Thursday in class we discussed whether we found the Bundrens to be heroic of clowns. That really got me thinking. Because on the one hand, working as hard as they do to fulfill the wish of their dead mother is an inherently heroic thing to do. And in most other stories that have a parallel to that, it is solely portrayed as a heroic thing. However, in this case, the heroic aspect is undercut by two things. First of all, Addie, who is essentially the one who sent them on this quest, did it simply to get back at Anse for Darl. The other thing that undercuts the heroic aspect of their journey is the way Addie's body is being treated in the progress. Even though it was her wish, ignoring the fact that it is her revenge, they try to complete her wish to a ridiculous degree. At some point, the way her body is being treated should outway her wish. But it never does. The drag her around for days, she floats down a river, is in a burning barn, and more. This failure of accomplishing a heroic goal through effective methods really undercuts their goal.
That's when I started to think about how often the Bundren's attempted heroics resulted in them becoming clowns because they tried to be too heroic. That isn't to say they don't have their moments in which they are solely portrayed as clowns. Those can be found throughout. One example is when Anse doesn't even remember to bring shovels to dig Addie's grave and they have to borrow some from a family that lives in the town. However, many other moments like that are driven by an urge towards heroism. Take for example the all the shenanigans with getting the new mules for the carriage. Anse is forced to give up his teeth money, Cash's money, and Jewel's horse just to get the mules. All the while he could have just borrowed them but because he thought Addie wouldn't want them to be beholden to anybody he refused to. So I think that the Bundrens are mostly clowns with a heroic goal that gets taken too far (mostly by Anse).
