William Faulkner creates quite the unusual character in Darl Bundren. Darl isn't your typical young adult in rural Mississippi. Darl's the man who knows everything; the man who can narrate happenings in which he has no part in. He can look at his sister and seem to know things about her that she has told no one. Hmmm... interesting. Does Darl possess some supernatural powers? Like, maybe some omniscient capabilities that open his mind to occurrences that he takes no physical part in?
I don't know about you guys, but from what I've been reading these past few day, Darl's kind of giving me *weird vibes.* From the very beginning of the book, Darl's narrations come across to me as alien and detached. When describing his trek from the field with Jewel, his first person narrative shows little emotion; however, he goes into great detail about how he and Jewel would be perceived from an outside-observational point of view. And as I read through this book, the odd feelings about Darl keep resurfacing. He seems too detached and explicit.
Also, though Darl narrates in first person, I think it reads almost as a third person narrative. When I usually read first person, I can imagine myself as the character; I'm experiencing events as they do; I am able to "looking through their eyes." However, with Darl's narratives, this is not the case. In his section (pages 47-52) Darl and Jewel are riding on a cart back from their trip from town. Through his eyes, I would expect to see myself (Darl) and my brother (Jewel) moving down a road, worried about the impending storm. But he doesn't speak about his trip, or what he is doing. Nope, instead he narrates what is happening back at the Bundren house (Addie's death). So, not only does he narrate "unusually" (unusual to what I'm used to, anyway), he also goes and narrates stuff he should have absolutely no idea of!
Aaahhh, this post is all over the place. My mind is still spinning and trying to come up with theories about Darl's supernatural-know-it-all capabilities. Or maybe the kind-of-weird way he narrates is just throwing me off. At this point, I'm just a bewildered reader who wants to know how Darl knows.
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From Darl's chapters and the weird way he somehow knows everything, I agree with you that he definitely gives off "*weird vibes*." Folks talk about him for his weird ways and one of them is the way he looks at people. I remember a quote from Tull which to me kind of explains Darl's all knowing powers, "He is looking at me. He dont say nothing ... I always say it aint never been what he done so much or said or anything so much as how he looks at you. It's like he had got into the inside of you someway. Like somehow you was looking at yourself and your doings outen his eyes." When Darl looks at someone, he just knows whatever it is that needs to be known, because his eyes pierce through you and he goes inside of you. I'm not exactly sure what I think of his supernatural-like powers, but they are a bit confusing at times in the chapters when he's narrating events he is not present at.
ReplyDeleteI’m with you, Leah. When I first began to read this book, I forgot that I was reading through Darl’s point-of-view especially as he was on that journey with Jewel but was somehow able to narrate what was happening back at home. I was and still am confused. It would make sense if Darl were reliving his past, but he manages to know things in the moment, like his mom’s death. He knows that Addie is going to die before he goes on that journey, and he even lets Jewel know exactly when she dies despite being far from home. I'm just as bewildered as you, and I really hope we find out soon!
ReplyDeleteTotally agree! Darl's narration isn't easy to follow... who knows maybe he's just bored and wanted to use his super powers, just to let us know and be impressed (btw there's no other way to explain it Darl has fricking superpowers like physically no that can't happen unless he strapped a GoPro on Dewey Dell or something).
ReplyDeleteWelp Darl's sent off to the institution... I wonder what'll happen to him? Like he'll totally freak people out not cuz he's like talking about stuff way far away but HES ACTUALLY RIGHT. If he kept his thoughts to himself more he could be a master at trickery - he knows what his victims are doing sooooooooo yeaa... he'd make a good mob boss. Everyone would respect him due to his power, and he has all the intel he needs. Can't rlly be overthrowed either - they need his power.