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Post by mmazzucco9 on Oct 12, 2011 20:09:22 GMT -5
After reading a few sections of Darl I feel as if Darl portrays the typical attributes of the middle child in the family. He obviously doesn't get as much attention as the others do such as Cash and Jewel. Darl is also different than everyone else. His sections are easier to follow because they are more grammatically correct than the other chapters. He was also the one child in the family picked to go to war. The middle child tends to be the one ignored the most by the family as well as the odd one. Does anyone else feel this way?
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Post by bvanderschaaf9 on Oct 12, 2011 20:53:13 GMT -5
I agree with your thoughts on Darl being different; Anse describes him as having his "eyes full of the land," which seems to set him apart from Cash and Jewel, and also from the girls (36). As for getting attention, I also agree because Darl isn't a part of the rivalry between Cash and Jewel, which seems to center around Addie and her attention.
Do you think that Darl is the middle child between Cash and Jewel, or the second youngest boy?
I feel like Darl is younger than both Cash and Jewel, and that Cash and Jewel are closer in age than any of their siblings.
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Post by jqueller9 on Oct 12, 2011 22:30:39 GMT -5
I agree with your observation that Darl doesn't receive as much attention as his siblings. When Anse is narrating, he runs through a list of times when roads have brought him strife and he includes family members in his stories. In what seems like an afterthought, Anse adds, "And Darl too" (36). Darl does not command Anse's attention, yet Cora is enthralled by him. Cora says, "I always said Darl was different from those others" (21). Cora's statement shows that Darl is noticeable and laudable; still, Darl's own father pays no attention.
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Post by mmazzucco9 on Oct 17, 2011 21:12:10 GMT -5
It's also stated several times in further chapters that everyone looks at Darl differently and he is somewhat a strange guy. I think the effect of being sent off to combat in World War I also had something to do with the fact that he is different. Possibly he was "normal" beforehand and then after it all changed.
I thought it was weird how Anse pays no attention to Darl and yet Anse complains that the roads were built and took his son away from him. It's as if Anse cares about Darl but in a distant fatherly way. I would imagine that Anse would be more compassionate to Darl because of his taking part in the war but this is not the case.
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