So I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around this ending to As I Lay Dying, which was not at all what I was expecting it to be. This whole epic journey thing didn't really feel all that heroic throughout the book because of Anse being so useless the whole time and everyone seeming kind of casual in their narration, but now that we have this dismal image of the family sitting on the wagon and realize the journey is over, it does feel like this was a pretty significant trip. We talked in class a lot about whether we could feel happy for Anse that he managed to succeed against the odds and overcame the bridge collapsing and all the people criticizing him. Since we know Addie didn't love Anse, the fact that he's remarrying so soon can be sort of overlooked, but what makes me not really respect Anse is the fact that he's basically destroyed his living family by going on this trip, which is a lot more important than the last wishes of his dead family (if we can even say that was his main reason for going to town now). Jewel has lost his horse, Cash lost the use of a leg, Dewey Dell lost her money aside to getting raped and still refusing to tell anyone she's pregnant, Darl is in an insane asylum where they'll possibly never see him again, and Vardaman thinks his mother is a fish and didn't even get the train car he wanted. It's very hypocritical of Anse because he kept saying to respect the dead, yet he's the one who uses his wife's death to help himself out while screwing over his kids. I'm trying to picture what the reaction would be from the family after Anse announces the new Mrs. Bundren. I feel like Jewel would flip the wagon over and move to Texas somehow. Dewey Dell would be angry knowing it was largely her (well, Lafe's) money that went into buying the teeth, and she'd be feeling totally hopeless and confused. Vardaman would not understand that he has a new mother, and Cash would give up on Anse but keep his cool because he wants that music player.
Even more I think what the trip home would be like for this new Mrs. Bundren, who can't have any idea what she's gotten into. We don't even know anything about her, but she must be a little crazy if she agreed to marry Anse. Still, what will she think when she hears Vardaman's mother is actually a fish, Jewel's a horse, her fiancé set Cash's leg in concrete, and Darl is being carted off to Jackson? What will she think of their smelly wagon? Does she know they have to cross a flooded river to get home? That Anse doesn't do anything but rub his knees and watch his children work? Will she notice Dewey Dell is pregnant? Will she beat the younger children like Addie did? It doesn't seem like Anse really knows how to fall in love with people, judging by the proposal scene we get from Addie, so he can't really want a new wife because he'll get lonely, but instead because he wants someone to take care of the house and help do the work for him. Or maybe Anse's new teeth will give him a sense of confidence and he will actually take some charge around his house. It's likely he'll have more kids on the way so I sure hope he gets his act together. Whatever Anse did to win over the new Mrs. Bundren, I doubt her new life will be quite so great. Especially after hearing the way Moseley and MacGowan talked down about country folks when they noticed Dewey Dell looking so out of place, it seems weird to have a city woman leaving with the Bundrens to go to the country. Anse has managed to destroy his old family in the hopes of having a better new one, and I don't really like him for it.
Anse's new wife to some degree seems like another Addie. She's described as being "hard" and rather tough, challenging the Bundren children. She is the exact opposite of what the children need. Both Dewey Dell and Vardaman need a motherly figure, Dewey needs someone to help her with the sensitive problem of her pregnancy, and Vardaman needs a mother to raise him properly. Anse's quick marriage also brings into question his devotion to Addie.
ReplyDeleteOf course we don't know much of anything about the "new Mrs. Bundren", apart from the fact that she lives in this big house just outside of Jefferson and she has a gramophone (and is generous about lending a spade to passersby who need to dig a grave). We can imagine her situation as similar to the initial Mrs. Bundren--a women, sitting still on her property, waiting for Anse (or someone) to come past on his cart and take her away. We do kind of want to warn her--or at least have her read Addie's chapter. There's this sense of a reset here, of the same story starting over again. And given what we've seen of Addie's experience, that's not such an optimistic prospect.
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