Humor of Misfortune
Wednesday’s discussion about
humor within As I Lay Dying was
something that had been brushing the back of my mind the past couple of nights.
I would find myself torn between being horrified and appalled by the story and
finding hilarity in the ridiculousness of the whole situation. I had brushed it
aside, assuming that the reason I was able to find amusement in the story was
because of some generational morbid sense of humor. However, I think that the
horrible hilarity in this story is in and of itself, after all, the book was
written almost 100 years ago.
To me, the humor
comes not from the characters and the way they interact with one another
(although I do admit to finding those humorous), but rather within the utter
ridiculousness of the predicament this family has managed to find themselves
in. This family seems to embody Murphy’s Law, as they come across obstacle
after obstacle. As I read the river crossing scene, my mom’s voice was saying “go
figure” on repeat in my head. The feeling that I get as the story goes on is
when you’ve just had a horrible day, and that one more unfortunate thing
happens that is just the cherry on top and all you can do is laugh. It’s not
necessarily funny, but what else can you do but laugh?
Due to the
hilarity coming from the story itself rather than the characters, it may not
spark thought about whether or not it’s fair to be making fun of “country
bumpkins” as was brought up in our class discussion today. However, there is
still something to be said about laughing at the misfortune of others. Obviously,
I am repulsed every time they mention the casket or it’s smell, and I very much
just want them to bury her already. The description of the buzzards as well as
Vardaman’s fascination with them disturbs me to my core. Yet if you check out
of the emotions at play here, (as many of the characters sometimes seem to have),
it’s such a ridiculous situation that you have to wonder what inspired the
author to come up with this storyline.
Going back to
the river crossing scene, every time there was a mention of the casket, whether
it be unbalanced on the wagon or tumbling in the water as Darl valiantly tries
to grab it, I feel a mix of emotions. On the one hand, if you remember their
mother is in there, it’s truly horrifying. But if you just focus on the fact
that this is their third attempt at getting across the river (as the first two bridges
were out) and their intense focus is thwarted by a log of all things, it’s a little bit like watching your brother
spend so much concentration in a jenga game just to have the cat brush by the
table and topple the whole thing over. You sort of feel bad but it’s also kind
of hilarious. The comedy for me comes from the misfortune of some of the plot,
but not necessarily within the characterization of the family. (Note: I stopped
finding comedy in the plot as soon as it started to shed more light on Dewey
Dell’s predicament, and that misfortune is definitely not something I would
call humorous in any way, shape, or form.)
Nice post. Murphy's Law is a great way to describe the book. Literally everything goes wrong for them, and the horrible predicament that they're left in can only be described as funny. I will agree that Dewy Dell's situation towards the end isn't funny, but terrifying. However I would disagree with the burying the casket quickly. I think it's honorable for Anse to see the journey to it's end. It really is her dying wish, whether spiteful or not.
ReplyDeleteI've also been thinking a lot about whether or not this book has humor in it. There are definitely parts that seem funny, like Peabody's utter hatred for Anse (that I think a lot of us can share at this point). Also, at first their journey seemed funny because it was like a movie where things just keep going wrong and getting worse and worse and the repeated misfortune is the punchline to a really drawn-out joke. Towards the end, though, I stopped seeing the humor in it. When Jewel's leg was burned off and he lost his horse I felt only sadness for him. And Dewey Dell's story is beyond tragic and upsetting. Overall not a hilarious book, but some funny moments.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I've been thinking a lot about humor in the book too. I've found a lot of it mostly sad but there are moments of such extreme ridiculous in the Bundren's interactions that are funny. I think a lot of it might come down to how possible the situation seems to us. I think a lot of us could imagine a woman trying to get an abortion with little knowledge about how pregnancies work and nobody to help her could be raped. But we've probably heard few stories about dead bodies and how they would be handled without funeral homes and we've probably heard few stories about traveling in wagons without any infrastructure so that situation seems otherworldly and so ridiculous to us.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree about the story's nature as an example of Murphy's Law, a train wreck in slow motion. However, to me much of the humor faded out earlier, around Vardaman's famous line "my mother is a fish." I had heard of As I Lay Dying before now, and knew about the line. When I started reading the book, I expected that chapter to be humorous/comedic/insane, but in reality, I just felt sad. To me, the humor of a statement like "my mother is a fish" is almost entirely overruled by the tragedies that befall the Bundren family.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, the Bundren family goes through a lot, but so much of it gets brushed aside as such a classic Bundren thing to happen. I think because it's so expected that some of the action wasn't as funny. Like of course Jewel almost gets stabbed going up to Jackson, what else was supposed to happen? I wondered where this biased opinion of the Bundren's comes from.The Tulls defenitily don't think highly of the Bundrens. Vernon even says "it's just like him to marry a woman born a day's hard ride away and have her die on him." But it also comes from within the family too. It's not as explicit as when it comes from outside the family, but no one is surprised for something to go wrong. The river is a good example, it's almost like Cash was expecting something to happen. On a smaller example, no one was surprised that Anse forgot shovels ... for grave digging. What I'm trying to say is the majority of the time, their issues are self invoked, and theses issues are so common that it's created an odd reputation for their family.
ReplyDelete