Don't judge a journey by its prose

 Would we think of As I Lay Dying as a hero’s journey if we weren’t talking about it in the context of this class? If one didn’t look too deep into it, and just read some of the most confusing parts of the book, they’d probably just decide that As I Lay Dying was written too weirdly to fit into a neat model of the Hero’s journey. However, in my opinion, the jumbled-ness of the narrative pattern doesn’t inherently make the plot of As I Lay Dying too erratic to be applied to the Hero’s Journey, but the nature of the story and its characters makes it a pretty bad fit for a Hero’s Journey.

I think a good exercise to help us evaluate the Heroic journey-ness of As I Lay Dying is comparing it to the Odyssey, which Faulkner says inspired him. What does the Odyssey have in common with As I lay dying? 

1. The journey for sure. Both stories are about a group of people undertaking a journey with a heroic purpose. In the Odyssey, the journey is of the strong, great, warrior King Odysseas' journey home to his (faithful) wife after fighting in the Trojan war. In As I Lay Dying, the journey is to bury the (unfaithful) wife of a (lazy) husband who seems to have been rather sedentary. The challenges during the journey itself are a little similar. There’s a big emphasis on the river the Bundren’s cross in the story being “alive”, like the sea monsters and Poseidon’s sea storm in the Odyssey. In both instances, the main heroic character(s) — Odysseas and Cash and Jewel — are seriously hurt. 

2. Adultery: In the Odyssey, Agamemnon’s wife is unfaithful, while in As I Lay Dying it is Addie. 

3. Themes of family and relationships

In the Odyssey, Odyseas’ family loves him deeply. His son strives to find him and his wife fends off the suitors circling around her. In As I Lay Dying, it seems like all the children kind of dislike each other and Anse. Addie has a complex relationship with all the children as well, except Jewel whom she loves deeply. 

4. Themes of morality: In As I Lay Dying, Cora and Whitfield are supposed to be symbols of morality, yet they both fail for opposite reasons. Cora’s supposedly the true saint in the story, but she's completely apathetic to Addie and almost destroys the Bundrens’ perception of her, but Addie dies just before she gets the chance. Minister Whitfeild has an affair as well, when adultery is a sin. 

5. Multiple perspectives: In the Odyssey, each character in the journey reveals something about the reality of the situation, while in As I Lay Dying, every character complicates the readers’ understanding of what’s happening. Parts are skipped, parts are repeated, descriptions are muddled, sentences are fragmented, etc. 

6. Motifs and epithets

What about the way the story is told? The odyssey is famously originally an oral story, and as Dr. Casey said in class earlier, repeating motifs and epithets were “anchors” for remembering the story. Faulkner imitates this aspect of the odyssey with his own repeating motifs/epithets for his characters – except of course instead of them emphasizing positive things about each character, his motifs emphasize the broken and ineffectuality of each character, for example, Vardaman’s fish-mom, Jewel’s horse, Cash’s tools, Dewy’s unwanted pregnancy, Addie’s decaying corpse, etc.  

So what does this mean? Does being structurally similar to the Odyssey make As I lay dying a hero’s journey? I would actually say the contrary. I think Faulkner tried to make As I Lay Dying the Anti-Odyssey. The Bundrens are anti-heros. Darl is insane. Jewel is violent and self-absorbed. Dewy is passive. Whitfeild is selfish. Anse is selfish too. Cora hurts those she thinks she's helping. Vardaman is completely incoherent. Cash is broken. Anse deludes himself that getting to Jefferson unharmed is possible. Whitfeild convinces himself that almost-confessing was enough. Darl is obsessive about Jewel, and tries to hurt him by keeping him from Addie's death. Vardaman unintentionally butchers a fish and drills holes through Addie. Instead of making heroic characters he made ineffectual and selfish ones. Instead of clear and inspiring prose, he made his story confusing and depressing. Instead of characters growing and getting stronger, many of them are getting weaker, staying stuck in their preoccupations, and/or losing things that are important to them. 

There are plenty of fragmented stories, such as Everything Everywhere All at Once that conform to the hero's journey. As I lay dying is not one of them.

Comments

  1. BenMay 10, 2025 at 11:48 AM

    I didn't read Cora being apathetic to Addie, any unsavory interaction between happens after Addie reveals that she has been unfaithful. While I agree that Faulkner deviates from the Odyssey and the typical Hero's Journey, to reduce the characters to their base flaws is to restrict the "Hero's Journey" to one-dimensional archetypes. Throughout the novel, characters make conscious sacrifices to reach Jefferson. Anse is oftentimes immoral and selfish, but so was Odysseus himself. Faulkner's Bundren family, with all their faults and trespasses, are closer parallels to the Argonauts than one might think. Nice post, keep up the good work!

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    Replies
    1. Deven GalvezMay 12, 2025 at 8:55 AM

      I agree with Ben's comment. Cora learns that Addie has sinned and instead of casting her out, attempts to pray for her asking God to forgive her. In addition, I agree with ben's second point that dumbing down the characters in As I Lay Dying detracts from the creative essence that allows As I Lay Dying to fit into the Hero's Journey. I think Dr. E choose this story because he thought that this is a prime example of a hero's journey and therefore should have a little more faith in our Uni High English teacher and should not be so quick to criticize the book as an anti-hero story. Overall, great post!

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  2. Annika DMay 12, 2025 at 12:21 PM

    The Bundren family was such a significant mess in it of themselves that the rest of the journey reads as a support to keep them floating. I like how you discussed the river being portrayed as living in the story, this reminds me of Siddhartha. The selfishness of characters brings me to Quicksand, in which Helga could never realize that she was the main issue. If the characters realized that they were causing more harm and took a step back, maybe then we would have a Hero's Journey. As for now though, I, too, agree that As I Lay Dying is not a Hero's Journey.

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  3. KylerMay 15, 2025 at 8:17 AM

    Hi, I really like your blog, and I think it's interesting how you deconstruct the book against being a Hero's Journey. I feel like it's very easy to dismiss As I Lay Dying as not a Hero's Journey for its nonlinear narrative, but as you point out, Everything Everywhere All at Once isn't linear either, but is a Hero's Journey. I think it's interesting how you instead compare it to the Odyssey as like an "anti-thesis" of the tale. I agree with you that the characters are more selfish or ineffectual and not really heroes, and the way you explain it makes a lot of sense.

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  4. Max BoltonMay 15, 2025 at 4:11 PM

    Great post Sophie! I like your analysis of As I Lay Dying as an Anti-Odyssey. None of the Bundrens fit the role of a hero, and all have their own selfish motives. In my own blog, I argue that, while the Bundrens display moments of dignity and heroism, they are ultimately clownish goobers trying to fulfill their own self-interests. I wouldn't disregard their heroism though, as they persist and eventually fulfill Addie's final wish, but I agree that no character in As I Lay Dying is especially likable or embodies the orthodox hero.

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