How Faulkner Subverts the Hero's Journey in As I Lay Dying

An early subversion of the Hero’s Journey that we see in As I Lay Dying begins in the first chapter when we see Cash constructing a coffin for Addie. Darl describes the fine craftsmanship of the box, noting that the boards are “yellow as gold, like soft gold, bearing on their flanks in smooth undulations the marks of the adze blade” and repeatedly mentions that Cash is “a good carpenter” (Faulkner 4, 5). Darl frames Cash’s actions as honorable, even heroic. He states that “Addie Bundren could not want a better one, a better box to lie” in and that “It will give her confidence and comfort” (Faulkner 4). Even this description seems to focus more on the quality of Cash’s work than the nobility of the deed he is accomplishing. The testimony of Jewel sheds further light on whether Cash is just pursuing his own self-interest. Jewel complains that Cash is in fact hastening his mother’s death by always showing off that he is making the coffin. Jewel thinks he’s saying, “See. See what a good one I am making for you” and disturbing Addie with his “sawing and knocking” (Faulkner 14). Jewel’s portrayal of these events might seem immature and excessively emotional but further evidence from the text corroborates his narrative. Cash really does flout his construction of the coffin in front of Addie in a disturbing way. Peabody remarks how “Vernon Tull says he brings each board up to the window for her to see it and say it is alright” (Faulkner 43). It’s morbid that he’s asking for feedback on a coffin from the dying person he’s building it for. At the end of the chapter, Addie cries out Cash’ name angrily in a “harsh and strong” voice (Faulkner 46). These events resemble an incident Jewel recalls wherein Addie complained about not having fertilizer to plant flowers and a young Cash filled the bread pan with dung. Cash has repeatedly done pragmatic but harmful projects, not to help Addie, but to show off his own abilities. It raises the question of whether the Hero’s Journey as an individualistic narrative actually involves personal change, as Cash’s response to the call-to-adventure of Addie’s death seems driven by only his old self-interest.

The "parable" of Vardaman and the fish illustrates one critique of the Hero's Journey present in Faulkner's narrative. Vardaman, having retrieved the fish from the bridge, tells Anse that he, "aim[s] to show it to ma" (Faulkner 31) It initially doesn't seem out of place for a young child to seek to impress his mother with the fruits of some ill-fated adventure, but there's an interesting juxtaposition that goes on in the passage. Tull immediately mentions how they can hear "Cash, too, knocking and hammering at the boards” (Faulkner 31). This mention invites a parallel to Cash's masculine, self-interested exhibition of his skills in craftsmanship, ostensibly to provide a comfortable resting place for Addie. Vardaman's treatment of the fish displays the same spirit of machismo exemplified by the other Bundren children. The fish is "durn nigh long as he is" and Tull mentions that he "slings it to the ground and grunts 'Hah'" before he "spits over his shoulder like a man” (Faulkner 30).  Later, he "cusses it like a grown man, standing a straddle of it” (Faulkner 31). Faulkner also concentrates a great amount of description on the pathetic and miserable character of the fish. It’s described as “gapmouthed, goggle-eyed, hiding into the dust like it was ashamed of being dead” in addition to Vardaman gouging its eyes out and cursing at it (31). The rough way in which Vardaman handles the dead fish seems to recall how the masculine endeavors of the Bundren men are built upon the exploitation of Addie as a wife and mother, particularly when Anse tells Vardaman to clean the fish and he asks why Dewey Dell can’t do it. The scene highlights how seemingly “heroic endeavors” can be built upon the exploitation of others by showcasing the patriarchal values of the Bundrens. What’s also interesting is that Vardaman is named after a racist Mississippi politician who fought for the economic prosperity of rural Whites like the Bundrens by conversely putting down Black people.

The testimony of Anse Bundren and his general philosophy of life are also a sharp rebuke to the conventionalities of the Hero’s Journey. Anse’s first chapter begins with him complaining about Jewel and Darl going into town to earn three dollars from Vernon Tull and the coming storm, both of which will make it more difficult for him to go into town to bury Addie, where he can get some false teeth. He disparages Jewel and Darl and attacks them for having stood in the way of this “given promise” (Faulkner 35)” In general, Anse has a hatred of change. He states that “every bad luck that comes and goes is bound to find it [his door]” (Faulkner 35). He equates the road that runs past his door with bringing the various tumults and challenges that he so despises, stating that “every bad luck prowling can find [the road] and come straight to [his] door” (Faulkner  36). He also blames the road for inspiring his other son’s “quests,” adding that the road was “making [him] pay for Cash’s carpenter notions” and inspiring Darl to go on his wagon journey for three dollars. Instead of pursuing his own endeavors, Anse feels that he is content how he is and could just be happy if changes stopped coming to him. He states that “I have done no wrong to be cussed by [with changes]. . .But peace is in my heart: I know it is” (Faulkner 38). Unlike the typical “ordinary world” and “”call to adventure stages” of the Hero’s Journey, where a character exhibits dissatisfaction with their present conditions, and a change impels them to embark on a quest, Anse Bundren feels perfectly satisfied with his lazy existence, and the changes that are occurring with Addie’s death only annoy him. Still, Anse’s complacency will somehow compel him to embark on the quest of going into town to bury Addie (and get his false teeth).

Anse’s general apathy and dysfunctionality also cause him to exploit other members of his family. Peabody thinks “He [Anse] had worn her [Addie] out at last” after he is called for the last time to visit Addie on her deathbed (Faulkner 39). Peabody relates how Addie “has been [spiritually] dead for these [past] ten days” (Faulkner 43). He adds how he has learned that death is a “function of the mind — and that of the minds of the ones who suffer bereavement,” implying that what has killed Addie has not been the illness but a lifetime of unrecognized service to her family. He notes that the gaze of Addie is sharp and intense “like the stream from a hose touches you,” but she still does not look upon Anse (Faulkner 44). When Peabody asks Anse why he didn’t call sooner, Anse responds “Hit was just one thing and then another,” too apathetic to reciprocate Addie’s service even as she lies on her deathbed (Faulkner 44). When Addie finally does die, he attempts a perfunctory show of grief, “trying to smooth [the quilt] up to [Addie’s] chin, but disarranging it instead” and returns to his old “idle animation” of stroking his thighs with his palms. He frames Addie’s death as merely God’s will and soon moves on to the prospect of getting his teeth when he goes into town. Both of these scenes illustrate how Anse’s apathetic nature causes him to exploit Addie. This sentiment ties in with Faulkner’s subversion of the Hero’s Journey in that Anse has already exploited Addie and is going to continue that pattern by making his seemingly noble quest to bury Addie about getting his new teeth. It’s clear what Vardaman has learned from.

 

 

An "idle animation" is an animation performed by a video game character when they are not performing any actions ordered by the player. I think it's an especially apt term for Anse's palm-rubbing given that firstly, he's pretty idle in general, and it's also an action that he reverts to every time he's given up on the next task on his list.

The characters in As I Lay Dying subvert the Hero’s Journey in the first few chapters of the novel by embarking on their quests of responding to Addie’s death with complacency, self-interest, or taking advantage of others. Perhaps Faulkner is trying to show that for rural, lower-class Americans like the Bundrens who are enmeshed in hierarchies and struggle to survive, responding to and overcoming challenges isn’t as pretty a process as those like Campbell would like to suggest.