Socratic Seminar WITD - 4.29.16

The Bundrens must endure a number of obstacles on their way to Jefferson. To what extent are the elements against them, and to what extent do they sabotage themselves?

OBSTACLES:
• The bridge.
• The river.
- The river and the bridge go part in part with one another as the bridge is basically destroyed by the river, and even if the family attempts to cross, they would be unable to because it is flooded.
• The fire.
- "soundless explosion as the whole loft of the barn takes fire at once, as though it had been stuffed with powder" (219)
• Money. (Goes in part with traveling, as they cannot afford a pack of mules)
• A way to travel. (Horse, mules)
- Anse has to sell stuff, use funds for his teeth, and use some of Cash's money in order to get mules to travel to Jefferson.
• Insanity. (Darl)
- "And I saw something Dewey Dell told me not to tell nobody" (215)

The elements are against this family because they honestly are not that smart. They sabotage themselves by making idiotic moves in order to try to cross the river, and then they all are ignorant to the fact that Addie smells and going to town for other reasons than her death is just ridiculous. Then again, they also forgot a shovel, which makes it even more evident that they were careless about playing out her death and the burial of her coffin.

In the end of it all, was Faulkner really trying to say that Anse marrying a new woman makes women seem as a replaceable object in everyday life, or was it just by incident that it came out this way?