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“...the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time.”
(Faulkner, 25)

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"How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.”
(Faulkner, 104)

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“He had a word, too. Love, he called it. But I had been used to words for a long time. I knew that that word was like the others: just a shape to fill a lack; that when the right time came, you wouldn't need a word for that any more than for pride or fear....One day I was talking to Cora. She prayed for me because she believed I was blind to sin, wanting me to kneel and pray too, because people to whom sin is just a matter of words, to them salvation is just words too" (Faulkner, 26)

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-Addie's monologue always gets to me, because it shows her trying to cope with the seeming uselessness of certain words and actions. I, too, have these thoughts sometimes - do the things I do and the words I say really matter?
-Dewey Dell seems to have a crisis concerning the morals of her parents and society vs. what she thinks she should do for herself. I relate to this, because I have found that as I grow older, I find certain differences in belief from that of my parents, and that can be hard to explain to them.
-Vardaman has a very difficult time coping with loss. I, too, find it very hard to come to terms with the loss of loved ones.

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"My mother is a fish."-- Vardaman Bundren (Faulkner, 67)

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"My mother is a fish."-- Vardaman Bundren (Faulkner, 67)

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The message of this piece was that, "The reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time." (Faulkner, 40) This was spoken by Addie in the beginning of the novel. When she says this, she was talking about the lack of purpose her life had - it seemed like a random series of events that didn't have a real meaning. Through the stream-of-consciousness format, Faulkner expresses major themes of life and death, and how we need to work to give our lives meaning and purpose to avoid such a nihilistic state.

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Pretend you are Vardaman. Explain the quote, "My mother is a fish." (Faulkner, 67)

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Pretend you are Vardaman. Explain the quote, "My mother is a fish." (Faulkner, 67)

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I think that Vardaman said that his mother was a fish because it represents the impermanence of human life. Vardaman is struggling with existential thoughts while holding this fish that was breathing just moments ago. It was a fish, and then it was dead. In the same way, this is how Vardaman is processing his first brush with a human death - Addie was his living, breathing mother - and then she was not.

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A coffin like the one that was built for Addie

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“          .          .           .     t  h  e           r  e  a  s  o  n           f  o  r           l  i  v  i  n  g           w  a  s           t  o           g  e  t           r  e  a  d  y            t  o           s  t  a  y           d  e  a  d           a           l  o  n  g           t  i  m  e          .          ”

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“          .          .           .     t  h  e           r  e  a  s  o  n           f  o  r           l  i  v  i  n  g           w  a  s           t  o           g  e  t           r  e  a  d  y            t  o           s  t  a  y           d  e  a  d           a           l  o  n  g           t  i  m  e          .          ”

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“          .          .           .     t  h  e           r  e  a  s  o  n           f  o  r           l  i  v  i  n  g           w  a  s           t  o           g  e  t           r  e  a  d  y            t  o           s  t  a  y           d  e  a  d           a           l  o  n  g           t  i  m  e          .          ” 

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“          .          .           .     t  h  e           r  e  a  s  o  n           f  o  r           l  i  v  i  n  g           w  a  s           t  o           g  e  t           r  e  a  d  y            t  o           s  t  a  y           d  e  a  d           a           l  o  n  g           t  i  m  e          .          ” 

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“ . . . t h e r e a s o n f o r l i v i n g w a s t o g e t r e a d y t o s t a y d e a d a l o n g t i m e . ”

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What do you think will happen to Dewey Dell? Why?

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What do you think will happen to Dewey Dell? Why?

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What happens to Dewey Dell during the novel is really sad - I think it's the true tragedy of the novel. I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't make it - if she does, she will continue to feel trapped and meaningless under these circumstances, like her mother.