He+Kilt+Her

In Vardaman's chapter starting on page 53, he is grieving the death of his mother. What confused me about this chapter was how he kept saying, "He kilt her. He kilt her." I don't remember if this is the first time this came up, but it is a line repeated several times throughout the beginning of the book. The problem I have with this is that the issue was never resolved. Who "kilt" Addie? As far as I know, she died of natural causes. Is this just Vardaman's way of dealing with Addie's death because he doesn't understand that people die of natural causes? Is he blaming God? If not, then who is he blaming? I could see how he could blame Darl because he seems to be the scapegoat throughout the story, except that I never got the vibe that Vardaman disliked Darl. I think the most plausible person to blame would be Anse, just because he didn't care enough. He killed her spiritually, which caused her to die physically. But would Vardaman have that insight? 1203904458

Actually, he was blaming the Doctor, Peabody. his reasoning was that she was alive when Peabody wasn't there, but when he showed up she died. In typical Vardaman style, his childish mind put together what he thought was two and two. It didn't help that Anse had kept saying that Addie was fine until Peabody came and convinced her that she was dying. With this influence and his childish fantasies, Vardaman was able to convince himself that Peabody had in fact come and killed his mother, which is why he scared Peabody's horses and buggy away.1203914013

I had a problem with this, too, when I first read it. I didn't really understand who he was talking about, but now I can see why Vardaman would think that way. It may be childish, but it is also an easy conclusion to make based on the facts that he is given. Anse never really tried to explain to Vardaman that his mother is dying, so when the doctor comes and all of a sudden his mom is dead, it makes sense that he blames the doctor. I don't think that Vardaman would have thought about the spiritual aspect of death because he has problems dealing with the physical aspect, which, in my opinion, would be easier for a child to understand. 1203914570

I too was at first confused about this, but then realized he was reffering to the doctor. It is interesting to see how Faulkner illustrates a young child's mind. Young children do not understand the concept of dying from natural causes, but instead think that people can only be killed. Even in modern day, many young children play games or watch movies where people die because something or someone kills them. I don't think that Vardaman was reffering to Anse because he was simply too young to understand his selfish and unloving nature. However, I do think that it is possible that Faulkner was trying to show the adult reader that someone did kill Addie, spiritually and mentally, but nevertheless killed. 1203972825

Ok, I was confused about this at first as well, but I'm pretty sure NVa is right when he says that Vardaman was blaming Peabody. Since Anse waited 10 days after Addie showed any symptoms of being ill before calling the doctor, Peabody was obviously too late to do anything about her disease by the time he got there. Just as Vardaman made the mother-fish connection, he made the Peabody-death connection. Actually, when I first read this, I thought that Vardaman was blaming Anse for her death, considering that he had waited far too long to call the doctor, but I'm pretty sure that NVa is correct. 1204072446

I agree with Nick that Peabody is probably the most reasonable, but I also like the idea of Vardaman thinking Anse did the deed. Not to say I enjoy children thinking their parents killed each other, but I think it's an interesting idea to explore. I mean Vardaman is a relative newcomer to the family compared to everyone else, and I do believe he is capable of the insight because you know kids say the darnest things, like the truth. As LDo said, really Anse made Addie die a slow psychological or spiritual death for most of her life, and in the end her body just gave out perhaps because she had no will to live after paying back her debt to Anse with the last couple kids. I think it could be a possible double meaning scenario.1204165785

I like what NVa had to say because honestly it totally made sense to Vardaman's childish mind that it was Peabody who did the killing. It's just a simple case of a child not quite comprehending what happened and putting a simple explanation to something as a result. It's sort of like how when you're a kid and you believe in Santa Claus because it's what your parents tell you, but then you get older and realize that the gifts are really coming from your parents; it's a simple case of a childish mind thinking in childish ways. I like though how Faulkner chose to show this perspective because I honestly think it's perfectly representative of how any and all kids would see the situation of a mother dying when a doctor shows up.

I wonder though if somehow Vardaman had an insight her that even he himself didn't know he had. We all know that it was Anse's presence and eventually the children's presence in her life that slowly killed Addie and so in a sense it's perfectly reasonable to say "he kilt her." Yes, that quote might be directed at Peabody, but I think it applies perfectly to Anse who is the true catalyst for Addie's slow death. We can surmise though that Anse had an even more direct hand in Addie's death as he did wait so long to call Peabody. I mean Addie wanted to die and wanted this life to end, but Anse probably expedited the process by not calling the Peabody and letting her just slowly drift towards death because her death would allow him to get his precious teeth as well as the other things he wanted like a new wife. I think Vardaman spoke the universal truth about the death without even knowing it.1204167511

I think Faulkner has amazing insight into the mind of a child. I'm sure many of us have babysat before, and many of us have younger siblings. I spend a lot of time around kids, as a nanny, and so I see kids make simple connections like this all the time. It's how their minds work. So, Vardaman simply saw that his mother was alive until Peabody got there, and then all of a sudden she wasn't. He isn't yet old enough to understand the spiritual realm of things, or even death in general, except the very basic differences between being alive and dead. He made a very logical and rational conclusion about the situation, for a child. 1204255141