William Faulkner: The Experience

Like generations of high school students before me, to say that I am a little confused by As I Lay Dying is perhaps a slight understatement. The jumbled narrative is conducive to neither storytelling or overall legibility (in fact, I suspect Faulkner intentionally wrote this novel specifically to mess with well-meaning students such as myself, but that’s a story for another time). So I decided to perform an experiment and fix Faulkner’s writing for him. I read every chapter (through page 238) narrated Cash in chronological order and from Vardaman in chronological order, taking into account only the events of their chapters and not what happens throughout the rest of the book, to see if there was any discernable hero’s journey in either’s narratives. Here are the results:

Cash 

While Cash only has four chapters, we can still extract some bits and pieces of a hero's journey from them from them. The first three Cash chapters track the progression of the coffin’s construction and placement in the wagon, up to its fall into the river. The fourth chapter sticks out like a sore thumb from the pattern the earlier three create, as it takes place during the discussion of what to do with Darl, so we’ll ignore it for now. The first chapter opens with a list of 13 reasons why Cash build the coffin “on a bevel”. We’ll call this stage the introduction, or call to adventure, of Cash’s journey. He clearly cares deeply about the craftsmanship he is putting into the coffin, and he wants to elaborate on his exact construction process. Fair enough. In his next chapter, he is having an argument with an unseen person (I assume either Darl or Anse, but it’s difficult to be sure) in which he asserts that the coffin is unbalanced as he helps place it in the wagon for transportation. This fairly accurately represents Cash’s belly of the whale; he is suddenly no longer in control of the fate of the coffin and must stand to leave the coffin unbalanced to appease the unknown voice. He wordlessly capitulates and helps place the coffin in the wagon. The final chapter is only two lines and is Cash’s “I told you so” moment in the narrative. In the middle of all the chaos as the wagon begins to sink in the river, Cash has the time to say? think? inform the reader? that the unknown voice from earlier should have listened to him. I think this is a kind of apotheosis for Cash. He has realized now that he should have maintained his stance on the coffin’s balance from the beginning and not put up with the Bundren’s antics. Indeed, throughout the rest of the novel, we see a firm commitment from Cash to accept as little help as possible from the rest of the Bundrens (for better or worse), despite him having a broken leg.

I’m unsure what to think of Cash’s fourth chapter. Maybe it can be seen as some sort of resolution to his journey, but I’m not convinced. Addie’s coffin is barely discussed throughout the chapter, which would probably tie into the end of Cash’s journey somehow. Alternatively, maybe it can be seen as an abandoning of his journey, as Cash has seemingly given up on his stoic and pragmatic narrative, instead opting to homogenize with the rest of the Bundrens, thus effectively losing his ideals and making way for their antics. Maybe William Faulkner is just messing with us. Who’s to say?

5/10 hero’s journey

Vardaman 

 The first Vardaman chapter takes place directly after Addie's death. In it, a confused and distraught Vardaman runs aimlessly around the farm, shouting. The next chapter contains perhaps the five most iconic words in the entire book. Taken together, these two chapters represent a stark binary. In one, we have a distressed, melancholic chapter filled with vague action and shouting; in the next, we have pure and focused understanding. My mother is a fish, simple as. Everyone say it with me, what stage represents a transformative experience? That's right, the belly of the whale! In the next chapter, the Bundrens have gotten underway and Vardaman and Darl discuss the whole fish/horse thing. This represents the start of Vardaman's road of trials, as he is not only literally on the way to help bury Addie, but is also trying to flesh out his relationship (if you can call it that) with his dead mother. It's also revealed at the beginning of this chapter that Vardaman is interested in getting something "belonging to santa claus", which we later learn is a toy he wants to buy in town. This is his ulterior motive for getting to Jefferson, although it's difficult to say that he is "greedy" or "immoral" like the rest of the Bundrens - he is 10 after all. 

The end of the chapter ends with "She says he won't sell it to know town boys" where "she" is Dewey Dell. The next chapter starts with "Cash tried but she fell off into the river", where "she" is Addie's coffin. There's a clear connection between the two. At this point, we begin to see the blurring of what Addie represents to Vardaman. The next few chapters can be seen as a distorted meeting with the goddess of sorts. Vardaman becomes obsessed with Addie and the vultures that follow her coffin. This can be distinctly seen when Vardaman "listens" to Addie's coffin on 214 and discovers that she is "talking to god". In his last chapter, Vardaman finds Darl setting the barn on fire, an act that he "must not tell anybody". This might be the stage of temptation, as telling someone more responsible about Darl's arson could cause Addie's burial to be disrupted and for him to not get his toy. This also could be an apostasis of sorts, as he begins to realize the imperfectness of his siblings. His journey begins to get a little fuzzy at this point. I believe the last 20 or so pages will provide a lot more clarity on Vardaman's journey.

7/10 hero’s journey

Honorable Mention: Jewel 

While short, Jewel’s one chapter provides an elucidating look into his own call to adventure. Jewel holds misguided feelings of hatred towards Cash for what he perceives as him tormenting Addie by building the coffin directly outside her bedroom window (but as we later learn, this was Addie’s wish). In this chapter, we can infer the strong connection Jewel and Addie shared, a result of him being the only child Addie felt was “her own”. We also indirectly learn about the strong sense of independence Jewel feels from the rest of the Bundrens Though seemingly out of place at the beginning of the book, Jewel’s feelings towards Addie and the rest of the Bundrens are further elaborated upon as the book progresses.

4/10 hero’s journey – could have been longer  

In conclusion, none of the Bundrens are real and we’re all going to lay dying. Thanks for reading.