In the essay “Stereotypical, but Revengeful and Defiant: Addie Bundren in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying” written by Amado Chan, he declares that Addie Bundren is”portrayed as incompetent, unfulfilled, and dead” along with revengeful and defiant. Chan believes that these became stereotypical traits of women that Faulkner wrote. I refute the claim made by Chan since Addie propelled te plot of the novel. Chan's compelling claims ignored any evidence that may refute them.
The first stereotypical trait of Addie's is incompetence. I believe the complete opposite.While Addie has a pessimistic view of life and hates her students, she hates them because she is intelligent and thinks for herself while every other character we meet doesn't understand deep …show more content…
Everything about Addie says fulfilled. She fulfilled her life by living and dying, she fulfilled her hatred of her “family” by causing them a stressful and painful journey and as Addie puts it “That was my duty to him, to not ask that, and that duty I fulfilled.” (Faulkner 174) Chan argues that women in Faulkner don't get any fulfillment and states “Addie is not satisfied with her teaching job, or with her marital status” (Chan 1). This contradicts what Addie's own words of her reason of living is “to get ready to stay dead a long time.” (Faulkner 169) Addie didn't want to like her job or her marriage, she just wanted to plan for death.
The third and final stereotype of Addie is that she is dead. It's almost impossible to argue that she isn't dead due to that being the conflict of the novel. The fact is that only her body is dead. She lives on in the minds of the family. Addie's story is told through the memories her family has and she lives on in them. Most of all she lives on in Darl who received her deep thinking and contemplation of life. Addie stated “to me there was no beginning nor ending to anything” (Faulkner 175) which gives reason to believe that she is not completely
The first stereotypical trait of Addie's is incompetence. I believe the complete opposite.While Addie has a pessimistic view of life and hates her students, she hates them because she is intelligent and thinks for herself while every other character we meet doesn't understand deep …show more content…
Everything about Addie says fulfilled. She fulfilled her life by living and dying, she fulfilled her hatred of her “family” by causing them a stressful and painful journey and as Addie puts it “That was my duty to him, to not ask that, and that duty I fulfilled.” (Faulkner 174) Chan argues that women in Faulkner don't get any fulfillment and states “Addie is not satisfied with her teaching job, or with her marital status” (Chan 1). This contradicts what Addie's own words of her reason of living is “to get ready to stay dead a long time.” (Faulkner 169) Addie didn't want to like her job or her marriage, she just wanted to plan for death.
The third and final stereotype of Addie is that she is dead. It's almost impossible to argue that she isn't dead due to that being the conflict of the novel. The fact is that only her body is dead. She lives on in the minds of the family. Addie's story is told through the memories her family has and she lives on in them. Most of all she lives on in Darl who received her deep thinking and contemplation of life. Addie stated “to me there was no beginning nor ending to anything” (Faulkner 175) which gives reason to believe that she is not completely