Is Grant or Jefferson the hero?

            The concept of a hero as we have defined it in class is very different from the way Grant describes it to Jefferson. In Campbell’s monomyth, the hero rises above almost insurmountable odds to overcome obstacles alone. Although they might have sidekicks or supernatural aid along the way, they are the main protagonist, and the other characters are just there to provide substance to the story. Grant’s view, on the other hand, is much more communal. Jefferson could be a hero because he “could give something to [Miss Emma], to [Grant], to those children in the quarter. He could give them something that [Grant] never could.”

            The scene in chapter twelve where the three men at the Rainbow Club are talking about Jackie Robinson exemplifies this view of heroism quite well. The men remember every statistic and every important event in his life not just because they are fans, but because they are proud of him. Indeed, after someone acts out Jackie stealing home plate, Gaines describes one of the old men as “nodding his head emphatically, with great pride.” We get this same feeling of pride in the African-American community with Joe Louis. When he loses his fight against Schmeling, they ask themselves “what else in the world was there to be proud of, if Joe had lost?” When he wins the second match, however, they “held their heads higher than any people on Earth had ever done for any reason.” Clearly, although Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis didn’t do anything in particular to improve the lives of the people in the quarter, they were heroes because the African-American community took pride in them and rallied around them. They gave them hope that they could stand up to the racist system at the time and succeed, and I think it is this hope and sense of pride that Grant is referring to.

            Although more common, heroism in this sense of the word is not something that is easy to achieve, and we see Grant try and fail many times to be a hero. In the Rainbow Club, for example, he gives in to the pressures of racism, and can’t keep himself from punching the two bricklayers who are insulting Jefferson. By contrast, Jefferson has a unique way of uniting the community, and we see this when the kids pool their money to buy a present for him at Christmas. Even though he can’t avoid the fact that he will be executed, whereas Grant takes action against the bricklayers spouting racist insults, Jefferson is the one who is the hero, while Grant merely looks like a kid without any self-control.

Addie's Coffin as a Talisman

            Although As I Lay Dying doesn’t seem to have one specific hero, it does fit many aspects of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth. One such aspect that appears in the book is the talisman, a special object that pops up throughout the story and helps the hero on their quest (e.g. the ring in The Hobbit). In As I Lay Dying, it takes the form of Addie’s coffin, the object around which the story revolves. Unlike the talismans in other hero narratives, however, the coffin never helps anyone in the Bundren family; rather, it is the cause of a lot of the drama in the book, and is a constant reminder of the purpose of their journey.

            The coffin comes into play at the very beginning of the book, and already the “Chuck. Chuck. Chuck.” of Cash’s adze cutting the wood seems to follow Darl home. He mentions that Cash is a good carpenter, and indeed we soon see that building a high quality coffin “on the bevel” is the only thing on Cash’s mind. In fact, Cash’s devotion and determination to finish it foreshadows the Bundrens’ journey to Jefferson quite strongly, since just as the Bundren family will not rest until they get to Jefferson and bury the coffin, Cash seems to be unable to stop until he finishes, working through the night in the pouring rain.

            Once Addie’s coffin is finally built, the Bundrens’ odyssey begins, and they take it with them to Jefferson. Along the way, though, complications with crossing the river and Darl setting the Gillespie barn on fire lead them to lose the coffin multiple times, and each time we see someone in the Bundren family take a major risk to retrieve it. When the barn catches fire, for example, Jewel runs in to save the animals, which is understandable, but then risks his life again to save the coffin and ends up burning his back. In hindsight, it seems like this was a completely unnecessary risk – although the purpose of their entire trip was to bury the coffin, it wasn’t worth Jewel’s life to save it.

            Finally, by the time they reach Jefferson, the homemade, foul-smelling coffin is almost part of the family, and it symbolizes the way people in the city see them. People make fun of them, and it’s clear that they don’t belong. Similarly, when people smell the coffin and Addie’s rotting body inside, they want the Bundrens to remove it from the city. Although this is a reasonable request – the coffin gives off a horrible stench for hundreds of yards – they become extremely defensive, and Jewel is ready to punch the person who asked.

            Clearly, over the course of their journey, the Bundrens become very attached to the coffin, risking their lives for it and defending it. If we take the Bundren family to be the heroes of the story, then the coffin fulfills many of the properties of Campbell’s idea of a talisman.