Dewey+Dell

Dewey Dell

__**Physical Description**__
 * "She was pretty in a kind of sullen, awkward way, and she looked a sight better in her gingham dress and her own complexion than she would after she bought whatever she would finally buy" (Faulkner 199).
 * She has a dark 'black sprawl' of hair.
 * She is seventeen years old
 * She has dark black eyes that made her look "like she'd as soon put a knife in you as not if you two timed her" (Faulkner 242).
 * Her voice is strong.
 * Her demeanor is slightly rude and she seems unapproachable to anyone outside her family.
 * She is pregnant after sleeping with a local farmhand, Lafe.


 * __Ulteri__****__or Motive__**[[image:http://www.philcampsstories.com/image/obj302geo281pg30p7.jpg width="247" height="155" align="right" link="@http://www.philcampsstories.com/image/obj302geo281pg30p7.jpg"]]
 * During the journey to Jackson, Dewey Dell can only think of finding medicine that will abort her pregnancy. Her dilemma eclipses even the grief she feels towards Addie's death.
 * Because she is afraid of the consequences of telling others about her pregnancy, Dewey Dell chooses to face it alone and begins to isolate herself. Her alienation robs her of the ability to relate with others. She believes that an abortion will be cure to her problems and allow her to connect with others.
 * "It's because I am alone. If I could just feel it, it would be different because I would not be alone. But if I were not alone, everybody would know" (58).

__**Internal and External Conflicts**__
 * Internal
 * Dewey Dell does not want to be a mother. Her isolation makes her unhappy, but she does not know what else to do. She struggles to accept what is happening to her and to find an ideal solution to her problem.
 * "It's like everything in the world for me is inside a tub full of guts, so that you wonder how there can be any room in it for anything else very important" (58).
 * Darl says to her, "You cannot believe it is true because you cannot believe that Dewey Dell, Dewey Dell Bundren, could have such bad luck: is that it?" (40).
 * External[[image:http://trekkingalong.org/erie/images_erie/oct-14/General-Store-E.jpg width="245" height="185" align="right"]]
 * Throughout the novel, Dewey Dell struggles to maintain her autonomy and free will. Others often take advantage of her. For instance, MacGowan sells her pills filled with talcum powder instead of real medicine. Her own father takes the ten dollars Lafe gave her for an abortion by using his parental authority as a rationale.
 * As a result, she is often suspicious of other people, often perceiving that they want something from her or are trying to harm her in some way.
 * She is particularly wary of men. Tull, the Bundrens' neighbor, observes, "I can feel that gal watching me like I had made to touch her" (125).
 * When she mentions Lafe, Dewey Dell says, "I could not help it" as if she did not actively choose to sleep with him (26).


 * __Analysis of her Relationship with the rest of the family__**
 * Dewey Dell is fourth child in the family.
 * Her role, according to Addie, was to 'cancel Jewel out'.
 * Although that was what she truly was to Addie, she had a very close relationship with her.
 * She stood by her bedside throughout her illness fanning her.
 * When Addie died she threw herself on her screaming.
 * Even after Addie dies, Dewey Dell cannot let go of her.
 * "I heard that my mother is dead. I wish I had time to let her die. I wish I had time to wish I had. It is because in the wild and outraged earth too soon too soon too soon. It's not that I wouldn't and will not it's that it is too soon too soon too soon" (Faulkener 120).
 * She inherits the position of mother figure as soon as Addie dies.
 * The first thing Anse says to Dewey Dell after Addie dies is to make supper.
 * She is the one to take care of Cash when he breaks his leg.
 * She and Vardaman had a close relationship
 * Vardaman talks about her the most of all of the siblings.
 * He is the youngest and she is the second youngest so they spend a lot of time together.
 * She seems to pay the most attention to Vardaman and takes him with her when she goes to see the doctor in town.
 * She shares a secret with Darl but does not like him for it
 * Darl, having a second sight, knows she is pregnant and she fears he will tell some one
 * Cash thought she would always choose Darl over him but it turns out she was the one that told Gillespie that Darl started the fire and had him sent to the insane asylum
 * “If I’d a said it was ere a one of us she liked better than ere a other, I’d a said it was Darl. But when we ... turned into the lane where them fellows was waiting, ...it was Dewey Dell that was on him before even Jewel” (Faulkner 237)
 * Dewey Dell feels very isolated from the rest of her family. She says she is alone. This isolation probably stems from the fact that she is pregnant and Lafe left her with only ten dollars to deal with it. She does not tell anybody in her family about the pregnancy but Darl seems to know intuitively.


 * Character’s involvement in the story**
 * **Flashback** She remembers the first time she slept with Lafe and was later caught. She tries to make excuses for herself and take the blame off of her. Later, she claims that Darl knows that she slept with Lafe.
 * Darl has a flashback of confronting Dewey Dell.[[image:pregnant_lady.jpg width="309" height="235" align="right"]]
 * Throughout the story, Dewey Dell begins to act as a nurse to Addie as she dies. She then takes on the role of the mother of the family.
 * **Flashback** She talks about how she is now pregnant after sleeping with Lafe, and how much of a disaster it has now turned into.
 * As the new mother of the family, she has to cook the potatoes and beans that they eat and serve the rest of the family.
 * **Flashback** Dewey Dell recalls nightmares that she has had about men when she sleeps, and how she was both blind and could not touch anything in this nightmare.
 * Dewey Dell, Anse, and Tull all cross the river first however have trouble getting the second half of their family across
 * Dewey Dell enters a shop looking for an abortion, however the man refuses to help her and tells her to leave.
 * Dewey Dell finds out that Darl lit the barn on fire, but she odoes not tell because she promised not to.
 * Dewey Dell is tricked by MacGowan to have sex with him in order to finally be given an abortion.

“I dont know what it is. I dont know whether I am worrying or not. Whether I can or not. I dont know whether I can cry or not. I dont know whether I have tried to or not. I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth” (64). This passage is significant to the character of Dewey Dell because it expresses the confused emotions that she feels between her mother’s death and her pregnancy. It is obvious that she expresses here that she is covering one problem with another and does not know what to do anymore. She is an extremely confused character who does not know how to deal with her emotions and problems, as demonstrated here.
 * Example of character’s own voice:**

“I believe in God, God, God. I believe in God” (122). At this point, Dewey Dell is so desperate to regain her pride that she is looking for any answer to her problem. The quote and repitition that she uses signifies that she is desperate to look for a way to gain her confidence once more. She is looking for anyone or anything to help her, and at this point she decides that maybe God would be able to help.

"The land runs out of Darl's eyes. They swim to pinpoints. They begin at my feet and rise along my body to my face and then my dress is gone; I sit naked on the cart above the unhurrying mules” (121). This is significant to the novel because Dewey Dell can tell that Darl knows her secret and that she is pregnant. She says that his eyes literally can pierce her and make her feel like she is naked and feels extremely guilty and afraid of Darl. Although she is trying to hide her secret, she can do nothing to hide it from Darl, who can almost see through people.

Pictures: @http://trekkingalong.org/erie/images_erie/oct-14/General-Store-E.jpg @http://trekkingalong.org/erie/images_erie/oct-14/General-Store-E.jpg __http://blogs.abc.net.au/photos/uncategorized/2009/03/12/pregnant_lady.jpg__