WEBVTT 00:01.700 --> 00:04.230 WAI CHEE DIMOCK: So just want to go back very 00:04.233 --> 00:07.673 briefly to the title of As I Lay Dying. 00:07.667 --> 00:12.297 As you guys know, the title is taken from The 00:12.300 --> 00:14.170 Odyssey, Book XI. 00:14.167 --> 00:25.067 And Odysseus has gone to the underworld, and he's talking 00:25.067 --> 00:29.297 to Agamemnon, who's telling him about the circumstances of 00:29.300 --> 00:33.200 his death and his murder by his wife, Clytemnestra. 00:33.200 --> 00:37.370 So, "As I lay dying, the woman with the dog's eye would not 00:37.367 --> 00:41.097 close my eyes as I descended into Hades." 00:41.100 --> 00:48.270 So this is the original inspiring moment in many ways 00:48.267 --> 00:53.367 for Faulkner, and today I'd like to talk a little more 00:53.367 --> 00:58.497 about the whole of modernism and the epic tradition. 00:58.500 --> 01:02.730 And obviously, we've read enough of As I Lay Dying to 01:02.733 --> 01:05.303 know that this is in many ways an epic journey. 01:05.300 --> 01:11.270 It is a journey, very heroic or mock-heroic journey to bury 01:11.267 --> 01:15.167 Addie, so it has all the trappings of the epic. 01:15.167 --> 01:18.827 It's an epic journey on a small scale. 01:18.833 --> 01:26.003 And it's also taking advantage of two epic conventions. 01:26.000 --> 01:30.370 We've seen just now that we hear the voice of the dead, 01:30.367 --> 01:35.197 and that's a very important epic convention both in Homer 01:35.200 --> 01:36.730 and in Dante. 01:36.733 --> 01:41.033 And as we'll see, it is also a very important convention in 01:41.033 --> 01:43.433 As I Lay Dying as well, that Faulkner is making very 01:43.433 --> 01:45.803 liberal use of. 01:45.800 --> 01:49.370 The other interesting epic convention that I think is 01:49.367 --> 01:52.727 being invoked in As I Lay Dying is the uncertain 01:52.733 --> 01:56.533 boundaries between the human and the non-human. 01:56.533 --> 02:00.533 And we have already actually seen a little bit of that, so 02:00.533 --> 02:03.333 I just wanted to refresh your memory with something that we 02:03.333 --> 02:05.503 discussed last time in terms of there are 02:05.500 --> 02:06.900 two kinds of speech. 02:06.900 --> 02:10.370 Last week, we talked about the social dialect on one hand, 02:10.367 --> 02:13.897 and then on the other hand the words with secrets. 02:13.900 --> 02:16.630 And this is one instance of words with 02:16.633 --> 02:20.103 secrets coming from Vardaman. 02:20.100 --> 02:23.030 So this is Vardaman talking about something in the barn 02:23.033 --> 02:29.173 after he has beaten Peabody's horses and broken the stick. 02:29.167 --> 02:33.567 "It is as though the dark were resolving him out of his 02:33.567 --> 02:38.397 integrity into an unrelated scattering of components-- 02:38.400 --> 02:43.600 snuffings and stamping, smells of cooling flesh and ammoniac 02:43.600 --> 02:48.030 hair, an illusion of a coordinated whole of splotched 02:48.033 --> 02:53.203 hide and strong bones within which, drenched and secret and 02:53.200 --> 02:59.500 familiar, an is different from my is." 02:59.500 --> 03:04.530 Most likely, Vardaman is talking about the horse, but 03:04.533 --> 03:08.373 as we can see, especially as we get closer to the end of 03:08.367 --> 03:13.027 that passage, this being that is "drenched and secret and 03:13.033 --> 03:18.173 familiar, an is different from my is," Vardaman seems to be 03:18.167 --> 03:21.397 talking really more about his brother, Jewel, than about 03:21.400 --> 03:23.230 Jewel's horse. 03:23.233 --> 03:27.703 And it's really hard to say when the human ends and when 03:27.700 --> 03:31.170 the animal begins in that particular passage. 03:31.167 --> 03:36.767 So this is something that we see both in a small moment 03:36.767 --> 03:40.727 like this in As I Lay Dying but also in a very dramatized 03:40.733 --> 03:45.133 moment when Vardaman says, "My mother is a fish," where 03:45.133 --> 03:48.473 obviously a strong analogy is being established between 03:48.467 --> 03:50.027 human and non-human. 03:50.033 --> 03:53.573 We'll come back to that statement on Thursday, but 03:53.567 --> 03:58.427 today I'd like just to go back a little bit and give you a 03:58.433 --> 04:02.403 sense of this very long epic tradition behind As I Lay 04:02.400 --> 04:06.230 Dying by going back to Homer and Dante. 04:06.233 --> 04:10.303 And in Homer, I want to talk about two instances: the 04:10.300 --> 04:18.030 cyclops, obviously, we don't know if he's fully human; and 04:18.033 --> 04:20.373 an even more famous episode is Circe 04:20.367 --> 04:22.397 turning humans into animals. 04:22.400 --> 04:25.500 And then Dante following through with that convention 04:25.500 --> 04:29.430 in the Inferno when humans are turned into animals as 04:29.433 --> 04:30.373 punishment. 04:30.367 --> 04:35.297 So first of all, Homer in Book IX of The Odyssey. 04:35.300 --> 04:39.030 Odysseus and his men are trapped inside a cage by the 04:39.033 --> 04:43.233 cyclops, and the way that they try to escape is by blinding 04:43.233 --> 04:45.503 the cyclops, Polyphemus. 04:45.500 --> 04:48.900 And so this is a moment that is reproduced by just about 04:48.900 --> 04:53.830 all the painters who paint that scene, that episode in 04:53.833 --> 04:55.933 The Odyssey, is the blinding of the eye. 04:55.933 --> 04:59.133 And we know that the cyclops only has one eyes, so it's 04:59.133 --> 05:00.403 relatively easy. 05:00.400 --> 05:02.630 You only have to do it once. 05:02.633 --> 05:07.673 So here's Odysseus blinding the eye of the cyclops. 05:07.667 --> 05:11.197 And we can see that the cyclops seems bigger. 05:11.200 --> 05:14.030 The main difference seems to be in size and also the amount 05:14.033 --> 05:16.003 of hair on him. 05:16.000 --> 05:19.530 But otherwise, he has a human form. 05:19.533 --> 05:21.603 But we also know that he's different, if only because he 05:21.600 --> 05:24.670 has one eye in the center of his forehead. 05:24.667 --> 05:30.967 So he's not quite human, but he's close enough, and that is 05:30.967 --> 05:36.297 a condition that is especially fascinating to epic authors. 05:36.300 --> 05:39.230 Just give you a couple more images of the cyclops. 05:39.233 --> 05:42.733 Basically, it's the same kind of idea. 05:42.733 --> 05:46.373 He's much larger, has a lot more hair, but otherwise has a 05:46.367 --> 05:49.927 recognizable human form. 05:49.933 --> 05:55.033 All the men trying to use that spike to blind the cyclops. 05:55.033 --> 05:57.733 And here is one more image. 05:57.733 --> 06:01.573 So pretty much, there seems to be a consensus in thinking 06:01.567 --> 06:05.067 about the cyclops that he really basically is like us. 06:05.067 --> 06:08.267 But what is also interesting is that after his eye has been 06:08.267 --> 06:14.597 blinded, the cyclops wants to make sure that when his sheep 06:14.600 --> 06:18.830 leave the cage that there wouldn't be humans hiding or 06:18.833 --> 06:19.703 going along with them. 06:19.700 --> 06:24.630 So he's counting all his sheep as they go out, as they leave 06:24.633 --> 06:27.673 his cave, even though he can't really see them. 06:27.667 --> 06:31.767 And he's surprised that his favorite sheep is the last to 06:31.767 --> 06:34.427 go, and he's the last to go because Odysseus 06:34.433 --> 06:35.273 is clinging to him. 06:35.267 --> 06:37.827 But this is what cyclops says to his sheep. 06:37.833 --> 06:41.773 "Sweet cousin ram, why lag behind the rest 06:41.767 --> 06:43.597 in the night cave? 06:43.600 --> 06:48.200 You never linger so but graze before them all, and go afar 06:48.200 --> 06:52.330 to crop sweet grass, and take your stately way leading along 06:52.333 --> 06:56.033 the streams, until at evening you come to be the first one 06:56.033 --> 06:57.673 in the fold. 06:57.667 --> 07:00.067 Why, now, so far behind? 07:00.067 --> 07:04.467 Can you be grieving over your Master's eye?" 07:04.467 --> 07:13.167 So not only is there a sense of kinship between the cyclops 07:13.167 --> 07:19.097 and his sheep, but this is one of the earliest moments of 07:19.100 --> 07:24.430 cross-species identification that the cyclops obviously is 07:24.433 --> 07:29.173 mourning the loss of his eye, and he's imagining, he's 07:29.167 --> 07:36.367 projecting that grief onto his sheep and recreating kinship 07:36.367 --> 07:37.197 on a different level. 07:37.200 --> 07:40.070 Not just on a physical level there's a connection between 07:40.067 --> 07:43.267 humans and animals, but also on the psychic level, on an 07:43.267 --> 07:46.527 emotional level, there is that kind of kinship. 07:46.533 --> 07:49.933 So The Odyssey, I would say, is one of the earliest moments 07:49.933 --> 07:53.933 of a really interesting cross-species imagination, at 07:53.933 --> 07:56.273 least in this one moment. 07:56.267 --> 08:00.067 So the better known moment-- and actually I would argue 08:00.067 --> 08:02.597 it's less subtle than this-- is the transformation of 08:02.600 --> 08:05.300 humans by Circe. 08:05.300 --> 08:07.530 And here's Odysseus going after her because she has 08:07.533 --> 08:11.233 transformed one of his men into this animal. 08:11.233 --> 08:13.903 So we see many instances of this. 08:13.900 --> 08:21.100 And this is an amazing image, this vessel with all the 08:21.100 --> 08:23.330 animals in Circe's house. 08:23.333 --> 08:25.973 And I think that we recognize that actually there's a strong 08:25.967 --> 08:27.997 Egyptian influence. 08:28.000 --> 08:30.730 These images look very Egyptian, and there is in fact 08:30.733 --> 08:34.373 constant traffic between ancient Greece and Egypt. 08:34.367 --> 08:38.827 So it's part of the impetus for thinking about humans and 08:38.833 --> 08:42.773 non-humans as coming from Egypt as well. 08:42.767 --> 08:45.467 And just to complete our discussion of the epic 08:45.467 --> 08:47.967 tradition, Dante's doing the same thing. 08:47.967 --> 08:49.797 And I just wanted to alert you that the 08:49.800 --> 08:52.400 snake is very important. 08:52.400 --> 08:55.670 The connection between the human and the non-human in the 08:55.667 --> 09:02.527 Inferno is that Dante's basic punitive philosophy is that 09:02.533 --> 09:07.233 humans get punished by being changed into something that 09:07.233 --> 09:09.203 resembles the crime. 09:09.200 --> 09:12.830 So thieves, because they're sneaky and they snake their 09:12.833 --> 09:17.273 way into other people's dwellings and take what 09:17.267 --> 09:20.827 belongs to them, that thieves are turned into 09:20.833 --> 09:23.003 snakes in the Inferno. 09:23.000 --> 09:25.930 So lots of snakes in the Inferno. 09:25.933 --> 09:28.603 And one more dramatic presentation. 09:28.600 --> 09:32.700 All of these are by William Blake, so we have a really 09:32.700 --> 09:36.130 interesting conjunction of a nineteenth-century author 09:36.133 --> 09:39.073 going back to Dante and reproducing these very 09:39.067 --> 09:42.227 emblematic moments. 09:42.233 --> 09:44.703 So we have on record a nineteenth-century author, 09:44.700 --> 09:48.900 William Blake, being inspired by the epic tradition. 09:48.900 --> 09:54.000 And I think that Faulkner is a twentieth-century instance of 09:54.000 --> 09:56.230 a similar kind of inspiration. 09:56.233 --> 10:03.673 But as with Faulkner, he adds another layer of complexity to 10:03.667 --> 10:05.097 the epic tradition. 10:05.100 --> 10:07.770 And I would say that this is actually one of the most 10:07.767 --> 10:13.197 important innovations in As I Lay Dying, in many ways more 10:13.200 --> 10:16.600 interesting than the epic journey itself, is that humans 10:16.600 --> 10:21.470 are rarely identified with just one kind of animal. 10:21.467 --> 10:24.267 More often, they are pulled between 10:24.267 --> 10:27.567 two ends of a spectrum. 10:27.567 --> 10:30.967 They are sometimes identified with one and sometimes 10:30.967 --> 10:32.067 identified with the other. 10:32.067 --> 10:34.597 And sometimes it's a mixture of the two. 10:34.600 --> 10:39.100 So the two characters that I would like to talk about in 10:39.100 --> 10:45.670 that context is first of all Tull and then Jewel. 10:45.667 --> 10:49.267 Tull is a minor character, but in many ways he's a really 10:49.267 --> 10:55.897 good example to concentrate on to try to get a sense of the 10:55.900 --> 10:59.230 basic narrative strategies in Faulkner. 10:59.233 --> 11:03.873 So I would just like to stop here for a moment and talk 11:03.867 --> 11:09.297 about possible paper topics when you think of the upcoming 11:09.300 --> 11:13.830 long paper is to focus on minor characters. 11:13.833 --> 11:19.973 It is counterintuitive to use minor characters as the main 11:19.967 --> 11:23.427 subject of your papers, but actually I promise you, 11:23.433 --> 11:25.903 especially in the case of Faulkner, you can get 11:25.900 --> 11:31.500 wonderful papers by focusing on someone like Tull or even 11:31.500 --> 11:36.500 someone like Cora, a very unobvious entry point. 11:36.500 --> 11:39.830 But because they are unobvious entry points, you can actually 11:39.833 --> 11:42.273 end up writing really interesting and surprising and 11:42.267 --> 11:44.067 compelling papers. 11:44.067 --> 11:47.127 So I'll try to give you a demonstration today of what 11:47.133 --> 11:51.003 could be done by focusing on a minor character like Tull and 11:51.000 --> 11:55.170 then obviously moving on to a more central character, Jewel. 11:55.167 --> 11:59.897 So I would like to argue that Tull is basically identified 11:59.900 --> 12:03.400 with two opposing kinds of animal. 12:03.400 --> 12:08.770 One is the mule, the indispensable animal among 12:08.767 --> 12:13.827 poor whites, the mule rather than the horse, and then a 12:13.833 --> 12:17.103 creature that also makes a routine appearance in 12:17.100 --> 12:18.800 Faulkner, the buzzard. 12:18.800 --> 12:24.730 So first of all, the mule and Tull as mule-like. 12:24.733 --> 12:29.003 "When I looked back at my mule, it was like he was one 12:29.000 --> 12:32.900 of these spy-glasses, and I could look at him standing 12:32.900 --> 12:38.000 there and see all the broad land and my house sweated out 12:38.000 --> 12:43.370 of it like it was the more the sweat, the broader the land. 12:43.367 --> 12:46.797 The more the sweat, the tighter the house. 12:46.800 --> 12:51.600 Because it would take a tight house for Cora, to hold Cora 12:51.600 --> 12:54.330 like a jar of milk in the spring. 12:54.333 --> 12:56.303 You've got to have a tight jar, or you 12:56.300 --> 12:57.900 need a power spring. 12:57.900 --> 13:01.200 So if you have a big spring, why then, you have the 13:01.200 --> 13:04.730 incentive to have tight, well-made jars. 13:04.733 --> 13:08.003 Because it is your milk, sour or not. 13:08.000 --> 13:12.200 Because you would rather have milk that will sour than to 13:12.200 --> 13:16.030 have milk that won't, because you are a man." 13:16.033 --> 13:20.473 I have no idea what he's talking about. 13:20.467 --> 13:22.167 This is really-- 13:22.167 --> 13:24.827 I think maybe it's just the sound of it that Faulkner 13:24.833 --> 13:29.573 wants us to get the flavor of thoughts that might have been 13:29.567 --> 13:31.527 coursing through Tull's head. 13:31.533 --> 13:35.933 It's just a wonderful moment talking about manhood among 13:35.933 --> 13:42.033 poor whites, people who don't have a lot to prove their 13:42.033 --> 13:48.203 manhood with, no flask, no cars, no iPhones, nothing. 13:48.200 --> 13:54.230 So very poor equipment with which to prove your manhood. 13:54.233 --> 14:01.733 And the only thing that Tull can use is just his mule. 14:01.733 --> 14:04.073 And so he's looking at his mule. 14:04.067 --> 14:08.967 And by looking at his mule, somehow his thoughts meander 14:08.967 --> 14:13.397 to the most important person in his life, his wife, Cora. 14:13.400 --> 14:18.730 And that is his claim to Cora. 14:18.733 --> 14:24.873 So I won't be able to tell you the exact logic behind this 14:24.867 --> 14:29.097 little bit of reasoning, which is really more emotional 14:29.100 --> 14:32.230 reasoning than cerebral reasoning. 14:32.233 --> 14:36.003 But it seems that Tull is saying that his claim to Cora, 14:36.000 --> 14:40.230 the way that he can keep her, keep her in a tight house, 14:40.233 --> 14:44.703 both in the physical house but also in a tight place in his 14:44.700 --> 14:50.530 heart and in her heart, is by being a very good laborer, by 14:50.533 --> 14:57.573 sweating and cultivating the land and making sure that the 14:57.567 --> 15:02.097 more the sweat, the tighter the house. 15:02.100 --> 15:08.400 So this is the logic, that this is the nature of manhood 15:08.400 --> 15:13.430 among poor whites is that it is by the sweat of your brow 15:13.433 --> 15:16.603 that you can win the woman's heart. 15:16.600 --> 15:19.130 It's nothing fancy, nothing 15:19.133 --> 15:21.603 complicated, very simple logic. 15:21.600 --> 15:23.100 But of course, it doesn't come out in a 15:23.100 --> 15:26.970 simple way in Faulkner. 15:26.967 --> 15:33.827 And that really is the defining nature of existence 15:33.833 --> 15:38.273 of very poor, rural people is that basically you only have 15:38.267 --> 15:41.527 one thing to prove yourself. 15:41.533 --> 15:44.973 And we can see that why on this one thing Anse is such an 15:44.967 --> 15:48.127 inadequate specimen of masculinity. 15:48.133 --> 15:50.933 He's just not a very good workman. 15:50.933 --> 15:54.873 So Tull is by contrast someone who is fully adequate, fully 15:54.867 --> 15:59.427 competent, fully impressive specimen of manhood in that 15:59.433 --> 16:01.933 particular environment. 16:01.933 --> 16:03.173 And he's very proud. 16:03.167 --> 16:04.827 This is a very joyful moment. 16:04.833 --> 16:08.203 This is one of the great scenes about marriage. 16:08.200 --> 16:11.500 And on Thursday, we'll talk about a contrasting scene of a 16:11.500 --> 16:16.070 very bad marriage, contrasting with this very happy scene of 16:16.067 --> 16:19.097 a married couple in Faulkner. 16:19.100 --> 16:26.230 But as with Faulkner, mules don't stay happy forever, or 16:26.233 --> 16:30.733 humans that are like mules don't stay happy forever. 16:30.733 --> 16:36.203 So we are turning to a different meaning of the mules 16:36.200 --> 16:43.100 when the journey takes both an epic but also a tragic turn 16:43.100 --> 16:47.630 when they try to cross the river when the bridge is gone. 16:47.633 --> 16:52.933 And the mules are supposed to pull the cart across the 16:52.933 --> 16:55.733 river, which they know they cannot do, so they're just 16:55.733 --> 16:59.773 looking at this impending disaster. 16:59.767 --> 17:04.297 And once again, the mules as emblematic of people who know 17:04.300 --> 17:07.170 that something terrible is going to happen but with 17:07.167 --> 17:11.167 absolutely no power to stop that from happening. 17:11.167 --> 17:14.697 "The mules stand, their forequarters already sloped a 17:14.700 --> 17:17.430 little, their rumps high. 17:17.433 --> 17:22.173 They too are breathing now with a deep groaning sound. 17:22.167 --> 17:26.427 Looking back once, their gaze sweeps across us, within their 17:26.433 --> 17:32.033 eyes a wild, sad, profound, and despairing quality, as 17:32.033 --> 17:35.673 though they had already seen in the thick water the shape 17:35.667 --> 17:39.597 of the disaster which they could not speak and we could 17:39.600 --> 17:41.100 not see." 17:41.100 --> 17:45.830 So I think the epic convention is-- in fact, the entire 17:45.833 --> 17:50.203 ancient Greek tradition is invoked in two ways, both in 17:50.200 --> 17:55.930 the mules as in many ways emblematic of humans but also 17:55.933 --> 17:58.633 in the function of a tragic chorus. 17:58.633 --> 18:01.233 We know that this is a structural feature in Greek 18:01.233 --> 18:06.073 tragedy, a chorus looking on knowing that a catastrophe is 18:06.067 --> 18:09.197 about to hit but with absolutely no ability to 18:09.200 --> 18:10.470 prevent its coming. 18:10.467 --> 18:13.027 So that's what the mules are doing here. 18:13.033 --> 18:15.673 That's the function, that's the epic function within As I 18:15.667 --> 18:21.397 Lay Dying, very much associated with a resigned but 18:21.400 --> 18:27.930 resilient attitude that we've seen in Tull, but in this 18:27.933 --> 18:33.073 case, the resignation and the personal bravery, that those 18:33.067 --> 18:37.997 two qualities aren't really adequate to stopping the 18:38.000 --> 18:40.200 arrival of a catastrophe. 18:40.200 --> 18:47.430 So in the next moment, we see what happens to the mules. 18:47.433 --> 18:53.433 And this is in many ways simply a logical conclusion of 18:53.433 --> 18:56.573 what they have already been aware of. 18:56.567 --> 19:01.297 This is a completely unsurprising ending to this 19:01.300 --> 19:06.470 sequence begun by the mules as the tragic chorus. 19:06.467 --> 19:10.927 "Between two hills, I see the mules once more. 19:10.933 --> 19:14.873 They roll up out of the water in succession, turning 19:14.867 --> 19:20.297 completely over, their legs stiffly extended, as when they 19:20.300 --> 19:24.370 had lost contact with the earth." 19:24.367 --> 19:31.597 So this is in many ways a backward gesture to that 19:31.600 --> 19:38.470 earlier happy moment when the mules are fully contented and 19:38.467 --> 19:43.497 fully capable of doing what they can do within their own 19:43.500 --> 19:45.170 environment. 19:45.167 --> 19:48.867 Mules are creatures with feet of clay. 19:48.867 --> 19:53.267 That's what's clear in this kind of sequence is that 19:53.267 --> 19:57.227 because they are creatures with feet of clay, they can 19:57.233 --> 20:01.503 only survive when they are on solid earth. 20:01.500 --> 20:04.770 And when they're on solid earth, they are very good in 20:04.767 --> 20:09.297 making that earth productive and reproductive. 20:09.300 --> 20:12.000 So this is really what Tull is talking about. 20:12.000 --> 20:14.170 He's a very productive farmer. 20:14.167 --> 20:19.997 He's also reproductively happy with Cora. 20:20.000 --> 20:26.400 That is the nature but also the limits of a mule-like 20:26.400 --> 20:30.000 existence is that there's certain lines that mules 20:30.000 --> 20:31.030 cannot cross. 20:31.033 --> 20:34.273 They cannot transcend their own condition. 20:34.267 --> 20:40.867 As creatures with feet of clay, they can only be OK-- 20:40.867 --> 20:44.267 and it really is no more than that-- they can be OK only 20:44.267 --> 20:46.067 within one setting. 20:46.067 --> 20:52.767 And in this other moment, when they left the customary 20:52.767 --> 20:56.427 setting and they are stuck trying to negotiate with a 20:56.433 --> 21:00.673 swollen river, we know that the mules will not survive in 21:00.667 --> 21:02.497 that kind of transformed setting. 21:02.500 --> 21:06.230 So in many ways, a perfect analogy for the poor whites, 21:06.233 --> 21:10.573 that they can do relatively well when they're left to 21:10.567 --> 21:13.097 their own devices, when they're allowed simply to 21:13.100 --> 21:14.330 stick to their environment. 21:14.333 --> 21:17.133 But once they're taken out of their environment, then we 21:17.133 --> 21:20.203 know that terrible things are going to happen to them. 21:20.200 --> 21:24.800 So in this particular sequence, Tull being 21:24.800 --> 21:29.070 associated with the mules, he's basically defenseless. 21:29.067 --> 21:33.427 He wants just to be allowed to live life 21:33.433 --> 21:35.803 according to his own fashion. 21:35.800 --> 21:39.270 That really is the basic requirement of the mules is to 21:39.267 --> 21:44.197 be let alone and to be allowed just to survive as 21:44.200 --> 21:46.370 they know how to do. 21:46.367 --> 21:52.327 That is a very innocuous and in many ways a very sad 21:52.333 --> 21:55.503 portrait of the poor whites but basically innocuous. 21:55.500 --> 22:00.900 But Faulkner really also has a somewhat different image of 22:00.900 --> 22:04.600 what the poor white community might amount to. 22:04.600 --> 22:08.800 And so he's not just going to give us an image of poor 22:08.800 --> 22:12.070 whites as defenseless but basically non-aggressive. 22:12.067 --> 22:15.227 Mules are completely non-aggressive. 22:15.233 --> 22:20.033 Faulkner does think that there actually is an element of 22:20.033 --> 22:23.733 aggression in a very close-knit community, 22:23.733 --> 22:26.503 especially a close-knit community such as the poor 22:26.500 --> 22:27.600 white community. 22:27.600 --> 22:32.370 And we see that in the next image of the poor whites 22:32.367 --> 22:35.367 coming not surprisingly from Jewel. 22:35.367 --> 22:39.167 This is how Jewel thinks about his neighbors. 22:39.167 --> 22:43.667 "And now them others, sitting there, like buzzards. 22:43.667 --> 22:48.597 Waiting, fanning themselves, every bastard in the country 22:48.600 --> 22:52.170 coming in to stare at her." 22:52.167 --> 22:57.267 We've talked about hatred as a very important emotion, as a 22:57.267 --> 23:00.767 kind of emotional bond within the family. 23:00.767 --> 23:04.697 And we now see that hatred is also a very important 23:04.700 --> 23:10.870 emotional bond within a small, isolated community. 23:10.867 --> 23:14.667 Not only does Jewel hate someone like Tull, because 23:14.667 --> 23:17.127 they're always sitting there watching your every move, not 23:17.133 --> 23:22.833 only does Jewel hate Tull, but he also imagines that there is 23:22.833 --> 23:26.533 an element of aggression, something that is not quite 23:26.533 --> 23:29.203 benign coming from the neighbors. 23:29.200 --> 23:34.500 And that is really why he's so suspicious of them and so 23:34.500 --> 23:38.100 ill-disposed towards them on his part. 23:38.100 --> 23:42.070 And the buzzards actually will appear over and over again. 23:42.067 --> 23:46.767 We've already seen them in The Sound and the Fury, the 23:46.767 --> 23:51.427 buzzards collecting around the body of the dog, Nancy, in the 23:51.433 --> 23:56.603 ditch and buzzards that Benjy imagines would go and undress 23:56.600 --> 23:57.730 his dead grandmother. 23:57.733 --> 24:01.103 So buzzards have already appeared in Faulkner. 24:01.100 --> 24:04.430 But in As I Lay Dying, buzzards as a physical 24:04.433 --> 24:07.003 presence will be quite important. 24:07.000 --> 24:11.600 And also as a metaphoric presence to talk about what 24:11.600 --> 24:15.230 your neighbors might really be like in their hearts-- 24:15.233 --> 24:18.503 not in their outward behavior, but in their hearts, they 24:18.500 --> 24:20.600 might be just like buzzards. 24:20.600 --> 24:25.570 And here's an image of buzzards to explain why Jewel 24:25.567 --> 24:29.367 might think that the neighbors are like them. 24:29.367 --> 24:34.467 So Tull, as I said, is obviously not the main 24:34.467 --> 24:37.227 protagonist in As I Lay Dying. 24:37.233 --> 24:43.833 But he is an important clue to what Faulkner is trying to do. 24:43.833 --> 24:47.333 Because the way Faulkner portrays Jewel, a very 24:47.333 --> 24:52.733 important character, is almost exactly analogous to the way 24:52.733 --> 24:59.103 he portrays Tull, except that what in Tull is dispersed and 24:59.100 --> 25:00.500 sequenced-- 25:00.500 --> 25:05.370 Tull is sometimes identified with the mule and sometimes 25:05.367 --> 25:06.827 identified with the buzzard. 25:06.833 --> 25:10.233 We don't actually see him being simultaneously 25:10.233 --> 25:12.603 identified with both. 25:12.600 --> 25:18.700 What is sequenced and spaced out in Tull would quite often 25:18.700 --> 25:23.730 be collapsed together as one in Faulkner's 25:23.733 --> 25:25.033 portrayal of Jewel. 25:25.033 --> 25:31.033 So in this moment, we actually see Jewel being likened to two 25:31.033 --> 25:34.873 animals, not just one, not just his horse, which is 25:34.867 --> 25:39.227 obviously the main creature that he's affiliated with, not 25:39.233 --> 25:42.203 just the horse, but something else. 25:42.200 --> 25:44.370 "'Come here, sir,' Jewel says. 25:44.367 --> 25:45.867 He moves. 25:45.867 --> 25:49.727 Moving that quick, his coat, bunching, tongue swirling like 25:49.733 --> 25:51.273 so many flames. 25:51.267 --> 25:55.527 With tossing mane and tall and rolling eye, the horse makes 25:55.533 --> 26:00.703 another short curvetting rush and stops again, feet bunched, 26:00.700 --> 26:02.100 watching Jewel. 26:02.100 --> 26:07.000 Jewel walks steadily toward him, his hands at his sides. 26:07.000 --> 26:11.330 Save for Jewel's legs, they are like figures carved for a 26:11.333 --> 26:14.573 tableau savage in the sun. 26:14.567 --> 26:17.727 "When Jewel can almost touch him, the horse stands on its 26:17.733 --> 26:21.173 hind legs and slashes maze of hooves as by 26:21.167 --> 26:22.567 an illusion of wings. 26:22.567 --> 26:26.227 Among them, beneath the upreared chest, he moves with 26:26.233 --> 26:29.703 the flashing limberness of a snake. 26:29.700 --> 26:33.100 For an instant, before the jerk comes into his arms, he 26:33.100 --> 26:37.670 sees his whole body, earth-free, horizontal, 26:37.667 --> 26:42.567 whipping snake-limber, until he finds the horse's nostrils 26:42.567 --> 26:45.567 and touches earth again." 26:45.567 --> 26:48.497 So many things to say about this moment. 26:48.500 --> 26:49.400 The first-- 26:49.400 --> 26:52.230 and we've referenced back to the mules and the fact that 26:52.233 --> 26:53.973 they are creatures of clay-- 26:53.967 --> 26:57.767 is that Faulkner is basically making a very deep, metaphoric 26:57.767 --> 27:00.697 distinction between two kinds of animals. 27:00.700 --> 27:03.830 There are animals like the mules, who can't swim and can 27:03.833 --> 27:08.533 only survive when they are on solid earth, and then there 27:08.533 --> 27:12.473 are other creatures, the horse being the main example, who 27:12.467 --> 27:17.327 actually can leave the earth for a nontrivial length of 27:17.333 --> 27:20.303 time and be able to survive when they're not 27:20.300 --> 27:21.770 touching the earth. 27:21.767 --> 27:26.327 So right here, we know that Jewel is a very different kind 27:26.333 --> 27:28.303 of person from Tull. 27:28.300 --> 27:32.800 Yes, he is in a poor white community. 27:32.800 --> 27:35.400 His parents appear to be poor whites. 27:35.400 --> 27:38.900 But for some reason, there is something else about Jewel 27:38.900 --> 27:41.200 that makes him different. 27:41.200 --> 27:44.900 He's more horse-like than mule-like. 27:44.900 --> 27:49.270 So this is a backward reference to another important 27:49.267 --> 27:50.967 animal in As I Lay Dying. 27:50.967 --> 27:56.127 But within the compass of this particular passage, what is 27:56.133 --> 28:01.973 really interesting is the simultaneous co-presence of 28:01.967 --> 28:04.427 the horse and the snake. 28:04.433 --> 28:08.773 And for most of us, the two of them actually really are not 28:08.767 --> 28:10.067 that alike. 28:10.067 --> 28:14.697 It's hard to think of any kind of kinship, really, between 28:14.700 --> 28:17.300 the horse and the snake. 28:17.300 --> 28:19.900 They look different, and they have very different 28:19.900 --> 28:24.000 connotations in our common understanding 28:24.000 --> 28:25.670 of those two animals. 28:25.667 --> 28:32.627 So let's try to see what it is that enables Faulkner to bring 28:32.633 --> 28:34.073 those two animals together. 28:34.067 --> 28:37.197 Well, we know that the horse is a winged horse, so this is 28:37.200 --> 28:39.130 going back to the epic tradition. 28:39.133 --> 28:40.203 It's an illusion of wings. 28:40.200 --> 28:45.000 This is not just a horse that is an earthly creature, but 28:45.000 --> 28:48.800 seemingly one of the winged horses of Greek mythology. 28:48.800 --> 28:52.900 And certainly the horse is acting like a mythic horse, in 28:52.900 --> 28:59.230 that the motion is almost beyond just the physical 28:59.233 --> 29:02.133 capability of any earthly creature. 29:02.133 --> 29:08.573 So it is the body in motion, but not being registered as 29:08.567 --> 29:14.967 body at all, but simply as bodily parts coming into view, 29:14.967 --> 29:18.267 when suddenly you are seeing that bodily part, but not 29:18.267 --> 29:20.227 really the entire horse. 29:20.233 --> 29:23.403 And that actually was the way that Vardaman was thinking of 29:23.400 --> 29:25.130 the horse as well. 29:25.133 --> 29:29.473 We'll go back to that moment. 29:29.467 --> 29:34.697 In Vardaman's representation of the horse in the barn, "It 29:34.700 --> 29:38.700 was as though the dark were resolving him out of his 29:38.700 --> 29:44.330 integrity into an unrelated scattering of components-- 29:44.333 --> 29:48.033 snuffings and stampings, smells of cooling flesh and 29:48.033 --> 29:50.403 ammoniac hair," and so on. 29:50.400 --> 29:54.430 So Vardaman has exactly the same kind of scattered 29:54.433 --> 29:56.073 representation. 29:56.067 --> 29:58.997 The horse is moving so fast that we're not actually seeing 29:59.000 --> 30:04.330 the horse as a single, integrated being, but simply 30:04.333 --> 30:07.373 as different bodily parts coming into 30:07.367 --> 30:09.267 view through the motion. 30:09.267 --> 30:12.567 So really it's less about the body, less about the horse's 30:12.567 --> 30:15.527 body, than about a very fast, almost 30:15.533 --> 30:18.033 transcendent kind of motion. 30:18.033 --> 30:24.003 And that is really how Jewel's horse is represented to us. 30:24.000 --> 30:25.270 We don't see him as a horse. 30:25.267 --> 30:29.997 We simply see him as something that is in constant motion. 30:30.000 --> 30:35.530 But more than that, it is the very ambiguous relation 30:35.533 --> 30:39.473 between Jewel and the horse. 30:39.467 --> 30:42.127 Obviously, Jewel loves his horse. 30:42.133 --> 30:46.733 He's done a lot of work to get the horse. 30:46.733 --> 30:49.803 It is very much his horse. 30:49.800 --> 30:55.400 But it is not exactly an affectionate relation. 30:55.400 --> 31:00.930 It is a battle between two creatures very important to 31:00.933 --> 31:02.273 each other. 31:02.267 --> 31:06.697 The horse probably is the most important creature to Jewel, 31:06.700 --> 31:08.930 but there's no affection there. 31:08.933 --> 31:10.733 So what is the feeling? 31:10.733 --> 31:15.833 What is the emotional bond between these two things if it 31:15.833 --> 31:21.403 is not common affection, which is the most ordinary and 31:21.400 --> 31:25.370 easily recognizable and recognized human bond? 31:25.367 --> 31:26.567 It's not there. 31:26.567 --> 31:30.067 What is this other emotion that is there? 31:30.067 --> 31:33.797 And it seems that what Faulkner is suggesting is that 31:33.800 --> 31:39.600 instead of the common human affection, it is a snake-like 31:39.600 --> 31:45.300 quality that is binding Jewel to his horse. 31:45.300 --> 31:50.030 We don't know what emotions snakes have. They're not 31:50.033 --> 31:53.603 credited with having emotions, other than sneakiness, which 31:53.600 --> 31:55.730 isn't really an emotion. 31:55.733 --> 32:02.203 So we don't actually know what kind of emotional bonds can 32:02.200 --> 32:05.200 come from snakes, aggression or maybe some degree of 32:05.200 --> 32:09.670 hatred, but that is a general thing. 32:09.667 --> 32:12.867 It's not a benign feeling, that's for sure. 32:12.867 --> 32:17.297 So right now, let's just say that we don't completely 32:17.300 --> 32:22.730 understand what is going on here or why the snake is a 32:22.733 --> 32:26.003 very important supplement to the relation between 32:26.000 --> 32:27.730 Jewel and the horse. 32:27.733 --> 32:31.133 We're back, once again, to what we've been talking about 32:31.133 --> 32:33.673 earlier, which is the narrative as a 32:33.667 --> 32:36.527 secret-bearing narrative. 32:36.533 --> 32:38.603 This is not social dialect. 32:38.600 --> 32:40.130 This is words with secrets. 32:40.133 --> 32:42.673 That's what we're seeing right here. 32:42.667 --> 32:47.927 And just to highlight how unusual this description of 32:47.933 --> 32:51.603 Jewel and the horse is, I just want to go back very briefly 32:51.600 --> 32:56.170 to a contrasting moment in Hemingway, when once again we 32:56.167 --> 32:58.727 see a human paired with an animal that is very important 32:58.733 --> 33:00.933 to him in In Our Time. 33:00.933 --> 33:03.873 This is the matador killing the bull. 33:03.867 --> 33:07.597 "When he started to kill it, it was all in the same rush. 33:07.600 --> 33:11.530 The bull looking at him straight in front, hating. 33:11.533 --> 33:17.003 The bull charged and Villalta charged and just for a moment 33:17.000 --> 33:18.500 they became one. 33:18.500 --> 33:23.070 Villalta became one with the bull and then it was over." 33:23.067 --> 33:28.097 In this passage in Hemingway, actually, the emotion of 33:28.100 --> 33:31.800 hatred is quite important as well. 33:31.800 --> 33:37.370 So in an odd way, just like Faulkner, Hemingway is also 33:37.367 --> 33:41.467 interested in hatred as a powerful emotional bond. 33:41.467 --> 33:44.067 And that really is what enables the 33:44.067 --> 33:45.667 bullfight to go on. 33:45.667 --> 33:53.497 But it is hatred so clear and so transparent and so 33:53.500 --> 33:59.430 ritualistic and so ceremonious that it is also transformed by 33:59.433 --> 34:02.533 that ritual into a kind of love, really. 34:02.533 --> 34:06.933 So in Hemingway, it is very, very clear. 34:06.933 --> 34:09.703 It's the clarity of the sentiment that is in the 34:09.700 --> 34:10.270 foreground. 34:10.267 --> 34:11.897 There's really nothing more to say. 34:11.900 --> 34:15.000 The bull and the matador have become one. 34:15.000 --> 34:17.170 Hemingway keeps repeating that. 34:17.167 --> 34:21.797 Everything is completely clear, and there is no secret 34:21.800 --> 34:22.900 whatsoever. 34:22.900 --> 34:29.330 By contrast, this is a secretive narrative that 34:29.333 --> 34:31.873 flaunts its secret in our face. 34:31.867 --> 34:34.067 We don't really understand what's going on. 34:34.067 --> 34:37.427 And that is the purpose of this kind of narration -- 34:37.433 --> 34:41.203 so just to refresh your memory, we're drawing 34:41.200 --> 34:44.100 inspiration from Frank Kermode's 34:44.100 --> 34:47.270 classic, Genesis of Secrecy. 34:47.267 --> 34:54.727 And the moment when Faulkner is highlighting, dramatizing 34:54.733 --> 35:01.003 the existence of a secret is by way of Jewel's horse. 35:01.000 --> 35:05.200 And this time it is a fully dramatized moment, in the 35:05.200 --> 35:08.830 sense that not only is the horse there and not only is 35:08.833 --> 35:11.133 Jewel there, but everyone else is there. 35:11.133 --> 35:13.573 So there's the entire tragic chorus-- 35:13.567 --> 35:16.527 or maybe in this case not completely tragic either-- 35:16.533 --> 35:19.373 but the entire chorus is there witnessing 35:19.367 --> 35:20.967 this dramatic exchange. 35:20.967 --> 35:24.497 And it is no longer an exchange between Jewel and the 35:24.500 --> 35:26.670 horse, but someone else. 35:26.667 --> 35:29.697 "'Jewel,' ma said, looking at him. 35:29.700 --> 35:30.930 'I'll give-- 35:30.933 --> 35:32.103 I'll give-- 35:32.100 --> 35:35.600 give.' Then she began to cry. 35:35.600 --> 35:40.070 She cried hard, not hiding her face, standing there in her 35:40.067 --> 35:44.327 faded wrapper, looking at him and him on the horse looking 35:44.333 --> 35:49.403 down at her, his face growing cold and a little sick-looking 35:49.400 --> 35:53.970 until he looked away quick, and Cash came and touched her. 35:53.967 --> 35:56.467 'You go on to the house,' Cash said. 35:56.467 --> 35:58.727 'This here ground is too wet for you. 35:58.733 --> 36:00.533 You go on, now.' 36:00.533 --> 36:04.403 "That night, I found ma sitting beside the bed where 36:04.400 --> 36:06.270 he was sleeping in the dark. 36:06.267 --> 36:11.097 She cried hard, maybe because she had to cry so quiet, maybe 36:11.100 --> 36:14.730 because she felt the same way about tears as she did about 36:14.733 --> 36:20.433 deceit, hating herself for doing it, hating him because 36:20.433 --> 36:22.003 she had to. 36:22.000 --> 36:24.270 And then I knew that I knew. 36:24.267 --> 36:30.427 I knew that as plain as on the day I knew about Dewey Dell." 36:30.433 --> 36:36.373 So this is the moment when the secret is exposed. 36:36.367 --> 36:43.027 And it is exposed of course without Faulkner ever coming 36:43.033 --> 36:50.233 close to the very simple nature of that secret. 36:50.233 --> 36:53.933 It is completely by way of this detour 36:53.933 --> 36:56.203 around Jewel's horse. 36:56.200 --> 37:01.100 The way we know that there is a secret is that Addie's 37:01.100 --> 37:05.670 response to the horse is nothing like what would have 37:05.667 --> 37:08.267 been a normal response to a horse. 37:08.267 --> 37:11.567 Her son disappears night after night. 37:11.567 --> 37:13.727 People don't know where he goes. 37:13.733 --> 37:17.433 And then all of a sudden, he comes back with this horse, an 37:17.433 --> 37:19.903 unheard of possession among poor whites. 37:19.900 --> 37:21.700 Mules would be the standard animals to 37:21.700 --> 37:22.770 have for poor whites. 37:22.767 --> 37:27.097 A horse is not at all the thing to have or that anyone 37:27.100 --> 37:31.470 could have. So this is a possession that is 37:31.467 --> 37:33.997 inappropriate for poor whites. 37:34.000 --> 37:38.030 And Vardaman's response is what would've been an 37:38.033 --> 37:40.973 ordinary, completely understandable response is, 37:40.967 --> 37:42.197 let me ride the horse. 37:42.200 --> 37:46.970 So Vardaman is reacting as anyone would react. 37:46.967 --> 37:54.627 Addie's response is by crying, which I guess could still have 37:54.633 --> 38:03.533 been normal, except that the response then from Jewel is 38:03.533 --> 38:06.473 that his face is growing cold. 38:06.467 --> 38:11.697 And then he's looking at her, and the more he looks at her, 38:11.700 --> 38:15.430 the more sick-looking he becomes. 38:15.433 --> 38:20.803 So that is not in the script at all. 38:20.800 --> 38:29.630 If the horse had been anything but a good event, if the horse 38:29.633 --> 38:33.603 had simply been a joyous acquisition, none of this 38:33.600 --> 38:35.400 would have happened. 38:35.400 --> 38:40.630 So what is it that transforms a joyous acquisition into 38:40.633 --> 38:45.203 something that people can either cry about or be very 38:45.200 --> 38:50.170 uneasy about or something that requires some degree of 38:50.167 --> 38:53.497 comforting, which is what Cash seems to be doing? 38:53.500 --> 38:55.970 Here is this proud mother. 38:55.967 --> 38:57.997 And Addie ought to be a proud mother. 38:58.000 --> 39:02.000 And instead, Cash is talking to her as if something 39:02.000 --> 39:05.870 terrible had happened to her. "Go on back to the house. 39:05.867 --> 39:07.027 Go on, now. 39:07.033 --> 39:11.833 The ground is too wet for you." The solicitude coming 39:11.833 --> 39:15.473 from Cash is also inexplicable. 39:15.467 --> 39:18.527 So we can say that from every single person-- 39:18.533 --> 39:22.433 the overreaction of Addie, the crying, the sick-looking 39:22.433 --> 39:26.703 expression on Jewel's face, the over-solicitude coming 39:26.700 --> 39:28.030 from Cash-- 39:28.033 --> 39:31.273 all of those things are things that should not be in the 39:31.267 --> 39:33.797 script but surprisingly are in the script. 39:33.800 --> 39:37.900 And then we know that there really is something that could 39:37.900 --> 39:41.270 be named, that could be identified and named. 39:41.267 --> 39:47.797 And even though Darl is not going to name it for us, he 39:47.800 --> 39:54.070 comes as close as he can to saying that word. 39:54.067 --> 40:00.797 So the way he tells us is that, "I knew that as plain on 40:00.800 --> 40:07.100 that day as I knew about Dewey Dell." So right here, we see a 40:07.100 --> 40:10.770 backward reproduction in terms of Faulkner's 40:10.767 --> 40:12.227 characterization. 40:12.233 --> 40:15.903 We know about Dewey Dell's pregnancy out of wedlock 40:15.900 --> 40:22.000 first, and this is the thing that Darl knows about, this 40:22.000 --> 40:24.270 transparent secret. 40:24.267 --> 40:29.867 It is Dewey Dell's out-of-wedlock pregnancy that 40:29.867 --> 40:32.597 is being reproduced in her mother. 40:32.600 --> 40:36.630 This is the interesting backward reproduction, like 40:36.633 --> 40:39.473 mother, like daughter. 40:39.467 --> 40:42.867 And in this case, we know about the daughter's condition 40:42.867 --> 40:46.667 first. And it's because Darl has exactly the same reaction 40:46.667 --> 40:50.497 now and exactly the same degree of knowledge now that 40:50.500 --> 40:54.670 we know that in fact what Dewey Dell is doing now has 40:54.667 --> 40:58.327 been done once before in the family by her mother. 40:58.333 --> 41:02.633 So a lot of things are hanging together, the fact that Jewel 41:02.633 --> 41:07.133 has a very different height, that can't be explained. 41:07.133 --> 41:11.073 The fact that Jewel can acquire a horse when nobody 41:11.067 --> 41:13.667 else in a poor white community, that can't be 41:13.667 --> 41:14.527 explained as well. 41:14.533 --> 41:19.403 A lot of things are falling into place with a suspicion 41:19.400 --> 41:22.830 that's just sneaking up on us. 41:22.833 --> 41:26.733 And I think that this is really why the snake is so 41:26.733 --> 41:31.133 important to Faulkner is that a discovery is 41:31.133 --> 41:32.733 sneaking up on us. 41:32.733 --> 41:36.303 It is sneaking up on everyone else. 41:36.300 --> 41:42.100 This is a snake that is not like the snake in Dante, a 41:42.100 --> 41:46.300 snake that takes the possession of someone else-- 41:46.300 --> 41:50.100 although there's an element of this as well-- but a snake 41:50.100 --> 41:54.630 that insinuates itself into our consciousness and imparts 41:54.633 --> 42:00.203 to us a degree of knowledge or a kind of knowledge that maybe 42:00.200 --> 42:03.530 we would prefer not to have. So this is really the very 42:03.533 --> 42:06.433 early snake, the snake that is the bearer of knowledge coming 42:06.433 --> 42:10.933 to Adam and Eve that is being invoked here. 42:10.933 --> 42:14.803 And just to clinch the case, just to make everything very, 42:14.800 --> 42:22.500 very clear, Faulkner now resorts to another convention, 42:22.500 --> 42:26.170 bringing Addie back to life so that she 42:26.167 --> 42:28.097 actually gets to say something. 42:28.100 --> 42:34.330 And there is no other explanation other than the 42:34.333 --> 42:40.333 poetic license afforded by the epic form that would allow for 42:40.333 --> 42:44.933 a completely non-realistic representation of the voice of 42:44.933 --> 42:48.673 a dead person in an otherwise realistic novel. 42:48.667 --> 42:51.797 But that is the poetic license that Faulkner is taking. 42:51.800 --> 42:54.870 So in a very, very strange moment, basically at the very 42:54.867 --> 42:58.197 heart of As I Lay Dying, we see the voice of Addie 42:58.200 --> 43:00.630 addressing us and talking about a past 43:00.633 --> 43:03.573 moment in her life. 43:03.567 --> 43:06.767 "I would think of sin as I would think of the clothes we 43:06.767 --> 43:11.427 both wore in the world's face, of the circumspection 43:11.433 --> 43:17.433 necessary, because he was he and I was I. The sin the more 43:17.433 --> 43:21.433 utter and terrible since he was the instrument ordained by 43:21.433 --> 43:24.773 God who created the sin to sanctify 43:24.767 --> 43:28.497 that sin he had created. 43:28.500 --> 43:31.330 While I waited for him in the woods, waiting for him because 43:31.333 --> 43:34.603 he saw me before he saw me, I would think of him 43:34.600 --> 43:36.300 as dressed in sin. 43:36.300 --> 43:39.400 He the more beautiful, since the garment which he had 43:39.400 --> 43:42.970 exchanged for sin was sanctified." 43:42.967 --> 43:51.467 It's a confession, I guess, as close to a confession as we 43:51.467 --> 43:55.327 can get about the paternity of Jewel. 43:55.333 --> 44:00.073 But that confession about the paternity of Jewel is 44:00.067 --> 44:06.667 characteristically couched in terms of a strange kind of 44:06.667 --> 44:13.027 satisfaction that Addie gets from this particular kind of 44:13.033 --> 44:18.803 affair, which is that the garment that her partner in 44:18.800 --> 44:24.470 sin has exchanged for that sin is actually all the more 44:24.467 --> 44:28.667 beautiful because it is sanctified by God. 44:28.667 --> 44:32.697 So that tells us who the father is. 44:32.700 --> 44:36.800 And Faulkner is being tongue-in-cheek here. 44:36.800 --> 44:39.870 The father, we figure out, is probably Whitfield. 44:39.867 --> 44:42.397 He's the only likely candidate. 44:42.400 --> 44:45.030 There's really no one else in that small community who could 44:45.033 --> 44:46.003 be the father. 44:46.000 --> 44:47.800 So there could only be one. 44:47.800 --> 44:52.300 But it turns out that Faulkner actually has taken his name 44:52.300 --> 44:57.530 from a historic figure, a very influential preacher, 44:57.533 --> 44:58.633 eighteenth-century preacher. 44:58.633 --> 45:02.203 Benjamin Franklin said that when he would go to hear 45:02.200 --> 45:05.030 Whitfield, he would make sure that he would have very little 45:05.033 --> 45:07.633 money on his person, because he just knew that he would 45:07.633 --> 45:12.403 empty out his pockets when Whitfield goes around and asks 45:12.400 --> 45:13.070 for donations. 45:13.067 --> 45:15.667 And sure enough, even though he takes very little money 45:15.667 --> 45:18.267 with him, he always walks away with empty pockets after 45:18.267 --> 45:18.867 Whitfield is done. 45:18.867 --> 45:23.097 So that's a very powerful, one of the most famous preachers 45:23.100 --> 45:24.830 of the 18th century. 45:24.833 --> 45:29.803 And Faulkner has recreated this preacher, but with a 45:29.800 --> 45:31.770 twist, in As I Lay Dying. 45:31.767 --> 45:33.667 This is his Whitfield. 45:33.667 --> 45:39.027 "It was His hand that bore me safely above the flood, that 45:39.033 --> 45:42.133 fended me from the dangers of the waters. 45:42.133 --> 45:46.373 My horse was frightened, and my own heart failed me as the 45:46.367 --> 45:51.067 logs and the uprooted trees bore down upon my littleness. 45:51.067 --> 45:53.097 But not my soul. 45:53.100 --> 45:56.030 I knew then that forgiveness was mine. 45:56.033 --> 46:01.773 The flood, the danger, behind, and as I rode on across the 46:01.767 --> 46:03.867 firm earth--" 46:03.867 --> 46:10.197 So the Bundrens aren't able to cross the swollen river. 46:10.200 --> 46:14.100 The mules drown in the river. 46:14.100 --> 46:19.570 One person is able to cross the river, because his horse 46:19.567 --> 46:23.197 is able to cross the river. 46:23.200 --> 46:30.500 So this is the genealogy of the horse, both as a horse but 46:30.500 --> 46:33.270 obviously also a snake as well. 46:33.267 --> 46:40.097 The full spectrum of meanings of the creature snake are 46:40.100 --> 46:42.600 revealed to us in pieces. 46:42.600 --> 46:46.600 And that's really the nature of the narrative, that we 46:46.600 --> 46:49.570 don't actually get the whole creature all at once. 46:49.567 --> 46:54.427 We see different bodily parts come into view with the motion 46:54.433 --> 46:56.533 of this creature. 46:56.533 --> 47:04.003 And with this established, finally established kinship 47:04.000 --> 47:10.000 between Jewel's horse and Whitfield's horse, in this 47:10.000 --> 47:12.670 case, a very well-behaved horse, not at all like the 47:12.667 --> 47:17.297 wild horse of Jewel, which also explains why Whitfield is 47:17.300 --> 47:22.030 a minister, whereas Jewel is nothing like that. 47:22.033 --> 47:25.433 So it's the wildness in the offspring that actually 47:25.433 --> 47:32.173 backward reproduces the mostly law-abiding but not completely 47:32.167 --> 47:36.527 law-abiding identity of the father. 47:36.533 --> 47:41.573 And just to add to that, here is Darl observing everything. 47:41.567 --> 47:46.397 And this is the clearest indication that the animal for 47:46.400 --> 47:48.500 Whitfield is also the horse. 47:48.500 --> 47:52.600 "On the horse he rode up to Armstid's and came back on the 47:52.600 --> 47:52.870 horse." 47:52.867 --> 47:56.527 It's almost too heavy-handed to emphasize this detail over 47:56.533 --> 47:59.003 and over again, and it would have been completely uncalled 47:59.000 --> 48:04.170 for, except for the fact that we really need to have a 48:04.167 --> 48:08.127 narrative genealogy for Jewel. 48:08.133 --> 48:11.973 And it is a narrative genealogy that is told 48:11.967 --> 48:17.327 actually not only through a human story, not only through 48:17.333 --> 48:23.373 the monologue of Addie in this epic convention of the dead 48:23.367 --> 48:28.597 speaking, but is also told a parallel epic convention of a 48:28.600 --> 00:00.000 human story threaded through a non-human creature.