Darl's narration on page 97 of As I Lay
Dying is a recursive account of Jewel's cursing
rant.
It echoes his only narration on page 14 in which he
likewise curses about Cash building the coffin: "and that goddamn adze going one lick
less" and against heaven, "it would not be happening with every bastard in the county
coming to stare at her because if there is a God what the hell is He
for."
It also echoes Darl's narration on page 94 in which
Darl continues to psychologically tease Jewel about his mother, "It's not your horse
that's dead, Jewel," to which Jewel responds, "Goddmamn you. Godddman you" and, at the
end, "Goddamn him. Goddamn him." Later, Jewel with call Darl, "You goddman lying son
of a bitch."
So, Darl, being psychic and omniscient with
his naturally-born siblings (Dewey Dell), can communicate silently with them. But,
because he cannot do the same with Jewel, he knows that Jewel is not his blood brother.
Instead, Darl knows that Jewel's a bastard, and he will taunt him verbally (not
mentally) every chance he can get, using his mother as
bait.
Jewel is indeed a bastard, and like all archetypal
bastards, he resents his status in the family. He knows he is dispossessed, and he
hates his family, especially Anse (his "step-father") and Darl (his "half-brother"). By
cursing so much, it shows not only his hatred of the Bundrens, but also for his mother's
death. His cursing is a form of love, a part of Jewel's wild grieving process. Jewel
and Vardaman are the only ones who outwardly show anger at her death. Jewel hates that
his mother is dead; he hates the journey to Jefferson; he hates having to cross the
river; mostly, though, he hates the spectacle of her dead, smelling body. As a sign of
his love for his mother, Jewel will later rescue her coffin from Darl's barn
burning.
In this section on page 97, Jewel wants to hurry
up and get his mother buried. He says, "Pick up! Pick up, goddamn your thick nosed
soul" and "Come on. Come on." By contrast, the others want to wait. Cash says, "We
better wait." And Anser says, "Steady it a minute, now." Darl says, "Wait, Jewel."
So, Jewel fighting with all the other men as they carry the coffin shows the disunity
and lack of balance in the family: Jewel is not one of them. He rides alone on horse,
not in the wagon with the others. He wishes that this process were over, that his
mother were buried already. Jewel hates the public display of the dead. As such, he is
like Antigone--the one who risks her life to bury her dead brother; the other Bundrens,
then, are like Creon and Ismene--those who mock the dead by public
show.
In sum, Jewel's "Goddamn him" refers not only to Anse
and Darl, but also to God and even his real father, Whitfield. As a bastard and a
mama's boy, Jewel has a definite Oedipal complex in which he subconsciously wants to
kill fathers and heavenly fathers.
