Tag Archives: New Hope

Addie and New Hope

Posted on by
1

I’d like to preface this by noting my page numbers are different in my version of the text but not far off from other versions- my apologies
I hadn’t thought much of the significance “New Hope” held until the class was brought to look at it as a motif in the story. I had only known “New Hope” as the town Addie was stone-cold set on not being buried at with Anse’s family but instead in Jefferson with her blood relatives. This fact alone brings so much meaning to New Hope as an idea. Looking at it figuratively, Addie didn’t want any new hope in her afterlife- or didn’t think there would be any there for her. I think she had spent whatever hopes she had while alive- if there were any, to begin with. She had settled on the fact that her life was as it was, her husband was who it was, her kids were as they were just like her father predicted she’d settle, “my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time” (Faulkner 158). Her last request proved to be her last metaphoric middle-finger to it all, maybe more so to Anse for “violating her aloneness” and (as I read it) making her feel love, “My aloneness had been violated and then made whole again by the violation: time, Anse, love, what you will, outside the circle” (Faulkner 158). Addie even admitted to having this be her revenge on Anse for this life she had as a mother and wife.
Darl comments on how Addie is the rim of a spoke, the roads all connecting to her (73) as they pass the sign for New Hope’s church which holds “a tranquil assertion” (73) like Addie. Everyone is made aware of how easily they could simply stop at New Hope to bury her if they dared- that’s why the reactions are so minimal. Each family member seemed to try ignoring this blatant option, other than Cash who mentions how Addie will start to smell sooner or later. If he dared, I’m sure he would have added, “We should just bury her here” save for the love he held for Addie. All of the mishaps that happen on the journey past New Hope to Jefferson would have been avoided if they had resolved to ignore her wish but as a running theme in the story, the consequences in the afterlife far outweighed the practicality of ending the trip through New Hope. Of course, beyond New Hope held more than just practicalities for the Bundrens. This is how Addie is the rim, the connecting point for the side-quests the Bundrens went on.
Having the Bundrens pass the New Hope sign twice served as a bit of a Sisyphean moment. Just as they left, so they return- with the same selfish thoughts and driving forces as when Addie had been alive. Addie being called the rim of a spoke also lends itself to that idea of a Sisyphean cycle. Sisyphus had also cheated death twice, which is why he is sentenced to repeatedly roll the rock up the mountain. Now, as Addie had lived her life settling so are her children, especially Dewey Dell who mirrors Addie’s initial repulsion to children (or just not wanting any). The entire journey centering around Addie’s last act of revenge, having all roads of her family’s life tied to hers, makes me think of “New Hope” as “Addie”. They serve as the same revolving factor for the entire story. Without “New Hope” or “Addie” the story simply would not be the same. Just as the rim of the spoke holds each bar, Addie and New Hope holds each family line to the storyline.

The Different Purposes of the Bundren’s family on its Journey to Jefferson

Posted on by
2

The major purpose of the Bundren’s family going to Jefferson is supposed to bury Addie. As we go through the monologues of these different characters, we notice that they have other purposes for going to the town. Anse, the father, intends to fulfill the promise he made to Addie of burying her in “New Hope”, where she wanted to be buried. However, he is more willing to go to Jefferson so that he can get new teeth. It becomes a selfish desire because his wife has just passed away and he is only thinking about his appearance. 

As Carolyn Porter states, “The extended and grotesque funeral procession, then, is a travesty of bereavement, carried out by Anse Bundren on the grounds that he promised Addie he would take her to Jefferson to be buried, but driven by his desire to secure a new set of teeth and a new wife” (67). Anse seems to not care about the promise that he made to his wife because he is more worried about arriving in the town and finally getting his new set of teeth. Ironically, that is the only hope he has in a moment where he should be thinking of how his life and his children’s lives will be without his wife and their mother. 

On the other hand, we also perceive how another member of the family gives the idea of considering more important a personal “issue” than the death of her mother. Dewey Dell finds herself pregnant a few days before her mother’s death. She thinks that Darl might know about her pregnancy and she tries to keep it secret from the other people around her. Dewey Dell says, “He said he knew without the words like he told me that ma is going to die without words, and I knew he knew because if he had said he knew with the words I would not have believed that he had been there and saw us” (AILD, 27). Through the novel, we can see how Darl can know what is happening in his house while he is away with Jewel. It seems believable that he might know about Dewey Dell’s pregnancy without her having to tell him or without him having to be present in the act. Dewey Dell believes that the doctor Peabody could help her with it. Thus, she goes to Jefferson hoping that she could get an abortion. Carolyn Porter affirms, “Dewey Dell is equally committed to this mocke1y of faithful memorialization because she is pregnant and seeks an abortion, which she hopes somehow to get in town” (67).

Apparently, Dewey Dell and her father, Anse are using Addie’s death as an excuse for going to modernity: new teeth, abortion. However, it can also be a way of coping for their loss as Cash does focusing on work, as Jewel does cursing on his siblings and wishing to have his mother only for himself and as Darl does focusing on mentality and his ability to be in two places at once. Even Vardaman who is only seven or eight years old wants to go to the town so that he can get a toy that he saw on Christmas. Finally, they all, except Jewel, resemble having different purposes to go Jefferson, and Addie’s hope to be bury in “New Hope”  and have her family together at her funeral looks like something that only she seems to care about.