The significance of the title, The Dead, confused me until the very end of the story. Initially in the title did not make any sense to me since the plot consisted of a dinner party and the conflicts that arose there. However, once Gretta and Gabriel got back to the hotel room and Gretta breaks down and starts talking about Michael I think it makes Gabriel feel dead. The fact that Michael had such a passion for Gretta discourages Gabriel because he knows he will never feel the same love for her that Michael did. Therefor Gabriel feels dead inside.

What is the point of describing the entire dinner party when the most important part of The Dead is when Grettta and Gabriel are talking about Michael?

Passion.

Once Darl got taken away by the insane asylum people I realized that there have been hints the whole book that he was crazy. In the beginning of the novel when every member in the family called him "odd" and "off". Also, Darl laughed at things that he should not have laughed at. Throughout the entire book, the actions of Darl make sense once you find out that he is considered lazy. For example, lauging at his dead mother's coffin makes him seem very weird but once you discover he is mentally ill, it acts as a reason for his laughing.

My reaction to the ending of the book was a lot of confusion. The fact that Anse came back from town with a new wife was shocking to me. My idea of how this situation could possibly make sense is as follows. I think that Anse had an affair with Addie's sister years ago so Addie is very mad at her. Addie was so mad at her that her and Anse never told the children about her and Addie told people she "has no family". Therefore, Anse is already familiar with her and is sexually attractided to her. This is also why he knew to go to her house to get shovels. Wether this is what happened in the past or not, this is how I made sense of the situation.

The last chapter that we read was from the perspective of Addie. This confused me a lot because she had been dead for several chapters and now suddenly the reader is hearing her voice. Why did Faulkner decide to finally write a chapter from her perspective after her body had washed away in the river?  

My initial reaction to this chapter was that my sadness for her death decreased slightly. Until this point in the novel I had felt awful that Addie was dead. However, from the content of this chapter I believe that her passing away lead to a better life for her where she didn't feel obligated to Anse.

Fish.