Bullies Abound In The Tempest

          There are two main sets of bullies in The Tempest.  First, there is the crew that harasses Gonzalo including Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio.  They poke fun at the old man Gonzalo and his positive outlook on life and positive outlook on their situation on the island.  Gonzalo describes, "Here is everything beneficial to life" (29).  The others aren't having it, however.  They think that they are in a hopeless and dismal situation and reprimand Gonzalo for his ideas.  Antonio and Sebastian send a barrage of criticism about the island describing it as a dump and putting Gonzalo down for thinking the island a lush place.  Gonzalo continues his arguement for the island describing how he would rule over it with amazing righteousness.  The others write him off as a confused old fool.  While reading this section, one can't help but feeling sad for Gonzalo as he seems to have so much goodness in his heart that is simply beat down by the bullies that surround him.
          The second set of bullies is Stephano and Trinculo.  They focus their bullying efforts on Caliban.  They manipulate Caliban who is in a desperate situation into treating them as lords.  They then force Caliban to escort them to Prospero's lair so they can steal clothes and other items.  The issue is, Caliban was on his epic revenge trip to kill Prospero who made Caliban the way he was.  Caliban thought that Stephano and Trinculo were on his side, but he quickly realizes they fooled him.  Stephano and Trinculo selfishily try to make Caliban help them in their theft, which ultimately costs Caliban his opportunity to enact revenge upon Prospero as he is driven from the cave.
          In creating these bully characters, Shakespeare is commenting on some of the ugly aspects of human nature.  He is displaying some people's propensity to be selfish and controlling.  He is also commenting on the dog eat dog nature of the world and how those who are bullied struggle to get ahead.

Prospero Enjoys Power

          Power and prestige are driving factors for many people's actions.  This offers a person a certain control of people that can be valuable and beneficial to all, but also can be abused.  Prospero is evidently an individual who enjoys being in control.  This is easily seen through two simple examples.  First, he controls his daughter's marriage to Ferdinand, providing hoops for Ferdinand to jump through.  He is attempting to make his daughter hard to get as he wants to make sure Ferdinand really loves her.  He notices how Ferdinand and Miranda fall in love at first sight and he wants to make sure that they truly understand their feelings for each other and test whether those feelings can endure.  He is acting as many fathers of teenage daughters act, being controlling of their daughter as they feel apprehensive about any relationship they are in while masking their happiness and proudness.  I think Prospero walks this tight rope with his daughter Miranda and it demonstrates his enjoyment of control.
          The second example that displays Prospero's hankering for control is his situation with Caliban.  Caliban is hell bent on revenge against Propsero as Prospero has controlled him his whole life.  Caliban is heading to Prospero's lair to kill him, but Prospero is unnerved.  He comments to his spirit servant Ariel, "A devil, a born devil on whose nature nurture can never stick, on whom my pains, humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost.  And as with age his body uglier grows, so his mind cankers.  I will plague them all, even to roaring" (74).  Here, Prospero condemns Caliban further saying that he will stop his advances with ease and Caliban will be left to suffer with his ugly self.  When Caliban arrives, Prospero and Ariel unleash a band of hunting spirits that drive Caliban and his posse out of the cave leaving Prospero in control where he enjoys being.

Addie Bundren's Philosophy on Life

          Several sentences in this novel have stuck out to me.  The one that has stuck out the most, however, has got to be one uttered by Addie Bundren.  It seems to essentially be her philosophy on life and it is depressing as it gets.  She says, "I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time" (169).  I mean, geez.  That is horrible. I don't know how anyone can get to that point in their life.  The only way that I can fathom someone having this philosophy is if their parents drilled this into their young and impressionable mind.  This appears to be what happened to Addie as she directly references this having come from her father.  Regardless, it is a horrible philosophy to have on life and in its miserable state, fits perfectly with the depressing tone of the novel.
          In the chapter where Addie says this, much is revealed about her character.  It is revealed that she is essentially an awful person and an even worse mother.  She mentions being a schoolteacher and looking forward to beating the kids when they misbehaved or messed up.  This is quite a sadist thing to think.  If she took this approach to rearing her own children, it may offer an explanation as to why their family is so dysfunctional.  While Addie seems to be an awful person, I'm not entirely convinced that she chose to be this person.  I think her behavior can be attributed to her upbringing.  Any parent that tells their kid what Addie's father told her about life, is someone who is unfit to be a parent.  I think that Addie must have heard her father's life philosophy from a young age and took it to heart.  While no mention is made of any other abusive things that her parents did to her, where there is smoke there is fire.  If I had to guess, Addie's parents were abusive to her in other ways than a horrible life philosophy.  Despite Addie's horribleness, I almost feel bad for her as she may not have had much choice in who she was.
          The last question that this sentence brings to mind is why Faulkner wrote this.  Does Faulkner really believe this philosophy?  Is he commenting on the hopelessness that an impoverished life in the south brought?  I'm not exactly sure what Faulkner really believes in relation to this life philosophy.  Regardless, he wrote that sentence and wrote a book that is largely depressing, so I would guess that at times he too felt depressed.  While I overall didn't enjoy this novel, I recognize its profound conversation on life and human nature.  Faulkner is clearly interested in philosophy and he offers many points to its discussion through this novel.  As I put this novel down, I am left to question life and consider its meaning, which is an effect that I think Faulkner intended.

Faulkner Visits Severn

          I'm a goin' to school.  We work there.  There are a lot of kids there.  Mewel says that we work there.  I get there.  I go to class.  I don't like class.  We work there.  My teacher gives me work.  We work all class.  I go to another class.  We work there.  The other kids work there.  I don't like the other kids.  I only like my brother.  His name is Carl.  He is older.  He goes to other classes.  I go to lunch.  I like lunch.  We eat there.  After lunch, I got to go to another class.  This teacher is weird.  I don't like this teacher.  My teacher is a fish.  I think Mewel's teacher is a horse.  My teacher is a fish.  Only this teacher is a fish.  This teacher really makes me work.  I leave school.  I go home.  I do my work.  I do a lot of work.  I don't like my work.  The fish gave it to me.  I see my mother at home.  I see that my mother is a fish.  I don't know how to do my work.  My mother helps me.  My teacher is a fish.  My mother is a fish.  School is the pond.  We are the fish.  I am a fish.  I don't like a goin' to school.  There are too many fish there.

Faulkner's Language

          William Faulkner uses various interesting types of language as he weaves the tale of As I Lay Dying.  He has an amazing ability to switch character and thus switch voice as he proceeds from short chapter to short chapter.  Some of his language is formal, some is slightly less formal and some is down right southern slang.  While this variance in voice may be annoying to some readers and hard to follow for others, I enjoy it.  I think it is one of the main reason's why this novel is lauded as a masterpiece.  Faulkner has an incredible ability to implant the reader into the scene in this novel and I think that this can largely be attributed to his use of different voices.  Faulkner is at his best when he is writing the chapters narrated by Jewel, Dewey Dell and the other less educated characters.  I think these chapters must have been more difficult for him to write than the chapters narrated by Darl.  My guess is that Darl and Faulkner share a similar level of education, so finding Darl's voice was probably easy.  I think it would have been more difficult for Faulkner to write the chapters narrated by the less educated characters as Faulkner would have to write not in the way he spoke or thought.  He would almost have to transform himself while he wrote these chapters.  Being from Mississippi, it is apparent that he has a good grasp on how his breathern spoke.  He was probably surrounded by people like Jewel and Anse when he was growing up, so that may have made it easier for him.  All in all, Faulkner's use of different voices adds great depth to the novel and has the ability to transport the reader to depression era Mississippi.

The Dysfunctional Bundrens

          Wow!  What to say about this family.  They have a dying mother, a lazy father and rambunctious fueding siblings.  They live in poverty surrounded by neighbors that are nosy and judgmental.  To say the least, it is a rough situation.  There are several fascinating examples of dysfunction throughout the beginning section of the novel.  The first is Addie Bundren, condemned to death, surrounded by nosy neighbors, a husband that has driven her to this state while being forced to watch her own casket being built.  The best word to describe this is horrible.  It is simply horrible, that Ms. Bundren has to die this way.  One point that was brought up in class that her death feels rushed by the other family members, almost like they are happy to see her go.  I do find it a bit strange that her casket is being hastily built before her death by her own family.  I don't know that customs of the south of the depression era, but this seems a bit abnormal.  Even if it is normal, it still is insensitive of the family to treat life and death in such a casual, haphazard manner.  One would expect some compassion to be shown by the family to their mother or husband in Anse's case, but this seems relatively absent.  The lack of compassion is best seen in the fact that the sons don't even seem to go into the room where she is lying.  That is reserved for Dewey Dell who is fanning her mother and the smattering of nosy neighbors.  Addie's situation is quite unfortunate and is a perfect example that defines the dysfunctionality of the Bundren family.

          A second example of dysfunctionality is Jewel's apparent hatred for most of his family.  The only person he seems to care for is his mother.  At least he seems to have some compassion for her, unlike the rest of the family.  He certainly has a problem with Cash as he has vehement commentary about his casket building in front of his mother's window.  He dislikes Dewey Dell as he disapproves of her haphazard fanning of their mother.  He and Darl seem to be in a fued over who is the most loved by their mother and also seem to be locked in a typical battle of similarly aged brothers.  Anse, well, no one seems to like him and Jewel is no exception.  The lazy Anse has forced Jewel to do a lot of work over the years and Jewel seems to hate him for that.  If one member of the family hates all the other members except one, bingo!  Red flag! That is a dysfunctional family.