Heroes and Goobers

While I am skeptical of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying as a hero’s journey, some of the Bundrens can still be characterized as heroes, while others fail to live up to heroic standards. Seeing and hearing about each individual character from multiple perspectives gives the reader a lot to take into account when considering the morals of each character. But not every outsider’s opinion is valid, just as not every Bundren’s opinion is justified. Some characters though are objectively bad. Anse and Jewel are some of the worst and most selfish in the Bundren family. Anse is proven to be selfish multiple times and rarely shows concern for his children. He moves on quickly from Addie’s death and becomes fixated on buying teeth. He expresses that he dislikes his children many times and does not care for his children very well. Anse is characterized as lazy by all his neighbors and almost no one views him in a positive light. Even strangers often see him as stupid and criticize his actions. Although Anse is one of the worse characters, I wouldn’t exactly call him a villain. He remains determined to bury Addie in Jefferson as her final wish despite all his setbacks. Although, he does often push responsibility onto his kids rather than accepting any for himself. He does eventually give up his teeth money to purchase mules to expedite his family’s goal, but he does also trade his children’s valuable possessions without consulting them. He also aims to help Cash with his broken leg, although his methods prove to be more harmful than intended. Anse does impede the family’s journey while proving to be selfish and lazy but he can also be viewed in a more sympathetic light. His actions have both good and bad intentions behind them regardless of their outcomes. 

Jewel can be viewed as a villain in the story. Everyone except Addie seems to view Jewel in a negative light, thinking of him as ungrateful. Jewel does prove to be ungrateful as well as selfish. Despite his love for Addie, he can still be seen as a villain in the novel. He distances himself from his family and doesn’t help them very much. Instead, he often puts himself and his horse above everyone else. He is unable to sympathize with the rest of his family and believes himself to be the only one deserving of Addie’s love and the grief that follows her death. In Jewel’s one chapter of the book, he criticizes his siblings' efforts to help their mother. Jewel says, “If you’d just let her alone. Sawing and knocking, and keeping the air always moving so fast on her face that when you’re tired you can’t breath it” (Faulkner 15). Dewey Dell and Cash make efforts to help Addie, and although Cash’s well-intentioned sawing doesn’t have his intended outcome, he still makes an effort to help Addie. Jewel fails to acknowledge that his siblings are trying, and instead, he sits on the sidelines judging them while still not making any contributions. He often talks about Addie as if she is solely his mother, but out of all his siblings, he does just as much as Anse in actually helping Addie. During Darl’s flashback of the time when Jewel was sneaking out at night, the novel gives us a chapter that proves Jewel’s ungratefulness, just as Cora describes him to be. Cash and Darl help Jewel with his work, and Addie incessantly worries about Jewel’s health. Still, Jewel spends his nights working to buy a horse, something that he plans to keep for himself. He never expresses any gratitude towards Darl, Cash, or Addie for helping him out. Jewel does inevitably give his horse up to help pay for the mules, but I am still reluctant to say that one action makes up for his past selfishness. He still treats his family poorly and shows little respect to anyone else. Even if he may love Addie the most, he still does the least for her compared to his siblings.

Darl is a complicated character, one that confuses himself, the neighbors, his family, and the reader. If any character is absurd, it’s Darl. He begins the novel with a strong voice, claiming his spot as a reliable narrator as he knows things even if not explicitly told about them, such as Dewey Dell’s pregnancy, Addie’s affair, and Addie’s death. He seems to read people well, but his reliable character soon descends into madness. He constantly makes fun of Jewel and seemingly aims to start problems with him by asking Jewel “Whose son are you?” (Faulkner 212). Darl also seems to be confused with his own identity, wondering what is and was. He moves on quickly from Addie’s death, providing the reader with an unemotional narration of what is happening. At the beginning of the book, I would have said Darl is the hero, but by the end, I believe he is just as absurd of a character as Jewel and Anse because his actions, such as setting the barn on fire, have no meaning or purpose behind them. The only “hero” out of all the Bundrens is probably Cash. At the beginning of the book, I thought Cash was an ambiguous character. He was always focused on the coffin, which could represent his lack of care for Addie, but moving forward Cash proves to be the most selfless character. His narration style throughout the book changes, and he focuses on his living family rather than the coffin. Cash cares for Jewel and takes over his work while keeping his secret while Jewel is working to buy a horse, despite not receiving gratitude from him. He seems to be the only family member concerned with Darl as they leave him in a mental institution. He feels guilt and shows it, unlike the other characters. Cash rarely complains about his leg and stays focused on the family’s mission to bury Addie despite the pain he is in. Cash is the only character who really puts his family first and cares for them.

Vardaman and Dewey Dell are neither heroes nor absurd characters. Vardaman is a little too young to be called a hero, and his absurdity is justified because of his age. Dewey Dell is rarely perceived by outsiders, and her ulterior motives to get to Jefferson are also justified. Dewey Dell does show emotions toward her family, but considering her situation it makes sense that she is unable to fully focus on her mother. But, other than Cash, the rest of the characters are pretty absurd and none of them can be called heroes. The neighbors and outsiders who narrate their experiences with the Bundrens either don’t acknowledge some of the characters, or view them in a negative light. Anse and Jewel are both viewed negatively and throughout the book show poor morals. They both change a bit near the end but their characters are similar to each other in the way that no matter what they do it is hard to undo the negative perception of them. The way this book is told is really interesting because the reader never gets an unbiased view of a character, and their thoughts will be influenced by the narrations of all the people in the novel. Still, all of the chapters give the reader a good insight into the Bundren’s lives, and all of them should be taken into account when deciding whether any member of the Bundren family has hero potential or if they are so hypocritical and absurd it’s amusing. Almost all of the characters are clownish goobers and I'm not sure if the story can be a hero's journey when the reader can barely take any of the characters seriously.