The novel chronicles the Bundren family on their journey to bury their newly passed mother in town. Anse, the husband, has promised to bury Addie in the town she was born in and will stop at nothing to do it. He and his family pass trial after trial in Anse’s effort to bury his wife where she promises. This seems very noble, endearing, and could maybe make for a really great read in a summer book club for moms. But the Bundren family is far from perfect; in fact every trial they face, putting themselves and others in danger, is almost directly a result of their stubbornness. Every member of the family “refuses to be beholden to any man”, meaning they will not accept any favors, they will not be in the pocket of anyone. And it is frustratingly selfish considering they have children, they have injured, and it seems they have little to no respect for the dead. The Bundren family is a profoundly selfish family, but their task seems uncharacteristically selfless at the same time. I won’t spoil any endings, but the duality makes for a tantalizing read.
On top of this, it is incredibly fun. The style is written from the perspective of every member of the family and a few outsiders. Each “chapter” is a different family member’s name and their account of how they experience every scene in the book. This is strikingly biblical, multiple perspectives on the same series of events, each one unique, but each one offering the same narrative. There actually aren't a lot of events at all, but the length of the book is due to multiple perspectives on what is happening. Some of the more interesting perspectives include a 7 year old child, a father in denial of his own seemingly righteous motives, and the deceased herself: Addie Bundren. Because Faulkner can seamlessly transition into a completely unique and new perspective in each character’s voice, this book is great for anyone who loves to read into the psychology of characters. It requires motives to be questioned, sense imagery to be interpreted (is that a cow mooing or someone having sex?), and almost a complete distrust of what anyone is telling themselves.
The most amazing part to me is how Faulkner, through the use of the aforementioned style, is able to change the perspective of the reader. We begin to question the merits of the Bundren family; whether it’s the whole family or any single member. A completely non spoiler example would be whenever we are inside the head of a Bundren, it seems they are speaking Standard English, but if we are seeing them from an outsider’s perspective; they are speaking with a rural vernacular that connotes a less educated individual. Now we are questioning what the Bundren’s must think of themselves; do they have overblown expectations of how they must sound? Or do they do this unwittingly? Faulkner allows his readers to look disapproving at this protagonist family without being overly didactic or writing in a way that makes people use the word pathos too many times. If you like to analyze the psychology of characters by seeing the world as they see it, you will not find a more fun way to do this than As I Lay Dying and many other Faulkner novels. Prepare for headaches.
