Perception

I was thinking about how the theme of madness ties into the themes of the book and one thing that seemed to stand out to me was perception. The way that Faulkner writes the novel makes it so that we can see the way each individual character looks at things, and the way that they tell us about events. Obviously they don't all tell us things exactly the way they are and we get biased interpretations throughout the novel. On page 233 Cash says "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." It's the what Darl did, but the way people were looking at him at the time, and we know that some of the characters were uneasy about him before he burned down the barn. This idea of perception seems to me to be one of the central issues in the book because the structure of the book is centered around it, but I'm just not exactly sure what Faulkner is trying to say about it. 1204071156

I agree that perception is often what defines someone as mad. We have seen this idea in previous books that we have read: In Invisible man the vet whom everyone thought was mad was one of the only characters that knew the real truth. Perhaps knowing the truth makes people go mad. Darl was the one who knew the most truth in the story; he was even able to describe many events in detail when he was not present. However, in the end he went crazy. Perhaps he went crazy because he knew the truth. Also, Cash was on his way to being crazy at the beginning of the novel, but by the end, he was the only person who was able to tell the story in a clear and coherent manner. It seems that usually people begin crazy or end up crazy when they know the truth.1204074547

Madness will always be something that is defined by each and every person's individual perception. I mean, what really makes someone crazy besides the judgment of being crazy by other people? I don't think anyone ever really consciously says to themself that they are crazy or have lost their minds because what we see as crazy could be perfectly logical behavior for them. The Bundrens might perceive Darl as crazy, but he probably sees his actions of burning the barn as a rational way to get rid of the coffin and thus negate their reasoning for continuing on the journey. For him, it was a way out of the journey and not just a random act of violence which the others might have perceived it as.

I think in general that perceptions that we might have of others are often clouded and mistaken. Take Anse for example because everyone in the novel perceived him as a rather foolish bumbling old man when he was really a scheming con man using his family for his own personal gains. I guess what I'm saying is that perceptions are often inaccurate and they are not all that concrete because they can change. I think everyone in the novel besides Darl was fooled by Anse and I think that part of what drove him crazy was just his shock at how his father was using his mother's death as a way for him to benefit himself. Darl did not go crazy, but rather just wanted a way out; he wanted to end this journey to JEfferson.1204077925

I think that Faulkner wanted us to think about perception because it is so important in understanding those human truths that he talked about in his speech. I think one of the biggest causes of confusion and conflict is because people don't bother to think about perception. In the novel, rather than just judging the characters based on one conclusion presented by a narrator, we are able to get inside their heads and learn what many others think about them before we judge them. As Faulkner demostrates, situations look different depending on perception, and everyone has their own logic and explanation for the things we do. For example, it would be easy to come to the conclusion that Darl is mad if we just saw the book from an impersonal perspective, but because we see what and how Darl thinks, we can see that he isn't as strange as everyone thinks, that he really is clear headed and has a rational way of looking at the world. Perhaps Faulkner was trying to communicate that true "love and honor and pity" comes about when we take the time to understand others, not when we make snap judgements.1204079595

This topic reminds me of one of my all time favorite quotes, "The only normal people are the ones you don't know." I believe that it is relevant because every character in the book seems normal, or has a pre-conceived notion about them (like Darl being mad), until we see them from every angle, every perspective. People in general all seem ordinary until you really get to know them. . . and then you find out that everyone is unique, and like the quote says, no one is normal if you know him or her other than simply on the surface level. I believe that people are more relatable in our faults and our little quirks than in our successes. We are all in need of God's mercy because we are imperfect. As I Lay Dying clearly brings out many imperfections of humanity. 1204081279

So many issues in life are influenced by our different perceptions of people and ideas. This theme carries through so clearly in As I Lay Dying. The book consisted of a gathering of differnt perspectives by different people - we could get one telling of an event in one chapter, and in the next, we read a comletly different account of the same event. This showed us the true diversity of those who made up the family and those around them - seeing things from all the various perspectives allowed us as readers to make more informed judgments about the characters. When looking at Darl through, for example, Anse's perspective, one would conclude that he was crazy and his actions had no merit to them. But when you look at Darl's actions from his own perspective, one would understand his reasoning behind his actions. Like many others have mentioned before, I too believe that a main issue presented in this book was that there are so many different perceptions one can views a single situation through that we should not pass hasty judgments on others. 1204084454

Yes perception is one of the major themes of this book now that you have brought it up. Good call joe. This book does center on this theme and it is probably more perfect than any other book out there to have shown this theme effectively. It is all in 1st person and is not hindered at all by the objectivity of 3rd person narration. That's a funny thought, that the book could be hindered by objectivity. Usually objectivity is something we all strive for, but with Faulkner trying so hard to write about our subjective perspectives, he was striving for the opposite. Faulkner uses this method of all first person writing to show that no matter how concrete one event or action may seem, it can be seen as something totally different to different people. Everyone has their biases and mistakes in perception. We don't ever have ALL the information. I think this is another truth that Faulkner is trying to demonstrate to us as human beings, that we are mostly subjective creatures. When we read books we nearly always feel the comfort of a narrator who is telling us the truth and the facts. We read so many of these books that I think we sometimes believe we have one of these narrators in our own lives. We trust that what we see and hear is completely objective. Faulkner's writing style reveals how subjective things really are without that guiding omnipotent voice.1204087282

Perception is probably one of the most important aspects of this novel--the plot is told from each different person's point of view; it is shown to us through each person's perception. We never get a section that is entirely objective, or from the narrator; we get solely subjective accounts of the story from each character. I think that this is important to Faulkner's style--he doesn't need a narrative voice. Part of what makes the novel interesting is because we see it from all angles; we get each person's perspective. I think it's a very interesting writing technique if it's well-developed. It lets you see the characters and how they think. I know that in Jacob's Room, Woolf did something similar, but the characters weren't as well-developed and it was more difficult to follow. 1204249260

Perception is so critical in Faulkner's novel. If you recall his essay, he talks about writing of the conflicts of the human heart. This book certainly does focus on that. In order to focus on the conflict within each character's own heart, Faulkner needs to give us their view of the situation, their perspective on everything. It would be impossible to convey this message to the same degree if written in the third person narrative voice. His creative writing style, in speaking through the minds of each of his characters, allows him to fully explore their thoughts and troubles through their own eyes, and then also their thoughts and troubles through the eyes of those around them. It's a book about relationships and human conflict and this first-person method is the best way to present these themes. 1204250597