A. One critic has called As I Lay Dying a "modern odyssey." In your interpretation, is this family journey to bury a dead mother worthy of being compared to a heroic epic such as The Odyssey?
As I Lay Dying is one of the famous novels written by William Faulkner. Using a stream of consciousness technique with 15 characters narrating the story over 59 chapters, Faulkner allowed his readers to delve deep into the psyche of the characters. The title of the novel is borrowed from the XI Book of Homer's 'The Odyssey' which narrates the journey of the epic hero Odysseus. One critic has compared the novel As I Lay Dying with 'The Odyssey' by calling it a 'modern odyssey'. In my view, the comparison is justified because just as 'The Odyssey' describes the difficult and tortuous journey of the hero Odysseus to his kingdom in Ithaca, same way 'As I Lay Dying' describes the journey of the Bundren family to fulfill the last wish of the central character Addie to her final resting place in Jefferson. Just as the journey of Odysseus is full with drama and adventures, same way the journey of the Bundren family from their home in south-east Yoknapatawpha County to Jefferson is filled with various incidents.
The journey to Jefferson is a long and difficult journey especially because of the poverty-stricken condition of Bundren family. Each chapter of the novel shows the journey viewed from the perspective of each individual character. Cash's leg is broken from a previous injury and during the journey due to the broken bridge when the family is forced to cross the river through a makeshift ford he gets reinjured again and loses consciousness out of pain when a horse doctor sets his broken leg. Dewey Dell is an unwed pregnant girl and is more concerned over the stigma of her unwed pregnancy than her mother's death. Darl, the unwanted and least favorite child of Addie tries to burn down the barn so that he could get rid of the rotting corpse of her mother and the coffin. Anse, Addie’s husband was more interested in buying false teeth for himself.
The most significant aspect of the journey is when the monologue of Addie reveals that she in order to take revenge on her husband Anse for his laziness made the wish to be buried in Jefferson. Perhaps she foresaw the troubles her family was going to face on their way to Jefferson (Priestley 2002). The journey became all the more significant when Addie’s prediction about Jewel came out to be true “[Jewel] is my cross and he will be my salvation. He will save me from the water and from the fire. Even though I have laid down my life, he will save me” (Faulkner 160). True to her prediction, Jewel indeed saved her coffin and her corpse once from drowning in the Yoknapatawpha River and again from burning down at the barn at the risk of his own life. The journey is also significant because it brings out the social position of women in that time when the novel was written in 1930. Unwed pregnancy was considered to be a big social stigma. Hence when Dewey, Addie’s teenage daughter, became pregnant unwed, her lover Lafe who impregnated her gave her money to abort the baby. Twice during the journey she made attempts to buy abortion pills but once the pharmacist denied to sell her abortion pill giving her advice to choose marriage instead and the second time she was taken advantage of by a man who claiming to be a doctor took sexual favors from her in exchange of something that was not an abortion pill. It shows the social stigma attached with unwed pregnancy and the vulnerable station of such women who commit mistakes of deviating from the social norms. Taking into account the eventfulness of both the journeys of Faulker’s As I Lay Dying and Homer’s The Odyssey, I think it is justified to call the former a modern odyssey.
B. Find the place in the novel where one character (not a Bundren) says, "It's a outrage" and discuss the effect that this statement and others like it have on our perception of the Bundren family.
A local farmer named Samson lets the Burnden family spend the first night of their journey to Jefferson at his home. Samson's wife, disgusted with the way the family is showing disrespect to the corpse of Addie by dragging her coffin around the countryside said the words in utter dismay "It's a outrage". Her words gave away the fact that Addie was dead for four days and rotting inside the coffin. Though apparently Anse was fulfilling the last wish of Addie by taking her corpse to Jefferson burial ground, but he was more interested in getting false teeth for himself.
C. Addie's hatred of her pupils
Addie is the most important character in the novel which has its theme based on her death. In her monologue Addie describes how she hated being a teacher. Before she got married to Anse, she worked in a school. She hated her students and whipping them for making mistakes gave her immense pleasure. Her students reminded her of her father's saying that "the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time" because when she looked at her students, all of whom were strangers to her with secret and selfish thoughts she felt what it was like to get ready to stay dead (Faulkner 51). She hated them so much that after her classes were over and the last student left school, she would go the quiet corner of the spring to "be quiet and hate them". Addie was a woman who loved her aloneness so much that the noise and commotion made by children used to make her edgy and this explains why despite loving her firstborn Cash so much she used the word 'violated' to describe her feelings on his birth.
D. Take a look at the ending of the novel. Whose is the central voice at the end? Do you find this surprising or appropriate?
The central voice at the end was of Cash, Addie's eldest son. His last monologue describes the life of the Bundren family after the journey. I think it is appropriate because his monologue gives us the glimpse of Anse's remarriage to a local woman who brings a gramophone to the house. The gramophone symbolizes the immersion of material culture in their family life (Satoru 2004). While mourning over the absence of Darl who is unable to enjoy listening to music on this modern record player, Cash justifies the family's action of sending Darl to mental institution by saying, "I would think what a shame Darl couldn't be to enjoy it too. But it is better so for him. This world is not his world; this life his life" (Faulkner 82). Anse's remarriage and Darl's absence were two indispensable events required to facilitate the journey of the family into modernization.
Work Cited
Priestley, Brenton. As I Lay Dying: A Journey. 2002. Web. 19 Sept 2013 <http://www.brentonpriestley.com/writing/as_i_lay_dying.htm>
Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. Vintage International. 1930. Print.
Satoru, Nagao. As I Lay Dying: The Coming of Roads and a New Age for the Family and the Community. 2004. Web. 19 Sept 2013 <http://www.faulknerjapan.com/journal/No6/Nagao.htm>
Willey, Christina. As I Lay Dying: Concept Analysis. 18 Feb 2009. Web. 19 Sept 2013 <http://novelinks.org/uploads/Novels/AsILayDying/Concept%20Analysis.pdf>
As I Lay Dying: A Learning Guide by Shoomp. Shmoop University. 2010. Web. 19 Sept 2013 <http://ibsenior.dorchester.fdhs.schoolfusion.us/modules/locker/files/get_group_file.phtml?gid=2647971&fid=10994907>
