Dewey Dell
Dewey Dell is the only daughter of Addie and Anse Bundren in "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner. Beginning with her name, you are given the idea of what the role of her character is, especialy after you read her first entry. "Dewey" references back to dew that is a state of weather usually in the morning caused by water/precipitation in the air that goes away, so the first part of her name has to dew with youth and the loss of youth, because the dew cannot last very long. The second part of her name "Dell" actually stands for wench. The combination of both, definitely define Dewey Dell, because of the fact that she is young and quickly loses her youth when she becomes pregnant.
It is evident, however, that Dewey Dell is too young to be a mother, because she was naive enough to let Lafe manipulate her into having sex with him and now she must play the role of the woman of the house, now that her mother, Addie is dead. Her purpose in the story is to depict the role of women during this earlier time and how it affects the bundren family (with Addie and her). Through her internal and external battles, one can conclude that women during the timeof this book (1920s?) had no rights to control everything, even their own bodies. The fact that "sexuality" is a taboo topic also contributes to how women are kept from knowledge, because without being able to talk about sexuality, girls and women will not know anything about it, like with Dewey Dell, one cannot be sure that she actually even knew what she was doing, because he does not even know what to call it on Page 27. Maybe if she would have been educated about sex, she would have known better than to fal for Lafe's "game".
Since Addie has died, Dewey Dell must take upmany of the roles of the "woman of the house", like cooking and helping out with Vardaman, he youngest brother. She is depicted as the new mother to him, by the symbolism within the story, regarding a cow. The cow represents women and especially Dewey Dell, because Vardaman goes to be with her and the cow, which shows that she is his knew mother-fogure because cows are often providers, because they are ued for their milk and provide for their young that way, and women during these times, do not have control over their bodies either.
Keywords, phrases, and symbols:
-Cow-women/mothers
-......."I am picking into your sack." And so it was full when we came to the end of the row and I could not help it. (p.27)-lack of control over her own body/male dominance
-......."how can it be room in a little tub of guts...." (p.58)-shows how she did not want to have a child, she is burdened with one, because she was manipulated by Lafe to have sex (Bundren=burden.....each of the members have some sort of burden)
-she also has a lack of knowledge and words, also described in these two wuotes, because she cannot come to the words: sex and child, or pregnant; this is either due to the lack of knowledge or a combination of lack of knowledge and her not wanting to actually say these things, because then they will seem more real and she does not wish to be associated with any of these.
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4 comments:
I did Dewey Dell, too, but I liked that you talked a lot more about her role as the woman of the family. She definitely kind of fell into that role, but she knew it was expected of her. She is almost always right by Vardaman or in the background. You mentioned her internal and external conflicts, but I don't think she really had any external conflicts. I think maybe Faulkner was commenting on the role of women at this time that they are just expected to sit there and take it and basically follow the men and not think for themselves or be independent by having Dewey Dell just go through with things (like sex with Lafe) and then later beating herself up about it(internally).
The 2nd paragraph is quite a feminist read of the noevel. I never considered all of tht... I think she's jus pretty awkward. I dnt kno if she exactlii feels comfortable in her own skin. Maybe bcuz she's tha onlii grl and is now forced to b a women she doesn't know what to do. The more i think about it Dewey is an average teenager... tho we hate to admit it we all r tryin 2 find ourselves at this moment intyme and so is she. But the fact that her mother is gone has confused her. I noticed that when she speaks she doesn't have the words to realli say wat she feels uk... its lik she jus rambles on and on... especially when tlkin about her mothers death... she says that they tld her about it, but she was present whn addie dies... she's a pretty disturbed individual if u ask mi... LOLZ!
i did dewey dell as well. i thought you did a really great job of analyzing this character. i was not able to make the connection between her reference to dew and her name. i am sincerely happy you noticed that because it reinforces my assessment of dewey dell as a naive and young character. i had no idea that dell stood for wench, but that would make alot of sense considering her interaction with the pharmacist and lafe. you picked very appropriate and eyeopening passages that capture the essence of dewey dell and i thank you again for the supplementary education of the character you have provided me. i sincerely appreciate the value of your analysis and will use it as i formulate my presentation for this week.
I love your analysis of Dewey Dell!!! And I agree that she is too young and naive to be a mom, however it is because of her having a child that she can now assume the role that Addie left behind and maybe now she can understand her mom better and connect with her more now that she is dead then what she did when she was alive.
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