'As I Lay Dying' Questions II

- Is Addie speaking through the crypt or is her chapter a flashback?

- How could Whitfield live with himself, knowingly withholding the information that he had an affair with Addie from Anse upon learning that Addie is dead? It seems pretty awful considering he believes it's a gift from God.

Single Word

Reversed (page 88)

Addie's Coffin

In "As I Lay Dying," much of the story, at least early in it, is centered around the construction and burial of Addie in her coffin.  Her coffin serves to symbolize the dysfunction created by her untimely death.  After the careful creation of the coffin, things begin to spiral out of control with her being placed upside down in the coffin, and Vardaman drilling holes in her face.  Instances, like this, represent the issues that her death has caused within the family.  The fact that the coffin is thrown off balance by Addie's corpse represents how the Bundren's lives are "thrown off balance" by her death.  This coffin serves as a symbol in "As I Lay Dying," representing the effect her death has on her family.

'As I Lay Dying' Preliminary Questions

- What is Dewey Dell even talking about? It's quite difficult to understand his train of thought and language.

- Is Dewey Dell slow?

- Why is Vardaman introduced to us as if we already know of him/as if we have already read a chapter about him? Basically I mean why is he introduced so abruptly? "Then I began to run." are the first words we hear from him.

Curt Lemon

Upon reading the chapter, "The Dentist," in TTTC, the character of Curt Lemon stood out to me in particular.  The chapter revolves around describing a brief story about the deceased Curt Lemon, but what really stuck out to me was the opening description of this man.  Described as someone who on occasion "took it way too far," and someone who "couldn't stop bragging," always talking about himself and his accomplishments, Lemon seems to stick with us as readers because we all know somebody like this.  Reading O'Brien's description of him, I was immediately able to connect that personality with that of people I know or once knew.  Lemon is a very relatable character, hopefully not in the sense that he is like us, but he is like a one dimensional version of people around us, whether it be people in the media or people we know personally.  Lemon hides his low self-esteem underneath a veil of cockiness, and faux self-confidence.  Lemon allows himself to lose a perfectly good tooth through extraction, for the sole purpose of saving face after his fainting episode.  He cares so much about others opinions of him, that he willingly harms himself.  Although we only know him for a couple of brief pages, Curt Lemon is a much deeper character that he appears to be, and himself epitomizes a poor quality in all of us.

Changing of Numbers in the New Edition of "The Things They Carried"

As we discussed in class, O'Brien changes many of the numbers in the new version of the novel, while keeping all other words and details this same.  This is rather peculiar, and upon first glance there seems to be no reason behind these changes.  While some could argue that O'Brien made these changes as somewhat of a gimmick, I believe he had purpose in his actions.  Many of the number changes by O'Brien were changed into larger numbers, possibly to illustrate just how much these men had to carry in their bags in Vietnam.  It also plausible that O'Brien chose these new, more exact, numbers to appear more realistic, instead of using nice round numbers like in the original edition.  In reality, there is no way to know exactly what O'Brien's methodology was in making these very subtle changes, but one thing we do know is that O'Brien certainly had a purpose. What that purpose was is something I'd like to know.

Symbolism in "Cell One"

         In the story, titled "Cell One" in The Thing Around Your Neck, Adichie uses symbolism to illustrate Nnamabia's remaining innocence.  The innocent elderly man acts as a symbol of Namibia's own innocence through his pity and concern over the man's well-being.  Upon the elderly man's arrival, Nnamabia instantly develops feelings over sorrow and genuine concern for this man, even standing up to the guards in his defense.  This concern symbolizes the remaining childhood innocence, and character of Nnamabia, as he is the only prisoner to come in the old man's defense, while others act as bystanders, and even instigators.  Nnamabia is essentially a wayward soul, who is not meant for the cult lifestyle that he has begun to wrap himself in to.  By demonstrating his empathy for others, we as readers see that deep down he is not a bad kid, just one who is misguided.  The old man is a concrete representation of Namibia's innocence and empathy, acting as a key symbol in this short story.