Eyes+(2)

Faulkner’s symbolic appropriation of eyes is frequent throughout his writing. From __ The Sound and the Fury __ to __ Absalom, Absalom! __, Faulkner uses some variation of the word “eye” an average of one-hundred times per novel. In the former, the mentally stunted Benjy often deduces the emotional state of other characters based on their eyes and reacts accordingly: “ // When I saw her eyes I began to cry. . . I saw her eyes again and I ran down the hill // ” (TSAF 13-14). To each of the novel’s narrators, in fact, eyes seem almost to have an agency of their own, capable of actions not normally associated with the visual organs; they can ‘[fly],’ ‘[run],’ ‘[itch],’ ‘[clench] like teeth,’ ‘penetrate. . . walls and ceiling,’ and ‘[hold] their breath’ (TSAF 68, 69, 77, 173, 270, 280). Quentin, especially, shows particular fascination with other characters’ eyes. Throughout his narration he draws intricate and peculiar similes, i.e. eyes. ..

-“like thumbs dug into it” (TSAF 124) -“like a toy bear’s and two patent-leather pigtails” (TSAF 125) -“like two currants floating motionless in a cup of weak coffee” (TSAF 125) -“like cornered rats” (TSAF 149) -“clear and cold, like a goat’s” (TSAF 143) Absalom, Absalom!: -“like pieces of a broken plate” (AA ) -“like (as you might put it) pieces of coal pressed into soft dough” (AA ) -“like two shoe buttons buried” (AA )

This technique is seen throughout Faulkner’s other works as well. Within the first few pages of __As I Lay Dying__, Cora says, “[Addie’s] eyes are like two candles when you watch them gutter down into the sockets of iron candle-sticks” (AILD 8). In this case, simile is used to foreshadow the novel’s exploration of liminality, which can be defined here as existing before or throughout a threshold or transitional state. By relating the drowning phenomenon of a candle on the verge of burning out to Addie’s own fast-approaching extinguishment, Cora once again highlights the nature of the unique state; the fitful flickering, likened to the body’s final instinctual yearnings to stay alive, becomes less and less potent with each flare; Addie’s last breaths, a candle’s. And at the actual moment Addie crosses the threshold between life and death, Darl makes a similar observation: “…[H]er eyes, the life in them, rushing suddenly upon them; the two flames glare up for a steady instant. Then they go out as if someone had leaned down and blown upon them” (AILD 48).

As she reflects on Addie’s laying, dying, liminal state Cora notes that despite her deteriorating physicality, Addie’s capacity to communicate prevails: “If we were deaf we could almost watch her face and hear him, see him” (AILD 8). Thus, in keeping with the old proverb, “The eyes are the windows to the soul,” Cora’s observation reflects the profound duality between the death of a body and the death of a mind; the latter, as reflected in the eyes specifically; Addie’s nearly lifeless body in contrast with her still expressive face, her eyes, combine to form a unique threshold being.

Later in the novel, Darl and Dewey Dell exhibit a form of communication in which eyes are superior to words. They converse, the both of them, and comprehend each other, “without words” (AILD 27). In fact, as Dewey Dell notes, the certainty of their mutual understanding would actually be compromised if the expressions were vocalized: “[I]f he had said he knew with the words I would not have believed that he had been there and saw us” (AILD 27). The notion that non-verbal expressions can manifest such power is further emphasized by Dewey Dell when she describes the immense capacity embodied in Darl’s eyes: “The land runs out of Darl’s eyes; they swim to pin points. They begin at my feet and rise along my body to my face, and then my dress is gone” (AILD 121). In this instance, Darl doesn’t just successfully express a simple sentiment to Dewey Dell; he penetrates her psyche, disarming her with one sweeping, yet incisive look.

Darl and his older brother Cash, too, reveal an ability to understand one another outside the realm of verbal communication. Before the catastrophe at the river, for example, Darl describes this nature: “[Cash] and I look at one another with long probing looks, looks that plunge unimpeded through one another’s eyes. . . When we speak our voices are quiet, detached” (142). Clearly, the brothers engage more naturally through facial expressions than verbal ones. Indeed, twice more in the same narration, Darl and Cash communicate without words. First, Darl describes a memory of Addie holding Jewel on a pillow longer than his infant body, but he doesn’t speak his remembering. So when Cash so casually responds as if, with ease, he could hear Darl’s thoughts aloud, readers may almost miss the unspoken transmission that has taken place between the brothers. And again, as they reach the place where they will attempt the river-crossing, Cash must merely look at Darl in order to ask if he join in the undertaking.

Works Cited Faulkner, William. // As I Lay Dying: The Corrected Text //. New York: Vintage, 1990. Print. ---. //The Sound and the Fury: The Corrected Text//. New York: Vintage, 1990. Print.