Addie's+Revenge

Throughout this book, one question always seemed to be at the back of my mind. We know the motivation that Anse and the other Bundrens had for taking Addie's corpse to Jefferson, but why did she want to go there in the first place? She tells us her side of the story on page 172: "But then I realized that I had been tricked by words older than Anse or love, and that the same word had tricked Anse too, and that my revenge would be that he would never know I was taking revenge. And when Darl was born I asked Anse to promise to take me back to Jefferson when I died, because I knew that father had been right, even when he couldn't have known he was right anymore than I could have known I was wrong." Is this whole story about Addie's revenge? After all, consider the evidence. She hates children in general, and would want to punish them in any way possible. Darl, who caused her to hate Anse and feel betrayed, is carted off to a mental institution. Even Anse's end is to her benefit. She hated Anse's possesion of her - "Sometimes I would lie by him in the dark...and I would think: Anse. Why Anse?" He does not possess her anymore. So was the trip revenge, or did she have other motives? 1204164002

I think the whole book definitly was about Addie's revenege. Like you said, Addie revealed how she hated her family for what she thought they had done to her. When Addie was talking about her father, there seemed to be no love lost between them. She even said she even hated her father for "having even planted her." I do not think she really wanted to go back in order to be near her family. Addie also comments on having to look at her childern and husband "day after day, each with his and her secret and selfish thought...". She knew that they really did not care about her or each other and that this trip would reveal that. 1204166890

I'm going to have to go with revenge on this one because there is no other compelling evidence that would suggest otherwise. Her chapter is hate-filled with nothing but anger towards Anse and her violated loneliness. She even comes out and says that this whole trip was designed in mind to wreak havoc on Anse. There are other motives, but they all play into the whole idea of revenge. You even mentioned that she resented Anse's possession of her, so by having her buried with her original family rather than with Anse and her kids, she can finally be rid of them for eternity. The whole concept of her being buried in Jefferson fits in with her idea that living is getting ready to stay dead for a long time. She places a greater emphasis on death than on life, so being dead with her old family is far more important than staying alive with her current family1204167253

While reading that passage made me wonder about the whole revenge aspect, I guess for me revenge never became the real motivating factor. I never got the impression that Anse was taking Addie's body to Jefferson purely because of her request. If anything, her request was just his excuse to cart the family to Jefferson so he could get new teeth. Other characters like Dewey Dell also planned to use this journey to their advantage. Judging from Anse's and Addie's relationship, I don't think he really respected her enough to truly respect her wishes to the extent that he would cross a flooded river without having some ulterior motive. Again, though if Anse didn't know she was taking revenge, this could play along with what Addie said.

If revenge is an aspect of the story, one that I had previously overlooked, how much of a role did it play? I find it harsh to say that Addie hated children in general, she certainly cared for Cash and Jewel. She never wanted to punish them, though they ended up receiving some of the harshest punishments. I'm still not sure about the whole revenge thing. 1204169015

that could be a factor. even though the two children addie loved more, cash and jewel, got hurt there is reason to the madness. jewel had to give up his horse and cash broke his leg because of the journey addie planned to revenger herself on anse. now because the two sons who do much of the work anse needs to be done are hurt, her revenge is deeper than just causing problems during the journey. cash cant work and jewel is horseless so anse cant be lazy anymore or they would go homeless. they would lose everything they have. i dont think she hated children as much as her hate chapter might show. i think she had respect for her children becuase if she didnt show them some respect and love they would not have learned it for her. she did hate anse for sure. she asked him to take that journey to make him suffer having to travel that long and carrying her with him and she probably knew the journey would be dangerous with a coffin and dead person. the results of the journey where not her doing so you cant say that addie made cash break his leg because she hated children. revenge is half the story. revenge for anse taking her as an object and not as a person. JTu-c

JTu, I disagree with your statement about her love and respect for her children. Addie did favor Cash and Jewel, yes, but I don't think that her children learned any respect or love for her. Except perhaps Jewel, who we see performing heroic acts to save her dead body from fire and water and the like. But the other children had ulterior motives. Dewey Dell wanted in abortion, for example. I don't think her children respected her or loved her, and she certainly did not teach it to them. 1204177657

I think that Addie wanted to go to Jefferson because she did not feel happy with her own family, so she wanted to rest eternally with her parents. The resentment towards most of her children and towards Anse make her want to be put to rest peacefully, away from the stressors of her family. Although she wasn't exactly fond of her children and her husband, I can't quite figure out if her actions count as revenge or not. I think she wanted her family to bring her to Jefferson to make a last ceremonial statement about her life. She wanted her family members to bring her to her physical, eternal resting place because they brought her to her emotional resting place during life. Their presence in her life made her die on the inside, so she wanted her children and husband to take her to the tangible place where they took her emotionally. If that is revenge, then I guess it is considered to be about revenge, but I don't really know if that counts or not. 1204256463

I agree that she probably wanted to be buried in Jefferson to rest with her parents and not by her family. I think that her decision was based mostly on this fact but I can see how it could be revenge as well. Obviously, her family knew that she didn't want to be near them anymore but it's also revenge because I'm sure she know what a long trip it would be to make. It seemed like one more way to annoy Anse before the family moved on. I also agree that her children had no respect for her. They seemed selfish when it came to why they wanted to go to Jefferson. It kind of gives perspective of how their family got along, I mean they couldn't even say good bye to her and bury her without the thought of their own troubles on their minds.1204768319