What is the Bundrens journey even about?? To me, Faulkner makes it pretty clear that this trip isn’t about
honoring Addie. Though Anse says that the trip is Addie’s dying wish and while we learn that this wasn’t
a completely unfounded statement since it was something Addie requested while she was alive (albeit a
long time ago), the “end goal” of this trip hardly gets any attention at all as the story comes to a close.
There is a kerfuffle about needing a trowel to dig her grave but the actual deed is designated only a few
measly words. As well, we get one chapter from Addie that hardly paints her in a good light. Perhaps she
can be seen as a victim of her circumstance and therefore she is somewhat empathetic or sympathetic
but her passage is filled with violent ideation, misery, infidelity, and spite. This portrait is hardly a
motivator for the reader to want Addie to reach her desired final resting place at all costs. If we need the
justification to honor Addie to hold up as a motivator against the detriment and trouble it causes other
members of the family then we are much more likely to root for Vardaman or Cash to get their “happy
ending” than we are Addie Bundren.
honoring Addie. Though Anse says that the trip is Addie’s dying wish and while we learn that this wasn’t
a completely unfounded statement since it was something Addie requested while she was alive (albeit a
long time ago), the “end goal” of this trip hardly gets any attention at all as the story comes to a close.
There is a kerfuffle about needing a trowel to dig her grave but the actual deed is designated only a few
measly words. As well, we get one chapter from Addie that hardly paints her in a good light. Perhaps she
can be seen as a victim of her circumstance and therefore she is somewhat empathetic or sympathetic
but her passage is filled with violent ideation, misery, infidelity, and spite. This portrait is hardly a
motivator for the reader to want Addie to reach her desired final resting place at all costs. If we need the
justification to honor Addie to hold up as a motivator against the detriment and trouble it causes other
members of the family then we are much more likely to root for Vardaman or Cash to get their “happy
ending” than we are Addie Bundren.
If we discount the motivator of Addie getting to her final resting place and her own wish fulfillment then
the reader can turn to some other obvious journeys to root for. Every character has their own personal
mission and motivation for going to town, some more pressing and some more mundane. Several of
these characters get their wishes, though some we never find out and some just don’t. Vardaman gets
bananas, though he doesn’t get his train. Dewy-Dells future is never revealed to us. Anse gets his teeth
plus a little more.
the reader can turn to some other obvious journeys to root for. Every character has their own personal
mission and motivation for going to town, some more pressing and some more mundane. Several of
these characters get their wishes, though some we never find out and some just don’t. Vardaman gets
bananas, though he doesn’t get his train. Dewy-Dells future is never revealed to us. Anse gets his teeth
plus a little more.
Yet, I can't shake the feeling that this isn’t the whole truth. I wanted to find another more subtle journey
for this trip beyond the mostly material gains they all want to make. So, here’s what I’ve come up with.
I think this trip is about letting go of Addie, though not in a positive way. To me, the biggest argument
for this is just the visceral reactions the family has to the decaying body. It’s Addie going bad, literally.
It forces them to take away any spiritual or mental associations with Addie and boil her down to a body
, a nasty one at that. Through this, they can let themselves see Addie as a nasty person and a flawed
mother and begin to sort through some of the issues this negative parentage may have caused them.
for this trip beyond the mostly material gains they all want to make. So, here’s what I’ve come up with.
I think this trip is about letting go of Addie, though not in a positive way. To me, the biggest argument
for this is just the visceral reactions the family has to the decaying body. It’s Addie going bad, literally.
It forces them to take away any spiritual or mental associations with Addie and boil her down to a body
, a nasty one at that. Through this, they can let themselves see Addie as a nasty person and a flawed
mother and begin to sort through some of the issues this negative parentage may have caused them.
The physical replacement of Addie really sealed the deal for me. Let's hope this Mrs.Bundren is better
than the last one.
than the last one.
I hadn't thought about the journey in the same terms as you did, but the motivation of "letting go" is a really believable one for me. I wouldn't put it past Anse to have held on to something Addie said long ago, but I think everyone's ulterior motives make it clear that the journey is not about honoring Addie.
ReplyDeleteI also hadn't thought of the journey in the same way but I can see it now! Also wanted to point out the title is As I Lay Dying, not as i lay dead. It is not only about Addie's physical death but the death of her memory in some way.
ReplyDeleteYou brought a very interesting view of the journey that I had never really considered to my eyes, and I have to admit: you bring up some pretty convincing evidence for your argument about the purpose of the Bundren's long and quite arduous journey with Addie's body. There's absolutely no denying that most of the Bundren family had some kind of ulterior motive when they were accompanying Addie on the way to town to bury her. Who knows? Maybe burying Addie was just some chore the family needed to take care of while they were taking care of the other problems in their lives.
ReplyDelete