Catchphrases

Throughout the novel, I have noticed that nearly every character has their catchphrases:

Jewel says, "Goddamn you," in almost every situation, directed at people, animals, and objects.

Anse says, "Don't ere a man dislike it more," (p. 18 is the first time) and, "I am a luckless man. I have ever been." Furthermore, he frequently says, "She would not begrudge me it." (p. 61, for example.)

Cash is always talking about "balance."

So, my question is, what is the significance of these catchphrases?

My thought is that each character individually is intended to teach us something, and these catchphrases hold some important ideas about their characters, which is why Faulkner chose to repeat them over and over again. Jewel, for example, holds a deep sense of anger at the world, although I'm not sure why... perhaps, like his mother, he prefers solitude to relationships and is suffering because of his inability to connect with people. As for Cash, I noticed that while he is particularly concerned with balance, he forgets to put himself into the equation, sacrificing the balance of his own life for the sake of keeping his family as a whole balanced. And, all I got out of Anse is that he is always concerned with himself, yet for all that self-interest, his life is still pathetic and miserable.

What do you think of these catchphrases, and did you see any others? 1203881065

You have a lot of catchphrases here, so I'll just focus on one of them. I, too, noticed that Jewel is always saying "goddamn you," and I think that when this is considered with the events on the novel, it sums up his character quite well. We all know how close Addie and Jewel were and how Jewel has shown a great allegiance to Addie even in her death. Jewel is also a person who responds to dispair and misfortune with anger. Anger is his mask for the deep down hurt and sadness that he is feeling. We also know that he is indeed wearing a mask--he really is not an uncaring person--because Falkner describes his as wooden many times. Just on the second page of the novel, Darl comments: "Still staring straight ahead, [Jewel's] pale eyes like wood set into his wooden face, he crosses the floor..." (4). Shortly after Addie dies, Jewel is again describes to have a "wooden face" (94). And upon entering Jefferson after his argument with the white dudes on the street, Jewel is "staring straight ahead, motionless, lean, wooden-backed, as though carvd squatting out of the lean wood" (231). Jewel has hardened his heart, becoming like a wooden figure that cannot express adequate emotions. Therefore, he can only becomes angry and stiff, which goes right along with his telling everyone, "goddamn you." 1203882217

I would like to talk about Cash always being associated with balance. Br Tom brought this up in class, but I was able to notice this even before. This means this connection has to be something significant in this story. The first relationship I can see is that Cash wants to balance everything out for his family that seems to do things unconventionally. With the exception of Jewel, Cash seems to be the only one that Addie genuinely likes and gets along with. This also could show how he is a balance to the family. Does anyone else know why balance seems to appear in so many of Cash’s chapters? It especially appears during significant events that Cash is a part of, such as building the coffin and when it was lost in the river. I feel like this emphasizes how balance is important in this story, but I'm still not sure in what way? 1203888721

I also was interested in the importance of balance to Cash. Cash's obsession with balance is almost unhealthy. He doesn't speak very much throughout the novel, but when he does he just talks about balancing Addie's coffin or how it should have been better balanced. It think that this does show his selflessness and how well balanced of a character he is. He doesn't cause trouble or complain even when his leg is badly wounded. He is heroic, but his efforts have little effect. I think that he felt that his mother was what kept the family balanced. He is trying to replace that sense of balance in the family because he feels how her death has thrown the family off. He misses the balance that she brought to their lives. He is very levelheaded and stable through out the novel and never loses his cool. He represents the balance that many of the other characters lack.1203889559

I really liked the connection between Cash and balance. I think that it showed up much more than just in his chapters as well. Of course, he begins talking about it during the beginning when he's making the coffin for Addie. Everything has to be aligned correctly for this journey to succeed. On page 165, the shortest of his chapters, he mentions that the coffin would have to be on balance for everything to work. Not only does the story mention physical balance, but also the balance between good and evil, right and wrong, sanity and insanity, life and death, family and foe. All these things eventually wrap up into a common theme for the entire novel because each character is somehow affected by one of these aspects several times over. I think that the connections between all of the balances create a deeper, more intricate story for the reader. It is something that they have to dissect to understand, but once all the pieces are put together, it's a brilliant theme. 1203901857

lsi, I too picked up some of your highlighted "catchphrases" throughout the novel; they are hard to miss! One that particularly stuck out to me was Anse's tendency to say that "No one mislikes it more than me" and that he is a "luckless man."

I think Anse repeats these phrases because he wants to make himself seem worse off than he actually is, as though people should have pity on him. He first says he is "luckless" in response to no doctor coming for Addie (18). I find that an excuse, rather. On pages 29 and 30, he says "No man mislikes it more than me." This makes it seem as though others should try to please Anse's intentions because otherwise he would be very disappointed in them. At least that is my take.

Poor Anse! He has such a hard life... or so he tries to make it seem. That having been said, I really like a quote I found concerning Anse on p. 73 [Tull's chapter]: //" Because the only burden Anse Bundred's ever had is himself."// Touche. Anse can complain all he wants, but he is the source of his own misery. 1204091784

I think that all these catchphrases are really another way of showing us how the Bundren family is set in its ways. That's why the Tulls were wondering what would happen to the family after Addie was gone, because their status quo would be so messed up. Each character keeps the same mindsets and ideas throughout most of the book, that's why they start to repeat certain sayings and even behaviors. I mean come on they even repeat the whole family thing at the end of the book with a new wife and probably a new start for the same family.1204175598