Many Questions About Guilt

One of the plot-drivers of A Lesson Before Dying is Grant's guilt over his failure to break the cycle of black men disappointing or leaving the women in their community. If Grant didn't feel so guilty, he wouldn't be trying so hard to get Jefferson to do what he can't, be a role model or hero to his community. This is the situation as presented by Gaines, and on the surface, it makes sense. But, the more I think about it, the more questions I have.

First of all, why is Grant so guilty? He hasn't skipped town yet. He wants to, and he could do a lot more with his degree if he lived in the North, but he's standing like a man and bringing his education back to his community, which he by no means has to do. The novel says, "okay so Grant himself hasn't fallen in the trap of the cycle yet, but he will, and besides, he's perpetuating it by teaching his students to be men of the cycle." Okay, so maybe this question is oversimplifying the situation but honestly, why doesn't Grant just teach his students different things? Why doesn't he teach them to be independent thinkers and that they are worth as much as a white man? It's stated in the book that the superintendent only comes to the school once a year, so its not like the school board would notice enough to fire Grant for teaching a few inspiring lectures a semester. Does he think it will be dangerous for his students, that life will be worse for them if he teaches them to aspire higher when they live bound by a social system that prevents them from doing so? Is this the burden of education Antoine was talking about? It's a catch-22; Grant can either teach what he does and his students become like their parents, perpetuating the cycle, or he can teach them what he wants to and when they grow up they move north, perpetuating the cycle.

If so, then it makes sense that Jefferson would be the only one who could take Grant's teaching and break the cycle, because if he learns to hold his head up high to his white oppressors, he will not be able to move north; he is pretty much guaranteed to stay in the community the rest of his life. But his life will be over in a month, which brings me to my last and biggest question. If the only man who can break Grant's cycle is one who has to literally die at 21 before he has a chance to perpetuate it, how is that a source of inspiration to the community? Isn't that horribly depressing? How will the people around him be able to follow his model in any meaningful, useful way?

Where Are They Now? The Dewey Dell Story

So, besides Anse (and maybe Addie?), most of the Bundrens end their journey worse for the wear. Cash has got a septic leg. Jewel's got no horse. Darl's been shipped off to the insane asylum, and Vardaman has got to grow up without a mother (and he's got no train!). The story I'm most interested in, and which seems to end most tragically, is Dewey Dell's. She doesn't get much of a conclusion. Her story is about in the same place it was at the outset, except now there's not much chance her situation will change. Presumably, at some point her pregnancy will become more obvious and there will be some sort of confrontation, but this doesn't happen before the novel ends. So if her entire plot arc starts and ends known and discussed only by Dewey Dell, where does her story fit into the larger novel? Why is it even there?

First lets consider that, in a sense, As I Lay Dying is Addie's story. It is her request that instigates the journey, and her body that they're carrying everywhere. A women is both the call and the quest itself. So Dewey Dell's significance, as the only other primary woman character in a predominantly male cast, is going to at least partially be how she relates to Addie. There are certain similarities. Neither of them wanted to become pregnant. Both of them became pregnant via affairs with men to whom they were not married. In both these senses these women eschew the traditional moral matriarchal role we would expect them to have in this setting. Of course, there are important differences between Dewey Dell and her mother; Addie is depicted as calculating and devoid of normal emotions whereas Dewey Dell is depicted as an almost primal, sexual entity, especially in her own narration.

But both of their storylines end fairly inconclusively. Addie's mission to get revenge on her family concludes in her barely discussed burial and Anse's immediate remarriage. Dewey Dell's goal to get an abortion in town is unsuccessful, and she is taken advantage of sexually by MacGowen. What started as a novel in which women were making decisions on their own that would place them outside the only structure traditionally offered to them (family life), shaped up to be no such thing. Perhaps Faulkner is commenting on how no matter how hard women tried, they really had no other options than to exist in this social structure. They can't take over and define the story, as evidenced by their unsatisfactory endings.

Hero Who?

As the Bundrens finally hit the road, the "journey" part, at least, of the "hero's journey" is evident. As we have been warned, an obvious hero is yet to surface. Mr. Mitchell has told us its going to be Anse, which I guess sense, as he's the paterfamilias, but so far I haven't seen much evidence for this in the text. It truly seems to be an ensemble story. The shifting narrators gives as much weight to Vardaman's contribution and perspective as Anse. It's no more Anse's journey than anyone else's, as we see everyone's ulterior motives surface. The trip wasn't even his idea, and he's not the one that stands to gain from it. They're acting on Addie's orders, so that she can spend eternity in the company of her kin
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In fact, before Anse was discussed in class as the hero, I thought, if anyone, it was Darl. Certain structural things seemed to indicate it. He's the first narrator, the narrator when Addie finally dies (arguably the most important scene so far, plot-wise). He seems to be the surrogate for Faulkner because a) he's the only who narrates like a writer, rather than the stream of consciousness of an uneducated Depression Era Mississippi farmer, and b) he's the only one who is omniscient, able to narrate scenes he was not present for in detail. Of course, the author surrogate isn't always the hero (unless the bard is the hero of the Odyssey (in which case I've greatly misunderstood the Odyssey)). But Darl also seems to be a better candidate because he has the agency Anse lacks. He doesn't just sit in the background and rub his hands on his knees.

So I can make only one conclusion. If Anse is going to be the hero of this story, he's going to have to undergo some radical character development. Maybe he'll learn to be more assertive, less lazy. (Maybe he'll find a cure for that disease that doesn't let him sweat). It makes sense, as its a hero's journey. After all, Smithy Ide wasn't that dissimilar from Anse at the beginning of The Memory of Running. But in what we've read so far, I just haven't seen Anse in the spotlight. It's not just that he's unheroic, he doesn't even seem to be the main character.