Reaction+to+Addie's+Death

I think that an extremely important part of this novel is how the characters have reacted to the death of their mother because I think that they represent very realistic responses. I think that the most noticable response is that of Cash because it seems like he tries to just forget about it by only concentrating on building the coffin before, during, and after the death of his mother. All he cared about was building that coffin and making it perfect. When they were loading it on the wagon, all he could think about was whether it was balanced. Wereas Cash responds by trying to forget about his mother through his work, Darl responds by completely denying his mother's very existance. He says that he cannot think about her because she no longer exists.

Because Anse is a simple man with little education he responds by analyzing how other characters react and by looking foward to his new teeth. When Jewel, Cash, and Dewey Dell come out with different egendas than just taking the coffin, Anse feels that they are not showing the proper respect for the dead. I think that these different responses are representative of many different types of responses that real people express after the death of a family member. Some people respond by denial of existance (Darl), others just move on and try to just carry on with normal life (Jewel, Cash, Dewey).1203384274

I do agree with you on the idea that this novel illustrates the different responses to death. Some of the characters are humane and show emotion while others are selfish and disrespectful. For example, Vardaman reffers to his mother as a fish because she is no longer alive and can be represented by any object because she is not "is". On the other hand, Jewel saves Addie's coffin multiple times throughout the novel showing that he respects and loves his mother even though he still attempts to move on. Further, I am confused about Anse's true intentions for going into town. Although, he probably does feel obligated to bring Addie's body to Jefferson, he also wants new teeth. I just wonder if there are any other reasons he is going to Jefferson besides teeth because I don't think he loved Addie based on what I've read thus far. If there was no need for new teeth, would he have decided to make the trip? Not only do the actions of these characters describe different responses to death, but also shows how some take advantage of death. 1203453036

I think addie’s death does show a negative side of humanity by showing how people try to take advantage of situations, even if that situation is death. In some ways, it’s like a social commentary. I think if this book was written for today’s society, it would be criticizing goldiggers in our time. I don’t know if you can classify Vardaman’s response as selfish. I think Vardaman is having a lot of trouble dealing with the death of his mother and is going just a tad crazy. There are two reasons why Anse is trying to go to town in my opinion…1) he wants new teeth 2) he is out to prove to the community that he is good to his word, loyal, and not a lazy guy like everyone knows him to be. He starts saying that he is going to Jefferson to bury Addie to try to impress people and look like a good, mournful husband and then he has trouble backing down from his word when all of the events of the book get in his way and he eventually becomes stubborn and stupid about the whole ordeal. I think Jewel is probably the only character dealing with it in a positive manner. I think the other four are in stages of denial or using Addie’s death to gain something. 1203472592

Yes, it does show different reactions to death, which is why we see all these different thoughts from different people. And I agree with Kent in the sense that this book shows the selfishness of society. But I do not think Vardaman is going crazy. He's just a child, and he thinks and acts like a child: irrationally. That's why we see him as a nutcase: he's different. We were all Vardamans once. I do not think that Anse's motives for going to town are entirely selfish, as Kent seems to imply. I think that if he wasn't sincere, he would not keep on pressing on through an overflowing river with an oozing body in a coffin. Furthermore, he gives up the money he was going to use for teeth to help buy a new team of mules after the first one drowned in the river. Bottom line: Anse is sincere, but maybe not entirely. Perhaps some of the desire for attention Kent mentioned plays a role.1203477565

Now that we have read further, I think it is important to take into consideration who Addie takes to be her "real" sons. Darl denies her being his mother--well that's probably because she didn't really consider him her son either. Dewey Dell doesn't sincerely care about getting her mother's dead body to Jefferson. Instead, she's just concerned with getting her own self to town. Vardaman is too young to make sense of it all. But it's **Jewel** and **Cash** that I think have sincere reactions to their mother's death. It happens to be that those are the two that Addie truly loved. I think that these two took it harder than the others because they were more connected to Addie. I think they are in this trip for the right reasons. As for the others, it's questionable. 1203484144

I agree with the theory about Anse that he is bringing Addie to Jefferson because he wants people to think he is not lazy and that he is a good, family man. As we know, Anse has never been much of a religious man, yet he makes a few references to how, basically, God will provide and how he is doing what Addie wants him to do. I suppose he really could //partially// want to fulfill her wish because he does go through an awful lot of trouble for teeth. However, everything that Anse does and says in front of others seems defensive and acted out. He says the following to Armstid: "A man'll always help a fellow in a tight, if he's got ere a drop of Christian blood in him" (185). Here, Anse makes an appeal to a stranger to get his way. There is always something suspicious when Anse comes up in the book.1203550904

I concurr. Their initial reactions of the characters to addie's death are very representative of how normal people would react. Most people react to death with denial or by distracting themselves. Most all of these are defense mechanisms to hide themselves from the pain of the reality of the situation- the death of their mother. In real life, these defense mechanisms serve the purpose of easing the pain until people are ready to deal with the problem at hand. In this book however, these normal reactions are not strong enough to deal with the strange and shocking evironment of the novel. In this story, reactions like denial and distraction could never work. During most of the story, the characters are sitting feet from their rotting dead mother. You couldn't possibly ignore it. This would explain why so many of the characters were affected so horribly with madness or rage. The death of their mother was shoved down their throats. It must have been like trying to take a drink from a fire hose. I think after the normal initial reactions of the characters, this book goes on to explore what the reactions of the characters would be like in such uncommen and grotesque circumstances. Does anyone see my point of view?1203698731

When I initially read the first assignment, I felt more confused than anything. I don't think that I picked up on most of the reactions towards Addie's death, but one stuck out to me. Anse's. I was extremely puzzled as to why he didn't make a bigger deal out of the entire thing. I remember when the doctor came he responds that he didn't call sooner because they had things under control. I would think that after ten days of not being able to get up and move around would be some signal of when to call the doctor. Later, Anse seems barely emotional when the women come to sing and their husbands join him on the porch. At times, he appears to be respecting her and her wished to be buried in Jefferson, but he rarely shows emotion that other husbands might when their life-long partner dies. Am I the only one that was puzzled by this?1203899116

I don't think their reactions are normal at all. On page 22 theres a line that says, "A Bundren through and through, loving nobody, caring for nothing except how to get something with the least amount of work." This shows that the Bundrens are not normal in the least. The normal thing to do in a situation where a family member dies is to at least show the smallest sign of grief or compassion. This never happened. They just went on with their lives, wondering how this death could benefit them. The first thing Anse says when Addie dies is about how he can now get his new teeth. Nobody ever says anything about how they will miss her, or shows any sign of //normal// emotion whatsoever. I could accept the fact that they are in denial or in shock except that never once for the rest of the book do they show sorrow over their mother's death. It's strictly business to them. 1203903196

To be perfectly honest, I really didn't see many differences in the reactions of the children and Anse when it came to Addie's death except for Darl, and a little bit of reaction from Vardaman. Jewel remained his usual, sulky self, Dewey-Dell didn't really have much of a reaction at all, Cash was building a coffin for her the whole time and didn't show any remorse, so it's pretty obvious how he felt about the whole thing. Vardaman did freak out a bit when he first discovered his mother was dead, but then seemed to calm down after that, and Anse obviously just didn't care. Darl was the only one who seemed a bit upset that he hadn't been there and he was really the only one who seemed to notice the difference between her dying and her actually being dead. These were definitely not normal reactions to the death of a loved one, but they honestly weren't all that different from one another except for a little bit in Vardaman's case and quite a bit in Darl's. 1204072906

As many of you mentioned, I agree that Anse indeed had a strange reaction to his wife's death; he did not seem fazed by it in the least. One aspect that I never quite connected before until now was the fact that he never sweated (17). Most of the time, he seems very nonchalant to what is going on around him, even the death of his spouse. He (literally) never sweats anything. I just thought that was interesting. In response to KGa, I too found that Jewel and Cash had the most sincere reactions to their mother's death. Jewel, although hard and angry most of the time, at first seemed very defensive about his mother dying: "Ma ain't that sick. Shut up, Darl" (17). Maybe he did not want to accept the fact, or maybe he was just protecting his image of his mother. Cash was very responsible in making sure his mother was comfortable in her coffin after she died; clearly he cared deeply about this responsibility to Addie. However, I also found that Dewey Dell's immediate reaction was perhaps the most sincere of them all... in which she clung to her mother's side only until Anse made her get up and start dinner. Dewey Dell did not want to leave her mother's side.

Of course, each character had his/her own specific way of dealing with the loss of Addie. 1204088690