as strange or crazy. Thus, it's sort of expected that he might actually become "crazy" if people are always calling him that. Yet, it's a bit of an ironic ending considering the image we're always given of him is that he doesn't fit in. So maybe he didn't deserve that ending, but it certainly fit with the storyline that the other characters set up for him.
ReplyDeleteDarl is definitely different. It's debatable whether he's insane or not. He certainly displays abnormal behavior (laughing) and the way he narrates is unique. I'm not convinced he's crazy though. However, my opinion may be because we've been able to read from his perspective, so we've had the chance to establish a connection with him.
ReplyDeleteRemember that, although he acknowledges that Anse might not have had any choice but to turn Darl in, Cash is still quite bothered by it--he sees the rationale, but he's not sure it's right. And he's asking some of the same questions you're asking in this post, about who is to determine what is and isn't "crazy," and whether on some level Darl might have been doing *right* (in his crazy, misguided way) by "answering" Addie's "request" (which only he can hear) to be put outside the sight of God and man. There is a moral logic, perhaps, to Darl's behavior, and Cash remains bothered by these questions through the last line of the novel.
ReplyDeleteOne thing to mention is that right after Darl is taken away, we learn that Darl had participated in World War I. It is very possible that he acquired PTSD and has been living with it untreated for years. If so, he might actually have gone crazy in the sense that his PTSD advanced to a critical point. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, I don't know how PTSD works.
ReplyDelete