The Bundren Family: A Mosaic of Dysfunction

What is the relationship between the family construct and self-identity?  Do the roles we play in families define us, provide a sense of security and authenticity, or do they constrain and blind us to our true identities? Talk about, if you like, the roles members in your family have adopted.


How does Faulkner use the Bundren family to examine self-identitiy as a real or absurd notion?  How does he use the breakdown of this family to discuss the very essence of who we are or see ourselves to be -- in the viewpoint of the existentialist? 


(Existentialists assert that a human being is "thrown into" a concrete, inveterate universe that cannot be "thought away", and therefore existence ("being in the world") precedes consciousness, and is the ultimate reality. Existence, then, is prior to essence (essence is the meaning that may be ascribed to life), contrary to traditional philosophical views dating back to the ancient Greeks. As Sartre put it: "At first [Man] is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be.")                                                                                               www.philosophybasics.com

Missed Opportunities and Childhood Longings

Rahel and Esta are described as "a pair of actors trapped in a recondite play with no hint of plot or narrative" and wishing for "some cheap brand of exorcism from a counselor with a fancy degree, who would sit them down and say,...'You're not the Sinners. You are the Sinned Against. You were only children. You had no control. You are the victims, not the perpetrators.'"

What do you wish someone had sat you down and explained to you as a child?

Who is the God of Small Things?

In this titular chapter, Roy's writing becomes....something. It is different from the rest of the novel, or perhaps just more than the rest of the novel.

In your post, make an observation about the writing and an observation about the function and image of the God of Small Things.

Small Things

Ammu retrieves from the very back of her grandfather's book shelf the small things of her childhood, a Notebook of Wisdom containing favorite stories, lessons to be learned, punishments and practices, her own mother's handwriting from the distant past.

 If you were to open the Notebook of Wisdom of your childhood, what would be there? 

Who is your twin?

From "Seeing Double: Twins in Fiction":

The notion that one could have a split self, representing both ego and id, is a much-used element in literature --  think Jekyll and Hyde, Jonathan Harker and Dracula, Frankenstein and his Creation. Who is your Rahel? Who is your Estha?

The dark double allows for the transgression of boundaries and the reader can observe the unconscious as it enacts its instinctual will. There’s something exciting about this. Perhaps, too, our interest in twins is also sparked by a sense that our identities are not fully secure, that there is always something missing – emotionally, spiritually or physically, and that to have a twin might provide an understanding of the self, dreaded or not, that would bring completion.

Bringing together the idea of twins and literary doubles is the unanswerable question: if one had a second self, what would he or she be like? 

Childhood Memories of Place

Think back to a place from your childhood that holds a particular rawness or intensity in your heart and mind.

For me, it is the abandoned Victorian house nestled in the overgrown vines at the very back of a field behind my house. We were told never to go in it, which of course is what we did. It had been a home for the elderly, and a broken wicker wheelchair was left limping in the hall upstairs. To get in we had to climb the outside fire escape and do through a second-story window. Once in, a deathly quiet took over all of us, the kids from the neighborhood. We tiptoed as if afraid to wake up the old residents, even though no one had lived in the house for years. Sometimes we would play monster and make the "monster" sit in the wheelchair and chase everyone else around the house. We were delightfully petrified.
We stopped going in when we hit puberty. I think we knew that things would change in the house -- that it would become sexual, and we were too afraid to be in that place -- we were not ready.

Describe that place for us.

Everyone has a story...the six-word memoir

Once asked to write a full story in six words, legend has it that Ernest Hemingway responded:
"For Sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Here are some others from Smith Magazine's collection:
Dave Eggers....."Fifteen years since last professional haircut."
Stephen Colbert....."Well, I thought it was funny."
A man dumped by his girlfriend...."I still make coffee for two."

In the spirit of profound brevity, write a six-word memoir representing one of the characters who has made an impression upon you this semester.

Next, write a six-word memoir that reflects where you are in life right now.