"As I Lay Dying" as Ironic Quest

Transcription

"As I Lay Dying" as Ironic Quest
Author(s): Elizabeth M. Kerr
Source: Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Winter, 1962), pp. 5-19
Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1207376 .
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AS I LAY DYING AS IRONIC QUEST
ELIZABETH M. KERR
and consistentinterof arrivingat any satisfactory
The difficulty
As one of
Faulkner.
I
critics
of
As
disturbs
of
pretation
Lay Dying
the most recent,Walter J. Slatoff,says:
One is uncertain about the qualities of some of the
importantcharactersand about how to feel towardthem;one
is puzzled by the meaningsof manyof the events;one is far
fromsure what the book is chieflyabout, and above all one
is uncertainto what extentone has been watchingan epic
or tragedyor farce.'
Althoughno approach to the novel can whollyresolve its difficulties
of As I Lay Dying as an
and remove its complexities,interpretation
ironicinversionof the quest romance,ratherthan as "epic or tragedy
or farce,"serves to reconcile diverse elements,to clarifypatternsof
action and functionsof characters,and to invest the whole with
meaning which correctssentimentalmisconceptionsand softensthe
savage irony apparent to those who shun sentimentality.Northrop
Frye's analysis of the "Mythosof Summer: Romance," which is part
of his "rationalaccount of some of the structuralprinciplesof Western
literaturein the context of its Classical and Christian heritage,"2
presentsso manypointswhichhave parallels in As I Lay Dying thata
systematiccomparison of the novel with the traditional structure
would seem logical.3 This comparisonproves richlyrewarding.
based on a conceptualantithesis
The validityof an interpretation
most
the
cherished
narrativepatterns in Western
between one of
literatureand the unheroic adventuresof a familyof Southernpoor
whites is strengthenedby Slatoff'swell-supportedobservationthat
"Faulkner'sthoughtand writingare dominatedby thematicand conceptual antithesesof all sorts" (106). But Slatofffails to note the implicite antithesisexemplifiedhere.
The obscure and difficult
technique,withthe many shortsections
in the firstperson, somewhatconceals the essential simplicityof the
central action, the journeyof the Bundren familyfromFrenchman's
59
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Bend to Jefferson,
beset by perilsof floodand difficulties
oftransportation and supplies,to burythe dead wife and mother,Addie Bundren.'
The feckless father,Anse, the sons--Cash, Darl, Jewel, and little
Vardaman-and the daughter,Dewey Dell, are the centralcharacters.
Neighbors,countrypeople along the way, and townspeoplein Mottson
and Jefferson
are the minorcharacters.The Bundrenshave a hill farm
fromwhich, with the aid of theirkindlybut exasperatedneighbors,
is a
theyderive a bare subsistence.Thereforethe journeyto Jefferson
circummajor event in theirlives, justifiedonly by the extraordinary
stance that Anse gave Addie a solemn promiseto bury her with her
So welcome is the prospectof the journeyto the
familyin Jefferson.
whole family that one might well suspect the genuineness of the
promisewere it not confirmedin the one sectiondealing withAddie's
streamof consciousness.5The titlemay be interpretedas a reflection
of the ironyof the initialsituation:as Addie lay dying,the plans for
her burial were givenimpetusby othermotivesand objectives."Jewel
thinksthat everyoneis "burninghell" to get Addie dead and buried
(350). Anse's comment,in Darl's clairvoyantaccountof Addie's death
duringhis absence, epitomizesthe irony:"God's will be done.... Now
I can get them teeth" (375). As Olga Vickery points out, Anse's
to performthe
"desirefornew teethand Jewel'ssavage determination
word
act"
are
that
from
all
Anse
the
serve for
keep
promised
letting
the deed.7
and
The diverse dreamsforwhich the charactersseek fulfillment
the time of action,July,furnisha parallel to the "Mythosof Summer:
Romance,"which Frye describesas "nearestof all literaryformsto the
dream" (186). Each of the main charactershas a
wish-fulfilment
"the
search
of the libido or desiringself for a fulfilment
that
dream,
will deliver it fromthe anxietiesof realitybut will still contain that
reality"(193). Barbara Giles neatlysums up the desired fulfillment:
"the simplebut powerfulwish of poor ruralfolkto go to town."8The
fact that the dreams are trivialor ludicrousto begin with is the basis
of the otherironicinversions.The attemptto read intoAs I Lay Dying
the heroic quality that the quest makes one expect is due to a failure
to detect this primaryinversion. Anse longs for new teeth and,
secretly,a new wife. Cash, the carpenter,has saved money for a
graphophone.Dewey Dell wantsbananas and an abortion.Vardaman
wantsto look at a toytrainin a storewindow but will take bananas as
second best delight. Darl and Jewel,the rejectedand the favoriteson,
are the only ones concernedchieflywith the ostensibleobject of the
quest.
As I Lay Dying
7
These are the dreams. The "sequential and processional form"
(Frye, 186), familiaras it is romanticallyidealized by a conventional
narratoror author,so loses its outlines in the complexitiesand ambiguitiesof the multipleviews of the charactersthat eventsare sometimes not clear. Disagreementamong criticson such essentialpoints
as whetherDarl is reallyinsane,whetherVardaman is merelya small
boy or an idiot,and whetherthe journeyis heroicevidence of devotion
or a comedyof errorshas some justification.If my readingis correct,
Darl and Jewel are the centralcharacters,but they are also the most
ambiguous ones. Olga Vickerygives the reason for only one section
being devoted to Jewel'sstreamof consciousness:his world "consists
of a welter of emotions,centeringon Addie, which cannot be communicated." These emotions"are translatedimmediatelyinto actions"
of
(60). The selfrevelationof Darl and the contrasting
interpretations
him by other characterscause confusionwhich the reader is left to
elucidate as best he may.
And the settinglikewise shows ironic inversion. The Mississippi
countrysidein Julyshould have some idyllicqualities,despitethe heat.
It is a peaceful region of pine hills and rivers,very sparselysettled.
But a floodbrokethe idyllicsummercalm with a destroyingfurythat
seems almost maleficent,and then the heat caused the processionto
be enveloped in the stenchof corruption.From death to burial,Addie
with her attendantsbecame a nine day's wonder.Olga Vickerydenies
that the journeyis "an inspiringgestureof humanityor a heroic act
of traditionalmorality."The journeyis rather"a travestyof the ritual
of interment"
because the individualsdo not give meaningto the ritual.
Anse and Dewey Dell lack the properspiritand Cash and Darl are in
conflictwith it (52-53).
The inversionor the perversionof the idealized quest of the old
romancesis apparentin the object of the quest,the characterswho take
part in it, the incidents,the precious objects and symbolsassociated
withthe ritual,and the resultsfinallyachieved.,
Instead of a treasureto be foundor a prize to be won, thereis a
body to be buried. The characters,thoughnot so sharplypolarizednor
so simplydrawnas in quest-romance,are largelyironiccounterpartsof
familiartypes.'0 Instead of saving a sleepingbeauty,the hero,Jewel,
buried Addie, fromthree to nine days dead, "in summer,and we're
the heroine,is
runningout of ice." Addie, emotionallyand structurally
also the motherfigure.But Addie when alive was not the wise mother
of romance,"oftenthe lady for whose sake or at whose bidding the
quest is performed"(195), but was an unmaternalmotherwho re-
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jected her second son and gave Vardamanand Dewey Dell to Anse to
make up forthe child she had robbed him of and to negativeJewel,a
motherwho knew that"onlythroughthe blows of the switchcould my
blood and theirblood flowas one stream"(As I Lay Dying,467, 463).
She was a true motheronly to Jewel. "She rejectednot onlythe children she taughtand all but one of the childrenshe bore, she rejected
life itself. . . ."I" As Waggoner observes,Addie alive was not a redemptive figure. Dead, she was a peril and an offense.No questromance is complete without a distresseddamsel, but nowhere in
romanceis therea distresseddamsel like Dewey Dell, who fatalistically lingeredwith Lafe at the end of the cottonrow when the cotton
sack was fulland who felt"like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth"
(As I Lay Dying,355, 384)-and hoped fora crop failure. If Addie is
the "lady of duty" to Anse and her family,a most apt term,Anse's
second wife is the "lady of pleasure" (Frye, 196), less seductivethan
her prototypes.A possible implicationof Cash's mysteriousfirstreference to her house as "Mrs. Bundren'shouse" (509-515), in a passage
otherwiselimitedto the events and, one would suppose, to the consciousnessof Cash beforeAnse presentedher to the familyin the last
sentencein the book, is thatshe was Mrs. Bundrenbeforeshe married
Anse. The lady of pleasure would then suggesta Gertrude-Claudius
situationwith a hintof the incestfeared in connectionwith the black
queen (Frye, 196). Maybe the inversionis inverted!
Anse, as the husband of Addie, the ironiccounterpartof the wise
motherfigure,should be an unwise old man, the whitekingto Addie's
white queen (Frye, 195). And so he is. Though he is ineptand helpless, avoidingexertionforfear that to sweat will kill him (355), Anse
is describedon one occasion in termsthat definitely
recall mysterious
sages like Merlin:
Pa leans above the bed in the twilight,his humped
silhouette partaking of that owl-like quality of awryfeathered,disgruntledoutrage withinwhich lurksa wisdom
too profoundor too inertforeven thought.(372)
His abilityto secure aid fromeveryoneelse while assertinghis determinationnot to be beholden to anyonesuggestsa magic power: Armstid said, "I be durn if Anse don't conjure a man ... ." (481) Even
the other charactersregard him as the special concern of the Lord
(402), so contagiousis Anse's view of himself:"I am the chosen of
the Lord, forwho He loveth,so doeth He chastiseth.But I be durn
if He don'ttake some curiousways to show it, seems like" (415). The
As I Lay Dying
9
secret of his power is, as Vickerynotes, that "His words create an
image of himselfas the meek and magnanimousvictimforgivinga
cruel and heartlessworld" (56): no one dares justifyhis implications
by refusinghim help. What dignityAnse possesses and what griefhe
might feel would detract from the irony. But after selling Jewel's
horses and takingthe helpless Cash's graphophonemoneyto buy the
mules and using Dewey Dell's abortionmoneyforhis teeth,he finally
loses all sympathywhen, shaved, combed, and "perfumed like a
milliner,"he leads forthhis bride, "kind of hangdog and proud too,
with his teeth and all" (530, 531). Throughthe sacrificeof othershe
buried one wife, but he got the second by his unaided effortsand
used the "hearse" to take her home in.
The traditionalconflictbetween fatherand son occurs between
Anse and Jewel,fromthe time when, by takingwork fromhis flesh
and blood, as Anse saw it,Jewelearned moneyto buy the horse (434).
The truereason forthe hostilityis thatJewelis not Anse's son; though
there is no indicationthat Anse was aware of the fact,he would be
aware that Jewel was Addie's favoriteand his rival.
Cash, the eldest son, is the artificer;he forgesno sword,but the
care with which he made the coffinon the bevel to withstandthe
slantingstressof the animal magnetismof a dead body (397) recalls
of his legendarypredecessors. His concernfor his
the craftsmanship
in
the
lost
tools,
flood,is like a hero's concernfor an Excalibur.
Darl, the second son, can be viewed in two ways, dependenton
whetherone considershim insane or sane: he is eitherthe enchanted
knightwho is not released fromthe evil spell or he is the unenchanted
victimof the forcesof evil and sterilitywhich deliverhim over to be
imprisonedin a dungeon. He is the son rejected by his mother,as
Jewel is the one most dear to her.
Minor charactersfall into parallels also. In general they are the
equivalent of the characters in romance who aid in the quest."
Neighborsor familiesencounteredalong the road assist in the quest
for various reasons, chieflythe irresistiblehelplessnessof Anse and
the noisomenessof the caravan. Each man "describesa stage in the
journey . . . in termsof his contributionto it."13Vernon Tull helped
with the coffin,with the settingout, and with crossingthe river. The
Armstidsofferedhospitalitybeyond the call of duty,as did Gillespie,
losinghis barn as a result. There is no ironyexceptthatAnse'spromise
costs everyoneelse more than it does him and that the stenchmakes
everyoneeager to speed the Bundrenson theirway more expeditiously
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than is possible. Other individuals,however,offerironic contraststo
types familiarin romances. Doc Peabody is a combinationof the
traditionaldoctorand the awkward,faithfulgiant,helpingand scolding with exasperatedkindnessand ironicallycalled too late, forboth
Addie and Cash, to use his skill most effectively.' He must be the
only "pussel-gutted"giant in literature.The various druggistsare the
alchemists or magicians, from whom Dewey Dell seeks the ironic
equivalent of a love potion. The druggistin Mottsonrefusesto use
his magic powers, being a respectable family man and a church
member (487). But MacGowan, the "trickyslave" of the druggistin
Jefferson,
fearingthe returnof his boss fromlunch before he can
complete his deception of Dewey Dell and arrangeforher returnat
night,is vicious, not comic (Frye, 197). He is a kind of sorcerer's
apprentice,whose meetingwith the naive and desperate Dewey Dell
in the cellar at nightis leftto the reader'simagination,while Vardaman, waiting outside, sees only the moon and the courthouseclock
and thered and greenjars in the drugstorewindow (517-525). Dewey
Dell is here the ironic versionof the simple maiden in the power of
the evil magician,forshe is both simple and guilty.
Vernon Tull provides another ironic inversionas the faithful,
practical helper to the "wise" old man, like Sancho Panza to Don
Quixote (Frye, 197). Tull is actuallysuperiorto Anse,whomhe helps
against his own betterjudgment. His most strikingcapitulation,however, is not to Anse's fecklessnessbut to Vardaman's childlikeconfidence: "Because a fellow can see ever now and then that children
have more sense than him" (437). Here the ironyvanishes: Faulkner
consistently
pays tributeto the innatewisdomof childrenand to their
giftfordirectaction and formakingadults act againsttheirown convictions. Perhaps Vardaman has no parallel in romancebecause he is
not ironicallyconceived.
The parallels between both major and minorcharactersin questromanceand in Faulkner'sjourneyexplainwhat seemsto Slatoff(114)
to be a deviationin As I Lay Dying fromFaulkner'suse of antithesis
in characterization:the antithesisexists,but between the characters
in the novel and those in romances. Althoughthereis also antithesis
between characterswithin the novel, especially the antithesisbetween those who respondby words and those who respondby action,
providingthe structuralpatterntraced by Olga Vickery,the sharp
black and white contrastsof romanceare lacking.
In the incidentsof the quest, the traditionalperils of fireand
water are the ones Addie, talkingto Cora Tull, had imagined Jewel
As I Lay Dying
11
facingforher sake: "He is my cross and he will be my salvation. He
will save me fromthe water and fromthe fire. Even thoughI have
laid down my life, he will save me" (460). On the basis of Addie's
words and of Jewel'sactions,Jewel emergesas the hero, despite the
fact that only one passage presentsJewel directly.15Slatoffraises the
question of what salvationshe can mean, "especiallyif she is going to
because her fatheris rightor to revenge herselfon Anse"
Jefferson
(164)1' Jewel does fulfillthe promiseAnse made that Addie should
be buried in Jefferson.He rescues her fromthe floodby keepingthe
wagon frombeing swept downstream. He sacrificeshis horse for a
team of mules to pull the wagon. He rescues her fromthe fireby
bringingher coffinout of the burningbarn,end over end, himself"enclosed in a thinnimbusof fire"(501). He is the hero of the mythwho
bravesfloodand fireto reach or rescue his beloved. The symbolicsignificanceof both the floodand the firegoes back fartherthanromances,
to myth. Interpretationof the flood in As I Lay Dying as a rebirth,
freeingthe sons fortheirdestinies,'7 or as a fable of the testingof the
threesons in which the riveris the symbolof anotherworld and the
journeya journeyto salvationlsrelates the storyof the Bundrensultimatelyto "the archetypalmythof the historyof the world,"in which
the "deluge hero is a symbolof the germinalvitalityof man surviving
even the worst tides of catastropheand sin."'" No dove, no raven
marksthe end of thisflood,but,instead,buzzards. Moreover,the hero
sacrificeslife to death: Jewelmakes good Anse's bargain with Snopes
and gives up his horse,the horse which in romance "gets the hero to
his quest" and consequentlykeeps a centralplace (Frye, 196). The
lineage of Jewel's horse, descendant of one of the famous spotted
horses Flem Snopes broughtfromTexas, suggests legendary steeds
withnoble ancestry.Upon the humble mules,unliketheirparallels in
romance,the success of the quest depends.
The horse is establishedas a centralsymbolidentifiedwithJewel
when Darl, in the firstsection,sees Jewel strugglingwith the horse,
"an epiphanyof all that is about to occur" (Waggoner,73). In Darl's
mind, the horse is Jewel's mother (406); thus the loss of the horse
repeats the loss of the mother. Vickeryexplains Darl's idea by his
knowledge"thatthe horse Jewelcaresses and cursesis a surrogatefor
Addie" (59), which "perpetuatesAddie's emotionalrelationshipwith
Jewel" (61) and, one assumes, preventsJewel fromloving another
woman. As the horse is an ancient symbol of virility,the fishis "a
and a symbolof life.20Vardaman,
potentfactorensuringfruitfulness"
tryingto understandthe mysteryof life and death, confusesthe huge
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Studies
fishhe caught withhis motherand says: "My motheris a fish"(398).
Waggoner explains this as a parallel between the Eucharist and the
fish,killed,chopped up as "ritualmagic"to preventhis mother'sdeath,
and ritualisticallyeaten (66, 83). This symbolismis familiar: "the
fishis a Divine Life symbol,of immemorialantiquity,"associatedwith
sacramentalmeals in Jewish,Christian,and Mysterycults."yBut in the
cluster of symbols of death-corpse, coffin,buzzards-the horse of
lose theirpotency:the horse
virilityand the fishof lifeand fruitfulness
is a substitutefora woman and is lost,and the fishis a child'sfantasy,
not a sacramentnor a promise that the cycle will pass fromdeath
back to life.
of Addie's wishes; he lost the
Jewelsoughtno prize but fulfilment
horse he had earned. The prizes soughtby the other charactersare
ironic inversionsof the precious objects, oftenof ritual significance,
soughtin romance. Anse's teeth,to obtain which Anse impels others
to carryout his promise,are grotesque. Furthermore,
they are purchased with the ten dollarswhichwas the price of Dewey Dell's most
urgentdesire,an abortion. Justas the precious objects broughtback
and thus with
fromthe traditionalquest are associated with fertility
food and drink (Frye, 193), so Anse's teethand the otherprize won
are associated with food: at the end the Bundrens conin Jefferson
tentedlymunchbananas, the one dreamrealized forthe whole family.
How Faulkner could have forgottenthe cokes,to completethe ritual,
I cannotimagine.Mrs. Tull's cakes, the "sacramental"meal of fishand
turnipgreens,and the basket of food carriedon the journey,supplemented by kindlyhosts,provide a series of referencesto sustainthe
food ritualuntilthe climax,the bananas.
What has the quest achieved? Cash, the artificer
son,has suffered
the mutilationwhich forHephaistosor Weyland the smithwas a kind
of ritualdeath (Frye, 193). Cash's analysisof Darl may be the ironic
equivalent of the "unusual wisdom or power" gained by mutilation,
but it cannot aid Darl. Cash also dwells upon the idea that "nothing
justifiesthe deliberate destructionof what a man has built with his
own sweat" (514-515), referring
to the coffinwhich Darl had triedto
burn and reflectinghis craftsman'spride. Olga Vickerycredits his
sufferingwith "the extensionof his range of awareness and . . . his
increased sensitivityboth to events and to people" (57). This is
Cash's wisdom; his only power gained is that of unselfishand silent
endurance,at the cost perhapsof the skillhe prizes. His onlyconsolation is the music of the "duck-shaped"woman's graphophone. Darl,
the most sensitiveson, saved nothingin the floodin whichCash saved
As I Lay Dying
13
the horseand had his leg brokenand Jewelsaved the wagon and
coffin
and Cash's tools.He is sentto an insaneasylum.Dewey Dell
wantsto destroythenew lifewithinherand will no doubtsucceed.
True, a bride has been won,Anse'ssecondwife,the "duck-shaped
woman"withthe"hard-looking
pop eyes"(531), likeoneoftheloathly
sheis won
ladiesbutincapableofmagictransformation.
Furthermore,
ofthe dead Addie,theheroineforwhom
to thememory
by infidelity
Anse'seconomyin makingtheborrowing
the quest was undertaken.
of spades to dig his firstwife'sgraveserveas preludeto his second
marriageoutdoesthe thriftin Elsinore. The lack of hesitationon
Anse'spart--"itwas likehe knowed"- wouldseemto have onlyone
plausibleexplanation:the bridewas an objectof the quest,notjust
a happycoincidence.Jewel,the hero,has lostbothhis motherand
fora woman'slove as well as a symbolof
his horse,the substitute
over
is the victoryof fertility
Whereas
the
"quest-romance
virility.
the victory
the wasteland"(Frye, 193), As I Lay Dyingrepresents
and infidelity.
of deathand sterility
The quest is the thirdphase of the romance(Frye, 198-199).
limitedin scope and timeas it is, one wouldnot
Withthe narrative
twophases,
lookforvestigesoftheotherphases. But in factthefirst
representedin memoryof past events, show the significanceof the
major symbolsof the quest in contrastto the symbolsassociated with
the hero's parentage and birth. Again Jewel is the hero. Instead of
the familiarsymbolsof the ark bearing the infantin a waterylandscape, As I Lay Dying has the coffinbearing the mother. Instead of
the embryo,a source of wealth,thereis only the corpse,the cause to
Jewelof griefand of loss of his horse. The romanticcycle is reversed:
the water of life turnsto the water of death,and the ravensand doves
whichherald new life become the buzzards of Jewel'squest.
The paternityof the hero, in light of romance,reveals familiar
elementstransformed.Son and fatherare rivals less over the mother
than over the horse. The true father,who should be a wise old man,
typicallya teacher,is, suitably,a preacher,but his wisdom consistsin
concealinghis guiltwhen the floodprovidentiallysubstitutesa travail
by water for the confessionhe had intendedto make at Addie's bedside. He concludes his rationalizingjustificationof his silence by
praisingthe "bounteous and omnipotentlove" of God which caused
the flood-for his exclusive benefit (469, 470). Cora Tull and to a
lesser extentVernon Tull represent"narrow-mindedpublic opinion"
(Frye, 199), Cora observingand disapprovingof Addie's partialityfor
Jewel and rejection of Darl and rightlyjudging Dewey Dell to be
14
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shallow and selfish.Cora's narrowself-righteousness
ironicallyaccompanies genuine insight. Dewey Dell, the guilty girl instead of the
calumniatedmaid, takes vengeance on Darl, the only one who knows
her guilt, by helping to capture him when the men come fromthe
asylum (513-514).
The second phase, the innocentyouthofthe hero (Frye, 199-200),
is less clearly definedthan the birth and parentage phase, but it is
sugggestedby some elementswhichotherwiseseem ratherextraneous.
The episode of Jewel's earning his horse involves more than the
father-mother-son
situation. The assumptionof the brothersthat he
has a girl somewhereproves unfounded,but instead of Jewel'sshowing his eroticinnocenceby love forhis sister (Frye, 200), a favorite
theme elsewherein Faulkner,he loves his horse. The greenand gold
world of youth in romance becomes instead a world of daytime
slumberor grogginessand of nightworkby lanternlight,symbolizing
the unfruitfulness
of Jewel'spassion. Enmitybetween brothersand
sister appears and extends into the quest phase. The fireand river
which symbolize a sexual barrier appear, as noted, associated with
death and love for the dead; the flood endangersthe horse and the
coffinand the fireendangersthe other horses,the coffin,and Jewel
himself.
As is evident,the quest contains some details parallel to those
in the firsttwo phases, but the centralaction is distinctand lends its
characteristicpatternto the narrative.
The fourthphase (Frye, 200-201), in which a "happier society"
is visible throughout,overlaps the fulfillment
of the quest, inverting
the traditionalthemein romance: "the maintainingof the integrity
of
the innocentworld against the assault of experience." Jefferson,
the
dream world of the Bundrens,provesto be no "happiersociety"but a
world of tawdrypleasures and pain and deception. The objects of
the quest, "instrumentalgoods perverted into external goals," are
accepted by all but Jeweland Darl: "The intemperatemind seeks its
good in the externalobject of the world of experience." The young,
the naive, the ignorantshould not be censuredtoo harshly:the children of Anse and Addie are all pathetic in various ways. But in
Dewey Dell we have no invincibleinnocence,like that of the Lady in
Comus, but vincible guilt, combiningignorance,incontinence,and
gluttony;we could pityher more if she were not also selfish,cunning,
and vindictive. The "integratedbody to be defended"is the family,
the Bundrensagainstthe world,but it is not defended. Cash's welfare
is always secondaryto the selfishdesires of Anse and Dewey Dell;
As I Lay Dying
15
Darl is betrayedand vindictivelydeliveredover to the authorities.Doc
Peabody, still the friendlygiant-physicianbut now also the shrewd
and humane townsman,retortswhen Cash says it didn't botherhim
much to ride six days on a wagon withoutsprings,with his broken
leg encased in cement: "You mean, it neverbotheredAnse much ....
No more than it botheredhim to throwthat poor devil down in the
public streetand handcuffhim like a damn murderer"(515-516). The
most significantindication of the lack of family feeling,the most
ironic aspect of the quest, is the omissionof any details of the burial
itself,which,if it were the trueobjective,should have been the climax,
the emotionalpeak of the narrative;Cash, the onlyone to deal withthe
burial,merelymentionsthe grave in a pronounwithoutan antecedent,
in relatingthe seizing of Darl after"we got it filledand covered and
drove out the gate" (513). Slatoffsuggeststhat the meager account
of the burial and the emphasis on Darl instead of Addie may mean
that Darl, not Addie, is the centralfigure(164).22 The role of Jewel
as hero does notrule out Darl as a vitalfigure,but his real significance,
it seems to me, appears only in the sixthphase.
The fifthphase, the idyllic,reflectiveview of experience,marked
by withdrawal from action, "presentsexperience as comprehended
and not as a mystery.'" This phase places the true lovers "on top of
a hierarchyof . . . erotic imitations"(Frye, 202). Faulkner's only
loversare Anse and his bride; Anse has always withdrawnfromaction
by gettingothersto act forhim; and his comprehensionis limitedto
blaming the road for all his bad luck, on the assumptionthatif God
had intendedmen to move around He would have "put him longways
on his belly,like a snake" (362). The completeironyof thisphase is
broken only by its un-ironicconformity
to patternin dealing "witha
world very similarto that of the second phase" except in mood; in
fact,it is the same world,inhabitedby the same people except Addie
and Darl.
The sixthphase (Frye, 202-203) can be discernedby a further
projectioninto the future:"the centralimage . . . of the old man in
the tower" is supplied by Anse on top of his hill, lettingthe rest of
the world go by while he listensto the graphophoneand eats withthe
new teeth,pleasures which supply the typicalnote of comfort.Lacking, of course,are the "occult or magical studies"and the "contemplative haze." As Vickerynotes, Anse "avoids agony and insightalike,"
by takingwords for deeds (57).
Only one more elementremains to be sought in ironic counterpart, the "point of epiphany"on a mountaintop or tower. I finda
16
Wisconsin
Studies
kindof epiphany,but on a train:aftercontrasting
moneywithtwo
faceswitha Frenchsouvenirwithtwobacks,Darl'slast words,"Yes
bothhisacceptance
yesyesyesyesyesyesyes,"seemto me to signify
ofthefrankly
insaneworldto whichhe is goingfromthesupposedly
sane world,givenoverto moneyand sex,whichcondemnshimand
his rejectionof thefamilywho sitin thewagonand munchbananas
an enlightenment,
withouta visionor
(527).2" Cash also experiences
image,when he tells Darl thatthe asylumwill be betterforhim,
and such"and questionstheright
"quiet,withnoneof thebothering
of a man "to say whatis crazyand whatain't. It's liketherewas a
that
fellowin everymanthat'sdonea-pastthesanityor theinsanity,
watchesthe sane and the insanedoingsof thatman withthe same
horrorand the same astonishment"
(514, 515).25 Slatoffconsiders
and
Yes's
on the
"highlyambiguous"and comments
Darl's laughter
in thelastglimpseofhim(168).
"noteofpeace and evenaffirmation"
The trulyinsaneworldis thatin whichthebananaeaters,heedlessof
thepatient,suffering
Cash,are joinedby Anse,sprucedup and grinwith
his
new
teeth,accompaniedby his duck-shaped
wife,and
ning
all driveoffin the wagonwhich,one imagines,
stillreeksof its late
cargo. ThoughDarl was insaneto beginwith,he was also,as Slatoff
of"Jewel'sand
"hateand stupidity,"
putsit,thevictimof thefamily's
and one
ineptitude,"
Dewey Dell's hatredand ofAnse'sself-indulgent
agreeswithhimthatthe questconcludeswith"oneof themostgrim
and cynicalendingsin literature"
(169). It is partof the ironythat
Cash gainedhiswisdomthrough
due tothefamily's
incompesuffering
and thatDarl, who had the greatestinsight,
tenceand insensitivity
was drivencompletely
mad and was castoffby thefamily.
The extentto whichAs I Lay Dyingironically
parallelsthequest
romanceand the otherphasesof romanceprovesto be muchgreater
forthe
thanfirstanticipated.The explanation
and moreimpressive
centralpatternand chiefcharacters
as
maybe simplythat, Fryesays,
"Of all fictions,
themarvelous
thatis never
journeyis theone formula
and
Faulkner's
that
for
forms
exhausted"(57)
propensity archetypal
attractedto the centraljourneyothertraditional
elements.His use
ofthesetraditional
elements
ofcompomayexplaintheuniquefacility
sition.As I Lay Dying"was written
in sixweekswithoutchanginga
word"becausehe "knewfromthefirst
wherethatwas going.2""But
not
Faulkner
was
to workouta systematic
certainly
deliberately
trying
of
such
and
as
are
myths patterns
synthesis
analyzedby Frye,and the
of paralleldetailsshouldnotbe givenexaggerated
multitude
significance as revealingdeliberateintent.The vitalpointis thatthe con-
As I Lay Dying
17
sistencyof the inversionwould seem incompatiblewith any sentimental or heroic concept: it is ratherthe essence of ironic mockery.
of the novel mustbe based on this inversion,
Thereforeinterpretation
placing it squarely in the categoryof ironyand satire,of which the
"archetypaltheme"is "Sparagmos,or the sense thatheroismand effective action are absent,disorganizedor foredoomedto defeat,and that
confusionand anarchyreign over the world" (Frye, 192). The tendency of Faulkner to use mythicalthemes in a realisticframework,
illustratedby this novel about YoknapatawphaCounty,also furnishes
supportforFrye'sobservationthat"displaced myths"and plot formulas
move "over towards the opposite pole of verisimilitude,and then,
with irony,"begin "to move back" (52). Faulkner'sinvolvementwith
YoknapatawphaCounty and its people is such that ironycannot exclude sympathy;the Bundrensare never whollydespicable, as few of
his characters are except Flem Snopes and Jason Compson. The
technique of having the charactersreveal themselvesfurthercontributesto the complex emotionstheyarouse in the reader. Recognition of the pervadingironydoes not eliminateambiguity,but at least
such recognitionexcludes some of the possible meaningsand enables
of the last paragraph
one to say that of Slatoff'stwo interpretations
of As I Lay Dying--"a kind of comic affirmation"
or the idea that'"life
is a
is so meaninglessand even vicious that any kind of affirmation
second
inversion.
is
the
ironic
supported by
mockery"(173)-the
UNIVERSITY
OF WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE
FOOTNOTES
1 QuestforFailure:A Studyof WilliamFaulkner(Ithaca,New York,1960),
159. Mr. Slatoff'sbook is the most recentfull-length
work on Faulknerand,
has particularrelevanceto my study
with its emphasison "polar imagination,"
of As I Lay Dying,whichwas plannedbeforethe book was published.
2 The Anatomyof Criticism(Princeton,New Jersey,1957), 133.
3 AlthoughHyatt Waggoner'sinterpretation
of As I Lay Dying fails to take
fullyinto account the grotesquehumorand the irony,he findsin it "added
dimensionsin . . . associationwith the basic Westernmyth." It is difficult
to
accept his next statement:"The novel not only re-enactsthe Eucharist,it is
incarnationalin its very form." He sees Cash as a human Christand Jewel
as "'divine' champion." Chapter 4: "Vision: As I Lay Dying," "William
Faulkner: From Jeffersonto the World (Lexington, Kentucky, 1959).
The basic Westernmythas it appears in traditionalromancelends itselfbetter
to ironictreatment
than does ritualfundamental
to Christiandoctrineand faith.
Waggoner'sinterpretation
approachessacrilege.
4 Although"the structural
metaphor"may be, as Waggonersays, "a journey
throughlife to death and throughdeath to life" (62), the returnto a narrow,
life givesan ironictwistto the cycle.
and fruitless
impoverished,
18
Studies
Wisconsin
5 WilliamFaulkner,As I Lay Dying (New York,Modem Library,1946), 464.
6 Roma King describesthe Bundrenpietyand respectas superficialor even
of Kansas
hypocritical:"The JanusSymbolin 'As I Lay Dying,"' University
City Review,XXX (June, 1955), 288. Jack Gordon Goellnersimilarlydenies
is noble or the effort
thatthe motivation
heroic,since Anse,who contractedthe
obligation,does least to fulfillit: "A Closer Look at 'As I Lay Dying,'"
VII (Spring,1954), 47.
Perspective,
7 Chapter 4: "The Dimensionsof Consciousness,"The Novels of William
Faulkner(Baton Rouge, 1959), 56.
8 "The South of William Faulkner,"Masses and Mainstream,III (February,
1950),29.
are thosepresented
9 The traditional
elementsreferred
to in the quest-romance
by NorthropFrye, The Anatomyof Criticism,186-206. Specificpassages are
indicatedby page numbersin parenthesesin context.
10 ValeryLarbaud discussesthe burial of Addie as an epic episode,like the
obsequies of a Homericqueen, and cites these parallelsto epic or traditional
characters:Cash, Hephaistos; Darl, prophet; Dewey Dell, princess;Anse, a
peasant Ulysses: "Un Roman de WilliamFaulkner. 'Tandis que j'agonise,'" Ce
Vice impuni,la lecture. . . domaineanglais (Paris, 1936), 302. Carvel Collins
s wordsto Odysseus,
findsa source for the titlein translations
of Agamemnon
the Odyssey,Book XI and lists parallelswith charactersin Greekmythology:
Addie, Demeter;Jewei,Dionysus;Dewey Dell, Persephone;Anse, the King of
Heaven: "The Pairingof 'The
Hell; Bundrens'farm,the underworld;Jefferson,
Sound and the Fury' and "As I Lay Dying,'" PrincetonUniversity
Library
Chronicle,XVIII (Spring,1957), 114-123. Frye'sanalysisof romanceprovides
more consistentparallels with charactertypes than does either Larbaud's or
in whichthereare numerous
withsingle,specificcharacters,
Collins'identification
logical discrepancies.
11 Waggoner,81.
12 Larbaud recognizesa dramaticaspect as well as an epic one, and refers
to the neighborsas the chorus. Since the minorcharactersplay an active part,
the analogy with charactersin romancewho aid in the quest is much the
stronger.
13 Vickery,63.
14 Collinsidentifies
Peabody as Hermes. JessieWestonshows that the doctor
was a traditionalcharacteralso in Fertilityceremonies,Greek Classical Drama,
mummingplays, and medievalRomance: ChapterVIII, "The Medicine Man,"
FromRitualto Romance(New York,1941).
15 See also KennethB. Sawyer,"The Hero in 'As I Lay Dying,'" Faulkner
Studies,III (Spring-Summer,
1954), 30-33. In an M.A. thesis,"Empathyin
Faulkner's'As I Lay Dying'" (VanderbiltUniversity,
1954), Lloyd Moore Davis
recognizesJewelas "the guidingforceof the burialprocession"(82).
16 The revengemotiveis specifiedalso by J. L. Roberts,"The Individualand
the Family,"Arizona Quarterly,XVI (Spring, 1960), 29. William J. Handy
of her life by the false
suggeststhat Addie seeks revengefor the destruction
values of Anse: "'As I Lay Dying': Faulkner'sInnerReporter,"KenyonReview,
XXI (Summer,1956), 449.
17 Donald Dike, "The World of WilliamFaulkner'sImagination,"
Ph.D. thesis,
1954), 96.
(Columbia University,
18 MelvinBackman,"The Pilgrimageof WilliamFaulkner:A Studyof Faulkner's Fiction, 1929-1942," Ph.D. thesis, (Columbia University,1960), 69-73.
19 JosephCampbell,The Hero witha ThousandFaces (New York,1956), 37.
20 Weston,127.
21 Ibid., 117, 123.
As I Lay Dying
19
22 Julia Randall considers"Darl's observation,his knowledge,his cast of
mind . . . centralin the novel" because of the space allottedto him: "Some
Notes on 'As I Lay Dying,"' HopkinsReview,IV (Summer,1951), 49. Olga
"all possible
and madnessby his encompassing
VickeryexplainsDarl's complexity
modes of responseand awarenesswithoutbeing able to effecttheirintegration"
(51).
23 Frye, 202. This phase representsthe third of Vickery'sthree modes of
(51).
responseto experience:"words,action,contemplation"
24 J. L. RobertsregardsDarl as sane, on the basis of subjectiveevidence
and the objective testimonyof the Tulls, Dr. Peabody, and Gillespie (36).
madderbeFaulknersays, "Darl was mad fromthe first.He got progressively
cause he didn'thave the capacity . . of inertnessto resistall the catastrophes
thathappenedto thefamily.'Faulknerin the University
Virginia,
(Charlottesville,
1959), 110. Darl's madnessobviouslydoes notpreventhis havinggenuineinsight.
25 WaggonerregardsCash as an artist,a "committedcharacterwho has a
sacramentalview of nature" (84). GoellnerconsidersCash the only one to
and that limited (46), but he is the finestcharacterand
gain understanding,
providesthe finalperspective(54). VickerydescribesCash as "the one character
words
in whichreasonand intuition,
in the novelwho achieveshis fullhumanity
and actionmergeinto a singlethoughcomplexresponse"(58).
26 Faulknerin the University,
87.

"As I Lay Dying" as Ironic Quest

Transcription

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