From the very beginning of the book, the reader sympathizes with Addie because she is dying. We feel sorry for her because she is leaving such a quirky, but loving family. From the way her family treats Addie at her death bed by hand making her coffin and staying by her side and fanning her, we believe she must have been a loving mother that cared for her family. For over half the book, this is how we view Addie, and the Bundren's journey to fulfill her dying wish to be buried in her hometown seems justified. However then Faulkner adds in a chapter out of nowhere of a flashback in Addie's perspective , and the reader's perspective on Addie is completely changed.
The chapter opens with Addie talking about how her dad used to say, "the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time." We learn that Addie is deeply depressed with being a school teacher and wishes she would die. This was very confusing for me as a reader because I thought it was ironic how the whole plot of the book revolves around Addie's death when she actually wanted to die. She talks about how the only part she enjoyed about being with the children is whipping them so she could leave her mark on them. This can be seen as Addie wanting to leave her mark on the world in any way she can because she is trapped in a life she doesn't want.
Then she goes on to talk about how she hates Anse but married him because she felt like she had to. And once she gave birth to Cash, she felt so alone and unhappy she couldn't even describe it. Then she had an affair with the preacher Whitfield and gave birth to Jewel, her only child she ever really cared about. To make up for her sin, she "gave" Anse two more children. Addie's whole predicament although to the reader seems appalling because the Bundren's are risking their lives on a mother who doesn't even want them. However really Addie's persona tells us something about the status of women during this time period. We repeatedly hear Addie talk about how she "did what she had to do," never really having a say in what she wanted to do with her life. This theme can also be seen in Dewey Dell when she got pregnant because she felt trapped in a situation and did what she had to do to get out of it.
Overall, I feel sorry for Addie. She never got the life she wanted, but did what she had to do to be socially acceptable. However I also feel sorry for the Bundren's who never really found out Addie's real feelings towards them, and the family will live a lie the rest of their lives.
Yeah, the Addie chapter made me do kind of a 180 on her because I too assumed that she was a loving mother. I felt kind of bad for the rest of the family based on how she treated them but I do agree that that she deserves some sympathy because she didn't seem to have a great life in general but just really didn't have a lot of choice.
ReplyDeleteThis whole trip (at least it seemed to be so for the majority of the book) was done to "please" Addie. However, Addie got so stressed from her life that she just gave up on Anse. Jewel is the result of this "giving up". After her act with Peabody, I don't think I felt sorry for Addie anymore. I feel bad for Darl, Cash, Dewey Dell, Vardaman and Jewel, but most certainly not for Addie, and 100% not for Anse. Addie gave up on her family and she just called it quits, which is why I don't feel sorry for her. Although she could have kept up the family, and given her children the appropriate needed values, maybe they wouldn't have turned out like they did. However, her actions are the result of this trip and of everything that is broken within this family. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI actually sympathize with Anse a lot. He really does try for Addie, but he is naturally just so inept at life. He keeps missing the connections and the chances, but it's not like he ignores them; he just doesn't see them. One part that really made me sympathize with him was right after Addie died. He tried to smooth the blanket like Dewey Dell, but he was really clumsy and just made more wrinkles. That kind of awkward caring really made me feel sorry for him.
DeleteThe Addie chapter was definitely kind of a shock. I still sympathized with her though, because her situation definitely sucked. Even though she agreed marry Anse, I agree with Adina that Addie really didn't have much choice. What else would she have done? I get the feeling her life would still have been sad. Her dad didn't sound like the happiest guy in the world, after all.
ReplyDeleteThe whole "bad mother" thing is tough. We're sort of culturally hard-wired to react strongly against any woman who admits to not feeling some natural surge of maternal instinct the moment her children are born, but Addie seems to feel no such bond. What if a woman has children because it's what's expected of her by her society, and she expects that maternal feeling to follow, but . . . it just doesn't? Does this make her a bad person? Addie does stick with the family, which we might prefer to her leaving them outright (if such an option were really available to her), and this seems a tragic waste of a life. It seems too easy to simply blame her for not being a "good mother," as Cora does. Faulkner portrays "good motherhood" as an unrealistic and even confining expectation for someone who feels as Addie does.
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