As+I+Lay+Rotting

This was one of the most morbid books I have ever read. It's not because it was about death; it's how the Bundrens dealt with Addie and her body both before and after she died. I thought making the coffin in front of her was bad enough, but the level of morbidness kept getting worse and worse. I don't know if it was the holes bored into her face, the fact that she fell into a river, was then carted around towns for over a week with an unbearable stench, then burned in the barn, and then replaced within days of her death that finally got to me, or if it was just a combination of the whole outrageous situation. I have to wonder why Faulkner would have put a corpse through this much trouble. What point was he trying to make here? As bad as it sounds, I think her corpse was necessary for the characters to develop as they did. It caused Darl to go insane and Anse to lose his soul. The characters obviously had these tendencies in them, but was Addie's body necessary for them to come out? 1203901971

I think the poor treatment of Addie’s body definitely was an essential part of the story. The fact that they treated their own mother like this speaks a lot about the characters. It isn’t as if they deliberately treated her with disrespect, but everything they seemed to do just ended up wrong. Maybe, by showing readers extreme actions and events, Faulkner was able to convey his ideas regarding grief and family. He certainly brought it to our attention by showing us exactly what we weren’t used to. However, Faulkner didn't necessarily want to make a point exclusively through poor treatment of the corpse. Maybe this was the effect of how he wanted to portray the characters. The Bundrens' negative characteristics were made apparent to readers because Addie's corpse was treated so poorly. 1203904872

I agree that this was a morbid novel. However, there was one comment I had to make about Addie's coffin being made in front of her. Yes, I agree, when your son is building your coffin in front of you it gives off the feeling of, "Hurry up and die already." But in reality, that is not how it is at all. Cash was making that coffin for his mother. He wanted to make sure it was to her liking and that it was perfect for her. I would not enjoy watching someone make my coffin, but Addie knew that her time was coming to an end. We talked in class about people already buying their coffins before they are dead and having everything ready. They want to oversee the progress and make sure everything gets done. That is what Addie wanted and Cash knew that he wanted to help and make it perfect for her. 1203912419

Parts of this novel were quite disturbing, but I think there is a point to be made in that the title is "As **I** Lay Dying." It is not "As She Lays Dying" or "As Addie Lays Dying." We talked in class about this story being Addie's revenge on Anse. I think Faulkner included all of the morbid details to shed light on Anse Bundren's messed up ways. The gory details make it seem like that is what Addy wanted the readers to know. The horrible treatment of Addie's body makes Anse especially look bad. Faulkner made it seem like Addie was aware of all of the happenings even as she lay dead in her coffin. All of the other characters in the story were mortified by the treatment of her dead body, and I think Faulkner was expecting the readers to experience those same feelings. A lot of the feelings I felt about the Bundren family were based off of the way they treated Addie in her coffin. We see that Jewel truly loves her, seeing that he 'saved' her from the flood and the fire. So yes, the treatment of the dead body is necessary for us to understand the characters and their tendencies. 1203916925

If the title wasn't already taken, I think we could also name this book "The Series of Unfortunate Events," because a lot of what happens is just plain unfortunate, the river crossing being the most obvious. But really, I agree with KGa, in that although it is morbid, it is necessary to discover what the characters are really like. While reading the book, I would forget about the title and what it means, and through the perspective of Addie in the coffin, it gives a new, morbid spin on the events in the book. It gives us an eerie sense, kind of like when you think that someone is behind you, watching you. But that is what it is supposed to be -- a symbol of her prevalence in their lives, right? She will be there with them until they bury her, when they know that she is gone and when it is safe for them to move on, some quicker than others. 1203917701

It is interesting that this story is entitled "As I Lay Dying" because it is not a personal narrative and Addie is alive only through the memories of the other characters, meaning that she does not lay dying because she is already dead. Perhaps Addie is only physically dead, but metophorically remain alive until she is burried. When someone is dead, they are gone and have no effect upon people other than grief. However, Addie's death creates a series of "Unfortunate Events" (I like that KKr) and she is very much alive in the story. As for the coffin itself, I too agree that it was necessary for the development of the major characters. I think the use of the corpse was Faulkner's way to examine human nature and how each character deals with the trauma of transporting their own dead mother across the country. 1203970774

Although it seems terrible that Cash would build Addie's coffin right in front of her it wasn't a big deal to her. She admitted that she was ready to die after having all of her children because she felt that she had given Anse everything that she owed him. Addie felt that life's purpose was to prepare for death. This may seem pretty strange, but with this view in mind the way that her family treats her is not all that surprising. I have to admit that this is a very strange way of looking at life by modern standards because we often see so many more opportunities for ourselves in life.

LDo said that Addie's corpse made Anse "lose his soul." Did Anse ever have a soul? I never saw any indication of a soul being present. He didn't really change at all through out the book. The entire time he was obsessed with himself. He only worried about getting himself new teeth and getting out of as much work as possible. Does anyone see how Anse changed throughout the novel as a result of his experiences? I just saw him as consistently selfish. 1203977453

I will say that for a family that was supposedly trying to fulfill a mother's last wishes, they did a pretty horrible job of following through. I mean, they finished the task and buried the coffin, but that coffin went through hell on its way to its destination; Addie's corpse was incredibly mistreated throughout the novel. They Bundrens reminded me actually of people that go to work everyday and put in the bare minimum at the jobs. They have to complete the task, but they keep screwing up the whole way and end up taking away from the value of the task at the end. It's like in an office when someone writes a report to a boss and it's all crumpled up and has burn marks on it and has spelling errors because yes it was finished, but it was finished poorly and without much thought. If these people really cared about their mother, they would have put far more forethought into this whole journey and would have not just played the whole thing by ear.

They had to bury the coffin in Jefferson even though I believe they didn't really want to do it and so they went about it in the worst way possible. Anse was only thinking about getting his new teeth and getting a new wife instead of paying respects to Addie. Dewey Dell wanted to get an abortion. These people were using this rotting corpse as a ticket and excuse to serve their own purposes which just shows how little they really cared about Addie Bundren.1204042929

I think Faulkner put Addie's corpse through that much trouble to show how truly disfunctional this family was. In carrying the corpse through the countryside, with the whole family in a wagon for days at a time, it brought out the worse in everyone. In doing this, Faulkner showed us the true character of every person in the novel. It showed us that Anse was interested in nothing but getting his teeth (and eventually a new wife), that Jewel cared more about his horse than anything else, that Dewey Dell would do just about anything in order to get an abortion, including hording money away...I mean, the list goes on and on. I believe the corpse was used to put all of the characters in situations that should bring out their real personalities, and when they were put in those situations, they all turned out to be pretty awful people. 1204072254

One thing we seem to be forgetting is how Addie wanted to mess them up. This book is about Addie's revenge on her family, not about how mean they were to her corpse after her death. She may not have known the selfish reasons that drove them forward, but she gave them the excuse to go into town, which ended up causing their undoing. This is the underlying tone of her body- she didn't care what happened to her because she knew that she was making them pay for the misery of her living days.

As for the issue of Cash building the coffin in front of her, we have to remember that she wanted him to do that. She wanted to be able to approve the pieces of wood that were being used and see how well he made it. This was the beginning of her plot to make them suffer, so why would it be evil? It's not like he did it to be cruel to her; he was the one child she had with Anse that she actually loved.1204073877

poor rotting addie. lets see, first of all i think that addie having cash build her coffin in front of her window is because as the book said, she was a private person. she didnt even try to explain to anyone why her days were so miserable, most people would want to reach out if they saw a way of making things better. unfortunatly addie's way was to make herself as dead as she was in her coffin in her mind. the journey with her corpse was i think a way for her to finally get away from that family she didnt really want to be a part of. im sure when she was alive she had respect for her children, but when she died it was all over and she wanted it to be all over. she wanted anse to put her as far away as possible which is why jefferson came into mind. the journey there must have been something like hell, but things happen. and fortunatly things happened that began to show the true nature of how bad these people really are. anse doesnt care about anything. hes a slob and addie always knew it. now we know it too. dewey dell is in a rough position. it is not that she doesnt care about addie. she does. she fanned the poor woman for so long. but because of her pregnancy this journey shows what that kind of stress can do to a girl in those times and how hard it is for her to get the abortion. addie's corpse is just the tool to show what these people truely beleive is their first priority and for jewel and cash it is their mother's coffin and body. JTu-c

Yea it really is depressing huh? It's the dark nature of Faulkner's writing that Br Tom told us about. It just seems like the book has a pessimistic view of life and enjoys making this As I Lay Dying world full of sick, abnormal things, like carting around a rotting, dead mother for a few days with misguided motives. It's actually kind of sick I think to do this, but obviously it has literary merit and is trying to deliver truths that can be applied to our own world, but still I agree that As I Lay Rotting would be a more suitable title for this book.1204164819

It is kind of ironic that after everyone complains (along with myself) about how morbid and depressing this book is, that we read his nobel speech about how he believe writers today should, "help man endure by lifting his heart." Exactly how did Faulkner intend on doing that in his novel //As I Lay Dying//? I believe that he definitely explored, "the problems of the human heart in conflict," but nothing uplifting or prevailing at all. For everyone who posted in this topic already, can a novel with the alternative title of As I Lay "Rotting" be anything close to uplifting? 1204167720

Well, I agree with how we thought it was depressing, and as a whole I still find it to be so. It was definitely interesting how when we wrote those papers that many of us argued times where Faulkner included events that displayed the verities of the human heart. How can a novel with so many aspects level out to be unhappy? I guess when dealing with the problems of the human heart it doesn't always create an uplifting effect. But I think that //As I Lay Dying// is very similar to As I Lay "Rotting," and don't see how either of them could sound encouraging when heard or looked upon. I also too think that the careless treatment of Addie's coffin relates to and even underlines the selfishness of Anse and his complete lack of esteem for others. 1204171909

In another topic, Addie and Anse's marriage is being discussed, and how they made a choice to get married, and then both got stuck in their miserable ways without even trying to tolerate it. Having said that, let me emphasize that Addie **__made a choice__** to marry Anse. And then stayed miserable, and took revenge on everyone after her death! May I just say: What a meanie! I agree though with kkr... it's more like a series of unfortunate events when they are taking Addie's coffin to Jefferson, than it is Anse and the kids being mean to Addie. Addie's revenge on them was making them take this journey, and the title of the book gives you that creepy stalker feeling, that she was practically making the unfortunate events happen so that she could torture the family. What a creeper. 1204172162

No, a lot of that was already there. The body of poor Addie's a little like a literary tool to have us see exactly what these people are like. I mean, you've got to be pretty cold not to properly mourn a loving mother's death, but some didn't, and the way they used her death for their own gain, acting as vultures, says a good deal about each one. Every character develops a little through the novel, or if not much, at least reveals himself to us more fully. The whole point really is that death can be so poorly taken, and that's some of the 'tragedy' (big quotes) of the novel. It focuses on the light and dark of the human heart, and this would definitely be part of the darker side, where humans don't care for one another as they should. Anse was cold even during her life though, just as in her death he's concerned with his teeth. I think this shows how her death highlights how disgracing a corpse is bad, but so is treating a person miserably while they're still alive, which is, after all, far worse than what you might do to someone who's dead, and that's what we learn they all did to her before the point where the book beings. 1204176292

Now, I'm not in any way saying that every book has to give me a warm fuzzy feeling all the time or even at least at the end, but this book never gave me that feeling. Cora talks a lot about religion and her faith, which provides some stability and sense to the novel. There is mention of "Christian duty," which I think growing up in a Catholic school, we can understand that concept fully, as we should. Anse even talks about getting into Heaven and how then we can receive our greater reward (page 110). Those pasages may actually offer some real truth to how to turn our faith in difficult situations, but other than not not much comes to mind. Anse wanted to respect her wishes, which is a nice thought and all, but I still don't feel that that was enough for a man to do for his dying and then deceased wife. It was like it was his way of putting on the act of a caring and loving husband. I just wonder, like a country song, what kind of life Addie must have led to have been remembered the way she was. I don't want to be remembered as bitter and unhappy and cold as she was. Maybe the harshness of the family on Addie after her passing was Faulkner's way of making sure we all understood the value of making a life on this earth worth living while we are still here to live it. We should all strive to live a life that will touch others hearts and leave behind a legacy. I think Faulkner understood this, and this was just his method of going about pointing that out and teaching that lesson to his readers, even if it was a little depressing at times. 1204257897